//------------------------------//
// Working on the Farm 
// Story: Confessions of an Elder God 
// by TheTobacconist 
//------------------------------//

        "So, Applejack, want to play?" Pinkie bounce alongside Applejack.
"Not now, Pinkie," Applejack snapped, "I have to clear the west field before the storm comes."
"Really?" Pinkie Pie looked across Sweet Apple Acres, "Which one's the west one?"
"That un," Applejack pointed out with a hoof, "The one tah the west."
"Are you sure that you have to do that?" Pinkie Pie asked, "Because sometimes when a pony says they have to do something, what they really mean is that they want to do something else. Like when I invited Rainbow Dash to make cupcakes, but she said she had to clear the clouds, but the sky was clear. And I thought, maybe she knew of that one iteration where making cupcakes means something completely different. Well, not completely different, but still completely different. Anyway it just turned out that she had Wonderbolt tickets. And I offered to go with her, but she said she made plans with somepony else, and then she was real secretive about who it was, like she was embarrassed or something. This isn't like one of those things, is it?"
"No, Pinkie," Applejack hitched herself up to the cart, "I really have to clear the west field."
"Oh," Pinkie Pie frowned, "Which one is that again?"
"That un," Applejack pointed to the west field again, and stopped, "Where did all the apples go?"
Pinkie Pie stood beside Applejacks full cart.
"Play?" Pinkie asked, wagging her tail.
"No, Pinkie," Applejack answered, "I have to get these into the barn."
"Oh," Pinkie Pie deflated a little, "Which one?"
"That un," Applejack pointed again, and felt a light rumbling.
"Play?" Pinkie Pie peered down from the otherwise empty cart.
"Damn it Winona- I mean Pinkie!" Applejack screamed, "I have too much tah do today."
"What else did you have to do?" Pinkie Pie pouted.
"Do I look like the kind of pony tah carry aroun' a list all day," Applejack thought for a moment, "Why don't yah go see if Twilight can play?"
"Because Twilight doesn't really want to hang out much now," Pinkie answered, "She says that anytime she hangs out with me she loses all track of time. Which isn't really true, but anytime I try to explain it to her I end up having to reset the iteration of that event, because she just freaks out. And then she loses track of even more time, and I can't risk-"
"Pinkie," Applejack put her hoof down, "You are friends with jus' about everyone in Ponyville. I'm busy. Can't you play with someone else?"
"Yeah," Pinkie Pie teared up, "But I wanted to play with you."
"Consarn it, Pinkie," Applejack threw her hat down, "Don't tug at mah heart strings like-"
Pinkie Pie rushed and grabbed the hat in her teeth, and began running around Applejack.
"Pinkie," Applejack said sternly, "Give me back mah hat."
"Sowwee," Pinkie Pie spat it onto Applejack's head, "I mean, I kind of forgot that it was a family heirloom passed down to you after the tragic death of your father."
"No, Pinkie," Applejack wrung the spit out of the hat, "It's just an old work hat. Nothin' special about it."
"Oh," Pinkie Pie thought, "I must be confusing that tale with another iteration."
"Really," Applejack put the soiled hat back on her head, "Why don't you go play with one of those other iterations."
"But I already am," Pinkie answered, "I'm playing with all of the iterations of you, but you. And that's sad, because you're my favorite Applejack."
"Pinkie," Applejack patted her on the head, "That is the most insane and heartwarmin' thing I've heard all day."
"So," Pinkie Pie wagged her tail, "Play?"
"I'm sorry sugarcube," Applejack adjuster her hat, "There's work to be done."
"Can I help?" Pinkie asked.
"Sure thing," Applejack began moving along, "We need to board up the windows on the house. Make sure there isn't a thing that can become a projectile. Sort the bumper crop yah just harvested. Get the pigs in the barn... but away from the apples! We need to get Winona inside. Tear down any loose limbs from the trees. And that should be about it."
"That was a lot of work," Pinkie Pie wiped sweat off of her brow, "Can I have a drink before we play?"
Applejack looked across her property. The fields were clear of debris, the pigs oinked inside the barn, the windows were covered in planks and nails, the trees were pruned, and Winona barked from inside the farmhouse.
"Pinkie Pie?" Applejack leaned close to her and whispered, "Did yah do somethin' crazy like enslaving all of your mirror pool clones?"
"No, silly," Pinkie Pie bounced and giggled, "I did something crazy like pulling pockets of other iterations where you had already done that work into existence. Except for the hat thing, I just picked it up. Like this-" Pinkie pie grabbed the hat in her teeth, shook it, and set it back down on Applejack's head -"The other stuff had already happened, I just let it be the way it was somewhere else but now it's also happened here. It's kind of like a copy paste thing, except sometimes when I do it this madpony with a blue box appears out of nowhere, and then I have to work extra hard at being a normal pony. I suppose I could just pull in a pocket of another iteration where he didn't show up, but he's always fun to be around. Except that one iteration of him, he's a meanie and a coward and a womanizer and a pegasus. Not that there's anything wrong with being a pegasus, he's just not normally a pegasus."
"Pinkie," Applejack shook her head, "I'm gonna pretend that I didn't hear any of that, and you're gonna pretend you didn't say any of it, all right?"
"Okie dokie lokie," Pinkie Pie saluted, and immediately went back to wagging her tail, "Play?"
"Pinkie," Applejack took her hat off her head and threw it into the field, "Fetch."
"What?" Pinkie Pie stopped wagging her tail, "Was that a dog joke? I didn't really get it."