Chapter 38 (Making Hay Part 3: Kindness Arrives)
Chapter 38
“Now, please hold still, Mr. Robin, I know this is very uncomfortable, but if you want your leg to heal right, I need to put this splint on properly,” instructed a butter-yellow pegasus mare gently as she tended to an injured robin.
The bird chirped softly as the mare carefully tended him, a kind smile on her face as she worked. Humming softly, she tied the last knot and said, “There we go, all done. Now, you’ll need to stay off that leg for a few days while it heals, so let’s see, which nest box is open?” she idly tapped her chin with a hoof as she quietly trotted around her living room, peering in to see which nest was unoccupied.
“Ah, here’s one,” she said happily. Gently picking the bird up in her hoof, she carefully settled him inside his new, temporary home. “Now, you wait right there and I’ll go get you some food and water.”
The robin gave a thankful tweet as he carefully maneuvered himself into a more comfortable position in his new nest. The mare meanwhile had turned and trotted into her kitchen to get him something to eat and drink. Rummaging around in her seed pantry, she located an appropriate seed mix for the robin and filled a small bowl with it, along with filling another bowl with water. Placing the two bowls in a wireframe to hang from the nest box, she returned to the now settled robin and attached the food and water bowl combination to the front of his box so that he wouldn’t have to leave his nest to eat or drink.
“There you go,” she smiled, happy to have helped another animal in need, “do you need anything else?”
The robin, having taken a quick drink, replied with a negative chirp.
Glad that he was fully settled, the mare said, “Alright, well if you need anything else, don’t be afraid to ask.”
Turning away from her newest patient, the mare was about to return to the kitchen to make herself some tea when a rustling of feathers outside, followed by the sound of somepony attempting to beat her door in with their hooves startled her and her animal friends, who all scurried for whatever cover they could find.
“Fluttershy? Are you in there?” called the raspy voice of her friend, Rainbow Dash from outside.
Relaxing somewhat, Fluttershy quickly opened the door before Dash could upset her animal guests any further.
“Rainbow, please don’t knock so aggressively, it spooks the animals,” admonished Fluttershy softly.
“Yeah yeah, sorry, look Cloud sent me to get you. We need you to do an emergency field clearance,” replied Rainbow hurriedly.
“R-right now?” stuttered Fluttershy.
“Yeah, right now,” said Rainbow with a firm nod.
“What happened? I didn’t think anypony needed a field cleared so soon. Did Carrot Top decide to expand her carrot patch after all?” asked Fluttershy timidly.
Rainbow shook her head. “No, it’s that new farmer that showed up after we beat Discord, you know the one the mayor sent that letter out about?”
Fluttershy blinked in confusion as she racked her brain trying to remember what Rainbow was talking about. Due to her social anxiety, even if it had gotten better over the years, she didn’t get out and interact with other ponies that much so it was easy to miss hearing about happenings in town.
Seeing Fluttershy’s confusion, Rainbow groaned and said, “The human? You know, the tall bipedal monkey-looking thing that Discord brought here?”
“Oh!” she gasped as the pieces finally clicked into place. “That’s what that was about?”
Rainbow groaned impatiently. “Yes, that’s what that was about, so now that that’s cleared up, can we go now? I have a bet to win.”
Fluttershy nervously pawed at the ground with her front hoof as her pink mane fell over her face, covering one of her eyes. “I’d really like to help, Rainbow, but this is really sudden and I’m not sure if I can afford to be away from the house right now.”
“Ugh, come on Fluttershy! I’ve got a hundred bits riding on proving that monkey wrong. I mean, it can’t take that long to clear a field! I’ve seen you work your magic before,” complained Rainbow.
“Well, that depends on how big the field is,” replied Fluttershy quietly, “Do you know how big it is?”
“Don’t know, didn’t ask,” replied Rainbow dismissively.
A feeling of frustration welled up inside Fluttershy, and taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and said firmly, “Well if you don’t know how many acres it is, how am I to know how many warding stakes I need to bring or how many helpers? I don’t even know where this field even is, Rainbow. You know I’m not a very strong flyer... or strong period, so if the field is too far away, I won’t be able to get to it today.”
Taken aback by Fluttershy’s sudden burst of assertiveness, Rainbow stammered, “W-well it’s over by AJ’s place on the road that leads out of town towards Pine Top, a-and the field wasn’t super big, maybe a bit bigger than one of Carrot Top’s carrot patches?”
Fluttershy sighed and gently rubbed her face with her hoof. She loved Rainbow like a sister, she really did. Ever since flight camp, she and Rainbow had been good friends, but some days, Rainbow really tried her patience, which was saying something.
Taking another deep breath, she let it out in a quiet puff and said, “Alright, so it’s southwest of Applejack’s orchard and is bigger than one of Carrot Top’s fields.”
“Uh, yeah,” said Rainbow as she nodded her head in reply. “So... are you gonna do it... or what?”
Fluttershy felt one of her eyes twitch and took another calming breath in reply. “Only if you pull my supply cart,” she replied calmly.
Giving Fluttershy a cocky grin, Rainbow leaped up into the air and hovered in place, flexing her muscles. “No problem! Just show me where that cart is, and I’ll get it over there in ten seconds flat!”
Returning Rainbow’s exuberant expression with an unamused one of her own, Fluttershy simply replied, “Wait for me over by my shed out back and remember, don’t go in it,” she finished, a hint of warning in her tone.
“Yeah, yeah I know,” said Rainbow as she gave a powerful flap of her wings and rocketed over Fluttershy’s little cottage.
Shutting the front door, Fluttershy turned around and paused when she spotted a small white bunny staring up at her with its arms crossed and a disappointed look on its face.
Sighing, she said, “Don’t give me that look, Angel. You know I have a hard time telling my friends no, especially Dash, even if she is an insufferable jerk sometimes. Besides, business has been slow this spring, and if you want me to keep buying you fresh carrots, I need to do this.”
Angel unfolded his arms and gingerly hugged his caretaker's leg in an attempt to comfort her and let her know that he wasn’t upset with her. Smiling at him, Fluttershy gently rubbed his back before saying, “It’s okay, I know you’re just looking out for me. I know I can be a pushover sometimes... okay maybe a lot of times, and I am working on being more assertive, it’s just... really hard. Anyways,” she said as she gently removed her hoof from Angel’s hug and carefully picked him up and placed him on her back. “We’d better get things together before Rainbow gets antsy, you know how she doesn’t like waiting.”
Angel just rolled his eyes, and Fluttershy giggled in reply.
Turning her attention away from her passenger, she quickly set about organizing everything and everyone that she would need for this upcoming job.
It didn’t take long for Fluttershy to gather everything she needed, it helped that Harry the bear was visiting as he was able to carry more in a single trip than she could in several. Settling the last of her animal helpers and items in her specially built cart, Fluttershy turned to Rainbow and said, “Alright Rainbow, this is very important, I need you to go slow while pulling this cart. A lot of things in here are delicate and they break very easily if you’re too rough while pulling.”
Slipping into the cart's harness, Rainbow absently nodded her head. “Go slow, yeah, I got it.”
Sensing that her friend didn’t get it, Fluttershy walked around so that she was fully facing Rainbow and said, “I’m serious Rainbow, you need to go slow, if you go too fast, you’ll break things and upset my animals, and if you do that, I will be very upset with you,” her voice was as hard as steel as she spoke, and when Rainbow glanced up from a particularly troublesome buckle, she saw that Fluttershy had unleashed her trademark Stare on her to ensure Rainbow knew she wasn’t going to let this slide.
Nopony who had ever been on the receiving end of one of Fluttershy’s Stares could ever fully explain what it was about the way the normally timid mare looked at you that made them so nervous and willing to do the pegasus mares bidding. However, one thing everypony could agree on was that if Fluttershy turned The Stare on you, you either messed up big time or were about to, either way, nopony liked it and did their level best to avoid her wrath.
Feeling a drop of sweat roll down the side of her face, Rainbow chuckled nervously and replied, “G-go slow, no prob, I’ll go so slow that a snail would be flying in comparison to me.”
“You don’t have to go that slow, Rainbow, just be careful, please,” replied Fluttershy with a roll of her eyes at her friend's sudden dramatics. “If you’re not sure how fast to go, just keep pace with me, now are you all set?”
Shaking her head to dispel the effects of The Stare, Rainbow gave herself a final check over and seeing everything was good, nodded at Fluttershy, “Yep, all good to go!” she replied with a newly returned confident smile.
Smiling in reply, Fluttershy spread her wings and with a bit of a trotting start, was soon airborne, with Rainbow and the cart right behind her.
Rising up above the treetops, the two pegasi oriented themselves in the proper direction and set off. For several minutes, neither one said a word, eventually, however, Rainbow broke the silence and asked, “So have you met him yet?”
Not taking her eyes off her flight path, Fluttershy replied, “Met who?”
“Allen? The human that we were just talking about?” asked Rainbow as if it should have been obvious who she was referring to.
Temporarily splitting up to bank around a particularly tall tree, the two were soon side by side again. Shaking her head, Fluttershy finally glanced over at Rainbow and said quietly, “You know I don’t like meeting new ponies by myself Rainbow Dash.”
“Yeah, I know, but Allen’s not a pony. I mean, I heard you got all excited when you met Spike for the first time, I figured that Allen wouldn’t be much different.”
Fluttershy’s cheeks suddenly turned red in embarrassment and she replied, “W-well, that’s because Spike is a baby dragon, and he was smaller than me, so it wasn’t as intimidating to talk to him. I did read that pamphlet the mayor sent out, and it sounds like Allen is a lot taller than Spike was.”
“Oh, I guess that’s a fair point,” said Rainbow lamely. Conversation between the two soon petered out. The only sounds around them were their wing beats and the occasional deep breath as they continued their journey.
“So... I’ve been meaning to ask you if you don’t like talking to other ponies, how come you started doing this job? I mean you have to talk to a lot of different ponies to make sure you get things done right, doesn’t that bother you?” asked Rainbow suddenly when she couldn’t take the awkward silence any longer.
Fluttershy didn’t say anything for a bit, and Rainbow was afraid that Fluttershy either hadn’t heard her or was ignoring her question. However, with a quiet sigh, Fluttershy replied, “It does bother me, but it’s really the only job I can do, Rainbow. I’m not a strong flyer, never have been, and I’m very awkward when it comes to talking with other ponies, so that means I just can’t do a lot of jobs that other ponies do. When I moved to Ponyville, my parents had to send me money every week so that I could feed myself, and sometimes they would have to physically bring me food because I was too scared to leave my cottage. I hated it, I hated that I was so weak and awkward that I couldn’t support myself, but I was too scared of messing up and being bullied like I was back in Cloudsdale that I couldn’t get a normal job. I almost ended up moving back in with my parents before I happened to see a wanted ad for field clearers here in town. That’s how I ended up meeting Mrs. Soil.”
“Who’s Mrs. Soil? I don’t recall ever hearing that name around town before,” asked Dash curiously.
Fluttershy shook her head. “I doubt you would, she passed away before you moved here, she was the old field clearer for Ponyville and by the time I met her, she was pretty old.”
“So how did you apply for the job? I thought you said you were too scared to leave your cottage?”
“I was, but my mom was in one of her rare assertive moods and practically dragged me along to meet Mrs. Soil to see if she would give me the job,” replied Fluttershy quietly. “I was so scared that she had to practically carry me up to her front door and knock on it for me.”
“What happened next?”
“Mrs. Soil answered the door and my mom made the initial introductions and explained that I needed a job, and that I had... issues that made it difficult for me to find employment. Mrs. Soil I guess was either desperate or took pity on me because she hired me on the spot.”
“Really? Just like that, no interview or anything?” asked Dash skeptically.
Fluttershy shook her head. “Nope, no interview or anything. She just smiled and waved us inside and started telling me about what the job entailed. She was really patient, and she never once yelled at me if I messed something up. She would just tell me what I did wrong, show me how to fix it, and move on,” she paused as she smiled fondly at the old memories, “she was a very kind mare and she helped me overcome a lot of my earlier social anxieties and awkwardness. I worked for her for three years before she passed away... I still really miss her, she was my first friend here in Ponyville, and I don’t know where I would be right now if it wasn’t for her taking me in like that.”
“So what did you do after she died? I mean, obviously, you’re still doing the job, but I mean... you know?” asked Rainbow awkwardly as she tried to say what she meant without coming across as mean.
Fluttershy nodded, understanding Rainbow’s intent, even if her delivery wasn’t the best. “I don’t think I left my cottage for a week after she passed away. I hadn’t found Angel yet, and I didn’t have as many animal friends as I do now, I mean I had Harry around, but he was still a bit shy and didn’t visit me as often as he does now. So I didn’t have anyone to really comfort me while I grieved and I almost gave up again and went home. Thankfully Granny Smith came by and helped me pull through my grief. She got me back on my hooves and working when she noticed I had missed our yearly field clearing appointment. I will admit, it was really hard for me to go back to work without Mrs. Soil around to talk with the customers, but I think by then most ponies knew I was very shy, so they just kept things simple and business-oriented.”
“So that’s how you deal with that stuff? Just keep it focused on business?”
“More or less,” replied Fluttershy with a nod, “I still get really nervous around new ponies, but clients that I’ve had for years know how to put me at ease and I’ve grown to trust them, so it works... for the most part. Having Angel around also helps a lot,” she said with a happy smile that was aimed at the little white bunny riding in the cart behind Rainbow.
Rainbow shot Angel a skeptical look but chose not to comment further on the matter. The two falling back into a more comfortable silence as they winged their way over Sweet Apple Acres.
In short order, Rainbow spotted Allen’s home and barns in the distance. “We’re here,” she said, pointing with a hoof at a small crowd of ponies gathered around a tall, bipedal individual and, to Fluttershy, a pair of strange-looking mechanical contraptions in a nearby field.
“Oh my, it looks like they already started,” gasped Fluttershy as she sped up, having noticed the cut swath of grass along the fence line.
“Yeah, but Cloud Kicker stopped him before he could go too far,” replied Rainbow as she and Fluttershy came in for a landing on the road outside of the field.
Rolling to a stop, Rainbow started unhitching herself from the cart, while Angel Bunny jumped off and settled on Fluttershy’s back between her wings.
“Fluttershy!”
“Oh, Twilight! I didn’t know you were here,” exclaimed Fluttershy in surprise when Twilight trotted over to give her a hug in greeting.
Nodding in excitement, Twilight replied, “Sure am, neither Lyra nor I wanted to miss seeing how human technology works after all!”
“Yep,” nodded Lyra as she too came over to greet the newly arrived pegasus. “I’ve been very excited to see what Allen and his machines can do, though it looks like somepony didn’t tell him he needed to have his fields cleared of animals before starting.”
“Oh, I hope no little critters were hurt,” said Fluttershy as she began opening boxes and pulling out various tools, and setting them in her saddlebags.
“I did a contamination scan while we waited, and it doesn’t look like anything was injured or... killed in the area he already cut. Thankfully, Cloud Kicker stopped Allen before he went too far,” replied Twilight as she watched Fluttershy open a pair of cages and let a pair of border collie dogs out. They each had a collar around their neck with several dull-looking gemstones stitched around the outside of the collar, while at the center sat an empty bezel shaped like an oval.
Pulling out a pair of small rubies, Fluttershy carefully inserted them into the empty bezel. With a quiet click, the two rubies lit up with a soft glow that spread along the collars towards the other gems in pretty patterns. As a string of light hit each gem, they would each begin to light up, until all of them were giving off a soft, warm glow.
Patting the two canines on their heads, Fluttershy cooed, “Alright now, it looks like we have a decent-sized field to work in today, so no slacking off, alright?”
The two dogs barked in readiness and scampered over to the fence line before stopping and waiting for their caretaker to follow behind.
Satisfied her two helpers weren’t going to get into trouble, Fluttershy turned her attention back to Twilight and said, “Well I’m glad to hear that. So, um, where is, um... Allen, you said?”
Motioning with her hoof, Twilight cheerfully replied, “He’s over by his tractor, come on, I’ll take you to him.”
Falling into step alongside, Fluttershy followed. However, as they got closer to the large group of ponies, she felt her anxiety ratcheting up with each hoof step. Sensing his caretaker getting upset, Angel Bunny hopped forward and hugged the back of her neck, snuggling deep into her soft pink mane and offering her what comfort he could. His efforts were not in vain, as Fluttershy felt herself relax a little at feeling his comforting presence as if her worries and fears were being drained away.
Coming to a stop at the edge of the group, Twilight motioned for the tall, bipedal creature that Fluttershy had seen from the air earlier, to come over.
“So is this the pony we’ve been waiting for?” he asked as he strode over, a light gray unicorn mare followed along behind him.
Twilight nodded. “Yes, Allen, I’d like to introduce you to my friend, Fluttershy. Fluttershy, this is Allen Ross. He is the human that Discord brought here after we beat him.”
Sticking his hand out in greeting, Allen waited for Fluttershy to return the gesture, but instead, she seemed to shrink back at his presence. Having spent enough time around horses, Allen could see that Fluttershy was nervous. Judging from the way she shied away from his outstretched hand and shifted her hooves, he suspected that it wouldn’t take much to get her to bolt. So in an effort to put her more at ease, he withdrew his hand and elected to sit down so that he was nearer her eye level rather than looming over her.
“So, what all do you need me to do?” he asked casually, as he sat down. Already he could see her relax now that he wasn’t in a more imposing position.
“Um... well, I don’t really need you to do much,” replied Fluttershy softly.
“Alright, so... how long will this take and how much will it cost?” he asked, getting straight to business.
Shifting from hoof to hoof nervously, Fluttershy hesitantly replied, “W-well it depends on h-how many acres you n-need cleared. S-since this is an e-emergency field c-clearance, i-it’ll cost you ten bits per acre, p-plus material, which a-adds another t-ten bits per acre cleared.”
Looking over his shoulder at Penny, Allen asked, “What do you think?”
Penny sighed tiredly, having already expected to be paying more money than she wanted to and resigning herself to that fact. “It’s not what I wanted to hear, but beggars can’t be choosers so, if we want to get this done today, we don’t really have a choice.” Turning her attention to Fluttershy, Penny asked, “We need ten acres cleared today, can you do that?”
Fluttershy nodded. “I believe so,” looking at the nearby fence she pointed at it and asked, “does that fence go all the way around the field?”
“Yep,” replied Allen with a nod.
Putting her hoof to her mouth, Fluttershy let out a sharp whistle, her two border collies swiftly bounding over and coming to a sliding halt in front of the little pegasus.
“Alright Roy, Nan, you two know the drill. Stay inside the fence and push out all the critters that you can, and remember, no rough play, got it?” instructed Fluttershy, like a general would to their troops. Both dogs barked their understanding before racing off in opposite directions becoming quickly lost from view in the tall grass, the only sign of them being the disturbed grass shaking at their passing.
Trotting back to her cart, Fluttershy pulled a harness out and began fastening it to herself. Curious, Allen and Penny watched the quiet mare as she carefully slipped the harness over her head and began cinching it tight to her body. It was made of canvas with various small gemstones sewn into it at certain places. Each gemstone seemed to have a faint light inside it that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Watching from his sitting position, Allen leaned over and asked Penny, “What’s she doing?”
Penny opened her mouth to reply, however, Cloud Kicker chose that moment to show up and replied instead, “That’s an animal repellent harness. It’s designed to emit a feeling of uncomfortableness that makes small animals flee an area. The two dogs Fluttershy released into the field also have gems in their collars that emit that same feeling.”
“How come it doesn’t affect the dogs then?” asked Allen.
“Because the gems are tuned to smaller animals more than larger ones, and Fluttershy told me she trained her dogs to ignore the faint feeling the gems emit while they are working.”
“So these gems make small animals think that there is a predator nearby or something?”
Cloud nodded. “Something to that effect. Plus, the dogs reinforce that by providing physical stimuli to back up the feeling of unease that the gems produce.”
“Huh, cool,” replied Allen as he went back to watching Fluttershy get ready. “So what’s with that mask she’s got?” he asked when he spotted her pull out a mask shaped like the head of a hawk.
“It’s part of what makes Fluttershy such a good field clearer,” replied Cloud Kicker as they watched Fluttershy put the mask on and adjust it until it sat where she wanted it. “Most field clearers are earth ponies, and while they all wear the same harness that Fluttershy is wearing, and use dogs to herd unwanted animals out of fields, it takes them a lot longer because they have to physically walk the field in order to flush out all the animals. With Fluttershy, because she’s a pegasus, she can fly and she uses the mask to make herself look more like a large bird of prey from the ground.”
“Which makes all the little birds and critters run for their lives,” finished Allen.
“More or less,” nodded Cloud Kicker, “there’s a bit more to it than that, but the whole point of field clearing is to make animals think the field isn’t safe to be in, hence the dogs running around barking and making a ruckus, along with the gem emitters and Fluttershy flying around.”
“Neat, but what’s to stop the animals from coming back later? I doubt that this little process will scare them off permanently.”
Shaking her head, Cloud replied, “No it doesn’t, that’s why she uses warding stakes. Once the field is cleared, or mostly cleared in some cases, she’ll go back and put little warding stakes around the edge of the field. The stakes have runes in them that mimic her harness’s gemstones and will keep animals out of the field. Larger animals are generally unaffected, but you can usually see those while you’re working and so they’re less likely to get hurt or killed during harvest operations.”
“Cool, so how long will this take?” asked Allen as he watched Fluttershy give a few test flaps of her wings before jumping into the air and gliding out over the field.
“Not long, maybe an hour or two for a field this size. The tedious part is putting the stakes in the ground and making sure they’re not too far apart, but in this case, since you’ve already got fence posts up, she’ll probably just use them as her planting points,” replied Cloud as they watched Fluttershy circle the field several times, before suddenly diving down like, well, a bird of prey and causing a flock of quail to break cover and scatter.
“So, I take it you’ve known her for a while?” asked Allen quietly.
Cloud Kicker nodded. “Yeah, we go way back. I’ve known her since I lived in Cloudsdale before my parents were transferred to Canterlot. We even went to school together, though I was a couple of grades ahead of her. She’s always been awkward and shy, and a lot of the other foals would bully her, so she has a hard time opening up around other ponies.”
“Yeah, I know how that goes,” said Allen with an empathic look on his face. “I’ve dealt with my fair share of bullies growing up as a kid. The best way I found to deal with them was to stand your ground and not take any of their shit. Most bullies are cowards and if they think you’re gonna mess them up, they’ll leave you alone.”
“Yeah, but not everypony is willing to do that,” replied Cloud quietly as the little group watched Fluttershy spook another group of birds into flight.
A calm silence fell upon the group as conversation dried up, the distant conversation of the other ponies and the barking of Fluttershy’s border collies as they raced through the field having the time of their lives.
The sound of approaching hoofsteps made Allen look over his shoulder.
“So tell me, how long do you think she will be?” asked Blueblood.
Allen shrugged. “Cloud said about an hour or two.”
“I see, well, in that case, I believe Fancy and I will retire for an early lunch then. We shall return in one hour,” replied Blueblood. As he was turning to leave, he paused and asked, “Would anypony like for us to bring them something to eat?”
Allen shook his head. “Naw, I’m good.”
“Oh, thank you Prince Blueblood, that’s very nice of you. If you don’t want to buy a bunch of different things for everypony here, might I recommend the party sampler platter from Sugar Cube Corner?” said Twilight, a little too quickly, “It should be enough for everypony here to at least have a snack.”
Blueblood looked like he suddenly regretted his offer of bringing food back, but decorum forbade him from backing out now, so instead, he simply nodded and left.
Once Blueblood was out of earshot, Rainbow looked at Twilight and gave her a hoof bump. “Nice going, Twilight. I can’t believe you talked him into buying that for us!”
Twilight returned Rainbow’s hoof bump and smugly replied, “Well I figured he owed us after the whole Gala fiasco. Just be sure to save some triple chocolate cake for Rarity, you know how she’ll get if she finds out we didn’t save any for her.”
Rainbow cringed. “Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll make sure she gets a piece.”
“What happens if she doesn’t get some?” asked Allen curiously.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “She’ll whine for hours about it.”
Allen chuckled and went back to watching Fluttershy work. It was interesting watching the pegasus mare work. She would slowly circle the field, much like a hawk would, riding thermals and occasionally flapping her wings to stay aloft. Every once in a while she would dive down on a random patch of ground and then take off. Sometimes it looked like she was holding something in her hooves, and she would fly to the edge of the field and touch down again, before lifting off once more. Meanwhile, her two dogs were crisscrossing the field and slowly working their way down to the other end. However, the thing that really caught Allen’s attention was a little white rabbit wearing a little orange hardhat and high vis-vest, carrying small wooden stakes, along with a little hammer, from the cart that Rainbow had pulled earlier, and planting them along the fence line. It was honestly one of the most adorable things Allen had ever seen.
Getting up from his sitting position, Allen carefully approached the little rabbit. The rabbit noticed Allen’s approach and paused its work to stare up at him, seemingly unconcerned about the giant two-legged creature approaching it.
Squatting down nearby, Allen watched as the bunny resumed its work planting the wooden stakes next to each fence post and hammering them into the ground with several mighty, for it, swings.
“Careful Allen, you don’t want to mess with Angel Bunny, he can get pretty mean if you provoke him,” cautioned Cloud Kicker as she walked up beside the human.
Turning to look at her, Allen replied, “I just wanted to take a closer look at what he was doing. I’ve never seen a rabbit drive stakes before... or do anything really besides eat, poop and breed.”
“Angel Bunny is special,” replied Cloud Kicker, “I don’t know where Fluttershy got him, but he’s always been smarter than the other animals she looks after, and he only likes Fluttershy. He’s mean to everypony else.”
“He doesn’t seem that mean,” observed Allen as he watched Angel drive another wooden stake into the ground with a forceful swing. Which was pretty impressive to him, considering that each stake was easily as long as Angel was tall and was as wide as one of the bunny’s forearms. “If anything, he looks like a pretty hard worker, I mean, look at how easily he’s driving those stakes, a couple of swings and bam, he’s done,” Allen shook his head in amazement, “I ain’t never seen anything like that before.”
Angel shot Cloud a smug look, picked up another stake, and hopped to the next fence post. Cloud stuck her tongue out at the bunny but kept her distance. Allen meanwhile had inched closer and closer till he was next to the little white rabbit, who when he noticed how close Allen was simply looked up at the human, and pointed at the small pile of stakes with a paw and motioned for Allen to follow as he hopped to the next fence post. Allen looked down at the pile, then at Angel, who was impatiently waiting for him, and tapping his hind paw on the ground, and then back to the pile at his feet. Shrugging his shoulders, he picked them up and followed after Angel.
Squatting down again, he gently placed one of the warding stakes in the ground and held it while Angel swung his hammer with all his might, driving the stake into the soft ground with minimal effort, before moving on to the next post. This process repeated itself until Allen ran out of stakes. When Angel motioned for another stake, Allen opened his hand to show that it was empty. Setting his hammer down, Angel pointed at Allen, then at the distant cart, and made shooing motions with his front paws.
Taking the hint, Allen stood up and walked back to the cart to get some more. It didn’t take him very long to find more as they were in a box sitting in the back of the cart. Deciding it would be faster and easier to just take the whole box with him, Allen reached in and picked it up. Looking inside, he could see the box was nearly full of the little stakes, and balancing the box on the side of the cart with one hand, he picked up a stake to examine it more closely. It was about ten inches long and made of some kind of wood that Allen couldn’t identify, and it was painted a bright white, with various runes carved into the wood. At the top of the stake was a piece of gemstone inset into the wood and where all of the runic lines met. Holding it up closer to his face, Allen could see that the gemstone emitted a soft green light and that this light seemed to flow out of the gem and along the carved pathways.
Huh, that’s kinda cool, thought Allen as he placed it back in the box.
Picking it back up, he quickly returned to the waiting Angel Bunny. Setting it down next to the rabbit, he said, “I figured it would be easier to just bring the whole box with me than to keep going back to the cart for more when we run out.”
Angel just nodded and picking up his hammer once more, got back to work. As the two worked silently together, Allen came to a sudden and strange realization.
I’m talking to a rabbit, and the damn thing understands me. If I hadn’t seen magic and flying ponies already, I’d think I was going crazy... either that or I just became Dr. Doolittle.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose with a weary hand, Allen took a deep breath and held it while he counted backward from ten. Letting it go with a gusty sigh, he shook his head at the weirdness of it all. A sudden and insistent thumping pulled him out of his weary thoughts. Looking down, he spotted Angel impatiently thumping his paw against the ground as he waited for Allen to give him another stake. Shaking his head, Allen reached down and handed him another one.
“Sorry, I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed all of a sudden,” said Allen wearily while he held the stake steady for Angel. The bunny didn’t reply, beyond simply rolling his eyes at Allen’s dramatics and driving the new stake into the ground with several well-practiced swings.
This pattern continued, Angel would drive a stake next to a fence post, and then move on to the next one, while Allen followed along behind carrying the box with the extra ones inside, before pulling one out and holding it steady for Angel to drive deep into the earth. Allen wasn’t sure how much time had passed while the pair worked, but eventually, their routine was interrupted by a large winged shadow crossing over them.
Looking up in the sky, Allen shielded his eyes from the rays of the sun and spotted Fluttershy coming in for a landing next to the working pair. Lifting her mask up, she wore a tired, but happy smile upon seeing the two together.
“Aw, are you helping my little Angel Bunny, Mr. Ross?” she cooed happily while picking up Angel and snuggling him against her face.
“Uh, yeah, I guess I am,” replied Allen as he stood up from his bent-over position, his muscles aching from being hunched over for so long. Cracking his back, he gave a content sigh and said, “I wasn’t doing anything anyways, and when I saw him, I figured I’d give him a hand and speed things along.”
Looking around, he noticed that they were on the final stretch of fence with maybe another two to three hundred feet to go before they reached the gate. Working the kinks out of his neck, Allen remarked, “Huh, didn’t realize we were this close to being done already.”
Still snuggling Angel, who had at first tried to escape his mistresses affectionate grip, but had now resigned himself to his fate, Fluttershy replied proudly, “Well when he puts his mind to it, my little Angel can be a very hard worker.”
Allen nodded. “I can see that. I’m honestly, both impressed and a little frightened by that.”
Setting Angel down, who promptly jumped out of snuggling reach, Fluttershy turned to Allen and cocked her head, a confused look on her face. “Why does that frighten you? Angel’s not scary at all, he’s actually really sweet, aren’t you Angel Bunny?” said Fluttershy as she made baby talk at him. He promptly stuck his tongue out and pantomimed gagging on something disgusting.
Fluttershy ignored this.
“Well... to be honest, coming across an intelligent rabbit-like Angel here is kinda... disconcerting to me, if I’m going, to be honest,” replied Allen as he hesitantly rubbed the back of his neck. “Back home, most animals don’t really make a habit of acting, like well... people, if you get my meaning. The thought of sapient rabbits being able to form an army and pillage my fields and garden kind of terrifies me.”
Fluttershy giggled. “Oh, I don’t think you need to worry about bunny armies looting your carrot patches and burning down your hay fields. As far as I know, Angel is the only rabbit that acts like this. All the other ones are just normal bunnies that are more scared of you and other ponies than anything else.”
“He is? Well, that is kind of reassuring, but it’s still kind of odd,” mused Allen as he watched Angel continue his work. “Where did you find him?”
Fluttershy tapped her chin as she tried to remember, but her mind came up blank. Giving a shrug with her wings she replied, “I... don’t really remember, I think I found him orphaned near the edge of the Everfree, but the details... are kind of fuzzy...” she trailed off as she suddenly got an odd faraway look in her eyes.
When she didn’t move or even blink for a minute, Allen became kind of concerned. Waving a hand in front of her face he asked, “Uh, are you okay? Hello? Anyone home in there?” he snapped his fingers in front of her muzzle, but she didn’t so much as blink. The lights were on, but no one was home.
Angel, noticing his mistress's odd behavior, quickly hopped over and jumped up on her back, giving it a firm thump with one of his rear paws. This snapped her out of her daze and she blinked, looking around confused. “Oh my, I seem to have drifted off there.”
Giving her a skeptical look, Allen nodded. “Yeah, you kind of spaced out for a minute, you okay?”
Feeling a little woozy, Fluttershy took off her mask and gently rubbed the side of her head. “I think so, oh maybe I overdid it today. I’m not the strongest flyer, so when I have to do a big job on short notice like this, it tends to take a bit out of me.”
“I can get you some water if you want?”
She shook her head. “Oh no, I should be okay, I brought some water and snacks with me. I’ll be fine once I have something to eat, but thank you though,” she replied with a smile. However, when she turned to leave, she swayed and nearly fell.
Reacting quickly, Allen easily caught her in his arms. “I gotcha, guess you’re more tired than you thought you were.” He said as he adjusted her in his arms, carrying her like he would a dog. Setting course for the gate, he left Angel to finish his work.
Cheeks red from embarrassment, Fluttershy hid her face behind her flowing pink mane and stuttered out, “I-I’m okay, you d-don’t need to c-carry me.”
“I think I do, you nearly fell down back there, so something isn’t right. Just hold on, and we’ll get some food and water in you and you can rest by the cart,” replied Allen firmly.
Realizing he wasn’t going to put her down, Fluttershy resigned herself to being carried. Though, a small part of her found the process kind of nice.
As the pair of them approached the gate and the small crowd of ponies, there was a gasp and a cyan blur raced towards the pair.
“Fluttershy are you alright?!” exclaimed Dash in concern.
Giving her a weak smile, Fluttershy nodded. “I’ll be fine, I think I just overexerted myself. I didn’t really get a chance to have lunch before you came and got me earlier. So I guess I didn’t have as much energy as I thought I did.”
“Fluttershy, I’m so sorry, I didn’t...” began Dash, but Fluttershy cut her off with a shake of her head.
“I’m not hurt or anything Rainbow, just tired and hungry. I forgive you, so you don’t need to worry, though if you would maybe not hurry me next time, that’d be kind of nice.”
Rainbow momentarily looked ashamed, but that quickly passed as she gave a firm nod, a look of determination replacing the shame. “I will, I promise,” she said with a smile.
Fluttershy returned the smile with one of her own, while Allen set her down gently next to her little cart. By this point, both Twilight, Lyra, and Cloud Kicker had rushed over to express their concern after seeing Allen carrying her in. After reassuring everypony that she was fine, Fluttershy, with a little help from Twilight, removed a small picnic basket, water jug, and blanket and set up an impromptu picnic by the gate.
“Allen, would you go get my mask, please? I think I left it out in the field,” asked Fluttershy softly as she and her friends sat down on the blanket.
Giving her a thumbs up, he left to go get it. Walking through the field, he spotted Angel Bunny driving the last few stakes nearby. As he walked by, Angel paused and regarded Allen with an unreadable expression, as if he were sizing Allen up for something. Feeling an unexplained shiver go up his spine, Allen gave himself a shake and hustled over to where Fluttershy had left her mask behind.
Bending down, he picked it up and set it in the now empty stake box that Angel had left behind, probably due to how heavy and ungainly it was for him to move. In short order, Allen returned to the group, just in time to see Blueblood and Fancy Pants return with a large pink box floating between them.
Setting the box down on the picnic blanket, Blueblood regarded Twilight with an unamused look. “Here is your party sampler platter, Ms. Sparkle.”
Giving the noble a sweet, innocent smile, Twilight happily replied, “Thank you, Your Grace, that was very kind of you.”
Blueblood gave a noncommittal grunt. “Yes, I suppose it was. It was certainly expensive enough,” he grumbled, “Though I find it somewhat odd that your friend, Ms. Pie, seemed to know I was coming and had it ready and waiting for me when I got there.”
Twilight chuckled. “Her Pinkie Sense probably told her you were coming,” she replied deftly, dodging the unasked, but implied question of whether she had planned this little stunt beforehoof.
Blueblood arched an eyebrow. “‘Pinkie Sense’”? he asked skeptically, obviously not buying her excuse.
Opening the box and selecting a succulent-looking cream-filled donut, Twilight nodded, still smiling. “Yep, Pinkie has a sort of sixth sense, don’t ask me how it works, I tried to figure it out once and ended up in the hospital for my troubles.”
“My word, the hospital, what on Equus happened?” gasped Fancy Pants, concerned over how something as innocent-sounding as figuring out whether your friend had premonition powers could land you in the hospital.
Taking a large bite of her donut, Twilight replied, “I had a frog fall on me, got smashed into a wall by a door, got stung by a bunch of bees, fell into a cellar at Sweet Apple Acres, had a flower pot, anvil, hay cart, and a piano fall on me, got chased by a hydra and then burst into magical flames due to an emotional magic overload.”
Both Allen and Fancy Pants were regarding Twilight with twin looks of increasing disbelief and concern as she listed off her various injuries during her study of Pinkie Pie. Blueblood still didn’t look convinced.
“Jesus, how the fuck are you still alive?” asked Allen incredulously.
Polishing off the last of her donut, Twilight shrugged. “Believe it or not, unicorns are pretty tough, not as tough as earth ponies mind you, but we can take a few hits when we need to. Though it still sucked, so I don’t recommend trying to repeat my experiments if you value your health.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” said Allen with a shake of his head.
“Nor I,” added Fancy Pants cautiously, as he looked around as if afraid Pinkie would suddenly appear and cause chaos.
Blueblood simply rolled his eyes and gave a skeptical huff. Turning to Allen, he asked, “So are you ready to resume your work then?”
Allen shrugged. “Don’t know,” he replied, before looking at Fluttershy, “Is the field ready to go yet?”
Taking a small bite out of red velvet cake, Fluttershy chewed and swallowed. “I believe so, both Roy and Nan are lying over by the gate resting and it looks like Angel just finished putting the last stake in the ground, and I didn’t see anything moving around on the ground during my last flyover. So I think you should be okay.”
“Perfect,” replied Allen, a big grin on his face as he eagerly turned and headed for the gate. “Hope you’re ready to pay up when you lose Dash, cause that money is as good as mine!” he called out over his shoulder as he left.
Rainbow Dash, not one to let a taunt go unanswered, sprang up into the air and fired back, “Oh I’m ready, alright, ready for you to pay up!”
Laughing, Allen called out to Fancy Pants, “You got your watch ready?”
Pulling said watch from his pocket, Fancy opened it up and took note of the time. “Ready when you are,” he said with a nod.
“Alright, start timing me when you hear the sound of my engine.”
“Will do,” called back Fancy as he watched Allen jog across the field.
Turning his attention away from Allen, he asked, “Do you think I should start over at sixty minutes or deduct some from the first attempt?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course, you should give him a time penalty,” scoffed Rainbow, “it’s his fault for not making sure everything was good to go in the first place.”
“But Allen didn’t know,” interjected Fluttershy, “so I don’t think that would be very fair to him.”
“But-”
“Fluttershy is right, Rainbow,” said Twilight, cutting off Rainbow’s protest, “Allen didn’t know, and he hasn’t done that much. Let’s just reset the clock as that will make it easier to determine if he finished the field in time.”
Rainbow crossed her forehooves and pouted. “He still cut some of the field though.”
Rolling her eyes, Twilight replied, “Alright, I’ll go ask him if he’ll take a time penalty, but if he says no, you have to abide by it, okay?”
“Fine,” grumped Rainbow.
“Alright, I’ll be right back,” nodded Twilight, before she lit up her horn and teleported with a flash of bright light and a pop.
Reappearing next to Allen’s tractor, she inadvertently startled him in the process.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Allen as he jumped back from Twilight’s materialization point.
Blinking the stars from her vision, as teleportation still left her a little disoriented. Twilight gave Allen an apologetic smile and said, “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you like that.”
“Did you just teleport?” asked Allen incredulously.
Puffing her chest out in pride, Twilight nodded. “Sure did. Though I’m still getting the hang of it,” she continued a little more humbly this time.
“Well that would explain why your tail is smoking,” replied Allen dryly.
Whipping her head around, Twilight saw that her tail was indeed smoking, prompting her to yep in alarm and quickly use her magic to dispel the acrid-smelling smoke before it could get any worse.
“Does that always happen?” asked Allen as he tried to suppress an amused chuckle.
“Less than it used to,” replied Twilight absently as she carefully inspected her tail and mane ends to make sure nothing else was smoking or damaged. “Teleportation involves a lot of energy and math, and if you don’t do it right, it can cause the caster to come out the other end a little... charred around the edges.”
“I think I’ll stick to walking, seems a little safer,” remarked Allen, wary at the idea of suddenly finding parts of himself on fire or missing.
Satisfied that her mane and tail ends were safe from spontaneous combustion, Twilight turned her attention fully to Allen and said, “Oh, don’t get me wrong, modern teleportation spells are quite safe I assure you. If you don’t cast it within safety tolerances, the spell won’t fire. The worst thing that can happen to you is part of your mane, tail, or horn tip gets a little singed.”
“Still walking,” said Allen, still not fully convinced on the merits of teleportation.
“Yes well, I’m still not comfortable teleporting with passengers yet, so it’s a moot point anyways. Regardless, we’ve gotten off-topic.”
“And what topic would that be?” asked Allen as he prepared to resume cutting.
“It’s about the bet, Rainbow wants to give you a time penalty because you already cut some of the field. Fluttershy doesn’t think you should be penalized as you didn’t know about the need to clear the field of small animals beforehoof.”
Allen shrugged, seemingly unconcerned at the idea at being given a time penalty. “Sure, you can give me a five-minute penalty, not like it’ll help her. I’ll still get this field done in less than two hours.”
“Are you sure that’s okay Allen?” pressed Twilight, a doubtful look on her face.
Waving her question off, Allen climbed up and said, “I told you, it’s fine. Now, get back to the others, I’m gonna get started.”
Nodding in understanding, Twilight lit up her horn and disappeared in a flash of magic. Allen, not expecting her to teleport again, jumped in his seat, startled again by the sudden flash of light. Holding a hand to his chest while he waited for his heart to stop racing, he shook his head and muttered, “She better not make a habit of doing that. Feels like she set off a damn flash-bang next to me.”
Rubbing his eyes in an attempt to get rid of the afterimage of Twilight teleporting, Allen leaned forward, pushing in the clutch as he did so, turned the key, and hit the starter button. The old Farmall’s engine whined for a couple of seconds before with a couple of coughs and chugs, the old diesel motor roared to life. Giving it some more throttle, Allen let the engine warm-up for a minute before turning around and flipping the PTO lever up. The engine slowed down for a second as the PTO shaft engaged and brought the discbine to life behind him.
Satisfied that everything was working properly, Allen put the tractor in gear and gave it more throttle before letting out the clutch pedal, the tractor surging forward as if eager to get back to work.
Watching from his seat as the mower turned the tall, proud-looking grass into neatly cut windrows to dry in the late spring sun, Allen happily thought to himself, Time to make some hay, and win a bet!
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hm
not sure how to feel about this reference
Happy new year!
Didn't think I'd be looking forward to a chapter about cutting grass, but here we are...
Are you an EaW fan? i mean you use a lot of locations from it
Fluttershy has Everything she neeeds to deal with animals in her shed?
Meat prep and store for the obligate carnivores?
11104244
Your reply, combined with your profile picture made me laugh. It's the perfect combination, especially when you add in AJ's deadpan voice.
11104261
As a matter of fact, I am. EaW has such a wonderful map and lore setting that I couldn't help but use it as a basis for location names and minor lore in this story, though there will be some differences between EaW timeline and Moving Day's timeline, a prime example being the fact that Stalliongrad doesn't exist in this world, and that the technology levels are also quite different.
There's something seriously weird about that rabbit. I'd swear he was something out of Faery, making a deal of emotional confidence in exchange for light servitude.
11104318
I've always said, "sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology".
awesome chapter some how i have a feeling Angel and Allen are going to be seeing each other way more often.
i get the feeling that Angel likes Allen ,, well as much as that little dick can like any one.
Awesome update. Is Angel bunny a eldritch horror, and is Fluttershy under mind control? ;P
Some very interesting background hints. I'm still trying to put all the pieces together though and there are a LOT of pieces thrown in.
11104797
Naw, nothing so crazy as that.
11104807
Good luck putting them together, I tend to add new ones at random intervals.
Wow Allen has a discbine. That is one of the modern marvels of cutting hay. Better then the Haybine my family uses, also easier to get parts for in a modern setting. Also I hope he does go over some farm safety with the ponies so they can understand some of the dangers of his equipment.
11105080
My dad bought a used New Idea discbine a year or so ago after our old IH 990 haybine's wobble box wore out. He loves it, and I like it too. Though I do miss the rhythmic sounds the old haybine would make as it cut our hay fields. However, I do NOT miss clearing the machine when it plugged up with grass.
11104176
I like to ignore the obvious reference and think that's where she stores any chemicals and thaumatic supplies she needs for caretaking, cleaning and field-clearing jobs like this.
Eager to see Rainbow's loss. XD
You forgot the parts where she got splashed in mud, bitten by a baby toothless alligator in a bathtub and got hit by another moving door, not necessarily in that order....
11108818
Yeah, but I think Allen got the point. Don't question Pinkie Pie if you value your health.
11108911
Allen did, maybe even Fancy, but I wonder about Blueblood? EDIT: Plus,Twilight isn't known for being forgetful and well-known for being detailed, to the point where it's like a character trait for her, so it's not like her to be forgetful about those kinds of things, so the correction is more for her character than everyone else getting the point in this particular scene.....
I had a few chapters to read, but I'm back up now.