//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Honest work and its consequences 
// by PegaTwister 
//------------------------------//

CHAPTER 1
Some clarifications about the previously-mentioned character are probably required. His name was Engine Cogwheels. He had dark-grayish-green fur, and a dark blue mane, cut somewhat short. There was a small circle of lighter green fur right on his nose as well as on his chest. His eyes were brown, and, as mentioned before, he was tall, passing the average stallion by about 40 cm. His cutie mark was (surprise, surprise) 2 separated black cogwheels, a smaller one with 3 cogs and three holes in the middle, and a bigger one with so many cogs it might be mistaken for just a hoop. But Engine knew that it had 24 cogs (even though he could’ve sworn that sometimes when he was bored and counted them, there were 25 of them).

After buying a ticket to Ponyville and catching the last night train, he chose an empty seat and sat down, leaning back into his seat and closing his eyes. Engine didn't really know what he was doing, and what he wanted to do. Sure, he liked twinkling with all kinds of little machinery related items. He remembered the day he got his cutie mark- he broke his father's alarm clock apart, fascinated by all the little nuts and springs inside. His father wasn't happy about it, so it wasn't exactly a good memory, but Engine still found himself smiling while thinking about it. 

But somehow, he still didn't really know where to turn to with his so-called talent; should he be a clockmaker? A record-player-builder? Toy-maker? Technician that fixes elevators? Or was he destined to invent something new entirely? He didn't know, and not only that, he felt that he was just not ready to make that decision yet. He was young, after all, and supposedly had his whole life ahead of him. And that's how his “journey” began a few months ago; after finishing school, acquiring a technician’s degree from a local college, and trying out some (boring) jobs, he decided to leave his town and see what the world has to offer him. As a foal, he didn't get to travel much, and so the beginning of his “journey” was just hopping from one town in Equestria to another, doing some sightseeing, traveling and so forth. 

But one can be a tourist for only so much time, before feeling the need to settle. And so, he wandered around until that very night when he decided that it's time to set camp somewhere. But he didn't really know what or how to just choose a place- the world was big and he, even with his height, was small. So he just randomly chose a place, based on a drink he saw a few ponies having at the bar he was in. 
Working on a farm doesn't sound too bad. And I'm kinda used to manual labor anyway’. That's right. His so-called plan was just to go up to the farm and ask them for a job, and maybe somehow, through there, it'll be clearer to him what he wants to do with his life. 
Besides, he grew up in a small town, somewhere next to Detrot, and didn't really get to see many farms during his lifetime. Thinking about Ponyville, how it's probably a peaceful town, surrounded by greenery, and with a little farm with apples so great that they reach the capital… it all felt like a nice change of pace, something Engine felt like he'd always wanted to experience. The pony relaxed at the thought, and slowly drifted off to sleep as the train quietly rode towards its destination. 

Only to be awakened by the train's whistle after what felt like mere minutes (in reality a few hours had already passed). Engine rubbed his eyes with his hooves and exited the train. He had a big suitcase with him, it was packed with all of his essentials, more or less, and he didn't go anywhere without it in the past few months. ‘Maybe this time I would actually be able to set it aside for a while and settle somewhere around here’, he thought as he watched the sunrise, accompanied by some distant calls of roosters. 

He looked around. Since it was still quite early, almost no one was outside, and it made the town look incredibly peaceful. Somehow, it didn't feel abandoned, even if nopony was in sight. Somehow, a sort of warmth was in the air, unrelated to the weather, some sort of harmony. Somehow, it felt like… home? Maybe? Whatever it was, it was nice. Engine smiled lightly as he began walking away from the station. For now, he was just planning to take a look around. Or maybe the term should be, to explore the place, because that's sort of what it felt like to Engine. It felt like an adventure, a new chapter in a book. 
More ponies began to appear soon after. Some of them greeted Engine with a polite “good morning” or “how do you do” and so forth, which Engine politely replied to. He wasn't used to strangers greeting him, at least, he didn't recognise any of them. But it didn't bother him at all. It felt nice, in fact, like he was fitting in already. 
He passed some shops and cafes that were preparing to open, until he reached a building he assumed was the town hall. It was kinda fancy, he thought, for a small town like this one. In fact, the whole place looked well-maintained. He wondered if there were ever any troubles in a place like this. 

Engine saw a Mare with a beige coat and glasses leaving the building. He approached her. “uh, excuse me?” 
She turned to him with a smile. “Yes? How may I help you?” 
“I was hoping that maybe you could point me in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres?” he asked, putting his suitcase on the ground for a moment. 
“Of course! You just need to head down this road here, and you're bound to see the apple trees and the red barn after around… 20 minutes I'd say!” 
Engine nodded. “thank you, miss…?”
“Mare. Mayor Mare!” She told him.  
Engine's eyes widened a little. He had never met a mayor before. “oh, nice to meet you. The town looks lovely.” He told her, trying to be a bit more formal. 
“Oh, that's lovely to hear! Are you a tourist here, mister…?” She copied him. 
“Engine Cogwheels. Just Engine is fine, though”, he chuckled. “and… I suppose I am a tourist, though I was thinking about maybe settling here somewhere”. 
“Well, I think you'd make a nice addition to Ponyville! I'm glad to formally welcome you.” She said, keeping her smile. Engine found himself smiling in response. “Thanks again.”
“It's no trouble”, she waved her hoof slightly. “Well, I must take care of some documents now, but I hope to see you around town later!” 
Engine nodded again. “Of course, sorry for keeping you. Have a good day, Miss Mare!” He said as she began to walk away. She waved at him. “you too!” 
Engine put his suitcase on his back again, and started walking in the direction he was just given. The townsfolk seemed nice, another plus in Engine's imaginary pros and cons list. He walked down the dirt path, feeling quite confident about the place. Now all he needed was a job.

Soon enough apple trees were in sight, and a red barn too, just like the mayor mentioned. Just as he was beginning to come up with what to tell the owners, he saw a little filly with a large, pink bow down the road with a dog. She was throwing some sticks at one of the apple trees with a somewhat annoyed face. 

He approached her, and saw something blue up on the tree branch. “Hello.” He said. The filly turned to him. “um, hi?” She looked confused, probably because a random stranger just approached her. 
“Maybe I can help you get whatever it is up on the tree back down for you?” Engine suggested. 
The filly smiled. “you'd do that? Oh, thanks so much! Winona here's dyin’ to play some more catch!” 
Engine got closer to the tree, and saw that the thing up on a tree was a frisbee. It kinda got tangled between the tree's branches. "I doubt I can climb it”, he thought. 
“Usually I just ask my sis to buck the tree, but I asked her, like, a million times already yesterday!” the filly complained. 
“Buck?” Engine asked.
“Yeah! You know, give it a kick! That's how we collect the apples!” The filly got close to the tree, facing away from it, raised her hind legs and kicked the tree. It shook a little, but no frisbee fell. The filly landed on her face as a result. Engine got concerned for a moment but she immediately stood up and shook her head. “I'd do it myself, but… I'm just not strong enough…” she said, kicking the dirt under her hooves. 

‘Ok, this seems simple enough…’ Engine thought. “Alright, step aside for a moment, would you?” 
The filly took her dog and moved back a little. Engine turned around and got ready to kick the tree. He looked at the filly for a moment, before raising his hind legs like she did and hitting the tree as hard as he could. Too hard, probably. A bunch of leaves and branches fell, and fortunately, a blue frisbee fell, too. 
“Wow! You're really strong, mister! Like my brother! If there were still apples on that tree before, I bet you'd make all of them fall at once!” The filly grinned as her dog picked up the frisbee, wagging her tail. 
“Call me Engine”, he said and extended his hoof towards her. He never really interacted much with fillies, so he just treated them pretty much the same as he'd treat anypony. The filly hesitated for a moment, maybe because usually she doesn't shake hooves with new ponies, but she put hers in his. “I'm Apple Bloom! Nice to meet you, Mr. Engine!” She said, rapidly shaking his hoof. 
He chuckled. “just Engine's fine. I'm not THAT old, you know?” 
Apple Bloom grinned.  “Ok! So, Engine, what brings ya to Sweet Apple Acres? You're not from around here, right?”
“Right. I was actually hoping to talk to the owners. Do you know if they're around?”
She smiled widely again. “Sure I do! It's my family!” 
‘probably should've guessed from her name’, Engine thought to himself. 
“Granny is away right now, and I think my brother Big Mac is out in the fields already. But I'm pretty sure Applejack is around the barn!” 
“Oh, perfect. Do you think I could talk to her?” 
“I don't see why not! Come on, I'll take ya to her!” 
“Heh, thanks.” He smiled at the filly's enthusiasm and followed her. 

“Ya know somethin’, miste- i mean, Engine? You're, like, SO tall!” 
Engine chuckled again. “Yeah, a lot of ponies tell me that.”
“Well it's true! I thought my brother was tall, but compared to you he'd probably look like a filly!” 
“Really?” Engine asked with a smile. 
“Yeah!”
“Well, sometimes I wish I wasn't so tall. You have no idea how often I need to duck under tree branches, or door-frames.”
“I guess that's true”, Apple Bloom said thoughtfully. “But it also means you can reach high places really easily, without using any stools or anything!” 
He chuckled yet again. “You do have a point, Apple Bloom”. He saw her smile widen when he mentioned her name. 
“I mean, maybe if I got my 2 friends, and we stood on top of each other, only THEN I’d reach your height”. 
“Hmm, but i gotta say, 3 ponies forming a pony tower sounds more interesting than just one tall pony”, he answered, and Apple Bloom giggled. 
They were now right next to the barn. Apple Bloom looked around. 
“Well, I don't see Applejack ‘round, so I guess she's inside. Come on!” Engine followed Apple Bloom to the door. This was it, his first impression moment. If it really was only Apple Bloom's family working here on such a big piece of land, maybe they could use a hoof. 

Just as Apple Bloom was about to open the door, someone from the inside opened it first. And out came a hatted mare, an adult this time. She had orange fur and blonde hair, tied with red ribbons and her face bore a few freckles. If someone were to ask Engine what was the first thing he thought about when he first saw her, he'd have to say that he found her very much good-looking. Then again, it's not like it's the first pony he had thought to be good looking, so she wasn't necessarily special. Right?
The mare looked at Engine, then at Apple Bloom. Then back to Engine. And just as he was about to introduce himself, he heard her speak first. 

“Oh sweet apples… Apple Bloom, what have ya done this time?”
Engine frowned a little, and looked at Apple Bloom for an answer, but she seemed just as confused. The other mare, who was probably Applejack from the info Engine got, looked back at him and sighed. 
“Ah, I'm mighty sorry, mister, ya know how little fillies can be… now tell me, what has she done this time?”

Apple Bloom seemed to have caught on what's been transpiring. 
“Applejack, I-”
“Now now, Apple Bloom, I’d say you've done enough for one day, don't ya think?”
Apple Bloom frowned. “But I-”
“No buts”, her older sister interrupted her again. “That's enough out of you. You're grounded for the rest of the week, and no candy ‘till I say otherwise!” she said and looked guiltily back at the unfamiliar stallion. 
The filly started to get frustrated. “Wait, you don't understand-”
“Now tell me, mister, what's the damage? Oh, hold on, lemme bring my pouch, I'll pay what I owe ya for…”

“Uh…” owe him? For what? They'd never even met. And what's Apple Bloom got to do with it? “I think there's some sort of misunderstanding here”. 
Applejack turned back around to face him. “How do ya mean?” 
Apple Bloom tried her luck again. “That's what I've been trying to tell you! He-” 
“Apple Bloom!” Her older sister was now very clearly upset.
“Listen here. I understand how much you and your friends want to get your cutie mark, I really do. But for the love of Celestia, WHY does it have to involve all these dangerous activities?! I've lost count of how many broken windows, fences, roofs, heck, even ENTIRE WALLS you've managed to break! I mean seriously, how do three little ponies even manage to take down an entire wall by themselves, and by accident at that?!” 
‘Yup’, Engine thought, ‘definitely a misunderstanding. Awkward…’

“Uh, wait, Applejack, right?” He said. Applejack opened her eyes, which she didn't even notice closing as she got into her speech. 
“Yes, that's me”. 
“Applejack, Apple Bloom here didn't do anything to me. In fact, we just met 5 minutes ago. What I'm here for is not really related to her.”
Applejack blinked a few times. “what?”
Her little sister grunted. “See, if you'd LISTENED to me, I'd have said the same thing! You just assumed I did something bad, that's not fair!”
“Oh… uh…” Applejack kept switching her gaze between the 2 ponies. She looked even more guilty. 
“Apple Bloom… sorry, I…” she started.
Apple Bloom sighed. “It's ok, I know I cause trouble sometimes, I'm not mad.” She went and hugged her bigger sister. 
“Sometimes is not the word I'd use, sugarcube”, Applejack said, hugging her back. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. 
“So I'm not grounded, right? And I can still eat candy?”
“As long as you behave, i suppose…” Applejack started saying, but Apple Bloom was already trotting away, with Winona joining her. 
“Ok awesome I'll see you at dinner I have to go now I love you bye!” She quickly added before running off. 
The two adult ponies watched as she ran off, Winona the dog joining her. 

“I'm terribly sorry ya had to see… whatever this was… I can promise you I love my sister with all of my heart…” Applejack started saying, not breaking her gaze from the road Apple Bloom just took. Engine side-eyed her. 
“No need to apologize. I'm certain you know much more about handling foals than I do. And it's also certain that you both love each other very much”, he spoke, trying to reassure her. 
Applejack turned towards him, and took her hat off. He noticed that she was blushing a little, probably embarrassed about what happened just a moment ago. 
“That's kind of you, uh…”
Right. Introduction. “Engine”, he said with a small nod. She nodded back instinctively. 
“So what brings ya here, Engine?”
“Well, I was actually wondering if you ponies were looking for some helping hooves? I'd very much like to help on the farm”. There, he said it. It was out in the open. 
Applejack’s eyes widened, but she smiled. Engine's heart began to beat a little faster. Maybe he was just nervous about the job?
“You wanna work here? Heh, well it's certainly been a while since somepony’s offered themselves outside the family… ya know, it might even be the first time!” She then took a look towards the farm. “do ya have any experience with farmwork?” 
“Well, no…” he slowly said, afraid of disappointing her. “but i did quite a lot of manual work in all kinds of places in the past few months, and I'm a fast learner, too!” Along with not wanting to disappoint her, he also felt an urge to impress her. 
“Hmm…” she hummed. “Well, obviously it would be best if you were someone with experience… but the farm's big, there's lots to do. Even though the 4 of us manage on our own more or less, it sure as hay ain't easy. An extra pony could really help us, I reckon”. She turned back to Engine with a smile, one that he found to be contagious. 
“Tell ya what. It's not up to me alone to make decisions like that. My granny should be back in Ponyville sometime this evenin’, I'll talk to her and my big brother and see what they think. Though, i wouldn't see why they'd turn down a pony willing to work hard with us.” She finally put her hat back on. “So you'd probably have to wait ‘till then… that alright with you?” 
His chances were looking pretty good. Really good, actually. “Yes, of course! I'll wait for as long as you need me to!” He cringed on the inside, that came out more enthusiastic than it should've been. 
Applejack started blushing again. “Alright then… I'm just not really sure if i should interview you or stuff like that, never really done anything like this before…” she chucked a little awkwardly. “Well, i should really start workin’ now. I'll see you later today, I suppose!”

Engine looked around the orchard. Indeed, it looked like a lot of work for 4 ponies, especially if one of them was supposedly a grandma and the other a filly. 
“Actually…” Engine thought, “how about I lend you a hoof today? That way, maybe you can show me around the farm and how to do stuff.” 
Applejack raised an eyebrow, smirking. “you're quite confident about getting this job, ain't ya?”
Engine, however, shook his head. “no, it's not that. I just thought I could help you, regardless of if I'll actually work here. I have nothing else to do today anyway, so I might as well spend it on helping someone.” ‘Someone as lovely as you’, he wanted to add, but he didn't have the courage. 
“Oh”, she said, not ready for a genuine response like that. “W-well, ok then, sure, why not…” she stared at him for a little too long and quickly averted her eyes. “Follow me then, let's start by bucking some apples”. She smiled awkwardly again and started heading towards another section of the farm. 
‘What’s goin’ on?’ Applejack thought to herself. ‘Why do I feel so…uneasy next to him? He seems like a nice enough guy, so why?’ she remembered that one time her brother got injured, and she tried to work on the farm all by herself. It was difficult for her to accept help then. ‘That’s gotta be it, I'm just not used to gettin’ help ‘round the farm yet… well, this is for the best, I'm sure… we do really need help sometimes…’

Meanwhile, Engine had no doubt about his feelings. He was into her. And that could be a problem, since they might be working together… ‘Probably best to put these feelings aside. I'm not even sure she's interested.’
And so, they silently walked, each with their own thoughts, until they reached the place AJ was aiming for.
“So I'm planning to clear this section and collect the apples by the end of the day.” She pointed towards the area with her front hoof. “You ever bucked an apple tree before?” 
“Apple Bloom showed me how to right before we met up”.
“Alright, good. Why don't you show me?” 

Engine approached one of the trees and faced away from it. He felt the mare watching him, it made him feel warm inside. Then, with a swift motion, he kicked the tree. The tree shook a lot, and all the apples seemed to have fallen, along with a big pile of branches and leaves. 
“Woah there, partner!” Applejack exclaimed. “We want the trees to keep producing apples later on, too, y’know? No need to be so harsh on them!” She chuckled at her own remark. 
Engine smiled apologetically. “right, sorry, i thought it might've been too much…”
“Well, you thought right”, she chuckled again. “Here, lemme show you how the pros do it.”
She approached a different tree and kicked it. It was perfect. All the apples fell, but no leaves or branches. Engine was certainly impressed. 
“And that's how it's done”, she smirked at him. 
“Guess I have much to learn.”
“Guess you do.” 
They both laughed a little. “The apples go into these here barrels, then we put them up on that cart over there and bring the apples inside the farm.” She started picking up the apples and putting them in a barrel. Engine copied. 

“And that's pretty much it for apple bucking, I think. Not really much to it”, Applejack simply concluded. 
“Maybe not, but someone's gotta do it, otherwise lots of ponies are gonna be hungry”, Engine said. Applejack smiled.
“My thoughts exactly.”