“See that there, that's the town hall. They've got the clock working again!” Little Rhu was bouncing excitedly, getting to play tour guide to an adult. Delta oooh'd and aaah'd appropriately to edge her on. Rhubarb Salad was still young. She didn't have her cutie mark yet, so her cream coat was still unblemished. Her curly, blonde mane and tail shared her famous kin's color, but not it's style. Shiny pink eyes looked at everything with wonder. “And this here's where the ol' post office used to be. It's a wood store nauw.”
The group was ready for town. Apple Rhu had her grocery list and her saddle bags. They were embossed with a green and white checker motif. Little Rhu had a cheap play set saddlebag with a Cuddle Cutie on it's flank. Delta of course didn't have one. Yards had given her some money so she could buy herself one. Yard's old saddlebags were Lunari military issue, so it wasn't a good idea to wear them in a Solari controlled area. The only other set he owned was the one he was currently wearing. It was old and a little tight, from before his military career. Tails covered his flank and cutie mark. They were held there by heavy chains. The band name Chained to the Plow was stitched in flames on the sides. It was a loud, angry band from a loud, angry time in his life. The singer had overdosed on foxglove and been replaced with some white unicorn. She was cute and could belt out a tune, but he'd generally grown out of lamenting about not having a place in society or a cutie mark, so he hadn't really followed their new stuff.
“Lumber,” corrected her mother. There were a lot of hardware stores now. That sort of thing happened when you were rebuilding towns everywhere. Ponyville hadn't been spared during the Civil War. Well, large portions of it hadn't been.
Out of respect for The Martyr, the library had been unofficially listed as off limits for conflict. Likewise for Sweet Apple Acres. Sugar Cube Corner had been razed during the riots right after Twilight's death. The Carousel Boutique had been heavily damaged, but saved by Elemental Rarity's magic. She had repaired it, but then abandoned it near the end of the war for Canterlot Form and Finish, a finishing school and dorm for girls who'd lost their homes and families in the war.
This left Ponyville much better off than a lot of places. If Apple could get enough hooves she could feed most of the town. That was why she had hired him, to make use of his magic to be able to bring down the amount of labor needed so the survivors wouldn't starve.
“An' this here's da spa.”
Delta's eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
She leaned down conspiratorially, “How about we go get our hooves done?”
Little Rhu breathed in awe. “Momma? Can we, please?”
“I don't know,” said Apple, looking at her bits.
“Oh, don't worry. I can cover it. You two can go do the boring stuff. Together. Alone. But in public.” She gave the two a wink and hustled the filly into the spa.
The two stared at the mare as she disappeared into the building. Then they realized they were alone together and blushed, looking anywhere but at each other.
“That was...odd. Even for her.” Yards broke the quiet.
“Uh, yeah.” Apple agreed.
“Sooo,” he said absently pawing at the ground, “market?”
“Uh, yeah.” Her blush was obvious through her white coat.
They made their way to the Farmer's Market. Sweet Apple Acres wasn't the only farm that was operational. Several smaller, more specialized farms were also rebuilding, trying to produce as much as possible to help the starving all across Equestria.
Apple Rhubarb was well known at the Market. There were a lot of smiles as she stopped to talk with several ponies, buying some of the things the farm didn't produce, making contracts to deliver or pick up things like rye and flour, and looking for fresh canning supplies. While there were many happy and sly winks at her, there were also a few disapproving glares.
“Maybe I shouldn't be here...” mumbled Yards.
“It's okay. I changed my name to honor my husband after his death and the same ponies gave me the same glares. You'd think I was the one that killed him.”
Yards winced slightly at the reminder. “Well, names have a form of power. Haven't you ever noticed?”
“Huh?”
“How much your name influences who you are. You've really never noticed it?”
“That's silly.”
“Your family is all named after apples and runs most of the apple businesses in Equestria. Then there's the other Elementals like Fluttershy and how shy she was, or Rainbow Dash's speed and being named Dash, and her ability to do the Sonic Rainboom. Then there's the mail mare, the Cakes running the bakery, Sweetie...”
“So, Rainbow Dash was a top athlete because she was named Rainbow Dash?”
“With a name like that what else would she do? Dress up in funny hats and drink tea?”
“I'd never thought of it.”
“My dad did. I was supposed to have been an athlete, too.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah. Of course, football fields aren't the only things measured in yards.”
“So it still applies, but not in the way he'd thought it would?”
“Pretty much. Though that's more because my grandfather stepped in and demanded that I have the McCanter surname rather than the shortened Canter that my father had originally named me.”
“So changing your name changed what you'd do?”
“Potentially. What was your old name?”
“Apple Wood,” she mumbled.
Yard choked back a snort of laughter. She hung her head and sighed. Through great effort Yards was able to bring himself back under control. “Growing up must have been tough.”
“They thought I was going to be a colt,” she half whispered.
He couldn't stop himself from laughing.
As they talked, they walked to the Sweet Apple Acres booth. Sweetie Swirl was working there. At one time she had run the ice cream shoppe in Ponyville. It had burned down during the riots and her husband had been killed in the war. She was a shell of herself, with everything she'd loved taken from her. She now used her cold magic to keep their produce fresh while she sold it in their stall.
“Hey, Boss. Hi, Yards, what are you doing out of the barn?”
He grinned and rolled his eyes.
“I'm proving that he won't melt if he goes into the sun.” The girls laughed.
“I go outside, when I need to,” he pouted slightly
They tittered again. “How'd we do?” the Apple asked.
The unicorn mare nodded. “Not bad, we pulled about 5%, sold everything. I did what I could to dissuade hoarding. We fed a lot of ponies today.” Her boss smiled.
“You know it's a really bad idea.” Yards did his best to not lecture his employer.
“Helping ponies is never a bad idea.”
“If you break us now then we can't keep helping ponies. This low a profit margin will only take one bad harvest and we'll be out of business.”
“We're here to help ponies. The Princess will reimburse us.”
Yards shook his head. She'd been in farming all her life, just like he had been during his civilian years. How had she not seen neighbors and family members loose their farms doing this exact thing?
“So,” Sweetie leaned in to derail the conversation, “what's going on with you and that other unicorn in the shed?” Vicariously was the only way she lived now. Gossip was her bread and butter.
“Delta?” The well rehearsed line slipped out easily: “She's my assistant.”
Her eyebrows rose. “So you're not seeing her?”
“Sure I see her every-oh, you mean, oh, no-no we're not dating. It wouldn't be right, she's my employee.”
There was a movement to Yard's left. He turned to see Apple looking down at something. As she rose her head a mask fell across her face.
“Well, it's getting on in time, I better get back to the house and start supper.”
There was slamming to his right. He turned to see Sweetie hurriedly packing up the stand. “I'll help,” she called out to Apple. As she walked by she muttered “jerk” under her breath.
“Thanks. Yards, can you bring Little Rhu in for supper?”
“Sure.” He was still confused. Something had happened and he hadn't caught it.
“Thank you, I know I can always count on such a valuable employee.”
Yards watched the flanks of the women disappear, trying to figure out what had just happened. “Doh!” Then he realized. Well, too late now.