//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Farmhand // Story: The Chronicles of No One // by Pr1me Sh0ck //------------------------------// Chapter 15 Noah rushed forward when he spotted Ditzy and Dinky waiting for him, his small trip from the hospital to the market had been somewhat uncomfortable. He had to ask three ponies for directions. This was a feat in itself as almost all that were on the street seemed to avoid him like a plague, most just gave him the blank as they walked passed, others made the effort to cross the street before he had even arrived. Of the three ponies he tried to ask, the first mare simply ran off screaming, the second was a stallion who wet himself and then passed out, and the third mare tried to make herself as small as possible whilst pointing further down the street. Noah had sighed at her behaviour. He picked the small mare up and onto her hooves, and gave her a quick hug. She just stood there, terrified out of her coat a small squeak the only noise she made. “Hi Ditzy, hi Dinky,” Noah exclaimed as they met. He extended a hoof out, catching Dinky as she jumped at him, and brought her up and over his shoulder. She clambered out of his grasp and onto his back, perching herself high above the other ponies. “Hiya No One,” Ditzy replied, “How was the hospital?” “Good, good… Screamed at a wall for almost fifteen minutes so I think I’ve got most of it out of my system.” “That’s good… I think, oh I got some muffins for a little snack are you hungry?” Ditzy asked. “Actually no, I’m still rather full from breakfast,” he replied, a soft grumble emanated from atop his back, “However I think we can stop for a moment before we head off to the farm.” “I know just the place, a nice little park not far from here, come on I’ll show you.” Ditzy silently led the trio to a clearing amongst the cottages and shops. A nice sized park, many a family were spending the day there in relaxation. Noah felt a sense of Déjà vu as once again ponies would actively ignore or avoid him. He sighed, “I don’t think they like me very much. I think they’re scared of me.” “Nonsense, you’re just a new face… and body… and species,” Ditzy tried to comfort unsuccessfully, “They just need a bit of time to get to know you, that is all.” “Know me… huh,” Noah dismissed, a ball rolled to a stop at his hooves. He looked around for the owner, nearly missing the small filly quivering behind a bush on the second pass, “If I’m not that scary, then why is that filly not running over to come and pick up her ball?” “She’s a filly give her a break, she’s probably scared of everything, and it probably doesn’t help how big and ominous you are,” Ditzy retorted. Noah let out a long breath, “Dinky wasn’t scared of me,” he muttered under his breath. He resolved to prove to the ponies of Ponyville that he wasn’t scary, not a monster, he stood up slowly and picked up the ball in his jaws. Trotting over to the quivering shrub he dropped the ball on the ground in front of his feet. “Don’t worry little one I’m not going to hurt you,” he said with a soft buzz. “Who are you and what are you doing to my daughter?” a gruff voice from Noah’s left demanded. Noah turned and looked down to stout, brown coated, earth pony, his chest puffed out in a show of intimidation. “I’m just returning her ball, trying to show you all I’m not any sort of threat,” Noah replied earnestly. “Likely story creep, beat it before you give her nightmares,” the pony yelled. “But I-,” Noah began. “I said. Beat. It,” the pony hissed through bared teeth. “Fine. Terribly sorry to have frightened you little Miss, that was not my intentions. Have a good day, both of you.” Noah trotted off back to where Ditzy and Dinky where laying. “Didn’t go too well?” Ditzy enquired. “Bigotry and misconceptions,” Noah replied, “The filly thought I was a monster and her father thought I was a creep. I even apologised for returning the ball.” “Well to be fair it could’ve gone worse.” “How could it have gone worse?” Noah asked, an incredulous look upon his face. “The Flower Girls,” Ditzy deadpanned. “Oh yeah, you’re right could’ve gone much worse, at least no one was screaming.” “But you weren’t screaming,” Dinky interrupted tilting her head to the side in confusion. “I-,” Noah looked up as he realised what the filly meant, “Sorry I meant nopony,” he corrected with a laugh. Ditzy muffled a giggle, “Shall we head to Sweet Apple Acres?” “Sounds good to me, lead the way,” Noah replied. He allowed Dinky to hop up onto his back before he trotted after the mare. Soarin let out a yawn as he exited Sugarcube Corner, he looked up, spying a rainbow contrail leading to a solitary cloud home above Ponyville, and took to the sky. He let out a low whistle as he landed on cloud that held Rainbow Dash’s home. “Nice place, Dash, good view too.” “Thanks,” Dash replied from inside the house, “Why don’t you come on in, I’ll give you the tour.” “That’s very kind of you. Did you have any luck with the mystery pony?” he asked. “No luck, Dinky, that’s Ditzy’s daughter, thought he might be at the hospital but the nurse said nopony was there.” “Ditzy,” Soarin said offhand, “Describe her.” “Oh, um, pegasus, grey coat, blond hair, stream of bubbles as a cutie mark, weird eyes, and kind of, well derpy,” Dash described as they entered the living room. “She was buying some muffins from Sugarcube Corner. Kept going on about some new guest she had, something about him helping her with her problem too.” Dash rushed forward grabbing Soarin by the collar, “What did she say, did she describe him, is he a changeling?” “Woah, settle down there, all she said was that he was very nice, a bit misunderstood, and tall.” “Tall,” Rainbow pondered letting go of Soarin, “No those changeling were all short, he can’t be a changeling. Unless it was the queen in disguise, quick we have to go warn her.” “For the second time settle down, you’re going to look the fool if you jump to the wrong conclusion and accuse somepony of being something they aren’t. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt for now. Just relax, it’ll be about three hours before Spitfire gets back, and I’m sure there are more relaxing ways to spend that time.” “You’re right,” Dash said defeated, “The girls wanted me to check up on a few things, let’s start by checking up on the library.” She led Soarin to the front door, looking around she trotted over to the edge of the cloud, leant forward, and dropped like a stone. Soarin gave a low whistle as he admired the mare’s skill. She flared out her wings last minute, take a sharp turn out of her dive only a few metres from the ground. Soarin took a few steps back, allowing a running jump before following her performance. Rainbow pulled up, completing a loop before settling into a glide next to Soarin. She gave a sly smile before tilting her wings. She led the Wonderbolt through a serious of tight manoeuvres, a large barrel roll led into a steep climb which dropped into a tight corkscrew downwards. Soarin flashed a smile at the mare leading him through the routine. A sharp scream pulled them from their concentration and Rainbow levelled out scanning below to find the source. Her eyes narrowed on a frightened mare running through back alleys and side streets. Soarin looked to Dash giving her a quick nod. The pair banked back towards the mare, angling on an intercept trajectory. “Big farm,” Noah commented as Ditzy led him down the road. For the past fifteen minutes they had trotted along a faded white fence, acres and acres of apple trees the only scenery. “Yeah well it is Sweet Apple Acres,” Ditzy replied putting emphasis on the acres. “Are we there yet?” Dinky whined from Noah’s back “You’re not even walking,” Noah chided, “However is that a gate up ahead?” “It is,” Ditzy confirmed, “We’re pretty much there, the house shouldn’t be too much farther.” A short time later and the trio found themselves at the front of a large house, a large red barn stood off to one side, and a wrinkled mare sat snoozing in a rocking chair on the porch. A few moments later and a large, thickset, red earth pony wandered up, his height about two heads shorter than Noah. He stopped in front of them, chewing absently on wheat stalk, his stoic face revealing no emotion. After a minute of awkward silence Noah decided to take the plunge and break the ice, “Big Mac I presume?” “Eeyup,” the pony said with a clear southern drawl. Noah drew back the hood of his cloak and gave a small uncomfortable smile, “I heard you had a job going around.” “Eeyup.” “I’d like to apply for it.” “Would ya now dearie,” an old southern cackle spoke from behind him. Noah spun on the spot, the green coated mare from the rocking chair slowly climbing out with a creak of her old bones. She wobbled her way over, Noah stood unsure of whether to help the old mare or let her do her own thing. “Um yes, yes please, but I’m sorry, I’m at a loss as to who you are,” he said. “Tha name’s Granny Smith,” the mare shouted at him, “Ah own this here farm, it’s been in ma family for generations. Why Ah remember back to when we first settled ere-.” A gentle cough from Big Mac broke Granny from her monologue. “However that’s a story for another time, ya here about tha job aint ya boy?” “Yes ma’am,” Noah responded with a nod. “Hmm,” she hmmed as she walked around eyeing him up, “Even with tha cloak on Ah can tell ya just big. Ya might have some power behind ya but ya don’t know how ta use it.” Another soft cough from Big Mac interrupted Granny’s observation of Noah. “A’right A’ll leave ya with ma grandson here. Mac’ll see if ya can handle workin on tha farm,” Granny Smith finished. She slowly wandered back over to the house. “You there little one,” she said pointing towards Dinky, “Come in for a treat with ya ma, I’ll tell yall a couple ah stories ta pass tha time.” Noah turned back to Big Mac as Dinky and Ditzy entered the house. “Cheerful,” he said honestly, “A bit eccentric, but who isn’t these days.” “Eeyup,” Big Mac gave a chuckle and a small smile before leading Noah into the orchard. “Right, can ya buck a tree?” “Excuse me?” Noah asked, perplexed at the request. “This here’s an apple farm, we need ta buck the tree’s for them apples,” Big Mac stated, “Like this.” He turned on the spot, expertly lifted a single hind leg and struck the tree. A loud crack echoed and the tree shuddered under the impact, half a second later and the three half barrels that lay under the tree were suddenly full with apples. “Now you try,” Big Mac ordered. Noah readied himself behind another tree, he emulated the stance the Big Mac had shown, and lifting his hind leg skilfully he struck out, connecting with the tree with a sharp crack. The tree barely even shook, Noah looked expectedly into the barrels, and upon finding nothing but leaves sat down on his haunches with a sad look upon his face. “Try again,” Big Mac ordered, “But this time use two legs.” Noah readied himself once more, he prepared, leaning forward and digging in his front hooves. In a swift motion he leant forward on his forelegs, striking out with his hind legs. Almost immediately he found himself flat on his stomach, the wind punched out of his lungs. Big Mac simply shook his head and sighed, a disheartened look upon his face. “Wait,” Noah said quickly, “Let me try again, just give me a minute to think.” He brought himself up to a seated position and closed his eyes sending himself deep into thought. When he opened his eyes again he found himself back inside his mind, floating between the hallway of his hidden memories and the sun containing his enlightened thoughts. “Chrissy, I need your help,” Noah thought. “I’m here No One,” Chrysalis replied, her form a slender shadow of a pony about a head taller than Noah. “I’m looking to unlock a few certain memories, mechanics and physics, I know where they are but I need your help to process them.” “I’m ready when you are,” she replied. Noah drifted down to the hallway below, a couple consecutive windows lit up on his arrival ready to impart their information. Noah took a step towards the first window, the memory flashed and a steady flow of information bridged the gap. The memory flowed between Noah and Chrysalis, its information disseminated until a spherical shell was all that was left. The shell rose up to join with the others in the faux sun that hung in the sky. “I haven’t seen this type of science this in depth before,” Chrysalis stated, “I see and understand the basics and such but the advance information is so grand I cannot understand it.” “Shouldn’t having the information be enough?” Noah enquired. “Not necessarily. While most consider information to be power, I consider information to be a weapon, and wisdom to be true power.” “Explain.” “I may have the information, but unless I can use it and use it to its fullest potential it may as well be considered worthless.” “Hmmm,” Noah pondered, he made no other speech as he trotted over to the second window. Repeating the process from before, they quickly added two new shells to the sun, the information completely at Noah’s disposal. “Thank you Chrissy,” Noah thought with a smile, he gave the shadow mare an affectionate hug before withdrawing from his thoughts and back to the waking world. “How long was I out?” He asked Big Mac as soon as the pony came into focus. “Minute, two minutes tops,” Big Mac replied, “Get watcha need?” “I think so.” Noah stood closer to the tree, he coiled himself up like a spring, and dug his fore hooves into the ground. He turned his head behind him, eyeing up the perfect spot to strike the tree. Too low and the force wouldn’t be enough, too high and it would be absorbed by the tree’s natural dampening. With a quick motion he uncoiled, his rear hooves lifting up and striking the tree about a metre from the base. A smile crept upon Big Mac’s face as a sharp crack resounded through the orchard. “Nice buck,” he said as the apples began to rain down. Noah beamed at the red stallion, quickly rushing over to the barrels to see how well he had done. His face dropped as he saw the fruits of his labours. “Only a quarter of a barrel,” he complained. “That’s pretty darn good,” Big Mac commended in his southern accent, “Most wouldn’t be able ta manage that.” Noah resettled himself by the tree, coiling up and striking out another three times. After the third consecutive crack he peered back at the barrels, beaming happily at how full they were. “Looks like ya might have tha job,” Big Mac congratulated, “Let’s continue this work for a while longer to see if ya have tha endurance.” He walked up to another tree, giving it a hard buck, before he gestured to Noah to continue. Noah happily trotted over to the next tree, and four bucks later the barrels beneath were full. They continued this in silence, enjoying the fulfilment that hard work brought. Rainbow Dash and Soarin landed with a soft poomf in front of the distraught mare. “Are you alright Roseluck?” Dash said trying to comfort the mare. The pony broke down in tears, grasping desperately at Dash for compassion. All Dash could do was hold her in a loving embrace and gently stroke her mane in an effort to calm her down. “Oh it was horrible,” the mare finally confessed after a minute of sobbing. “What was?” Soarin enquired. “It was like some monster, cloaked in a weird garb and tall as the princess,” the Rose sobbed. “Did it attack you?” Dash asked in a worried tone. “No, much, much worse, it asked me for directions to the markets.” Dash had to restrain herself from facehoofing, Soarin wasn’t so lucky, the Pegasus face planting into the ground at the mare’s response. “And where was this?” Rainbow asked with a groan. “Over on Saddle Avenue, just at the crossing of Mane Street. It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes ago.” “We should probably check this out, will you be alright Rose?” Rainbow asked extending the Miss into a question of itself. “I’ll be fine, thank you for your concern,” she replied, quietly trotting away constantly looking over her shoulder. “We should just leave it for the guards,” Soarin muttered as the mare departed. “No this is a lead, we should check it out just in case,” Rainbow countered, “Come on half an hour at most and then we’ll check on the places the girls wanted us to. Plenty of time for a rest before Spitfire gets back anyway.” Soarin sighed in defeat, “I’m only doing this because Spitfire told me to guard you.” “And because you like staring at my flank,” Rainbow teased. Soarin stammered and huffed at the mare’s brash retort, “Uh no, not at all,” he tried to defend, “well maybe a little,” he muttered under his breath.