//------------------------------// // Carrot Top -- Nothing Worth Stealing // Story: The Album // by Peregrine Caged //------------------------------// Written by: Tiroth Rated Everyone Shoving her door closed, Carrot Top let out a deep breath and just leaned on the polished wood for a moment. She'd spent a long, stressful day working on her carrot farm and helping her new workers get accustomed to their jobs, showing them the best methods for carrot farming and how her farm in particular handled the details. Though there would be more of the same in the morning, for now she was looking forward to a restful night's sleep. For a small-time farmer like Carrot Top, having ponies working under her was a lot to get used to. Sure, she'd asked friends to help her out once or twice, but her business had never been big or prosperous enough to warrant or afford regular help until recently. She wasn't like the Apple family, with their multitude of orchards that supplied places all across Equestria (although Celestia only knew how Big Macintosh and Applejack managed a place the size of Sweet Apple Acres by themselves - Carrot Top knew it would be beyond her); she just ran a small-time farm that sold her produce locally. Well, until now, anyway. The change was welcome, as she could always find a use for the extra bits, and having extra hooves to lighten the workload would give her more time for other pursuits, or perhaps further expansion...once she had trained them up a little more, at least. But every now and then, and increasingly often over the past few days, Carrot Top had caught herself wishing it was just her on the farm, with her friends stopping by to pitch in and lend a hoof. Okay, so most of her friends weren't really any better at farm work than the new ponies were...but when Derpy would drop a basket of carrots on somepony's head or Lyra would choose to goof off with one of her weird 'human' impressions, they'd all just stop and share a moment of laughter or sheepish smiles. They laughed and joked and played. Carrot Top was far from being a harsh employer, but the laughter between her workers was always more subdued when she was present. She missed the easy camaraderie between her friends. But with Carrot Top's farm expanding, Derpy taking care of sweet little Dinky, everypony else attending to their own careers or families...they weren't together so much anymore. Life was changing. Still, Carrot Top reminded herself, life is changing for the better. A bigger farm with more workers meant more carrots to sell, which meant more bits, which meant better financial security. Derpy - and, for that matter, most of Ponyville - adored little Dinky, and the wall-eyed pegasus put everything she had into raising her filly. Lyra was getting the recognition her talent deserved. Everypony was moving on with their lives, in their own way. Humming softly to herself, Carrot Top made her way to the kitchen and put her kettle on the stove before unlocking her fridge to see what she had in the way of food. It was mostly full, as it had been for the last few weeks - Derpy hadn't stopped by to raid it for a while. Or perhaps she had, and the new lock had finally managed to stump the grey pegasus. Carrot Top snickered at the thought. Derpy had viewed chains designed to keep a manticore in place as a minor challenge to her fridge-raiding abilities; a mere lock, no matter how sophisticated, was unlikely to stop her. No, the mailmare was probably just busy with her job and daughter. Just as Carrot Top was busy with her farm and new employees, Lyra with her music and newly-official marefriend... Jumping at the sudden, piercing whistle of her kettle, Carrot Top realised she had been spacing out. With her head poking into the fridge, of all places. The sudden sensation of cold sent the earth pony quickly backing away from it. Shaking her head, she took the kettle off the stove and made herself some tea before sitting down to drink. It may have been a little hotter than she normally liked it, but it counteracted the chill from the fridge quite nicely. Fairly soon, she was warm again. I'll just get some food, she decided, standing up, and then go to sleep. Plenty more work to do tomorrow. *** Her hooves flailing, Carrot Top nearly fell out of her bed amid a bundle of tangled sheets. Barely arresting her fall, she blinked groggily at the pitch-black room, wondering what had woken her in the dead of night. Had it been a dream? She couldn't remember anything that might wake her, but you could never tell with dreams. A loud noise was unlikely, as Ponyville wasn't perpetually awake the way big cities like Canterlot or Fillydelphia were -- A muffled thud echoed throughout the house, followed by an almost guilty silence. Carrot Top stared at where she knew her bedroom door was, even though it was too dark for her to see it. Had another pony broken in her home? She didn't really have anything worth stealing, and, while her farm had been more successful of late, she didn't have enough bits in the house to be worth the hassle either (nor did she have enough to just write off its loss were she robbed). After a few minutes of tense silence, the earth pony slipped out of her bed and crept towards the door. She flicked on the lights as she went, eyes squinting against the brightness, and hoped that she would adjust before whoever else was in her house did...if anypony else were present, anyway. Maybe the thud had just been something she hadn't stacked properly losing its fight with gravity. Going from room to room, Carrot Top finally made her way to the kitchen and gave it a quick once-over. Her eyes had adjusted by now, so she didn't have to squint against the glare of the lights. She didn't see anything out of place or missing, either, except for the note on her fridge door - wait, what? Walking over to the fridge, the farmer realised she recognised the writing. "Sorry about all the noise," she read aloud, "I'm out of practice. See you for lunch tomorrow?" It wasn't signed, but really, it didn't need to be. Still, Carrot Top checked inside the fridge, just to make sure. Empty. "Oh, Derpy," she sighed. "I hope you don't teach Dinky how to do this." Smiling, Carrot Top turned around and went back to bed.