The Tale of Lord Barleycorn
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Chapter 11: Pine needles?
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The entire walk to the Harvest farm was spent gawking at the unregulated clouds. How the ponies of Hollow Shades tolerated such weather was mind boggling.
Finally they arrived at the correct address, and instantly the four mares felt underwhelmed.
"This is your relative's farm?" Roseluck grimaced, pointing a hoof at the decrepit looking farm house.
"I guess." Carrot Top sighed.
The whole trip Carrot Top and her friends had been expecting something in-standing with Sweet Apple Acres. They had imagined a proud, if down on their luck farm that just needed some minor work in the field. The actual farm before them was a completely different matter.
Carrot Top quickly began taking stock of what was amiss. The barn, house, and silo needed work but none of the mares Carrot Top had brought with her were any good at wood working. The fields beyond the house were more likely to benefit from their skills.
"This house's condition was just as bad as the rest of Hollow Shades." Carrot Top showed the aging family homestead a determined smile. "I hope the aide they want is limited to just the crops..."
"It's worse than I could imagine!" Daisy covered her mouth with her hoof as she stared at the neglected collection of weeds and stunted flowers by the front porch. "That poor garden..."
Carrot Top followed behind the commonly labeled 'Flower Trio' as they approached the garden. Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily all began assessing the damage.
Lily set her burden down and scraped at the flower garden soil with her hoof. "I don't think this garden's been watered in days."
"Or weeded in weeks." Daisy gave a dejected sigh as she pulled a thistle that was going to seed.
Roseluck nibbled on one of the stunted hostas and grimaced. "Ick, sour!" She hurried to cleanse her tongue on her coat. "The whole plant could be replanted in good soil... but I think the damage is done."
"The fields don't look as bad." Carrot Top nodded to the rows of corn. "I think maybe they're focusing every ounce of effort on their crops."
"You did say the fields have to produce or they have to sell everything..." Lily said thoughtfully.
Daisy's ears perked up. "Hey, do any of you hear singing?"
It was a young voice, accompanied by the familiar creak that only a wooden pull-cart can make. It wasn't long before the singer approaching the barn from the fields. It was a young Earth Pony filly, no older than the Cutie Mark Crusaders back in Ponyville. She was cantering with a happy smile on her lips, singing to herself as she pulled a cart full of thistles, foxtail, and other weeds not fit to eat.
Carrot Top smiled, this must be one of her cousins. She perked her ears up, listening as she waited for the filly to come closer.
"Fal-er-a-lind-a-me too-ra-lunda-me whack-fal-diddle-di-ay!~"
The words didn't seem to have any meaning. Carrot Top assumed it was just a silly local foal song.
"The thresher came with his big flail, he nearly broke me bones~
T'would grieve the heart of any man just to hear me sighs and groans~
The next thing that they done to me was to drown me in the well~
They left me there for a day and a half or until I began to swell~
With me fal-er-a-lind-a-me too-ra-lunda-me whack-fal-diddle-di-ay!~"
Roseluck scrunched up her nose. "Okay, that song just took a gruesome turn."
"Weird weather, weird ponies I guess..." Daisy remarked.
Carrot Top made no indication that she agreed with either of them. The familiar sound of a screen door creaking open caught the mare's attention. Standing on the porch was an older mare with an umber coat and a tickled smile on her lips.
"Oh! Are you cousin Golden?" The mare asked politely, coming out to greet them.
"That's me," Carrot Top smiled, both embarrassed for the use of her real name, and it being used in front of her friends.
Carrot Top could hear the all-too-familar sound of Roseluck whispering. Out of the corner of her eye Carrot Top saw the cream colored rose-vendor whispering to Daisy and Lily. No doubt 'explaining' Carrot Top's real name. It wouldn't have been so bad if Daisy didn't giggle. What little extra tidbit of information did Roseluck let slip?
The mare looked from Carrot Top to her friends, giggling a little. "Sorry, it's been so long since I've had the luxury of entertaining so many new faces. I'm Harvest Moon, did you all have a nice trip?"
"It was... interesting." Carrot Top hesitated as she fought the urge to look up at the sky.
Harvest Moon looked to the three other mares, all whom were casting odd, worried looks at the flower garden. "Are these the friends you said you were bringing in your letter?"
Carrot Top nodded, "This is Roseluck, Lily Valley, and Daisy."
"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Harvest Moon said with a polite nod of her head, "Have you seen anypony else?"
"Just a little filly." Daisy said, looking back at the barn which said filly was disappearing into. "Your daughter?"
"Yes, that was my Corn Crib. My husband and son are probably out in the fields." Harvest Moon rolled her eyes, "They were supposed to be back but knowing my Summer he probably saw something that needed done and won't come back in until it's finished."
Harvest Moon turned toward the door, holding it open for her guests. "Until they're done, you can come in and rest your hooves. I was just getting lunch ready."
The prospect of food lightened the four's hearts, but Carrot Top held them up with a extended hoof.
"I hope we're not imposing." Carrot Top said, "We wouldn't want to be taking food out of your family's mouths."
"You don't have to worry about that." Said Harvest Moon, "We have plenty of food thanks to the forest. There's lots to forage from it."
The four younger mares looked to each other, expressing some disapproval at the mention of the Everfree. Empty stomachs laid their worries flat, as one by one they followed Harvest Moon inside the farm house.
Try as she might, Carrot Top couldn't keep herself from comparing her home to this one. The wooden floors were scuffed and bare except for a few throw rugs that were well past their prime. The house was otherwise clean, if very simplistic. A few pictures of relatives hung on the walls, including one large photo of what appeared to be the whole Harvest clan.
After sloughing off their luggage, Daisy and Lily followed Harvest Moon into the kitchen. Roseluck however was more interested in inspecting the family picture.
"Looking to see if we're related?" Carrot Top chuckled.
Roseluck snickered, "Nope. I was looking for that!"
Carrot Top followed her friend's pointing hoof, to the young filly in the picture who had braces and about fifteen bows in her mane.
Carrot Top cleared her throat. "Um... that's not me."
Roseluck smirked, "Oh? Then why are your cutie marks the same?"
Carrot Top nudged her friend in the shoulder, "Come on, Harvest Moon's probably got something really yummy ready for us."
"Of course she does." Roseluck grinned like a hyena. "And she probably has an interesting story about that little filly..."
"Please don't..." Carrot Top pleaded. "We all had a ribbon phase when we were foals..."
"Oh lighten up Goldilocks I'm just yanking your tail." Roseluck chuckled, nudging her friend back. "You'd be doing it to me if you saw my foal pictures."
Carrot Top half-heartedly nodded her head. "Eh, maybe. What do you think Lyra's doing with your roses?"
Roseluck's expression turned a note more serious, "I'm trying to stay positive on that subject. But, can I ask you something?"
"You already did, but go ahead." Carrot Top smirked.
Roseluck rolled her eyes, "You've been hanging around Twilight too much. But my question was do I call you Golden Harvest or Carrot Top?"
Carrot Top looked to the picture. "Carrot Top. When we get back to Ponyville I won't want you accidentally calling me Golden Harvest in earshot of the Apples."
Roseluck grinned, "So are you going to tell me that little secret or will I have to pester your family for it?"
The carrot farmer frowned, "Trust me, if you bring up the Apples they'll tell you so much you'll ask them to stop."
A grumble rose up from Carrot Top's stomach, exciting an embarrassed blush. "Come on, let's see what passes for food out here."
Roseluck shrugged her shoulders and followed her friend to the kitchen. There they found Daisy and Lily at the table munching on lettuce and tomato sandwiches with baked pears for dessert.
"Hey, anymore of those?" Roseluck asked.
"Help yourself." Harvest Moon motioned to the pyramid of sandwiches on the table.
Carrot Top and Roseluck each grabbed a sandwich and smiled. They each had brought something to munch on the way to Hollow Shades, but there was something comforting about the meal and this kitchen. Sure it was furnished with only the barest essentials but there was a coziness to it. Carrot Top herself felt reminded here and there of her foalhood, sure times were hard but her family pulled together. She had no doubts that this was what her family was doing right now.
"Mom! I'm here!" Corn Crib called out, "Who's junk is in the-"
All four Ponyville ponies turned to see the singing filly looking to each of them. She was a little thinner than Applebloom, but she didn't seem to be suffering for it.
"Oh my gosh you're here!" Corn Crib bounced to the table like a foal version of Pinkie Pie. "How long have you been here? Have you seen the farm?"
"Not yet, but I'll be getting around to it once I'm done eating." Carrot Top took another bite of her modest sandwich, "You're my cousin Corn Crib, right?"
Corn Crib nodded. "Uh-huh! That's me."
"And these are Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily Valley." Harvest Moon gestured to her company at the table. "Did I get that right?"
Lily sighed, "I'm Lily, she's Daisy. Don't worry, you aren't the first to get our names mixed up."
Daisy nodded. "It's the fact that we both have pink coats and both deal in flowers."
Harvest Moon looked a little worried, but Roseluck flashed her a reassuring smile. "It happens back home too. Don't worry about it."
"I'll make sure to remember who's who." Corn Crib said with a determined look on her face.
Lily looked at the young filly, "I hope so, it's the least you can do for us coming all the way here."
"I will." Corn Crib said, "So you're all farmers?"
"Roseluck, Lily, and I aren't farmers like you are, but we know a lot about plants." Daisy said, "We grow the most fragrant and delicious flowers in Ponyville."
"Trust me, it's more than just boasting. They really are that talented." Carrot Top swallowed the last bite of her sandwich, then scooted back from the table. "Okay, I'm ready to go check out the farm. You three can settle in and I'll tell you what I saw when I get back."
"Sounds good to me." Roseluck grinned, scooping out a pear for herself. "More dessert for us."
Lily snickered, but she stopped when Daisy nudged her side.
"Save a little for me." Carrot Top asked politely, then turned to Corn Crib. "Ready to show me around the farm?"
Corn Crib gave an enthusiastic nod of her head and then proceeded to lead her older cousin out of the kitchen.
For a few minutes the only sound in the Harvest's kitchen was the quiet munching of sandwiches and fruit.
The silence was broken as Harvest Moon rose from the table. "Does anypony want some tea?"
"Sure," Daisy said, "What kind is it?"
Harvest Moon set the kettle by the sink. "Pine needle tea."
The flower trio blinked and looked to Harvest Moon, waiting for their hostess to say 'I'm kidding.' This didn't seem likely to happen as Harvest Moon pulled out a tin full of very fragrant, chopped pine needles.
"Pine needles?" Roseluck tilted her head, "You can make tea out of that?"
"It's more of a winter thing, but its actually not bad with a little honey." Harvest Moon filled the kettle and set it on the stove, "That, and it's free."
"And you got that from the forest?" Daisy asked.
Harvest Moon nodded. "I go in there everyday."
"Aren't you scared that any second a monster might jump out of the Everfree?" Lily shivered, "I mean, there's timberwolves and hydras and dragons!"
Harvest Moon laughed and shook her head. "Not really, monsters really aren't as common as you think they are. Besides, there's other things in the Everfree besides monsters, better things."
Daisy took another sandwich, curious about what the older mare meant. "Better things?"
"My grandmother used to tell me about spirits that lived in the Everfree, that protected our fields and guided lost ponies to safety." Harvest Moon smiled, adding the needles to the water. "I've seen some of them lately, but I shouldn't speak about them in great detail. They can be easily offended if you gossip about them in the wrong way."
Lily shifted in her seat. "Are they scary?"
"Well, I admit one of them looked a little scary when I first saw him." Harvest Moon returned to the table with a half-empty jar of sugared honey. "But he was so cordial I quickly warmed up to him. Seeing one of these spirits is rare, but to have one talk to you is a sign of good things to come."
"Neat," Roseluck grinned, "Maybe we'll get to see him?"
Harvest Moon covered her mouth and giggled like a younger mare. "If you stay, I'm sure you will."
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=== Outside ===
Carrot Top was supposed to be looking at the fields, but she kept finding reason to look up at the clouds. The longer she watched them, the more Carrot Top had come to realize the clouds weren't just moving, but also changing shape at an almost imperceptible level.
Back home the weather team would print the weekly weather schedule in the paper. But here she didn't see a single pegasus in the air for as far as she could see. Carrot Top wasn't sure why this bothered her, but somehow the skies just felt emptier.
"Don't mind the clouds." Corn Crib's voice called Carrot Top back down to earth. The filly had been walking by her side as they traversed the simple dirt path.
"Is it always like this?" Carrot Top asked, "Don't you have a weather team here in Hollow Shades?"
"We do, but it's like six pegasi." Corn Crib frowned, "They really just try and weaken any really nasty storms that roll in off the Everfree. There's no way they can police everything."
"How often do storms come in, if the pegasi don't control them?" Carrot Top was curious now, she'd never seen anything like this. "And how bad do the storms get?"
Corn Crib shrugged, "I dunno, sometimes it rains for days and sometimes it doesn't rain for weeks. Isn't it like this in Ponyville?"
Carrot Top stopped on the path, looking down at the filly. "No, haven't you been outside of Hollow Shades?"
Corn Crib shook her head. "But isn't it near the Everfree forest too?"
"Yeah, but storms never just appear out of nowhere." Carrot Top shivered at the idea of this kind of weather behavior over her own fields.
"Well... storms don't just pop out of nowhere here either." Corn Crib scratched her head, "Usually you see dark clouds rolling in over the forest, a cold wind will blow ... I dunno, it'll just feel like a storm's coming."
"Weird ponies indeed." Carrot Top thought as she looked out among the field of barley. "Well... if you notice a storm coming in, don't keep it to yourself."
Corn Crib agreed with a nod of her head. "Okay, what fields would you like to see first?"
Carrot Top tapped her chin with her hoof. "Leadfoot didn't mention what you grew here, so maybe you tell me what you're farming."
Corn Crib grinned proudly as she began listing off the fields in a very practiced fashion. "Barley, corn, green beans, pumpkins, and carrots."
Carrot Top smiled, "Carrots are my specialty, why not take me there first?"
"I never would have guessed." Corn Crib chuckled, glancing at her cousin's cutie mark. "This way."
To get to the carrot fields they had to pass by the barley fields. Carrot Top had never personally grew much in the way of grains, but the plants looked healthy. The problem was half the field was obscured by even healthier looking ragweed.
"How often do you go around and pull weeds?" Carrot Top asked, trying to restablish conversation.
Corn Crib gave a tired sigh. "Everyday."
Carrot Top found that hard to believe. There were weeds everywhere, even the grass looked unruly.
"But the weeds are so tall..." Carrot Top thought out loud.
Corn Crib rolled her eyes. "If the weeds go to seed, they grow and spread. Daddy tells me it's different in other towns but I don't know what he means."
Carrot Top's eye twitched, "Wild clouds, and now plants that grow all by themselves? What kind of sick joke is this town?"
Then it struck Carrot Top. Both were famous aspects of the Everfree. The forest was just a stone's throw from where she and Corn Crib where. Roseluck had said... what was it she'd told her back in the Ponyville marketplace? That Hollow Shades was built inside the Everfree!
There weren't many trees on the farm besides the oak tree by the house, but back on the road there were quite a few old tree stumps. Carrot Top hadn't really given their existence much though before, but if those stumps were relics from when this town was inside the forest... then this farm was entirely on former Everfree soil.
"Here we are!" Corn Crib announced happily.
Carrot Top's contemplation instantly ground to a halt when she saw the carrot field. Her jaw dropped at the state of the orange vegetables. Most of the neat rows had large bare areas where rabbits had been digging up the carrots. Having had to deal with Fluttershy's blasted rabbit all these years, Carrot Top could recognize the damage done by rabbits at a glance. Some of the damage however, Carrot Top couldn't place.
"How many rabbits live around here?" Carrot Top asked, not taking her eyes off the vegetables at her hooves.
"We had a whopper of a storm a few days ago. Wind, lightning, hail, we got it all." Corn Crib frowned, noting her cousin's obvious displeasure with their crops. "But the rabbits hit them hard ever since they started to mature."
Carrot Top sighed as she pulled a carrot from the soil. It was smaller than it should have been, almost like it was sick. "This... is going to be no small fix. I can take care of one rabbit or two in my carrot patches, but even with Lily, Roseluck, and Daisy we can't safeguard this field night and day."
Then Corn Crib smirked, "You won't have to. All the rabbits left."
Carrot Top turned her head. The seriousness in Corn Crib's voice suggested she knew something, or was it just a foal telling a tall tale?
"What do you mean left?" Carrot Top raised an eyebrow.
"They pulled up stakes and left. Haven't seen a single bunny in two whole days." Corn Crib explained, "Even the next farm over said they haven't seen any."
"How'd you accomplish that?" Carrot Top moved over to her cousin's side, "I'd love to have my little plot of land rabbit free."
"Well, we didn't do it. We had some help." Corn Crib looked away from the older mare.
Now Carrot Top was sure the filly was hiding something. "What kind of help?"
Corn Crib's eyes glanced around, then she pointed over to one of the scarecrows Leadfoot had put up. "They're the help."
The scarecrows didn't look like anything that would scare a rabbit. Carrot Top could see several of them looming over the fields, two of them had crows resting on their shoulders. If they couldn't frighten crows, how could these things scare rabbits away?
"But aren't they supposed to scare away crows?" Carrot Top asked, playing dumb.
Carrot Top bit her lip, the filly was trying her hardest to come up with something and it was so obvious. Roseluck, heck even Lyra was a better fibber than this.
After Corn Crib delivered several 'um's and 'uh's Carrot Top held up her hoof. "Look, if you want my help I have to know everything. If you're going to lie to me I'll just tell the girls we're heading back home."
The filly gulped, and her ears flattened in shame and worry. Carrot Top also noticed her eyes flicking to the woods and to the scarecrows. Finally Corn Crib hung her head and sighed.
"I can't tell you."
Carrot Top tilted her head to the side, "Why not?"
Corn Crib nervously scratched her forleg with the back of her hoof. "Because I promised I wouldn't tell anypony."
Carrot Top snorted, "That won't cut it."
The filly looked her cousin in the eye, a mixture of conviction and apology on her young face. "Look, I can't tell you, but when he shows up I promise you'll believe me."
Carrot Top blinked, "Somepony from around here?"
Corn Crib shook her head. "I don't know where he's from exactly. But he's really nice, and I made a promise not to tell anypony about him. I know I shouldn't lie but a promise is a promise."
While Carrot Top didn't like secrets, she found the dedication Corn Crib was putting into keeping her word oddly sincere.
"You always keep your promise?" Carrot Top asked.
Corn Crib looked her cousin in the eye and stomped her front hoof. "A promise is a promise."
Carrot Top smiled, "Then promise me that you'll get whoever this pony is to explain how he did what he did. Maybe not now, maybe not later but before I leave."
Corn Crib flinched, knowing the trap she was caught in. "If I say no she might go home..." Corn Crib then sighed in defeat. "I promise..."
Carrot Top reached out and ruffled the filly's mane. "Atta girl. Now, let's go see how those pumpkins are growing."
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To be continued...