//------------------------------// // A Frosty Farmer // Story: Winter's Grasp // by Zman537 //------------------------------// Sleep brought forth some pleasant dreams this past night. Dreams of flying through snowcapped mountains and making the snow dance with me as I flew. These dreams were constant throughout the night, but like all good things, it came to an end. I was laying on the couch and sleeping peacefully when the sun had climbed high enough to shine on my face. I grumbled a little and turned until my face was planted into the cushions. Five more minutes.... Then I’ll be sociable..... and awake...... I immediately was blasted off of the couch by Vinyl’s Dubwasher (as I’m calling it from now on) and landed on the ground with a thud. ...Damn the world... I managed to peel myself from the floor and fought against the soundwave. As I got to the door, I could see Octavia doing the same already a foot away from the washer. With a desperate reach, she managed to press a large round button on the machine and the sound stopped. Vinyl, who was bobbing her head at the sink turned to look at her. “Wha- Hey! You killed the wubs again!” Octavia let out a sigh as she slumped into the machine, her mane was disheveled and she had large bags under her eyes. “Vinyl.... what did I tell you about cleaning the dishes so loudly?” Vinyl groaned and crossed her forelegs. “I know, I know. Turn down the volume so that the neighbors won’t try and kill us.” I did a double take at the white mare when she said that. Wait what?.... Torch and pitchfork lynchings happen in this place!? From the two days I’ve been here it seemed much more peaceful than that! Octavia facehoofed before grabbing a cup of coffee from a pot on the counter. “I said to be more considerate of our neighbors not..... at least you turn the volume down now.” Oh, okay. That makes much more sense. For a second there, I thought I’d have to run for my life from an angry mob. I moved into the kitchen and knocked on the counter to get their attention. “I have to give it to you Vinyl. Most interesting wake up call I’ve ever had.” Vinyl grinned and turned towards me, revealing her ‘Wub the cook’ apron. “Morning Frosty! How’d ya like sleeping on the couch?” I popped my back and grimaced at the sound. “Not the worst place I’ve slept. And please don’t call me frosty. I’m not a snowman.” I looked over at the fridge and then back to Octavia while Vinyl just looked at me in confusion. “Didn’t you need to get some food?” Octavia was looking at me curiously for a moment before nodding. “Yes, I was actually going to head out after I got my coffee. Is there something you would like?” She kept looking at me as she sipped her coffee slowly. I shrugged. “Well I thought that I’d help out a little after you both let me stay here for the night. It’s only polite.” She nodded and finished her mug after a few more long sips. Octavia handed Vinyl her mug and turned towards the door. “That would certainly be appreciated. Stocking our home with enough to feed Vinyl is hard enough with both of us carrying the groceries.” When we arrived at the front door, Octavia grabbed a pair of tan bags from a coat rack and put them on. “Shall we?” OST I waved a hand and opened the door. “Ladies first.” Octavia chuckled a little at the act and trotted past me out the door. I followed soon after and we walked down the streets as Ponies started to wake up and start their days. As we walked, I watched most of the ponies either start helping to set up decorations for the parade, or.... strangely enough, pegasi pushing clouds.... It was pretty cool to watch as they flew overhead. Some even flying low enough to leave a current of air in their wake. Part of me wants to scream at them, and the other wants to join in.... this is completely fucking unfair. “Well, here we are.” I snapped back to attention as the two of us arrived at the market. The entire setup of the street reminded me of the old flea markets that you could find if you looked hard enough in a town. Ponies were still setting up some stalls here and there, but most looked like they’d been standing there for at least half an hour. I let out a small whistle as I looked over the varying stalls. “Wow. This place sure is something. I haven’t seen anything like this in ages.” Octavia walked back over from the nearest stall after she had grabbed some heads of lettuce. “Is that so? Well then this should be a breath of fresh air for you.” She trotted past me with a small smile. “Come along now. We still have several other things we need to get.” I gave her a small nod before we continued through the market. Many ponies were taking advantage of the free food that was being handed out, and a few simply had lowered prices. Most of what Octavia was getting (and handing to me to carry, thank god for void cloak and my bags) consisted of carrots, potatoes, lots of peppers, asparagus, onions, a various assortment of flowers, and somehow leeks, dragon fruit, lemons and limes, an entire sack of flour, another sack of sugar, 2 gallons of milk, orange juice and..... are those juice boxes? Yes, yes they are. Now do you see this list? Yeah, I was carrying all that. Don’t ask me how my bag held all of it, but I can tell you that it was heavy as fuck as I carried it through town, and that my bags looked more like twin sets of overstuffed camping gear. Moving all of this into my bag also reminded me that I did, in fact, have money and Octavia had me pay for the one stall that had only lowered its prices on what she was getting. Thank god for the lowered prices too. Only cost me two bits instead of all of them. Octavia had some stuff in her bags too, but she gave me all of the Stupidly heavy stuff while she carried more fragile things like eggs and uncooked pastas....... speaking of which she had a LOT of pasta in her bags. “What’s with all the pasta?” She looked over to me with a smile and kept her pace though the market stalls. “I had planned on making Vinyl’s favorite tonight, as it is our technical anniversary today.” I made an ‘oh’ face as she went over to the next stall. “She really does like this kind of food too much. All this Neightalian is going to make her fat one of these days.” Pun..... you ruined Italian for me...... damn you. Octavia took a large block of parmesan from the market stall that was being run by a cow and she moved onto the next stall that was being run by a orange mare wearing a stetson. When the mare saw her, she perked up and started to wave. “Well howdy there Octavia! You’re back sooner than usual.” The orange mare smirked a little as she pulled out a dozen apples that were in a twine bundle “Ah’m guessin’ that Vinyl done set a new record on how fast she could clean out yer fridge?” This pony’s accent.... damnable memories, Stop coming back into fruition! Octavia sighed a little and nodded. “Yes Applejack, she did. I swear, every time she starts working on that project of hers she starts eating like a wild animal.” Octavia pulled out a few silver bits and gave them to Applejack. “I’m glad that today’s the Harvest Parade. I wouldn’t be able to afford all of this otherwise.” Applejack looked over at me and quirked an eyebrow. “Well it seems that ya’ll found a guest.” She looked over at Octavia for a moment. “Ya’ll know that Twi’s got a feller just like ‘em at the library? If he starts causin’ trouble, just head on over ta her.” I felt my eye twitch. “I’m right here ya know. I’ve already met Twilight as well.” Applejack looked over to me with a suspecting glint in her eyes. Despite her behavior, I decided to be the better man and offered my hand for a handshake. “Zach.” Applejack nodded and gave my arm a firm shake. “Applejack.” I just nodded back before digging out my Ipod and putting in my headphones. She seemed a little offput by them, and narrowed her eyes. I gave her a confused and mostly annoyed look in return. “What? Ah can’t have my music be portable and, oh what was it? Oh yeah, private!?” I turned with a huff and walked from the stall, across the street, and then sat on a bench that was facing away from the orange mare. The farm mare recoiled a little as I left and I couldn’t give less of a shit. Octavia had turned to her as I left, but I didn’t even bother to look in their direction as they talked. “I’m sorry about his behavior Applejack, but-” Applejack cut her off somehow, before speaking herself. “Nah, it ain’t yer fault that he’s got a stick up his plot. Ah wasn’t particularly friendly either. But after hearin’ what that one gal had for ‘music’s’ made me a little wary of what this feller’s got.” Now that had my attention. That last part made it sound like someone did a particularly shitty job at first introductions. I flicked through my Ipod and hummed as I changed songs. Hymn, no.....Secrets, maybe......Gangnam Style? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no. There’s gotta be something more fitting than that.... Eventually, I gave up and just put the Ipod back into my pocket. Octavia seemed a little shocked by the sound of her reaction. “Really? I’ve actually heard some of the songs that he has, and they didn’t seem that bad. Some were actually quite enjoyable...” They were silent for a moment before Octavia spoke. “I’d better get going Applejack. If I stay out any longer, Vinyl will blow up our house..... again.” “Alright Octavia, you be safe now.” Octavia nodded and trotted up to me as Applejack shivered a little and muttered to herself about a nip in the air. Serves 'er right. “Are you alright?” I groaned and shifted the stuff I was carrying. “Yeah, Ah’m fine. Let’s just get back to your place.” After a few more stops, we started our trek back to her home. I groaned a little from the weight of all the stuff. “That took longer than I thought it would.... and this is startin’ to get really heavy.” She nodded a little and after a while of silent walking, we stopped in front of her and Vinyl’s house. Instead of letting me in though, she stood in the way of the door and looked at me. “Zachary, would you mind if I asked something?” I blinked a few times and shifted the groceries a little. “Um.... yeah?” Her eyes narrowed a little and she tapped her hoof. “Why was it that about halfway through that shopping trip, you started to sound a little like Applejack’s family? Especially when she made you rather agitated?” I cringed and started looking around. Anywhere other than at the grey mare. DAMN IT ALL TO THE FIREY PITS OF YOLO HELL! I got so frustrated at that orange farmer.... damn it! I felt sweat pooling on the back of my neck and looked around a little to see some ponies glancing in our direction. “Um....well.....that’s a personal question that I have my own reasons for not answering. I’d... rather not talk about it.” I shifted uneasily under her gaze for at least a solid minute straight before she sighted and relented. “Fine, but I expect to hear what that ‘reason’ is, or I’m going to kick you out. The bits you have right now are more than enough to get a hotel room at the inn.” I gulped and nodded as I (barely) managed to squeeze through the door. Octavia followed soon after and helped me unload the food she had bought into the pantries and fridge..... In all honesty, I have no idea how she managed to fit all of it in. There was more food then there was storage for pete’s sake, and that was after she took the raw pasta and placed it on the counter for use later. And more importantly than that, was the fact that it was like a fucking waterfall of food was pouring out of my bag! I knew now that this bag must have been magical or somethingorother and GOD DAMN can it hold some shit! HOW WAS I EVEN CARRYING ALL OF THIS!? I let out a small groan and popped my back as Octavia put the last of the food away and pulled out a few apples. I looked around a little and noticed that despite the lack of breakfast this morning, there was a lack of very hungry unicorns here.......... Again, never thought I’d be thinking that and still be sane at the same time. “Where’s Vinyl?” “Down here!” I looked over and saw the door to the basement slightly open. To anyone who came into the house, it’d just look like every other door. But, to anyone who unknowingly opened it, they’d fall down two flights of stairs before landing on a very hard and unforgiving concrete floor. Thankfully I didn’t find that out by experience, and learned of it by using the stairs for were made for and going down them. Shortly after we heard her, Vinyl herself came out of the basement and smiled as she trotted over to Octavia. “Welcome home Tavi! What’s for breakfast?” I looked over at the grey mare and she tossed each of us an apple each. Vinyl gave Octavia her thanks and I shrugged before taking a bite. I had to admit, This is the best fucking tasting apple I’ve ever had in my life just what the fuck do they do to these things? Add some sort of super chemical agent that rewrites the brain to cause an unhealthy attraction to apples!? Cause that’s the only explanation I’ve got. Vinyl had freaking demolished her apple by the time Octavia and I finished, and she started to head back to the basement. “Ah, that hit the spot. Back to work!” I got up and followed her over to the basement doorway and stopped her. “Hey Vinyl, what are you working on down there?” She waved a hoof and grinned. “Ah, it’s nothing special. Just a personal project I’ve been fine tuning for a few years now. I’ve almost got the bugs out of it too.” She trotted past the door and it closed while covered in her rose glow. I heard the door lock as I moved into the living room, sat down on their couch, and sighed a little. It was only what?.... 10:00 and I’m already exhausted? There was still a lot to do today too, with a parade that I wanted to check out happening in a few hours and the fact that I need to return this book now that I’ve finished it. Jesus, just what kind of place did I get dumped into?