Sherry was woken up that morning by the most irritating sound she’d ever heard: rapid, unrelenting tapping on her door. She tried to ignore it but whoever was knocking was not letting up. Eventually she groaned and rolled out of bed. Taking in her surroundings she noticed that the sun hadn't even fully risen yet. With another, louder groan she stomped to the door. When she opened it she came face to face with the annoying colt from yesterday, his smile just as wide as before.
“Mornin’ Sherry. Hope ya slept well. Just came to wake ya up fer breakfast since you didn’t wanna wake up yerself. I mean why would ya. Yer a city pony. Not used to the country schedule and all that,” he excitedly chattered. Taking in her unamused expression, he nervously rubbed the back of his neck and continued. “Anywho we’d better hurry downstairs, before the good stuffs gone.”
Sherry trudged behind him as he led the way to the kitchen. About half way there he decided that she was going too slow and started dragging her along. As soon as they entered the kitchen, the smell of fresh pancakes hit Sherry’s nose. She looked around and saw a huge stack of pancakes on the center of the table, surrounded by six plates by six chairs.
Taking one of the chairs she tried to reach for the stack of pancakes but her hoof was swatted away by a red one. Turning to face its origin, she saw Cherry Pit smiling at her. “We can’t eat until everypony has arrived and taken their seats,” she said.
Sherry pouted and grumbled. First she was woken up earlier than the sun, rudely at that, and now she couldn’t eat breakfast. And her problems kept coming. She had to deal with Pastry Dough getting in her personal space. “Don’t look so glum. These pancakes are worth the wait. They’ll cheer ya up for sure. And if they don’t then cherries ain’t red no more” he said, his face far too close to hers.
She knew he was trying to cheer her up but it didn’t make him any less annoying. She huffed and pushed him away, turning her head away from him. She turned away fast enough to miss his frown.
After what seemed like centuries, the table was filled and she was allowed to eat. The pancakes were actually pretty good but she couldn’t enjoy them. She didn’t want to be here. She wanted to be home, eating with her mother.
After she was finished eating she tried to put her plate in the sink but it was snatched away from her before she could. The perpetrator ended up being Top Soil. Sherry wanted to ask her why but her question died in her throat. Something about Top Soil’s barren expression sent chills down her spine.
Before she could dwell on the dishes any longer, she was approached by Pastry again. She rolled her eyes, knowing that she was going to get an earful.
“Did ya enjoy breakfast. I know Ah did. Ah sure do love pancakes.” he started to zone out but shook himself back to reality. “Anyway, it's time to start workin’”
Sherry gave him a disgusted expression. “Work?” she asked. She was so tired she could barely get herself down the stairs and now they expected her to work. Just how insane were these ponies.
“Mm hm. Don’t ya remember? Ah told ya last night. Ya know, that you’ll work tomorrow and all that.” he said, chipper as ever.
“Ugh. Right.” she replied. How could she have forgotten that? It’s the whole reason she was sent to this wretched place.
“Well. Let’s get goin’ then. The faster we get done, the more time ya have to relax”. He started to run off, expecting her to follow. She didn’t budge.
“We?” she asked, her question laced with disgust.
“Sure,” he started, seemingly ignoring her tone of voice. “Yer unfamiliar with how the farm works and need somepony to guide you. Well, Ah’m that pony.”
He puffed his chest out with pride but she ignored him. She was too focused on the emanate doom in front of her, having to spend a whole day with Pastry. She felt like hiding and never coming out. Or better yet opening her eyes to find herself back at home, this whole thing having been some strange nightmare.
Unfortunately for her, neither of those two things happened as she found herself being dragged along once again by the bubbly blue pegasus. She was getting tired of being dragged around all the time and yanked her hoof free. Pastry didn't seem to mind and continued to skip along to the front door. Sherry followed him, albeit at a much slower pace.
Once outside he guided her to the barn. It was there that Sherry asked what she should've before they had even left the house. “What are we even doing?”
“We’re gonna place baskets under the trees. For harvesting purposes seeing as it's harvesting season here on the farm,” he explained, tilting his head “Didn’t yer Ma tell you that?”
“No.” she simply said. Then it hit her. They were going to put baskets under the trees, All of them. Looking around her she began to feel a growing dread. There were trees for miles. Doing half of the orchard would take a week with just the two of them. And they wanted it all done in just one day!
She began to hyperventilate but stopped when she felt a hoof on her back. “What’s with all the fussin’? We ain’t doin’ all the trees, if that’s what yer thinkin’. Heck no. Unless ya think three ponies can buck an entire orchard in one day,” he said with a chuckle. “We’re only doin’ the east fields. And even then, we’re only doin’ half of it”
Sherry felt herself deflate as she let out the massive amount of breath she’d been holding. But it came right back again when she realized how big just the east field was. Half the field would still take them all day. For the second time she felt like running away. But she was prevented from doing so when she felt something getting placed on her back.
Turning around she saw that it was a basket. Pastry had put it there when she wasn’t looking. The weight on her back grew. Another one had been placed. And then another. And another. It was so heavy that she could barely stand.
She expected to see Pastry struggling as well but what she saw was the opposite. He seemed just fine holding even more baskets then her on his back. Because of the strain of holding the baskets, Sherry was able to get a good view of his muscles at work. For a pegasus, she noticed, he was fairly well built. Almost like an earth pony and a pegasus fused together to make him. She found herself almost entranced by the sight. He almost looked…pretty.
The moment was broken, however, when Pastry noticed her staring. “See something you like, Sherry?” he said with a silly grin on his face. She blushed and looked away. She had to remind herself that this was Pastry. No matter how pretty he might look in certain situations, he was still insufferable.
“Come along now. If we hurry, we’ll be done by lunch, ‘specially with you helpin’” he said, nodding his head in the direction of the fields, seemingly ignoring what just happened. Sherry chose to do the same for all eternity. She trudged along behind him at an agonizing pace as she made her way towards the trees. The baskets were so heavy she could barely walk faster than snail’s pace and every part of her legs ached. How in Equestria could these ponies stand doing this every year?
They stopped once they reached the first tree. “See when you place the baskets under the tree,” he started to explain. “you place them on the complete opposite side, two a tree. You got that?”
Sherry nodded trying to get the baskets off of her back. Once off, she let out a hefty breath and picked up two off of the stack, placing them under the tree as instructed.
Pastry beamed at her. “You got it! Now all you gotta do is do that for all the trees in this field, with my help of course”
She groaned loudly. How was she going to survive this? It took all her strength just to transport four baskets to the first tree.
“Don’t gimme that huff Sherry,” she heard Pastry say beside her. “Ah’m still here to help you know.”
Sherry sighed. This was going to be a long day.
****************
Sherry felt like her legs were going to snap at any minute. Even with Pastry helping, the baskets she had to carry didn’t weigh any less. At about the halfway mark Sherry felt like she wasn’t going to make it to tomorrow.
It didn’t help that the entire time, Pastry was talking. Either cracking jokes, which Sherry admittedly found somewhat enjoyable, or, more often than not, rambling on about nothing. No matter what he said though, Sherry stayed silent. That is, until she couldn’t take the unfairness any longer.
“How come,'' she wheezed. “How come Top Soil only had to do dishes?”
He laughed and Sherry had to admit it was a nice sound. If only he wasn’t laughing at her concerns. “That's not her only job, silly. It was just her turn to do the dishes. See we have a schedule around here and,” he shook his head. “Nevermind. Point is she had to do dishes and now she’s gotta harvest.”
“She’s doing it by herself?” she asked, more than a little curious.
“Goodness no.” he chuckled. “Ma and Pa are helpin’ her. Granny would too but the years have been catchin’ up to her recently”
Sherry nodded. Though she was left with another question. “Why aren't you helping?”
“I’m a pegasus, that's why. We ain’t made for buckin’ trees. Just ain’t strong enough. So Ah do other chores around the house, like settin’ up baskets and cleanin’. Ah do my share too, even if it don’t seem like it.” he said thoughtfully.
Sherry was about to pry further but her words failed when she tripped and she found herself face first in the dirt. She heard Pastry laughing beside her and was about to yell at him until she felt herself get picked up off the ground. For somepony who just called themselves weak, he sure was strong.
“Come on now. Trippin’ to get outta work” he teased. “You should know better.” Any sort of respect she had gained for him when he picked her up flew out the window. She grumbled and continued working, but not after hearing him giggle beside her. She couldn’t help but smile briefly at the sound. It really was nice.
**************
Sherry felt such a sweet relief when they finished putting all of the baskets in place. She was so relieved in fact that she flopped down on the spot, not caring about the dirt that stuck to her coat.
“Don’t get too comfy now. Lunch is a waitin’” Pastry called. “Come on, I’ll race ya”
Sherry gave him a tired look. He chuckled. “Not a foot race. A flyin’ race. I know yer wings ain’t tuckered out. Ya never even used them. So come on.”
Maybe it was because of how tired she was or how much she really wanted that lunch, but his enthusiasm was starting to wear off on her. So much so that she was willing to go along with this silly race. They lined up at the last row of trees. They spread their wings and readied for flight.
And they were off. Soaring through the air as fast as they could. Pumping her wings as fast as they could go, Sherry blew past Pastry, easily beating him to the house. She huffed and wheezed when she landed. She had never gone that fast before. Her face lit up. Maybe this was her special talent. Afterall, she never had enough room to race like that back in Manehattan, the skies were too crowded. She looked at her flank in anticipation.
It was still blank. All of her enthusiasm drained from her face. Of course it was still blank. If she were really a gifted flier, she wouldn’t have flunked out of that flight camp, just like how she flunked everything else. She was so caught up in her past failures, she didn’t notice Pastry land beside her.
“Hoo wee, that sure was some fast flyin’. Never woulda thought you were so fast. The only other pony I’ve seen fly that fast is…” he paused when he saw her, immediately taking a step closer. “Hey, what’s wrong”
“Nothing,” she said blankly. "Let’s go get lunch.”
“You know that you’ll get yer mark eventually right? There are so many possibilities.” he said quietly, quieter than Sherry had ever heard him speak, his eyes lighting with some odd fire she couldn’t identify.
“I know,” she said. Although she knew it was a lie she just didn’t want to see him sad, not right now. Even she had to admit, the work was a little less agonizing whenever he’d crack a joke or simply flash her a smile. And the race was kind of fun too. “You ready for lunch now?” she asked.
He nodded, his smile bright. “Yeah.”