~~~Road to Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville, 4 days, 11 hours and 15 minutes after the Ambush at Equis~~~
Thanks to the lateness of the hour, not many ponies could be found roaming around Ponyville, especially as far out as the town’s outskirts, where Sweet Apple Acres was located. This was preferable, though, as it meant that the three ponies that were traveling that far wouldn’t have to stop to explain their alien guest to anyone.
Applejack led the group, followed by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who was making her way to her own home, which was located further down the road than the Acres and rested just outside Ponyville’s city limits. Behind them trailed Spy, who followed at a leisurely gait while happily eating yet another apple conjured by his gift from Discord.
Shortly after stepping off the train, Dash’s friends had given her time to quickly fly to her house to drop off Spy’s helmet while they watched Spy. When that was done, she had returned to them to tell them goodbye before finally departing from the train station. Since leaving, Applejack had tried to encourage some sort of conversation, but Rainbow Dash seemed to be in no mood for it, and Spy’s presence seemed to make Fluttershy too nervous to want to contribute. Thus, they walked through the darkness in awkward silence, all eagerly waiting for the gates of Sweet Apple Acres to come into view.
Finally, after a few more minutes, a light became visible, which, as they got nearer, could be made out to be a lantern hung on the thin wooden arch that signified the entryway to the Acres. Fluttershy spared a cautionary glance back towards Spy, then asked, “Um, are you two okay with him on your own, or do you want some help watching him?”
“I’m not going to do anything, for goodness sake. Why are you ponies so paranoid?” Spy pouted, but was ignored.
“Nah,” Applejack answered, “Ah think we’ll be fine. ‘Sides, if he tries somethin’,-”
“Which I won’t.”
“-then we’ve got Big Mac ta make sure he stays in line.” With that concluded, they reached the Acre’s entryway. “Well, then, ‘Shy, looks like this is goodbye for the night. Good night, and we’ll see ya tomorrow.”
“Well, uh, okay, then,” Fluttershy replied softly, moving in to give Applejack a brief hug. “I’ll see you two tomorrow,” she said, breaking her hug with Applejack to give a similar one to Rainbow Dash.
Dash reciprocated the action, saying, “G’night, Flutters.” When they separated, Spy came a step closer, arms open as if invite a hug, to which Fluttershy fearfully retreated a couple paces.
“Aw, c’mon, no hug for me?” he said with mock disappointment. He returned his arms to his sides, suspending his invitation, commenting, “Aliens get no respect here.”
On that rough note, Fluttershy left, and when she was gone, Applejack gave the clone a stern glare. “Ah ain’t gonna stand you scarin’ ‘n’ disrespectin’ mah friends like that again, ya hear? Any’a that behavior tomorrow, an’ yer goin’ straight t’the droids.”
“Just chill, Applejack; goodness,” Spy said in an attempt to calm her down. “I was only joking; I didn’t really expect a hug, and it wasn’t my intent to scare her.” He gave a second of consideration. “But, if she had given me a hug, I certainly wouldn’t have complained.”
To that, Applejack’s glare only hardened, and Dash was now sharing the same expression.
“I...probably could have worded that better. What I meant to imply was that hugs are nice. Or, that’s what I’ve heard. I don’t really know for sure, though; no one’s actually hugged me before.”
“Ah ain’t surprised,” muttered Applejack, walking away and into Sweet Apple Acres. “Now c’mon an’ let me show ya where ya’ll be sleepin’ tonight before Ah reconsider mah offer.” The other two followed her, going past the sizeable two story wooden building that served as the Apples’ home and coming up to the barn. She pushed one of the doors open and entered, then held it open so that Spy and Dash could enter.
A couple of lit lanterns hung from the ceiling rafters. Both the remnants of Pinkie’s party and the droids that Rainbow had inadvertently droidpopped had been cleared away, leaving the barn back in its normal state, nearly completely vacant save for a couple of hay bales in one of the corners, a small array of farming equipment lined against one of the walls, and a few extraneous barrels and crates scattered about the perimeter.
“‘Ere ya are, Spy. Feel free ta use the hay in the corner as a mattress, but other than that, Ah don’t want ya touchin’ anythin’.”
“Gotcha,” confirmed Spy. “Anything else?”
“Ya ain’t stayin’ ‘ere fer free. If ya want ta use the barn, yer gonna have ta help out aroun’ the farm. Recent events have messed with the schedule a little bit, and we’ve got a lot’a work cut out fer us over the next couple’a days, so it’s best ya get some good, long rest.”
“Fair enough,” Spy said, walking over to the hay bales and flopping down on top of them. He found them to be surprisingly comfortable, and also found himself beginning to doze off almost immediately. “I’ll help out in whatever way I possibly can.” And then he was out like a light.
Dash eyed the sleeping clone suspiciously, saying, “He slept, like, the entire train ride here; there’s no way he could possibly be that tired.”
“Cut ’im some slack, Dash. It’s about time we all hit the hay ourselves; we’ve got a long day ahead’a us tomorrow.”
“In that case, I should probably be going,” Rainbow said, turning to leave. “Thanks so much for doing this for me, I’ll be- woah!”
She was interrupted by a strong yank on her tail, flinging her towards Applejack, whom she landed in front of roughly. “Ow,” she complained, then looked to Applejack.
“Hold yer horses, there, partner; when did Ah ever say Ah was doin’ this for you?” Applejack inquired harshly.
“Um, well, uh, I thought-” Dash stuttered out while rising to her hooves, but was interrupted again by Applejack.
“Ya thought wrong,” she said forcefully, giving Dash a sharp glare. Her expression softened a bit as soon as Dash recoiled from her. “Look, Ah ain’t takin’ care’a him for ya, but Ah am helpin’ ya out with ‘im. The Princess said he was yours to look out for, and Ah’m gonna make sure you’re lookin’ out for ‘im.” With a tilt of her head, Applejack gestured towards the rafters near the top to the barn. “So long as Spy’s stayin’ in my barn, ya’re too, an’ you’ll be helpin’ us out tomorrow.”
“Ugh, but Applejack, you wake up so early!” Dash whined in a futile attempt to get away from the clone.
To that, Applejack merely rolled her eyes. “Mornin’ ain’t early, sugarcube. ‘Sides, it’s only fair that you help me in exchange for helpin’ you.”
With a sigh, Dash relented. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Don’ sound so glum,” Applejack said, giving her friend a reassuring pat on the back. “I’ll go getcha some blankets and a pillow so ya can at least get comfortable. Then in the mornin’, you’ll be treated to a traditional Apple family breakfast, how does that sound?”
It sounded wonderful to Dash, who had always loved Granny Smith’s -and the rest of the Apple family’s, for that matter- cooking, and she immediately perked up.
“Thought so,” Applejack said, smirking smugly as she made her way to the barn door. “Now you find a spot where you think you can get comfortable, and Ah’ll be back in a minute with them blankets.” Applejack softly closed the door behind her as she exited, and went to grab said items for Dash.
In the barn, Rainbow did as Applejack suggested, flying up to the rafters to find a sturdy looking beam to lay on that was also rather distant from Spy. Eventually, she settled herself in effectively the corner opposite of where Spy was. She gave the beam a quick test for strength and to see if it had any splinters that could end up discomforting or even puncturing her. Finding both conditions satisfactory, she gently landed on it and rolled onto her back, now only waiting for Applejack.
Even without a pillow or coverings, the beam was surprisingly comfortable, though that may have been attributable to her exhaustion. Nonetheless, it felt very similar to a tree branch, which she was accustomed to napping on, only was a few inches wider, meaning less capacity for her to roll off.
After another minute or so, Applejack came back through the door, a small stack a sheets and a couple of pillows balanced on her back, leaving the door open behind her as she stepped in. It took the farmpony a second to locate Dash, as she was, after all, slightly secluded, but when Applejack found her, she gave Dash a deadpan look. “Why am Ah not surprised?” She made her way to where Dash was, snatched one of the pillows off her back with her teeth, and chucked it up to Dash, who caught it easily.
“Not surprised about what?” Dash asked, genuinely unsure of what her friend was referring to as she fluffed out the pillow.
“Not surprised that ya tried to find the spot furthest from Spy’s what Ah meant. Here.” Applejack tossed up one of the folded blankets, which Dash caught before it could begin to unfold in the air.
“You can’t blame me for doing that, though; you know that you’d do the same if you were in my place,” Rainbow argued.
“Ah ain’t never said Ah wouldn’t.” She sighed, then tossed another blanket up to Dash. “It’s only been a short while that we’ve been acquainted, but Ah already feel as if we’re being maybe a bit too harsh on ‘im. If ‘is intention was to hurt us, he’s had plenty of chances ta do that, but so far he hasn’t, so he can’t be all bad.”
Rainbow scoffed. “I think you’re being a little too optimistic, AJ.”
“Perhaps,” she shrugged. “There’s a lot ya kin learn ‘bout somepony by the way they labor, so tomorrow we should be able to see if he’s trouble or not.” Glancing back though to open door to the night sky, Applejack determined, “It’s pretty late. Ah’ma go to bed. Good night.”
“Night, AJ.” There was still a pillow and blanket resting on Applejack’s back. Instead of heading directly out, she approached Spy, catching the interest of Rainbow, who was fixing up her place to sleep. Once by Spy’s side, she lifted his head up enough to slide the pillow underneath, then opened up the blanket, pulling it up to around Spy’s shoulders.
That done, Applejack passed through the open door, calling out one final ‘Good night’ before shutting it.
Dash continued to look in Spy’s direction, watching as has nestled slightly under his new covers, thin smile forming across his lips. The way he reacted was like a foal being tucked into bed by its mother really, and it was somewhat saddening to see the fully grown individual take as if it were a novelty. On the train, Spy had said something about having been deprived of various things. He apparently had never received a hug before, so maybe other familial affections were also taken from him. Perhaps he didn’t even have a family at all? Perhaps-
While the clone was still a mystery, a few things were still clear regarding him. There were obvious familial and social depravities; things that Dash and her friends took for granted were lost on the clone. Maybe AJ was right: maybe I am being a little too harsh.
That conclusion in mind, Dash finally tore her gaze away from Spy, focusing once again on getting comfortable atop her wooden beam. Having fluffed the pillow out to her maximum capacity and snuggling tightly in her blankets, she found things satisfactory and drifted off to sleep like her clone counterpart.
There was a dark and empty void around him, except for three thin pillars of light only a couple of feet in front of a hunchbacked figure, who was staring at the three pillars. The figure was undoubtedly Grievous. He had his back towards Spy, though it was covered by a large cape. But Grievous was not as Spy remembered, no longer solid, instead seemingly made of some sort of ethereal fog that would distort ever so slightly on an unfelt current.
Spy couldn’t move. He looked around, but still there was nothing except for Grievous and the three pillars in the colors of orange, blue, and red. With nothing else to look at, Spy watched Grievous’s unmoving form watch the light. What seemed like minutes passed, when suddenly there was a sudden creaking sound which reverberated throughout the void.
Startled, Grievous looked frantically to his left and right, trying to find the source of the creaking, but was unable to. Then, he reached for the pillars of light, reaching out for them with one arm. In one sweeping motion, he grasped all three shafts, and as he touched them, they began to recede into themselves giving off the unmistakable hiss of a lightsaber.
The three pillars of light coalesced in Grievous's hand, leaving behind three silver cylinders, also appearing to be made of the same fog that composed Grievous. While Spy was unable to see any specific details, he could still make the three cylinders to be lightsaber hilts. Weapons in hand, Grievous finally turned around, facing Spy.
Grievous’s eyes were not his normal yellow, cat-like ones. The sockets where they should have been were empty, occupied instead by voids of the pitchest black, giving the already fiendish appearing monster a greater devilish look. He thrust out his arm holding the lightsabers, somehow finding a free finger to point at Spy accusingly.
“I claim these trophies because of you,” Grievous taunted, exposing the inside of his cape, revealing a dozen lightsabers already fastened to its underside, then added the three he held to his collection.
The world began shaking, lightly at first, then more violently. Grievous began to dissipate, dissolving completely out of existence, and a voice began calling out throughout the darkness. “Hey, Spy, ya'lright?”
“Hey, Spy, ya'lright?” Applejack asked concernedly as she lightly shook the sleeping clone. His eyes shot open immediately and his hand instinctively went down to his holster. Finding it empty, he sighed and sat up. “You were gettin’ a little twitchy there. Bad dream?”
“No, it’s not that,” said Spy as he stretched his arms out. “I just had some...strange hallucination. Is that a side effect of apples?”
“Uh, no,” she stated bluntly. “What you had was a bad dream.”
That caught Spy’s attention. “A...dream?”
Applejack scoffed in annoyance. “Seriously? Do ya not know what a ‘dream’ is?”
“No, I know what dreaming is...I think; it’s just that us clones are conditioned to not dream when we sleep,” he explained. “We’ve got to be alert and aware of our surroundings at all times, even when sleeping, just in case something tries to get a cheap shot on us, and dreams and nightmares are distractions in that regard.”
She gave him a sympathetic look. “This Republic’a yers really seems ta not like you or yer kin.”
“It’s not my Republic anymore. Anyways, you’re here, so I imagine it’s time for briefing?”
“Not quite,” she answered. “It’s regardin‘ you and Rainbow; Ah’ll tell ya both when she’s up.” Applejack then made towards Rainbow, stopping just below the rafter she was soundly resting on. “Rainbow!” Applejack shouted. “Get yer lazy behind up!”
Rainbow didn’t stir. More shouting failed to rouse the dead-to-the-world peagsus. “Alright, where’s my lasso?” Applejack asked aloud, giving up the passive approach, and began to scrounge around the barn for a length of rope to make a lasso out of. When her search came up empty, she growled in annoyance. “Sit tight there,” she ordered, “Ah’ll be back in a sec.”
Finally standing up, Spy bunched up his covering and laid it next to his pillow, saying to her, “Don’t bother; I’ll get her for you.” He received a wary look from Applejack, but she didn’t object. There was a wooden support column that connected with the rafter Dash was sleeping on, and the way she was laying left her head only about a foot from the connection point. Spy made his way to said column. It was only about a meter higher than he was, and looked like it would be no trouble to climb. He wrapped his legs around the column and used the friction between his thigh armor and the wood to shimmy his way up. The column held, and in no time, he was level with Dash.
There was something about waking others up in creative ways that Spy seemed to excel at. Sadly, while he didn’t have Haze on hand to repeat Shy’s genius technique, something devious quickly came to mind. It was fortunate that Dash’s face was so close, or else his idea would have not been plausible.
Carefully, he leaned towards her so that his face was only a few inches from her face, then put on an unblinking, zombie-like look. Creepy face ready, he inhaled quietly, then blew a light puff of air into her face.
The effect was immediate. She twitched a little, then groggily opened her eyes, only to find the clone’s unsettling visage mere inches away. Dash’s eyes widened drastically, and she let out a yelp and rolled to the side, falling off the rafter and only barely managing to catch herself before she would have hit the ground. One of her flailing limbs managed to catch the clone in the face, knocking him loose from the column. He fell to his back with a loud thud, but that failed to stop his hysterical outburst.
Even Applejack snickered a little at her friend’s expense, but Rainbow was much less enthused. “What the buck was that!?” she shouted at Spy, disgruntled, but Spy continued to fail to contain himself. “That wasn’t funny!”
“As a prankster yerself, Ah’d’a thought you’d be a bit more receptive to a good joke,” Applejack remarked as she made her way to Spy’s side to help him up. “Ya’lright?”
His laughter finally subsiding, Spy pushed himself into a sitting position. “Yeah, I’m fine. Armor took the brunt of the fall. I’ll probably take it off today, though, since I probably won’t be needing it, and it’ll be good to finally get out of it. Anyways, the two of us are up, so what did you want to say?”
“Right, well,” Applejack started, shifting her focus to Dash, “when Ah went in ta get blankets and such fer the both of ya last night, everypony else was asleep, so right now, nopony else knows that the two of ya are here, and Ah’m not gonna let Spy near Applebloom, at least not yet.
“So here’s the deal:” she said, looking between the both of them, “Ah want ta sit down for breakfast with just us Apples ta tell ‘em ‘bout the situation. While Ah do that, the two of ya sit tight here. Big Mac’s gonna bring Applebloom to school, at which point Ah’ll come here and, if Granny Smith’s up to meetin’ an alien, bring the both of ya in for your breakfasts. If she’s not, then Ah’ll sit in here to watch Spy as Rainbow gets somethin’ ta eat, while you, Spy, can just use yer magic food basket thing.”
There was no objection from either of them, so Applejack left the barn and returned to the house. As soon as she had left, Rainbow returned to her previous spot, contented to just lay there, saying nothing to Spy, who took the opportunity to remove his armor. With practiced motions, he unsealed and removed each of his armor plates from the black bodysuit underneath, setting them against the nearby wall. Out of habit, he reached up to his head to remove his helmet.
He snickered when his hand met nothing, the fact that Dash was in possession of his helmet having slipped his mind up to that point, which reminded him of of something else that had been bugging him since joining the company of the unfriendly pegasus. “Hey, Dash, remember yesterday when we first ran into each other and you told me that my face was different? What did you mean by that?”
Not even bothering to give the clone her attention, she answered, “One of your pod thingys landed close to Canterlot, so Grievous ran there and I followed. There were some clones there that we fought off, but their helmets had a T shape as opposed to what you’ve got. At the time, though, I didn’t know that they were helmets, and thought they were actually your face.”
“By fought,” Spy hesitantly asked as he wriggled out of the bodysuit, “do you mean...killed?”
“Hey, I didn’t kill anypony; Grievous did,” Rainbow snapped, rolling to look down to Spy. “And I only got involved to protect Grievous, ‘cause one of you guys was gonna shoot him in the back, and whether you like it or not, Grievous is my friend. Plus, one of them tried to shoot me.”
With the bodysuit off, Spy was left in his standard non-combat clothing: a red shirt with dark red sleeves, a red pair of pants, and a pair of light grey socks. Having no other footwear options, Spy put his boots and shin plates roughly back on, though without the bodysuit, they didn’t seal perfectly, which was no matter, as he didn’t expect to face combat again for some time. While he was at it, and since he thought that it looked cool, he put his gloves back on as well as the rest of his lower arm armor.
As he did this, he contemplated what Dash had said. A slight frown formed on his face, his playful mood from earlier now killed. Suddenly, things seemed to make sense as to why Dash simply radiated hate towards him: she had already had a mentally scarring experience with clones and blasters. Since running into her, he had done nothing but point guns and other weapons at her and her friends. He’d been nothing but a jerk, and it was no wonder why exactly zero ponies seemed at all okay with his presence. Since he was counting his sins, why not tack on the exactly zero squadmates to the list of those who were happy that he existed.
“Look, Dash, I’m sorry,” he said, tone serious, more so than it had been at any point since arriving on-planet. He sat down on his makeshift mattress while he considered the wording of his apology, which caught Dash’s interest.
“Sorry for what?” she asked, confusion etched on her face.
“I think you know very well what it is, Dash. It’s been less than a day and already I’ve threatened to kill you at least twice and Applejack once. You have to understand the desperation of my situation to see why I chose to be so disregarding of your and your friends’ lives, but even understanding won’t bring justification.” With a pleading expression, he looked up to her, and she glared back. “I know full well that my actions thus far may and likely will never be forgiven, by any of you, but please, Dash, at the very least, allow me to attempt to redeem myself in the eyes of you and your friends.”
She stared at him contemplatively for a few moments, considering his words. “It sounds like you’re asking to be my friend,” she inferred as she attempted to decide a course of action.
“That...would be nice,” the clone admitted. “But,” he started, then shrugged, “I’m certain I’m already too far gone for that.”
“I don’t know about that,” she started lightheartedly. “At least you haven’t threatened to lead Equestria into eternal chaos, done Celestia-knows-what to the Princess, and made my friends and I all hate each other in an attempt to rule Equestria forever. And yet, somehow Fluttershy has managed to befriend Discord, so...I’d say your offenses are rather small compared to that.”
“Discord? Not the same Discord who gave me my magical basket of awesome fruitiness, right?” he asked, bewildered. How could someone who makes such divine creations be responsible for such atrocities?
“Eeyup,” Dash said with a smirk. “The very same Discord. See now why we were all so hesitant to trust that basket?”
He eyed said basket with a cautionary glance, hoping that Discord didn’t rig it to do something awful, or that it wasn’t secretly a weapon of some kind. Its ability to create something from nothing already astounded him, but it also served to remind him that he had no idea of what was possible and what wasn’t on this world. With that kind of logic, though, perhaps forgiveness was a possibility after all.
“Anyways,” Dash said, “Applejack is definitely a better judge of character than I am, so I’ll take her word on stuff regarding you. So if she likes you, chances are I will too.” Narrowing her eyes, she said to him in a dangerous tone, “For your own good, you better work hard today and impress her.”
Despite her tone, Spy could tell that her ‘warning’ was meant in a joking nature, and he gave her a thin smile. A weight felt as if it had been lifted off Spy’s shoulders now that he had begun the path to some sort of atonement. There was nothing left to say, and nothing more to do until Applejack returned, so he let himself sprawl over his haystack and zone out peacefully…
...only to be immediately interrupted by the creaking of the barn’s doors, indicating Applejack’s return. Said mare slowly nosed the barn door open, cracking it enough for her to squeeze her head in. Her eyes scanned the barn interior, quickly locating Dash on the rafters, to whom she said, “Granny ain’t up to meetin’ aliens today, so why don’t ya go on in ‘n’ grab a bite. Ah’ll stay out here with Spy while you do that.”
“Will do, AJ!” Dash excitedly agreed as she hopped to her hooves and zipped to the door, which she held open so Applejack could enter. Balanced on Applejack’s back was a tray of food, though it looked as if it would topple with any sudden movements, hence her slow walk in Spy’s direction. “I’ll try not to be too long,” Rainbow said with a salute. She didn’t give Applejack any time to respond before she had already sped out of the barn. Chuckling at her friend’s enthusiasm, Applejack made it to Spy’s hay bale without incident and carefully slid the tray onto a space that Spy had cleared.
For the life of him, Spy couldn’t recognize any of the foods on the tray. There were four rather large circular things, two of them flat and tan, the other two yellow with a grid pattern impressed into it, and they were all doused in some sort of semitransparent brown syrup. Also on the tray was a small glass of some foamy golden drink as well as a fork and knife. He decided against asking why ponies had silverware that required hands to operate.
Tentatively, Spy grabbed the fork and poked at the circular things in front of him with a questioning look, which Applejack picked up on. “Ah know Ah said that you’d be using that basket ya got from Discord to feed yourself, but there ain’t no way any conjuration’a his is gonna beat Granny’s cookin’. These’re called waffles,” she said, pointing to the patterned circles, “and the others’re called pancakes, or flapjacks, whichever you prefer.”
“They look delicious,” Spy commented, remembering back to the tasteless, odorless ration blobs that the Republic passed off as food that he didn’t miss in the slightest. He also noticed that, unlike his typical meal, these ‘pancakes’ and ‘waffles’ had a smell to them, and a pleasant one at that. “They smell good, too,” he said. “Do civvies always eat stuff like this?”
“Uh...no,” Applejack answered. “These’re actually really basic compared to the stuff ponies normally eat. Why? What’s food like where you’re from?”
Well, that was an easy question to answer. He tapped the wooden wall behind him. “Imagine eating a squishy block of wood. I haven’t actually done that, but I would assume that the experience is approximately the same or better.”
A disgusted look crossed Applejacks face as she tried to wipe the imagined taste off her tongue. “That’s terrible! Is it like that everywhere?”
“Nah, just for us clones. Really, for a government that claims to hold the moral high ground, it really treats its soldiers like dirt. Worse than, actually.”
“Could ya tell me one good thing ‘bout the Republic?” Applejack asked, curious to hear if there were any redeeming qualities to it.
And if there were, they were obviously few and far between, as it took Spy a couple of minutes of contemplation to form an answer. “Um...I guess I can be proud that the face of the Republic is not some evil, scheming Sith lord. Other than that...nothing.”
“Shame; makes me a might bit happier that Grievous found us first.” Applejack gestured towards Spy’s food, quickly changing topics. “Anyway, Ah figured you’d appreciate somethin’ other than apples ta eat, and waffles ‘n’ pancakes’re a good way to start off th’ mornin’.”
He gave her a quick nod and a small smile, saying, “I greatly appreciate the consideration,” before hungrily attacking the food.
In very little time, Spy had consumed his portion and was satisfied with the amount he was given. Not long after he had finished eating, Rainbow returned from her own meal, and now the two of them stood ready to listen to what Applejack had on the agenda for the day.
“We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us today,” the farm mare began, pacing in front of the other as they stood at attention, out of habit for Spy, and probably because it just seemed like the right thing to do for Dash. “The whole changeling thing put mah buckin’ schedule a li’l behind, but thanks ta Pinkie yesterday, the two’a us managed ta harvest everythin’ that I planned to. Normally, Ah’d’ve stored the apples in the barn, but since Pinkie wanted to have her party here, we instead put them in the cellar just behind the barn.
“With the buckin’ done, all that’s left is ta pick out the bad apples and sort and package the good ones. When we’ve actually got some apples to sort, Ah’ll tell ya how ta sort’em, but first thing’s first, we’ve gotta get a couple’a the barrels out from the cellar.” Her brief explanation of the day’s work finished, Applejack looked to Spy and Dash. “Any questions?”
“No, ma’am,” they said in unison, Dash giving her a salute as well.
Nothing more needing to be said, Applejack turned towards the barn door and led the way out, holding it open for Dash and Spy to exit, leading them around to the back of the barn once they had. Sure enough, behind the barn was an entrance to an underground cellar. Applejack swung open the pair or doors that closed it off, revealing a steep staircase into a sizable storage room dimly lit by a lantern hanging inside.
She carefully climbed down the steps, and, reaching the bottom, prompted Spy and Dash to follow suit. Dash made it down first, forgoing the steps completely, and Spy quickly made his way down after her. Fortunately for him, the roof was high enough to accommodate his height without him needing to adjust his stance. On the side of the room opposite the staircase was a large number of neatly stacked barrels, looking to be about forty in total. A couple of empty barrels to either side of the staircase were the only other things in storage.
Spy took the initiative and began to make his way to the filled barrels in the back. Seeing this, Applejack began to relay instructions. “Alright, we’re gonna need ta take one of these here empty barrels up as a place to toss the bad apples.” She turned to Rainbow, saying to her, “Dash, if you could help me with one quickly, that’d be great.” Then turning to Spy, who had already wrestled one of the barrels out, she said, “Once me ‘n’ Dash’re done with this, we can help ya bring that up if it’s too heavy for ya.”
While the barrel certainly wasn’t light, it wasn’t too heavy for the soldier to manage, the filled barrel weighing in at around forty pounds, he guessed. With it in his arms, he returned to the staircase, which Applejack and Dash had almost finished ascending, the empty barrel on Applejack’s back and Dash flying behind to ensure the barrel didn’t fall off. Once the stairway was clear, he made his own ascension.
The thing about a staircase made by and for ponies only half his height was that the steps were sorely undersized, and seemed especially more so when carrying weighty cargo. He had to walk up the stairs sideways in an awkward crab-like fashion to get maximum footing, but even then, he felt as if he would stumble with every step.
And once near the top, he actually did. With the bulky barrel in his arms partially obstructing his vision, he misstepped, putting only half his foot on the next step before putting his weight on it, causing it to slip and him to tip forward. “Uh-oh,” Spy managed to get out before taking his tumble. The ponies were quick to react, though, Applejack rushing down to stop his fall from the front while Dash sped to steady him from the back. “Thanks,” he said to each of them, giving them both a grateful smile. They helped keep him upright as he finished climbing the last few steps.
When he was finally out of the cellar, Spy carefully set the barrel down next to the empty one Dash and Applejack had carried up. “Them arms’a yers’re mighty convenient for this kind’a work,” Applejack commented as she shouldered the empty barrel onto her back. “Aside from yer misstep, you did that by yourself in half the time it usually takes me ‘n’ Big Mac ta do it.”
“I’m curious now,” Spy said, picking his filled barrel back up, “how do you usually do this?”
Applejack began walking back around to the front of the barn, so Spy and Dash followed. “Well, since Big Mac’s a heavier lifter than Ah am, he goes down ‘n’ ties a rope ‘round one of the barrels, then gives the other end of the rope to me while he carries it on his back. Ah act ta steady it while he goes ‘n’ moves it. It’s actually quite th’ effort ta move these for us, so what we usually do is bring the one we just took inta the barn and sort it ‘fore we grab another barrel.”
As the three of them turned the front corner, they saw Big Mac making his way towards them, having finished bringing Applebloom safely to school. Upon his back was a pair of large wooden baskets, which were to be where their sorted apples were placed. What was unexpected, though, was what was to either side of Big Mac. Or rather, who.
Bouncing to his left was the ever cheerful Pinkie Pie, though her smile waned a bit at the sight of Spy, and to Big Mac’s right was the ever elegant Rarity.
“Good morning, Applejack,” Rarity greeted as the two groups converged in front of the barn door.
“Rarity, Pinkie, what’re ya’ll doin’ here?”
“We’re here to help you watch the alien!” Pinkie explained.
“Yes, that’s right,” agreed Rarity, “though if you need assistance with anything else, we’re here to help with that, too. Pinkie told me that you would be busy today as a result of the changeling incident, and perhaps too busy to watch the alien, so we’ve come to help alleviate that burden.”
“‘preciate it.” Applejack did a quick head count announcing, “with six’a us sharin’ the load, Ah reckon we can be done with everythin’ ‘fore dinner.” She shifted the barrel on her back to a more comfortable position. “Well, no more dilly dallyin’,” Applejack proclaimed, heading to the barn, the door to which Big Mac had already propped open with Spy’s mattress as the others conversed.
She entered, and the others followed. While normally when dropping of a load as large and rugged as the barrel, she would simply dump it carelessly onto the ground. With help from Dash, though, she instead eased it off her back with it landing upright. Big Mac followed by setting the baskets he carried down near the empty barrel, then indicated to Spy to drop his cargo adjacent to the empty barrel.
It was then that Spy noticed the large red pony -Big Mac, he suspected- giving him a contemplative look. It was the first time the pony had seen him, though, so it only made sense for the pony to size him up. He hoped that he didn’t appear too imposing; having ponies fear and hate him wasn’t Spy’s goal, after all. “You must be Big Mac,” Spy said, deciding to break the ice with a friendly good impression.
“Eeyup.”
“And you’re...Pinkie Pie,” Spy continued, correctly pointing to Pinkie Pie, “and that makes you” -he nodded towards the present unicorn- “Rarity. Right? I just want to be sure I’ve got your names since I don’t know you all as well as Dash and Applejack.”
“You would have that correct,” Rarity answered.
Awkward silence pervaded them for a few seconds after that. Big Mac stopped looking over Spy after another couple seconds and walked over to Applejack. “We’ll burn through that barrel right quick with six’a us sortin’,” he pointed out softly. “Tell ya what: ya’ll sort while the alien ‘n’ Ah grab more barrels from th’ cellar.”
Applejack didn’t need to worry about Spy trying anything around Big Mac: she was already fairly confident that Spy was going to behave himself as it was, but even if he didn’t, Big Mac would be able to take care of himself...and Spy, too. With that considered already, she didn’t bother questioning him or answering him directly, instead speaking loud enough to address everyone. “Alright everypony, listen up! Since we got help this time, Mac’s ‘n’ Ah’s normal one-barrel-at-a-time method ain’t gonna work so well, so us girls’ll sort and package while Big Mac ‘n’ Spy grab more barrels fer us ta sort from the cellar.”
An array of affirmative responses replied back, and they made to begin their assigned tasks, Rarity, Dash, and Applejack surrounding the filled barrel already present while Big Mac trotted towards the barn door. Spy, however, lingered to say something to Pinkie. As she passed by him, he grabbed her fluffy tail and lightly tugged, successfully getting her attention. To his dismay, she wilted slightly under his gaze, so he squatted, hoping that by making himself appear smaller, she’d be more comfortable. And it’d make his apology seem more sincere.
“Hey, Pinkie,” Spy started, his tone apologetic. “About yesterday, when I sorta tricked Dash into popping your droid friends? And for pretty much everything else? I wanted to say sorry for all that, so...sorry.” With the apology said, Pinkie began to turn away, but stopped as Spy continued. “There’s just a couple things I want you to understand, though. Firstly, if I didn’t kill them, they’d’ve killed me, so it was premature self-defense. Secondly, they were droids. I don’t know how much your kind knows of robotics, but droids have no minds of their own, and would be just as capable of being someone’s friend as a pile of rocks. Rocks, at least, aren’t total jerks like battle droids are.”
Pinkie slightly, but still visibly, perked as Spy concluded speaking. “Apology accepted,” she replied. “Everypony deserves a second chance, after all. I’m not naïve enough to be unaware of the fact that you and them were enemies, and that ponies die in war, but knowing that they were robots makes me feel much better about it.” She then adopted a wide stance and determined expression, proclaiming, “But, as Celestia as my witness, I will make a super awesome robo-droid buddy!”
He smirked at her antics. “Heh, I’ve got a droid in mind that you’d simply adore. Maybe you’ll meet him, if you’re lucky...and if I haven’t inadvertently gotten him killed.” Glancing to the other girls, who had already made good progress going through the barrel, and then to Big Mac, who was waiting patiently for him by the door, he decided that they both ought to get to work. “Big Mac’s waiting for me. Off you go.” Without objection, Pinkie bounced over to assist her friends, and Spy went over to Big Mac, following him outside and back around to the barn’s backside.
“Sorry about making you wait,” he said to Big Mac as the two of them rounded the nearest corner of the barn.
“‘s no problem. Ya needed ta ‘pologize, and ya did, like any good stallion would do.”
“Oh, I’m far from good,” Spy admitted glumly.
They reached the cellar, the door to which was still open. “Prove yerself wrong,” was Big Mac’s reply before he descended the stairs. There was an air about Big Mac that seemed to prompt Spy to not dally with pointless words -so effectively from saying anything at all- an air which he was sure Gore would be envious of. That being the case, Spy said nothing in response and silently followed behind.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Spy immediately headed to the back where he had pulled the previous barrel from, but Big Mac tugged his hand as he passed to stop him. Now having Spy’s attention, Big Mac gestured to a pair of empty barrels near the small staircase, then went in the direction Spy was initially headed. Even without speaking, Spy understood what Big Mac was instructing.
Thanks to his height and arms, Spy was able to simply toss the barrels out of the cellar from the foot of the stairs, and when that had been done, Big Mac already had one of the filled barrels on his back and presented to Spy. He took the barrel off Big Mac’s back and cautiously carried it up while Big Mac followed closely behind, keeping a sturdy hoof on the barrel to help steady it in Spy’s grip. The process was fast, and in seemingly no time at all, the two were returning to the others with the barrels, one of the empty ones on Big Mac’s back, the filled one being carried by Spy, and the final empty one being clumsily kicked in the general direction of their destination.
Things inside were running just as smoothly, as the previous barrel had nearly been completely sorted by the time they got back. Setting the empty barrels aside for later use and dropping the filled one next to the now nearly empty one, the two of them left again to continue the cycle, albeit without collecting any additional empty barrels.
Red apples in one basket, green ones in the other, and rotten apples into the designated barrel. Full baskets being emptied into another barrel intended for the color of its contents. Newly filled and sorted barrels being sealed and rolled out of the way, and a new empty barrel taking its place. A fresh, unsorted barrel arriving just as the current one was nearing completion.
Such was the well oiled machine that managed to run well into the morning. Nearing noon, progress continued, but wear on all six of their parts slowed the progress down considerably. It was fortunate, though, that they had nearly finished their work, surprising Applejack and Big Mac by sorting in a couple of hours what normally took the two of them all day.
It had been a good morning’s work, and Applejack was compelled to let everyone take a short break for lunch, or water at the very least, but was prompted otherwise when Spy entered and declared that there were only two barrels remaining out of the thirty that there had been to sort. The home stretch in sight, she decided instead to push through, then reward and thank everyone with a full, satisfying meal.
The skies began to gray as Spy and Big Mac departed to grab the second from final barrel, and weatherponies could be seen arranging sizable storm clouds over Ponyville. “Oh yeah, the weather schedule got a little messed up too,” Dash remembered upon seeing the darkened sky. “A big storm was planned for a couple days ago, but it had to be delayed, so now there’s gonna be an even bigger one to make up for it.”
“Uh, should you be up there helpin’ with settin’ it up, then?” Applejack asked Dash, concerned that she was interfering with her friend’s duties.
“Na,” Dash assured, resuming her work. “I get ‘special leave for royal duties and matters of defense’, as the weather committee puts it, which helping you is, in a roundabout way.” The first droplets of rain could be heard beginning to patter on the roof. It began as a light sprinkle, but only took seconds to develop into downpour. “Sucks for Big Mac and Spy; at least we’re almost done.”
When the mentioned individuals finally returned, they were thoroughly soaked, and a layer of mud coated their respective boots and hooves. “I’m so glad we’re almost finished,” Spy muttered as he set down his cargo. “Rain is annoying as it is while wearing full body armor, nigh unbearable without.” He and Big Mac then left to secure the final barrel.
Climbing back up the stairs with said barrel in hand was slightly more taxing while it was wet and somewhat slippery, making the already undersized steps more of a hazard than was necessary. But he and Big Mac managed to climb out without incident, and the pony shut the door behind them. Spy waited for Big Mac to finish closing and locking the cellar before following him back to the barn. While he doubted Big Mac would have minded if Spy had gone on ahead without him, Spy couldn’t bring himself to leave Big Mac out alone in the pouring rain, despite his personal qualms with the precipitation.
As they rounded the final corner of the day, Spy saw what he thought was a pink bubble coming towards them, though it was blurred slightly by the rain. Big Mac seemed to recognize it, though, and waited patiently for it to come. Spy, though, had apples to deliver, so went inside to drop them off.
“What’s Big Mac waitin’ for?” Applejack shouted to Spy over the sound of the rain when she noticed her brother not entering with him.
“All I saw was a pink bubble. More visitors, I think.”
“Hey there, Big Mac,” was heard from outside mere seconds later, spoken with the unmistakable voice of Twilight. Big Mac, in response, nodded, and waited for her and her accompanying BBBFF to enter before moving the hay stack that had been propping the door open out of the way, finally letting the door close. Things inside the barn were significantly quieter with the rain now muffled.
Twilight and Shining Armor were surrounded by a bubble shield turned umbrella of Shining’s conjuring, which he let dissipate now that they were indoors. “Howdy, Twi,” Applejack greeted, approaching them as they entered further.
“Greetings Twilight; Prince Armor,” Rarity called from elsewhere. “Please, don’t tell me you were actually walking in that rain now.”
“Hello everyone,” Twilight greeted in return, making sure to include Spy with her terminology.
“What’re you doin’ all the way out here?” Applejack asked, getting straight to the point, having not been expecting any of her friends visiting, let alone almost all of them.
“Shiny and I were on our way to Fluttershy’s to help her with something, and since you’re on the way, we decided to just drop by to see how things with Spy were going,” Twilight answered. She looked to the drenched clone, who was occupied wiping water off of the bits of armor he wore. “Looks like things haven’t gone sour, which is good.”
“It’s funny because that’s why Rarity and I are here too!” Pinkie declared.
“Spy’s been mighty cooperative,” Applejack reported. “And he’s been exceptionally helpful today; there’s something to those arms of his that make certain things so much easier.”
Twilight chuckled to that. “Heh, you know, I haven’t told him, but I feel the same way towards Spike. Anyways,” she glanced around, noting the highly unequal human-to-pony ratio, “if things are all good here, then Shiny and I should probably get going; we’re a little late to Fluttershy’s as it is.”
“Tell her I said hi, would ya?” Spy blurted, still toiling with his armor.
“Um...yes, I’ll tell her you said hi,” Twilight answered hesitantly, not having expected Spy out of any of them to request that of her. On that note, she and Shining said their farewells. Big Mac held the door open for them as they left, and Shining produced another bubble shield to keep the pair of them dry. As the door was held ajar, the deafening roar of the tremendous downpour drowned out everything.
Thus, everyone missed when Pinkie happily proclaimed that they had finished sorting through the final barrel just then. So, with just as much enthusiasm as the first time, she repeated herself as soon as Big Mac had gently closed the door and greatly muffled the rain, no longer a dry spot on him.
“Wow, really?” Applejack questioned in disbelief. But the results were all around her; thirty barrels of disorganized apples had been sorted into twenty barrels of red, ten barrels of green, and a half barrel of apples for the compost. “And here Ah thought that this’d be an all day thing with just me, Spy, ‘n’ Big Mac. Thanks for all yer help, girls.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed, coming to Applejack’s side and giving their helpers an appreciative smile.
“Tell ya girls what: when the rain dies down a bit, we all head inside th’ house ‘n’ Ah’ll whip up some treats for ya’ll ta thank you.”
To that, Rarity rolled her eyes. “Applejack, we’re your friends, and it’s our honor to assist you when you are in need of it, and you don’t need to do anything special for us. But, I know that you’re a stubborn mare who won’t be declined.”
Curious, Spy considered, taking a seat on his drenched haystack mattress that Big Mac had replaced. Unconditional giving...that’s something you don’t see nowadays.
Once again, the thundering of the rainfall suppressed all other sound as the door was once again pushed open. “Where’re you goin’?” Applejack shouted to Big Mac before he could take his first step outside.
“Inside,” he answered, “ta check up on Granny.”
Applejack didn’t say anything back to him as he braved the rain, shutting the door behind him again, silencing the rain.
Only minutes had passed since Big Mac had left. Spy continued to slowly dry off on his haystack while the girls all sat in a circle in the middle of the barn, chatting. The rain began to audibly die down, but upon Rarity’s insistence that the rain would tarnish her mane and theirs, they stayed put in the barn instead of going to the house.
The clone paid no heed to the ponies’ conversation, though. He instead thought back to his weird dream about Grievous, trying to decipher any meaning from it. Rumor had it among the clones that the droid general took the lightsabers of any Jedi he defeated in battle as a trophy, that being only a rumor since clones who faced the general alongside a Jedi who fell died as well nearly one hundred percent of the time. Considering that there were no Jedi on the planet for Grievous to steal lightsabers from that he was aware of, Spy inferred that the weapons dream-Grievous claimed were to be interpreted symbolically, if they had any meaning at all.
Then there was Grievous faulting Spy for allowing him to take them. He found that weird, since Spy hadn’t allowed Grievous to kill anyone, at least that he knew of. So whose death was his dream foretelling?
Very faintly, over the sound of the rain, Spy heard the unmistakable sound of weapon fire.
That was it! His squad -that’s what the lightsabers represented! The blades were blue, red, and orange, matching Viktor, Gore, and Shy respectively. Grievous putting his ‘claiming of them’ on Spy’s shoulders -it made sense now: the dream was just his subconscious reinforcing the thought that, in all likelihood, Spy’s abandoning them had caused their demise. That realization all because some random, distant blaster fire reminded him of his squad.
Wait...blaster fire!?
He stood up nervously, identifying the shot’s origin to be roughly in the direction of the rear of the barn. His movement caught the attention of the sitting ponies, who halted their conversation completely to observe him.
“Something wrong, Spy?” Rarity questioned.
Weapon fire could only mean one of a few things: either a clone had come to the area and shot a droid, a clone had come to the area and had been shot a droid, a clone had come to the area and shot a pony, or a droid had shot one. The last two scenarios Spy feared.
“Did you guys hear that?”
“Hear what?” Applejack asked, rising to her hooves as well.
“Blaster fire; over in a that way direction,” Spy said, pointing in the suspected direction. Recalling from the night prior, Spy asked, “Fluttershy lives that way, right? Meaning Twilight's headed that way.”
“Yeah. And...?
How did they not get the implication!? “And that means Twilight and Shiny are headed towards the shooter, and one of them very well may have been the one being shot at.”
Applejack blanched, knowing full well now what Spy was implying. “C'mon girls, break's over; we're checking ta see if Twi's alright.”
Not a care was given for the survival of their manes as the ponies rushed into the rain in pursuit of their purple friend, all hoping for the best. Spy lagged, staying behind just long enough to grab his bacta injection from his belt, which had fortuitously not been confiscated. He and the others hoped it wouldn't be needed, but he felt it necessary to bring it anyways. Just in case.