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// Time Changes All Things Little Sparrow 
// Story: Finding a Home 
// by Jeckard Cain 
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Chapter 8: Time Changes All Things Little Sparrow

The rest of the evening at the Apple family household flowed smoothly. Dinner was a mixture of simple breads and fruits cooked to perfection. Sparrow and Rainbow Dash both ate ravenously, earning looks from both Granny Smith and Big Mac, pieces of food flew off their plates which they promptly grabbed and ate up as well. Cloud busting was hard work but Sparrow had never worked that hard in his whole life. His whole body was sore already, and he loved every second of it.

After dinner Sparrow and Rainbow Dash were shown to their individual rooms and found beds already made up for them, courtesy of Big Mac. A quick goodnight later and Sparrow was asleep in the quaint but comfortable bed.

Morning arrived much too quickly for Sparrows taste with the sound of a farm rooster crowing. He arose out of his bed and looked through the nearby window to see the sun shining through the apple orchard to reach the farmhouse. It was serene and felt like it was plucked out of a painting and placed in the world for Sparrow to enjoy.

A knock on the door drew Sparrow's attention away from the window, "Come on in," he called out. 

The door creaked slightly as it opened and Applejack's orange snout poked through followed by her flowing blonde mane and rugged cowboy hat. Sparrow wondered why she wore it, but thought it would be rude to ask. "Mornin' Sparrow, Rainbow Dash already took off earlier, probably to get out of doing chores." Sparrow tilted his head and raised an eyebrow "Seein' as you're still here you can help with her share of the chores today." Applejack grinned to Sparrow.

"Figures she'd ditch, she probably knew that we would be doing chores." Sparrow quipped "Is that usually the deal for staying the night at the Apple Family's home?"

Applejack gave a vigorous nod "Eeyup, now follow me, you'll be helping me buck the apples around the orchard. How strong are your legs by the way?"

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Sparrow's legs felt like they were going to fall off.  The sun was beating down upon him from high in the sky as sweat made his feathers and fur clump together and begin matting. I'll need to preen myself tonight to fix all this mess For now though he was heading back towards the Apple farm house. The lunch bell had been rung and Sparrow couldn't wait to get back and enjoy more of the famous Apple family cooking.

Sparrow had been given a quick tutorial on how to buck the apple trees around the farm and then Applejack had left him to his own devices for the time being. He enjoyed it at first, it was a good workout and he was glad to be alone again. He didn't particularly care to be on his own, but being alone let him enjoy the nature around him. After a few hours though, Sparrow was almost regretting staying the night. His legs were burning as he walked, he was almost limping at this point and he had no energy to fly after yesterdays workout coupled with today's work.

Sparrow crossed through the last row of trees in the orchard and saw the Apple Family house down a small slope. He could smell the food they'd been preparing and it forced him to walk faster, if only to sit down sooner and begin eating. As he drew near the table set up outside he saw Applebloom running outside to set some jam on the table. It looked like Rainbow Dash's mane to Sparrow weird, I wonder if Rainbow helped make that 

"Hey Sparrow!" the griffon jumped at his name being called as he was lost in the thought of the strange jam. He turned to see Applejack making her way down the hill. She was covered in some dirt and he could see a sheen of sweat on her fur, It suits her Sparrow thought. "Good to see that you made your way back okay. Figured you'd just fly though." she joked as she neared him and nudged his shoulder.

"Oh ya, after flying harder than I have my entire life yesterday the first thing I'm going to do after working for hours again is to fly, right." Sparrow deadpanned before breaking into a genuine laugh, which Applejack joined in with.

At that point Applejack's grandmother came outside, an old mare with green fur and a white mane tied up into a bun with some hairs poking out. She had and apple pie cutie mark, Go figure. Once the old mare had seated herself Applejack's older brother, Big Macintosh, came around the side of the farm house and sat at the table right next to Sparrow. Sparrow decided to break the ice as he hadn't met the gigantic stallion the previous night, only heard about him. "Uh hi, Big Macintosh, have a good time in the fields?"

The stallion turned his head to Sparrow slowly and blinked once, "Eeyup"

Sparrow swallowed before sitting down at the table. The food was served up, various fruits and vegetables with breads to supplement them. Sparrow decided to ask about the jam, "So the uh, rainbow jam," this earned him looks from the whole family "Does Rainbow Dash help you make it somehow?" Suddenly everyone at the table burst out laughing. "What? What'd I say?"

Applejack was the first to regain her composure enough to answer "Sugar cube, that's Zap Apple Jam, it comes from a storm that blows through here once in a while. It changes some of the apple trees to start growing these apples with a rainbow pattern on them." She began giggling again "Hoo boy, if Rainbow Dash thought these apples were caused by her, that ego of her's would inflate beyond the size it's already at.

"Oh, I see." Sparrow said meekly and decided to be quiet and just eat his admittedly delicious food.

At this point Applebloom piped up "Hey Sparrow, I saw you bucking the trees out there, your form need some work but I think you've got a natural talent for apple bucking."

Sparrow raised his eyebrows and looked at the filly "How so?" Applejack was looking up from her food as well to see what her sister's answer would be.

"Well we were all only working for about five hours, and I saw how many trees you got done before the lunch bell rang." Applejack looked extremely interested at this point as Applebloom looked back to her older sister and grinned "He finished six rows Applejack!" The filly grinned at Sparrow now and he couldn't help but sheepishly smile back.

"Well that is pretty good for someone who's never bucked apples before." Applejack said to Sparrow, "But I don't want to boost that ego too much, you and Rainbow are a lot alike." Both Applejack and Sparrow shared a short laugh. 

The rest of the meal passed quietly and then the rest of the work day. Sparrow didn't even notice the dinner bell ring until Applejack approached him through the trees. "Oh hey Applejack, I just have a few more to do in this row."

"Sugar cube, you don't have to finish the row right now, I can just do it tomorrow." Applejack quipped to Sparrow as he began on the next to last tree. "Anyways, don't you need to be getting home?" This caused Sparrow to stop as he turned to Applejack.

"I uh, don't really have any place to stay here in Ponyville. But I suppose I should try and head back to Griffonstone soon, I don't think I even want to try racing Rainbow Dash at this point." Sparrow sat down and began clawing at the dirt lightly.

"Well why the hay not? You kept pace with her in cloud busting didn't you?" Applejack asked the griffon as she sat next to him.

"Well that was with cloud busting, not a straight race through the sky with no obstacles. I feel like I wouldn't even have a chance." Sparrow's head drooped down before Applejack's hoof reached up to raise his beak.

"From what I hear you are an excellent flyer. You deserve it to yourself to at least try and race her, that's why you came to Ponyville at all isn't it?" Applejack let her hoof fall down back to the dirt as she nudged Sparrow's side "Besides, if you did end up beating her could you imagine the look on her face?" 

Sparrow shared a laugh with Applejack as the sun was setting "Ya, you're right Applejack, I came all this way. There's no point to backing down now. There's only one problem."

"What's that?" Applejack asked.

"I need a place to stay for a couple weeks while I get trained up for the race." Sparrow looked to Applejack with a smile

Applejack tipped her hat to the griffon "Well you're welcome here Sparrow, especially with all the help you've been today. I would ask you to help all you can in between your training though. Can't have you staying here for free now can we?"

"Oh thank you!" Sparrow cried out and hugged Applejack, she returned the hug and they both laughed. 

"Eenope." came from behind both Applejack and Sparrow as they were embraced and quickly broke away to see Big Macintosh standing at the edge of the treeline before the large stallion immediately turned and walked away back to the farm. Both Sparrow and Applejack fell to the ground laughing.

The sun was waning on the horizon as the two friends just lie there, enjoying each other's company. Finally Applejack spoke "Well, Sparrow, we should head back. I'm sure Big Mac will be giving both of us a look when we get there, but don't worry, he knows I can take care of myself."

"Oh good, I was worried about getting pulverized during dinner." Sparrow said and they giggled together. 

Both Applejack and Sparrow walked back to the farmhouse, Sparrow was content that he had made another friend today and even found a place to stay for his training.  It would be a busy few weeks ahead of him. "Hey Applejack?" Sparrow began as they walked together.

"What is it Sparrow?" The orange mare looked at him

"Thanks for being, what's the best wording... Thanks for being you." Sparrow said to her.

Applejack nudged his side as they walked through the door of the Apple Family Home "Thanks for being you too sugar cube."

The door shut behind them as the sun sunk below the horizon outside and Luna's moon began to rise. I think I'm figuring myself out more and more every day Princess Luna Sparrow thought to himself as he stepping into the dining room with the Apple family all gathered at the table, I'm finding what I've been searching for.

****