//------------------------------// // Child Labor // Story: Earning Freedom // by Daxisle //------------------------------// Child Labor Humming to himself, Spike walked along the darkened, early morning streets of Ponyville, his destination firmly in mind that rushed emotions of excitement and nervousness through the young dragon's chest. Today was the day he was going to begin something new, today was the day he'd get his first job. As he wondered, he looked at the clock tower off in the distance, the moon of the early morn gave just enough light for him to tell that it was almost four thirty. And like clock work, the stallion he'd come to see was just exiting his house. "Hey Sin." Spike greeted happily, causing the oaken pony to jump in an uncharacteristic display of fright. "Spike! Dammit, don't sneak up on me like that!" Sin barked with a shiver. "Heh, sorry." Spike replied, rubbing the back of his neck with a claw. He didn't mean to scare his former mentor, but then again he wasn't really being loud or anything either. When questioned about the reason for him being out so early, the drake reminded Sin of his offer from before. Something didn't seem quite right with Sin today, he seemed more skittish and nervous than usual, but Spike was too preoccupied with his the upcoming job to care. "Yea, right. Right, I forgot about that. Wait, you want to start today?" The purple dragon nodded. Though his excitement gave way to annoyance as his face, more importantly his eye, was being observed. "You sure you don't want to take some time to recover from-" "It's fine." He dismissed with a wave of his hand. That seemed to have done the job, the oaken pony agreed and lead the dragon through town and out to Whitetale Wood. While enrout, he was told the specifics of the job. What he'd be doing starting off, how dangerous the work environment was, proper lifting techniques, personal protective equipment, all of that. Much to Sin's amusement, Spike shrugged off the warnings of how hazardous the mill could be. He was a dragon, dragon scales were much more tough than pony flesh. Though, as the walk continued, and the facility came into view, the dragon's bravado swiftly left him. Big, circular saws with jagged and razor sharp edges lay intermittent along two long conveyor belts that spanned a good three hundred feet into the wood. A large, tall crane sat at, what Spike figured, was the beginning of the process. The boom was fully retracted, but it's purpose was clear. Beside the crane sat dozens of giant racks, some holding large logs that were soon to be placed onto the belt and pushed through the first to cut it in half and then more to make slimmer and slimmer planks. At the end, he saw a few large wagons, and a net work of silver pipes crossing over a portion of the conveyor near the end. Small exhaust pipes stuck out from a large, oven looking box with a small mountain of chopped wood standing tall beside it. Behind that, an extremely large water tower with pipes connecting to the stove, leading the drake to conclude the entire thing was steam powered. His attention was only on the details for a moment, as his eyes were brought back to the large saw that stood at the end of the first zone. It was half exposed, with the other half of the blade buried in the conveyor. The moon light caught it's sharpened teeth at just the right angle to make them shine and sheen, like the maw of some encroaching beat ready to render his flesh from the bone. "Early as always." The voice broke Spike from his thoughts, and he looked up to find a larger brown earth pony approaching. His coat was shade or two darker than Sin's, and his black mane looked unkempt but had a certain sense of organized chaos to it. "You just love wasting away here, don't you, you reclusive son of a bitch?" Spike's eyes widened at the insult and he looked to the mentioned with nervousness. "Well, what can I say, Jack? If it weren't for your piss poor management, we wouldn't be wasting anything." Sin replied dryly. Jaw dropping, Spike's eyes shot between the two as they stared eachother down. Why were they insulting each other like this? Before he could voice his complaint, Jack chuckled and shook his head. "Bucker." He mumbled tiredly before pushing unlocking the door and pushing his way inside. Despite the obviously rude encounter, the pony didn't seem to be holding a grudge, much to Spike's relief. "Sin, what the hay?!" He asked in a harsh whisper. The stallion gave the drake a tired smirk before following his boss. He'd keep his mouth shut for now, but the dragon vowed there would be words about this later. Spike timidly walked into the small log cabin and was surprised to find that the thing actually had a kitchen inside. Small counters, a sink and a couple of coffee makers. At the other end of the kitchen was another door, this one revealing the office he'd expected to see. "So, are you going to acknowledge the dragon with me, or what?" The black maned pony leaned back in his chair and covered his eyes with booth hooves. "Noooo." He wined. "If I acknowledge him than I have to say hi, then I have to be pleasant and nice and social and..." He sighed, "it's just too early for that." Sin shook his head and told Spike to have a seat while he made the first batches of coffee. While the stallion was busy with that, Spike sat and waited. He'd seen Sin playful only a handful of times, and only with another handful of ponies. Yet here he was having a sarcastic exchange like it was an every day occurrence. "Cream and sugar's over there." Sin said, placing two cups on the table for himself and Spike. "Oi! Where's my coffee?" Jack asked, still leaning against his chair. Sin smirked. "In here, waiting for you to get off your lazy ass and get it." Spike chuckled at the banter, the Twilight and her friends would never let him work here if they heard this. Grumbling, Jack entered the kitchen and got himself his own cup of life giving brew, mumbling about how he needed to get an assistance for such menial tasks like this. All in good humor of course. "So, this is the guy you were talking about?" He asked, taking a seat across from Spike. Sin nodded and gave and introduced the dragon, Spike raised his claw and shook Jack's hoof. Gripping firmly as instructed before to leave a good impression. "Nice to meet you." In an instant, Lumber Jacker's eyes turned from casual and tired to cold and calculating as they analyzed the drake. His intense stare unnerved Spike, but he kept himself composed and neutral, showing no weakness or reservation. "Seems kinda chubby." The manager stated bluntly before taking a sip of his coffee. "Don't let that fool you, boys a hard worker." Sin smirked, only adding to Spike's indignation. What the hay!? I'm right here, you know! 'These guys are plot holes!' Jack pressed his lips over the bitter taste of his black brew and mulled over the prospect, his eyes looking at Spike every so often before looking back to the ceiling. After a few minutes of contemplation, Jacker laughed and agreed to give him a trial run for the day, let Spike see if he liked the job enough to stay before dragging out the paper work and all of that. Apparently, the Federalist had put in a really good word on the dragon's behalf. "The coffee better be brewin'." Groaned another pony as he walked through the open door. This one a behemoth of a stallion, his stature quite a bit larger than Mac's and rivaling that of Celestia. "Oh thank Celestia you- Oh, who's this?" He asked, the tan stallion eyed Spike curiously for a second before looking to Jacker. The manager pony merely smiled knowingly, his eyes shifting from Spike to Sin and back to the pony who'd just entered. No words were spoken, but none needed to be. The pleat shirted pony's eyes widened slightly before taking on their own knowing and mischievous twinkle, his muzzle twisting into a smirk. "Hehe, new guy." The air was filled with the loud rumble of the steam engine and the ever present cry of the saws as they ringed through the day, waiting for their next chance to slash and ring another slab of wood. Spike had been told the specifics of the job prior to arrival, talking didn't happen much and most communication was done verbally for obvious reasons. Adjusting his too small goggles for the hundreath time that day, the dragon pushed himself to return to the the rack. The pony from before, Chopper as he was called, had brought them yet another rack of fallen trees for milling. His hands were covered in blisters from all the rough logs he'd been pushing that day. Even through the gloves, which he was thanking everyone and their mother for at that point, he could still feel the tell tale pressure pain. His arms felt like jello, his legs weren't far behind and his back could easily snap in too if somepony brushed into him. The job itself was hard, but at least it wasn't difficult. Roll a log off of the rack and onto the conveyor belt, hold it steady and when it was half way through the cut, walk back to the rack, get a new one and restart the process over. One would think with the fact that there was little lifting involved, the job would be easy. Oh how Spike wished he could smack those ponies in the face. He'd started off the job well enough, nervous enough due to a story about somepony loosing their arm out of bad training. But that turned out to be just a story to scare the new guy perpetuated by the next guy on the conveyor, Blade, who was a notorious prankster. At least, Spike hoped it was just a prank. Sin assured him it was, so did Jacker and Chopper, but Blade gave an ominous and sarcastic "yea, of course it's all just a joke" that was set the drake on edge. Still, Spike went through with the job. It started off easily enough, but by the time Lunch hit, he could feel the burn and weakening of his muscles kick in. The constant pushing, pulling, lifting, reaching, bending was anything but easy on his body. As if that wasn't bad enough, it was onto his position to get the ball rolling in order for the others to do their jobs. If he didn't get the log onto the conveyor, the others couldn't grab it down the line in order to cut it into farther thinner planks, coat it, and load it. Meaning that any time wasting mistake he made was felt in a ripple effect throughout the entire operation. Just as he was reaching the point of giving up, Sin stopped him from grabbing the next log and pointed to the now recalled boom. Chopper descended his crane, pulled a leaver that displaced the steam energy away from the engine and to one of the larger pipes, silencing the engine and halting the saws and conveyor and dowsed the fire in the oven, The steam energy shot through a small network before it came out in a loud scream, signaling the end of the work day. "Alright, lads! That's it for the day." Jacker said as he walked out from his office. "Lads?" A feminine voice asked from farther down the line. Jack snorted. "Shut it Fiona, you've got bigger balls than most of us." He shot back. Spike would have found the off color comment cringe worthy, but he was expending too much energy trying to stay standing to give it any heed. His hands hurt, his legs hurt, his arms and spine hurt. Matter of fact, every thing hurt, his body was one big walking assortment of pain and soreness. "Well, he made it." Chopper commented heartily as began digging out the ashes from the oven. "Good thing too. Cranky didn't show up and Sin was half assing it all day." Blade remarked, taking a sip from his water bottle. "Piss off." Sin shot back, taking out his ear plugs. Blade shrugged. "I'm just saying, dude. You were pretty sluggish." The banter continued on, but Spike didn't care to hear it. He was exhausted, more so than he'd ever been in his entire life. He had enough energy to think and groan, but that was about it. And with that energy, every last beat of his heart sent a dull, throbbing ache through his muscles. Why had he agreed to this? Why had he wanted this? Was this what being an adult was about? Working yourself into pain? Maybe being a kid wasn't so bad after all. He heard more voices talking about something and he felt himself be picked up and placed on Sin's back. "We wont get another shipment in until Wednesday, I'm afraid." Jacker said, much to the chagrin of most everypony else present. "Great, so it's only going to be a half day tomorrow." Ax and Blade said in unison, the latter much happier about the fact than the former. Jack nodded and instructed everyone to come back in at eleven tomorrow morning. It wasn't often the phenomena of late deliveries happened, but it was an imperfect world. Not that Spike minded in the slightest, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get out of bed for the next week, let alone drag himself all the way here at five AM the day after. Though, the drake did take sollace that he wasn't alone in the work, and tomorrow they'd have even more help. "You alright?" Sin asked, Spike was quiet, a little too quiet apparently. "Tired." He replied, causing Sin to chuckle. "How do you do it? He didn't reply right away, which either meant he was coming up with an analogy, or would explain it in a way Spike would have to rattle his brain in order to understand. "You mean how do I do that kind of work?" Spike nodded, mumbling an add on about surviving it. "Guess I just don't think about it." Sin replied. Spike knew his friend was tough and all, but this job required a pony to be border line crazy to work it. "Yea, that sounds about right." The rest of the walk continued in some much needed peace and quiet. At least until they had gotten back into town. The hustle and bustle robbed him of his peace, irritating the drake a great deal. However, that was nothing compared to what was waiting for him at home. Once at the library, Spike attempted to climb off of his friends back, falling flat onto his face. "Owww." Sin knocked on the door, and Twilight quickly appeared. "Oh, Sin what can I- OH MY GOSH!" Next thing he knew, Spike was lifted from the ground, the familiar tingle of magic tickling all over his body. "What happened to him!" Twilight barked, eyes blaring daggers at the Federalist. He was quick to explain that it wasn't his place and that she should ask Spike about it. "Just make sure he eats bananas and drinks alot of water tonight." The stallion suggested before wandering off about his day. Immediatly, Twilight's eyes turned to her son, her stern eyes dropping to worry. "Spike?" "I'm alright, Twi." He replied as he was gently set down on the couch. As expected, he was given the third degree about his condition, especially when Twilight saw his hands. "What's going on? Where have you been, what's happened to you?!" Taking a breath, the dragon told her exactly where he was. He knew it wouldn't end well, but compared to what he'd gone through today a small lecture was nothing. "Spike!" She wined. "I knew you were going out to look for a job, but not a manual labor job." The drake just looked at her and shrugged. It was an honest days work for an honest days pay. It was hard, yea but that's why they called it work, right? Twilight wasn't of the same opinion though, stating that that kind of labor was exactly what she was afraid of. That kind of work wasn't for children, it was work meant for the strong, burly and rugged. Though, with the contempt she had for it, Spike suspected that "stupid" could be added to the list as well. "I'll be going back tomorrow at eleven." He blurted out as a quiet moment passed. The librarian looked like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it. "Are you sure?" "Yep." He replied before cringing at the sudden soreness in his neck. "Assuming I can stand up. Man, this is gonna hurt in the morning." To his relief, Twilight chuckled at the joke. "Well, I may not like it, but I promised I'd give you your space. So I'll accept your decision." She spoke with reservation at first, but finality at the end. "Now, since you're a working drake, I think you're going to be pretty hungry. Would you like anything specific for dinner?" "Bananas, I'd like some bananas."