Chapter Five
The Start of a Beginning.
It took us a while to reach the gates of Applejacks apple orchard; we entered the front gates to see Applejack getting ready to hit the orchard.
“Howdy!” she trotted over to us, “What brings y’all to Sweet Apple Acres?” she tipped her hat at me.
Twilight spoke up first, “Ethan decided that he needs to get a job, but he didn’t just want any job; he wanted the hardest job he could get! So naturally I brought him here!” She smiled at me before she turned around, “I have to get some shopping done, I’ll be home around nightfall! Remember your welcome to stay anytime!” She left me and applejack standing there awkwardly.
I turned to look at Applejack, as she questioned me, “weren’t you that pony that ran off durin’ the party that we threw for ya?”
“Well yes, and I apologize for that, I panicked and didn’t know how to react…..” I kicked my hoof at the dirt, making tracks in the loose soil. “Some stuff…..uh came up.”
She chuckled at me “Twi told me all about ya; quite the story you’ve got on yer hands. I’d imagine that’s a lot for a pony to deal with all at once.” “Anyway why ya want a job so labor intensive? I mean you really just got to workin’ condition an all.”
I shook my head, smiling “Well Applejack In my past memories I used to be very physically active, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t be the same here. Also I need to stop being a dead weight to everyone. I mean Twilight is even letting me stay at her place until I can afford my own!” I looked to Applejack, “So is there anything I can do?”
She tapped her hoof on the ground and thought for a minute “Well ah could have you carry all the buckets of apples back to the barn, but it is quite a walk.”
I looked at her and bluntly asked, “When do I start?”
She laughed, “You sure about this? It’s a mighty hard job!”
I nodded, “Of course I’m ready for anything! Just tell me what to do! Ill do it the best I can! Promise!”
“Good jus’ fallow me and every time I fill up the buckets around the trees take them to that barn over yonder!” She motioned towards a barn, a good 300 yards away. “Now let’s go, times a wasting!” And like that, we were off.
It was easy at first, the buckets weighed around 30 or 40 pounds and the run to the barn was not too bad, but it got harder as the day went on. The short 300 yard trot became a painfully slow drag, and I swear the buckets weighed at least 100 pounds. But I continued on, constantly staying about four or five trees back from Applejack, who seemed very impressed with my ability to keep up somewhat. As the day wore on, I started to falter; Applejack was 10 trees ahead, then twenty, then I couldn’t even see her. I picked up another bucket and began to trot towards the barn, painfully slow when Applejack casually walked past me carrying a bucket full of apples. She looked back over at me, “Soon as we get these buckets up we are done fer tha day!”
“Mmmplmmhff” was all I could say with the bucket in my mouth.
She shrugged and kept trotting towards the barn. Then as I saw her walking off something kicked in. I got up and matched her pace, eventually catching up with hers. She looked over at me , confused; she picked her pace up some more to stay ahead of me. I did the same. By the time we were halfway to the barn we were in a full out gallop. We rushed into the barn at the same time and flung the buckets to the ground, quickly returning towards the orchard. Without the bucket in my mouth I felt much lighter and stronger. I quickly outpaced her and was to the orchard about fifty yards before her. I waited for her to get to the bucket next to mine and then we were off again. This continued until we had every single bucket in the barn.
We fell down exhausted as we walked into her house, laughing. She poked me, “Yer faster than I gave ya credit for!”
I breathed heavily, “Yea but I think I about killed myself trying to stay ahead! But there was no way I was letting you win!”
She walked over to a drawer and pulled a small bag out, handing it to me. “You’re a real competitor aren’t ya? You know, I think me and Rainbow Dash could use a pony like you to help us stay ahead of the game! Next time we get together to race an such I’ll be sure to invite ya on over!”
I looked quizzically at the bag, “Oh thanks, I’d be glad to compete against you and….who was it, Rainbow Dash?” I opened the bag, it contained several bits. “What’s this?” I asked inspecting the bits inside.
She gave me a sarcastic response, “Well ya may be fast but I didn’t expect ya to be dumb! It’s what ah owe ya for today’s work! Twenty five bits, paid in full!”
I looked to her, “Uh, that’s a lot. I didn’t even work that hard, no way I earned this many bits!”, Handing the bag back to her.
She shook her head, “Keep em’, we worked a good portion of the orchard today! I figure at this rate we will be done in a few weeks; much earlier than it usually is for us!”
I shrugged, “I guess, what time do I need to be here tomorrow?” I made my way towards the door, still looking at Applejack.
She grinned, “Crack of dawn if you’re still up to it!”
I nodded, hoping that I wouldn’t be too sore to continue in the morning. “Sure thing Applejack! I’ll be here to help!” I opened the door, letting the chill of the night seep through my coat.
Applejack waved her hoof in goodbye, “Be careful on the walk home Ethan! Thanks again for the help, I can’t wait until tomorrow!”
I walked out the door with my hard earned bits in my mouth.
It was another brisk night, the moon still partially full. Clouds still littered the sky from the rain this morning and from time to time would cover the moon; casting darkness over the path I was on. I thought about today’s events. I had done something productive! I had put my hoof down and finally started to make progress. I had made another friend, and I could not gripe. But still deep down inside I was sad. Sad that for every friend I made here, I lost one in my past mind. The people that had influenced my life were fading away and I couldn’t stop it or delay it. I sighed, see this was the funny thing about depression; it could come back at anytime, anywhere. And worst of all, for seemingly no reason.
I remember back to my teenage years, playing football and lifting weights, all while being an active member in my school with outstanding grades. I was going to do great things in my life, and I knew this. But still almost every night I would cry myself to sleep. I had never asked for help, or as much as told anyone. I just felt weak for admitting I had a problem. I guess that was the chink in my armor, I couldn’t accept my faults. I pushed them to the back of my mind and let them eat at me. I strove to make myself perfect, but it was silly trying to think I could do. All that trying for perfection would do was fail me. I always felt wasted and empty. The people around me never understood why I didn’t party or hang out with them; I just preferred to be alone with my thoughts. Most of the time was spent trying to figure out why I felt so bad. Why did I feel so bad? Even now as I walk along a moonlit path, I feel bad. Yes I was losing my memories, but I was making new, real, good memories. But that wasn’t it was it? I had something else eating at me but I couldn’t place my finger on it. Just this bitter sadness that seemed to dwell on me, wait until I was alone to strike.
I eventually came to Twilights house, walking quietly as to not disturb her. It was very late and I took the long route to her house to allow my mind to think. I got to her door and slowly opened it, not making a sound. I entered the giant main room to see Twilight sitting at a desk, reading a rather large book. She looked to the door and saw me standing there holding my bag of bits.
“Oh, your home awfully late. How was your first day of work?” she asked.
I walked over to the couch and plopped myself down on it, “Really hard, but I got paid quite a lot actually so…” I yawned. “It was worth it.” I grabbed a couch cushion near me and pulled it into my face, closing my eyes.
“Well that’s certainly good, uh you look tired; feel free to sleep anywhere you please. Don’t let me bother you; I will only be studying a little while longer. See I’m reading this book over the effects of constellations on magic creatures and I….”
I didn’t make it to the end of the sentence. I was making it a habit to fall asleep when I shouldn’t. One day that would probably catch up to me, but tonight I figured, it was fine.