Chapter 46 (Overheated)
Chapter 46
“Allen? Are you in here?” called out Penny as she slowly walked into the machine shed.
A loud thunk emanated from behind a large metal box that was hooked up to Allen’s 806 and a muttered curse answered her question.
Peeking around the corner, she saw Allen clutching the back of his head.
“Oh Allen, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you like that,” she said as she quickly closed the distance. “Here, let me look at it,” she instructed as she pried his hands away from the back of his head. A large knot already forming from where his head had connected with the edge of the large door that hung open above them.
Lighting up her horn, she cast a minor healing spell, the swelling slowly beginning to recede and Allen’s body slowly relaxed as the pain lessened.
“Thanks, that feels better,” he said.
“You’re welcome, I’m sorry, but it’s the best that I can do. Healing magic can be very difficult to do without causing more harm by accident. This is just a minor healing spell for bumps, scrapes, and bruises. So all it did was lessen the swelling a bit and reduce the pain. We should probably take you to the hospital to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”
Allen shook his head. “I’m fine, the pain’s almost gone anyways.”
“Allen-”
He waved her off. “I’m fine, trust me, I’ve knocked my head against things harder than that before. I’m okay. Now,” he said as he cautiously straightened up, “what’s going on?”
“I just came to see how things were going,” she replied as she eyed the strange, boxy machine in front of her. Peering inside, she could see a mass of large belts that wound around various rollers. Pointing at it, she asked, “What’s this?”
“That’s the round baler, I’m getting it serviced before I start baling today,” replied Allen as he returned to his work.
“Oh, so that’s what it looks like,” remarked Penny as she watched him work. “I thought it would look like your square baler, but I guess I was wrong.”
Stepping back, she looked up at the side of the red baler and saw the words New Holland 660 emblazoned on the side in yellow.
“So how does it work?” she asked curiously.
Standing up, Allen set his tools aside and pointed to the front. “Well, it picks the hay up like the square baler does. Though instead of feeding it into a chamber where a giant ram smashes it into individual flakes. This one feeds it into this chamber here with all of these belts and it rolls it up like a carpet until it gets to the right size and then I stop the tractor and let the baler wind some twine around it before dumping it out the back here.”
“How do you know when it’s the right size?”
“Oh, I could look at these indicators here on the baler,” he said, pointing to a section on the front of it that had a line with numbers on it. “This little triangular piece of metal will slowly move to the other side of the baler as the bale inside gets larger, and once it gets to the number I want it at, I’ll stop and wrap the bale. The other, and more precise method is to use this,” he held up a small plastic and metal box with a screen and buttons on the front. “This is a bale monitor and lets me know how big the bale is in inches and whether the bale is uniform in shape or not.”
“Uniform?”
Allen nodded. “Yeah, there will be two little black bars displayed here,” he pointed at the blank screen with a finger, “as I’m baling they will grow bigger. Now if one of them gets bigger than the other, say the right one, then I know that there is too much hay being fed into the right side of the baler. You see, normally the windrow isn’t wide enough to fill the entire bale chamber, so I have to drive to one side of the windrow or the other to even things out inside the baler. Make sense?”
Penny slowly nodded. “I think so.”
“It’ll make more sense when you see me actually doing the baling,” replied Allen as he moved to mount the monitor on the right side fender of his tractor.
“So did you manage to get the tedding and raking all done?” asked Penny.
Allen shook his head. “I got the rest of the tedding done this morning, but I’ve got Brulee, Clover, Rye, and Honeysuckle out raking right now.”
“I saw them on my way in,” said Penny, “I didn’t think you had everything you needed for them to do that yet.”
“I didn’t,” replied Allen simply, “when Clover came by this morning to see if I had any work for them, I said if he could find a couple of extra harnesses that fit them, I’d have them go and try pulling my rake. Since the rake has three wheels, there isn’t a need for a forecart, so all they would need is a harness that fits and a two-pony wagon shaft to pull it, and I already had the shaft and single trees so all that was needed was the harnesses.”
“Well from the looks of things, I’d say he found a harness or two,” replied Penny dryly.
Allen chuckled. “Yeah, Big Mac gave me his old harness so that Brulee could use it. It needs some work done to it, but it’s good enough for today's job. As for the other three, apparently, they bought theirs used at a harness shop in Canterlot. Turns out there’s a lot of ponies around the area who need things moved and don’t want to do it themselves. So those three have been doing the odd hauling job on the side while they wait for me to have work for them to do here.”
Penny nodded. “Makes sense, and now that I think about it, I do recall seeing Honeysuckle pulling some carts around town lately.”
Double checking that the monitor was fully secured to the fender, Allen finished hooking it up to the baler and making sure the wires wouldn’t get caught on anything while he was working. “Yep, and now that I know they can pull my rake without any issues, I’ve got one less thing to worry about.”
“That’s good to hear,” replied Penny happily, “So do they switch off then? Because I only saw Clover and Brulee working, while Rye and Honey were sitting off to one side talking.”
“Yeah, they tried having one pony pulling it, and it worked, sort of. Flat ground was doable, but only Clover and Brulee could pull it by themselves for any length of time, and if they went up any kind of incline, they’d start to struggle. Plus they couldn’t keep up the speed I need them to for very long before they started to tire. However, with two ponies, they can cover a good bit of ground at a reasonable pace without much trouble. Though I bet Big Mac could pull that rake by himself without much trouble, he seems to do well with the baskets by himself.”
“I thought Brulee could pull them too?”
Allen nodded. “He can, but I have to lighten the load a bit for him. Big Mac’s just stronger, not surprising considering all the hard work he does every day. Plus he hasn’t been pulling the baskets very far or up and down a hill. I reckon when we start hauling from father away, he’ll need somepony else to help him,” explained Allen as he checked the oil level in the tractor.
“So how big are these round bales going to be?” asked Penny curiously as she followed Allen around as he worked.
“This baler can make them five feet wide and up to six feet tall, but I generally only let them get to about four feet, as they’re a bit easier to move and work with, plus it’s less stress on the baler,” said Allen as he grabbed a dirty rag and wiped the oil and grease off of his hands. Reaching up, he pulled a couple of levers on the back of the baler that let the rear door swing shut with a loud thud.
“How heavy does that make each bale?”
He shrugged. “Around a thousand pounds, give or take a couple hundred pounds either way depending on what I’m baling, how high I’ve got the density set and how much moisture is in the bale.”
“So how are you going to move them once they’re made?” asked Penny.
Allen paused as he was climbing up on the tractor and replied, “I’m... working on that part,” pulling himself the rest of the way up, he settled himself in his seat and looked down at Penny, “normally I would use either my 806 or 706 with a front loader to load up my hay wagons, and I’ll probably have to do it this time until I can find a way to load them without having to use my tractor.”
“I could see if Zubchatoye can make something up for you,” offered Penny.
Allen laughed and shook his head. “Thanks, Penny, but I’ve got a couple of ideas, a pile of scrap metal and a welder. I think I might be able to whip something up while I’m waiting for Fluttershy and the other field clearers to do their job. Now, go ahead and stand back, I’m gonna get started here,” he made a shooing motion with his hand, and Penny backed up as Allen hit the starter button and the 806 rumbled to life with a cloud of black smoke pouring out of the exhaust pipe before it cleared up.
After letting the tractor warm up for a minute, Allen put it in gear and slowly rolled out of the machine shed, Penny following along behind as Allen guided his metal steed down the driveway. Pushing the clutch in, he changed gears and sped away, forcing Penny to gallop after him to keep up.
By the time they reached the field, Penny was wheezing.
I really need to schedule some time in my day for running, she thought to herself as she huffed and puffed. I didn’t realize I was this out of shape! Lifting her head up at hearing somepony giggling at her expense, she spotted Honeysuckle trying, and failing, to hide her amusement nearby.
Trudging up to the giggly earth pony, Penny shot her an unamused look and asked, “What... is... so... funny?” she panted.
Giving the out-of-breath unicorn an amused grin, she replied, “You are, silly.”
“Well... I’m glad... I could provide some... entertainment,” Penny shot back, as she felt her heartbeat return to a more normal level and her breath slowly return to her.
Hearing Allen’s tractor engine rev higher, followed by the baler engaging, Penny glanced his way to see the displaced human take off down the field, the round baler gobbling up the hay like a hungry foal slurping up spaghetti, though with less mess and annoying slurping noises.
“Sure puts out a lot of dust doesn’t it?” commented Honey idly as they watched the large dust cloud kicked up by the baler follow along behind Allen.
“Yeah, it sure does,” replied Penny as they saw Allen come to an abrupt stop, the dust cloud catching and swirling around him as he pushed a button on the bale monitor next to him. After maybe about ten or twenty seconds, the back doors of the baler opened, and a bale was literally kicked out by a metal bar before the door closed again.
They watched as Allen put the tractor in neutral, turned the baler off, and climbed down, a strange-looking black stick in his hand.
“I wonder what he’s doing?” asked Honey as the two mares watched Allen inspect the bale and poked it a couple of times with his hand and the stick. Walking around the baler he disappeared from view around the other side for a few minutes before he reappeared and climbed back up on the tractor and took off again. This process repeated several times as Allen would drive forward until he had a full bale, come to a stop, wait a little bit, drop the bale, climb down, check it, and make some sort of adjustment to the baler before then getting back on and resuming his work. However, after the fifth time, he did this, he apparently had things working the way he wanted as he didn’t climb down again after he stopped to drop off a completed bale.
Turning her attention away from Allen for a moment, Penny looked at Honeysuckle and asked, “So how are things going for you and your brothers?”
“Do you mean that in the general sense or along the lines of how we’re doing with the raking?” she asked in reply, not taking her eyes off Allen's progress.
“A little bit of both, I suppose,” said Penny in response.
“We’re doing better, thanks to Allen hiring us, we saved up enough bits to rent a small house on the edge of town for the summer, as well as buy some used harnesses as well. We’ve been doing the odd hauling job around town when Allen hasn’t had any work for us. Plus, Clover wants to save up enough bits for us to buy a caravan this year so that way we don’t have to spend so much money on lodging. So we’ll need some good harnesses to pull it over the road,” she explained, a contented smile on her face.
“And how much will that cost?” asked Penny curiously.
Honey shrugged. “Depends on what kind of model we buy, and whether it’s new or used. The one Clover wants to get is nearly twenty-thousand bits, but it’s one of those top-of-line models made in Canterlot. You know, the ones that are bigger on the inside than the outside, and have tons of runes and enchantments built into them. I think he said it was called a Startrotter Galaxy 500 or something.”
“Oh yes, I’ve seen those, they can get pretty pricey,” replied Penny with a knowing nod.
Honeysuckle laughed. “Yeah, that’s the understatement of the year,” she said as she shook her head. “I told my brother there was no way we’d make enough money this year to buy one, even a heavily used one is ten thousand bits or better.”
Penny nodded. “Yeah, my parents thought about buying one several years ago to use when they went camping, but for how many times they’d use it in a year, it just wasn’t worth it. So they decided to buy a Prairie Princess model instead. A top-of-the-line one is half the price, and almost as nice as the Startrotter’s, and if you get one with fewer options, it’s even cheaper.”
“Yeah, that’s one of the models I was thinking about getting. They’re less luxurious, but from what I’ve heard, they’re less maintenance intensive and more durable.”
“They are,” replied Penny with a single nod, “my parents love theirs. My dad says he’s only had to have one of the enchantments replaced in the last five years since they bought it, and that was because of a defect in the rune when it was built. The company replaced it at no cost to my parents.”
“How is the used market on them?” asked Honeysuckle curiously.
“Eh, I’ve heard that it’s better to buy them new, as most ponies don’t get rid of theirs unless something is really wrong with it,” explained Penny.
“Oh, I was hoping there would be some cheap used ones for sale my brother’s and I could snap up. I don’t mind dealing with a few problems that can be fixed later, but I’d rather not buy one if it’s been used up to the point it can’t be fixed,” replied Honeysuckle, a hint of disappointment in her voice.
Penny shrugged with a ‘what can you do,’ look on her face. “The price of being a popular model that keeps going until it can’t go anymore, I guess. Though the new ones aren’t that expensive. A base model starts in at around two thousand bits, while the top of the line is about eight to nine thousand.”
“Yeah, but for that price, I might as well buy a used Startrotter instead,” complained Honey.
Penny laughed and shook her head. “If you can find a Startrotter that cheap, then you’d be better off buying the new Prairie instead. The cost to fix those enchantments is not cheap. Plus the Startrotter’s aren’t built as tough as the Prairie’s, so they tend to break down more, which means you’re paying more in repairs.”
“Are they that unreliable?” questioned Honey.
“It’s not so much that they’re unreliable as that they’re not meant for the kind of use that you intend. They’re more meant for that weekend romp at the posh local campground or a weekend trip to the beach with the other well-to-do ponies, rather than trekking across half of Equestria as part of a group of traveling workers,” explained Penny.
“Huh, I didn’t realize that,” said Honey thoughtfully.
“Most ponies don’t. Canterhorn Carriages make their stuff to be more of a status symbol than a rugged and reliable daily use item, like the Fillydelphia Wagon Works does with their Prairie Princess caravans. That’s not to say that you can’t take a Startrotter into the wilds of Equestria, but... you’ll probably wish you hadn’t after a couple of days when things start breaking on it, and you can’t fix it.”
Honeysuckle gave Penny a knowing smirk. “Sounds like you have some experience with that sort of thing.”
Penny rolled her eyes. “Not directly no, I had a classmate at Manehatten University that had more bits than sense. Decided to buy one to impress his nature-loving marefriend with a weeklong excursion into the MacIntosh Foothills one year. Let’s just say that the Startrotter didn’t make it two days before it had to be abandoned, and my classmate got dumped in the process, and leave it at that.”
“Ooh, that sounds bad. I’ve been down that way before, it can get pretty rough out there once you get off of the roads,” winced Honey as she recalled the rocky and uneven trails.
“Well, the funny part is that they didn’t get off the roads. The wagon broke both axles before they reached the end of the dirt road they were on. Though to be fair, he said the road had been partially washed out and was pretty badly rutted, but still,” added Penny with a small chuckle.
Honey shook her head with a sigh. “Geez, well glad I talked to you before we sunk a bunch of bits into something that couldn’t stand up to the rigors of the trail, so thank you.”
Penny smiled. “No problem, I’m always happy to help. Now how is the raking going for you guys? ” she asked, changing the topic in the process.
“Pretty well,” replied Honey easily, “with two of us on the rake, we can keep a steady trot going without getting tired quickly, and can do quite a few acres before you need a break. Rye and I just switched out with Clover and Brulee not that long ago, and we’ve managed to cover some ground. I’m not sure if we’ll get the entire field up today, but we’ll get a good chunk of it. The hay is really thick, so we can only do single windrows, but that’s fine.”
“Did it dry well?” asked Penny curiously.
“Oh heck yeah,” said Honey with an enthusiastic nod, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen hay this dry before, outside of an oven,” she paused and looked around before leaning in and dramatically whispering in Penny’s ear, “don’t tell Allen, but I got a little hungry while pulling and snagged a couple hoofful’s of hay to snack on. It was super crunchy, and tasted great.”
Penny giggled in reply. “Don’t worry, you’re secret's safe with me, though I don’t think Allen would really care, in fact, he’d probably be happy to hear that his hay tastes good.” She paused and looked around. “Say,” she asked curiously, “Where’s your brother at? I don’t see him anywhere.”
“Oh, Rye? He’s over under one of those apple trees over there,” replied Honey as she turned and pointed in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. “He was complaining about the sun being too hot on his coat.”
Penny glanced up at the aforementioned ball of hot gasses hanging above them, and shielding her eyes with a hoof, replied, “Yeah, it is a bit on the warm side today, so I guess he’s got a point. Though that begs the question of why you are still sitting out here on the edge of the field without a tree in sight.”
“Eh, I guess I’m just too lazy to move right now,” laughed Honey in reply.
Penny joined in with a laugh of her own before the two fell into a companionable silence as they watched Allen bale and Brulee and Clover rake. Eventually, the sound of iron-shod wheels creaking on the dirt road behind them caused the two mares to turn around and see who was coming.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Farthing,” called out Filthy Rich as he trotted ahead of the two wagons trundling along behind him.
“Mr. Rich, what are you doing out here?” asked Penny curiously, surprised at seeing the business stallion outside of town like he was.
“Well, I’m here to oversee the collection of hay,” he replied as he pointed to the two wagons behind him with his chin. “I’d like to get some of this hay into the store so that my customers can give me their opinions on it and whether they’ll want more of it or not.”
Penny smiled and replied, “Well, Honeysuckle here seems to like it, right Honey?”
Honey nodded, a wide smile on her face. “Oh yeah, it was nice and crunchy, like it had just been pulled out of an oven, hardly any moisture in it.”
Filthy regarded Honey with a skeptical look and said, “Yes well, I’d like to have a bigger sample size before I make any major purchases. Now,” he said, changing the subject, “where is the hay?”
Penny and Honey looked at each other before Penny pointed out into the field with a hoof and said, “Right there.”
Filthy looked from Penny to the field and felt his jaw drop a hair as he stared at the sight before him.
“That’s the hay?” he asked quietly.
Penny nodded. “Sure is,” she replied dryly.
Slowly walking over to the nearest round bale, Filthy looked it up and down.
“This thing is huge!” he exclaimed, “it’s got to weigh over a thousand pounds!”
“Probably,” said Penny from her spot by the road, “Allen said that these bales could weigh from eight hundred to over a thousand pounds at this size depending on how dense he makes them and how much moisture is in them at the time.”
Filthy trotted around the bale and marveled at it.
“How big is this?” he asked, “I mean, it’s got to be at least four hooves high as I can barely see over it.”
“Allen said his baler can make them five hooves wide by six hooves tall, but he likes to keep them around four hooves tall as it’s easier for him to move and store,” said Penny.
“Uh, Mr. Rich? How are we going to load these?” asked one of the earth pony pullers, an uncertain expression on his face.
Filthy shook his head. “I... don’t know. I didn’t think the bales would be this big or... heavy,” he grunted when he tried to move the bale with his shoulder, having limited success. Ceasing his attempts to push it, he looked from the bale to the nearby hay wagons that he had brought and shook his head. “My wagons are designed to transport loose hay or those small bales that Allen made the other day, not... these big things,” he said with a wave of his hoof in emphasis at the offending bale.
“I suppose you could ask Allen if he could load it for you,” ventured Penny, “though you’ll need to catch his attention first, and he’s moved down the field a ways since he started, as you can see,” she pointed out.
“Yes, I can see that,” replied Filthy as he turned to watch a now-distant Allen disgorge another bale from his machines. Sighing to himself, he started walking. “Wait for me, I’ll be right back after I have a word with Mr. Ross.”
The four pony pullers all just looked at each other, before one shrugged and hit the quick release for his harness and went to go sit in the shade under the wagon, his buddies following suit soon after.
Both Penny and Honey watched Filthy’s progress across the field, and Penny took note that Allen had noticed the business stallion headed his way, though he didn’t stop until Filthy was maybe a half a dozen yards away, and only when he had to drop another bale from his baler. Penny watched as Allen shut off the baler, and throttled down, the sound of the tractor’s engine dimming a second or two later.
She watched as he jumped down from the tractor, and had a quick conversation with Filthy before he then reached up and pulled the throttle all the way to the left, causing the tractor’s engine to shut down from lack of fuel. Falling in beside Filthy, Allen walked back across the field with him.
When the two reached the little group, Penny got up and asked, “So what’s going on?”
“He wants a few bales to take back to Ponyville to give out as samples for the afternoon customer rush.” Explained Allen as Penny fell in alongside of him, while Filthy pealed off to speak with his teamsters, “He said he wanted to see how well the customers reacted to this new hay before he made a large purchase. Which I guess is fair,” said Allen with a shrug.
“Okay, but what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go and put the loader on my 706 and use that to load a couple of bales of hay on his wagons. Apparently, he can take the sides of them off, so I can stick two on each wagon lengthwise, and then they can put the sides back on to keep them from rolling off until they get back to town. After which they can take the sides off and push the bales off the wagon into the store,” explained Allen as he and Penny reached the farmyard.
“And how long is that going to take?” she asked.
Shaking his head, he replied, “Not very long. I should have the loader on in about ten minutes, and have him loaded up in less than fifteen. After that, I’ll just leave the seven out in the field and get back on the eight and start baling again. Besides, this’ll give Brulee and Clover a chance to get ahead of me, I’d noticed I was catching up to them, so this break will give them a chance to add more of a buffer between us.”
Walking into the machine shed, Allen made a beeline for his trusty 706 and climbed up. Settling down in the seat, he pressed his thumb against a silver button on the steering column and waited for a few seconds. While he waited, he turned back to Penny and said, “Why don’t you go ahead and head back to the field and wait for me there while I get hooked up?”
Nodding, Penny replied, “Alright, I’ll see you there,” and turned to leave. As she exited the shed, she heard the seven fire up behind her and looked back over her shoulder as Allen confidently drove out of the shed and turned right to head to the other machine shed where she assumed he kept this ‘loader’ he was talking about.
Picking up the pace to a fast walk, she arrived back at the field just as Filthy’s crew removed the last of the side walls on the wagons. Trotting up to stand next to Filthy she said, “Allen should be back and have you loaded soon.”
“Good, I’ll have the hay weighed back at the store and make a note to add it to the final price if we buy anymore,” he said with a nod.
“So you think your customers aren’t going to have a problem with Allen’s hay then?” she asked.
He nodded. “I don’t see why not. I took the liberty of snagging a sample out of the nearest bale for myself, and your friend was right. It was some of the driest and crunchiest hay I’ve had that hasn’t been run through an oven beforehoof. I think it will sell very well. But you know how fickle customers can be, so I want to test the waters first. Besides, I do believe I did tell you I wanted to have some samples for testing purposes before I did a full rollout.”
Penny nodded, as she did, in fact, remember him saying that. “I do remember you saying something along those lines.”
Filthy opened his mouth to reply, however, the rumble of Allen’s approaching tractor cut him off. Turning, the pair watched as Allen drove past, the tractor now sporting a long spear on the end of what Penny assumed was his ‘loader’. From her point of view, it looked like a pair of metal arms had been attached to either side of the tractor, with several metal cylinders acting as ‘muscles’ to move the arms up and down or to tip the spear point down or up as Allen needed it.
Allen meanwhile had lined up on a nearby round bale and with practiced ease, skewered the hapless bale, and after coming to an abrupt stop, he lifted the bale off the ground. Once he was sure the bale wouldn’t go anywhere, he carefully maneuvered the loaded tractor to one of the nearby wagons and gently set it down on it, before backing up and going to get another bale. He repeated this little dance three more times, before shutting down the tractor.
Jumping down, he approached Penny and Filthy.“Alright, that’s all done. Were you planning on getting any more hay tonight or did you want me to bring it over in the morning?”
Filthy, still amazed at how easy Allen had made that look, shook his head slowly and replied, “Uh, I’ll send a runner tomorrow and let you know. I want to see how my customers react to the hay tonight during the afternoon and evening shopping rushes.”
Shrugging, Allen easily replied, “Well, whatever works for you, just let me know, but if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work, so see ya later,” he said with a wave as he headed back across the field to his waiting tractor and baler.
“Pretty neat huh?” asked Penny, a small smile on her face at seeing Filthy’s amazed expression.
Filthy nodded absently. “Yes, it was, and is, to think he can do all of this with only a few workers is simply astounding.”
“Hey boss, we’re ready to go!” yelled one of Filthy’s workers suddenly, causing Filthy to jump slightly as he was pulled from his thoughts.
Shaking his head, he turned to Penny and said, “We’ll be in touch tomorrow morning to let you know how things went.”
“Alright, we’ll be waiting,” replied Penny with a smile.
Returning her smile with one of his own and a nod of his head, Filthy turned and left, his workers straining momentarily in their harnesses as they dug their hooves into the dirt to get their heavy loads rolling.
As Penny watched them leave, she felt somepony walk up next to her, and turning, she saw that it was Honey.
“So, do you think he’ll buy a bunch of hay?” she asked curiously.
“I think so,” replied Penny with an assured nod of her head. “Both you and he liked the taste of the hay, so I’d say there is a good chance that other ponies will like it as well. I have a feeling we’ll be selling all of these bales tomorrow, no problem.”
“So does that mean I should let my brothers know that we’ll be needed tomorrow?” asked Honey with a small giggle.
“I would say it’s a fair assumption,” replied Penny dryly.
“Well, it never hurts to check,” said Honey with a cheeky grin.
“No, I suppose it doesn’t,” Penny replied with a shake of her head as she and Honey resumed their interrupted tractor-watching.
Time slowly passed by, and eventually Honey and Rye switched out with Brulee and Clover, who went and laid out underneath a convenient apple tree after having downed an entire bucket's worth of water each.
“Are you guys okay?” asked Penny, a hint of concern evident in her voice as she watched the two stallions guzzle water down.
Coming up for air, Clover replied breathlessly, “Yeah... just a bit overheated is all... give us a bit and we’ll be fine.”
“Do you guys want me to get you some more water?” asked Penny when she saw that they’d drained their water buckets dry.
Brulee raised his head up a bit from where he was laying and nodded, a tired, but grateful look on his face. “Yes, please,” he said.
Giving a nod, Penny gathered up the two buckets and went to go fill them up at Allen’s as that was the closest place she knew that had clean, cool water. Walking down the driveway, she made a beeline for a nearby hydrant and set a bucket underneath it before pulling the lever up and waiting for the water to come pouring out. While she waited, she hummed quietly to herself as first one, then the second bucket were filled to the brim with water before then shutting it off and heading back to the field, the buckets following along in her magical field behind her.
Returning, she set the buckets down next to the two exhausted stallions and said, “Here you boys go, just let me know if you need me to go on another water run okay?”
The two stallions gave her grateful looks and nodded before each one pulled a bucket to themselves and drained half of it in a go, before nearly simultaneously coming up for air once more with a content sigh
Seeing that they weren’t about to die from heat exhaustion, Penny turned her attention back to the field and saw that Allen was still going, while Rye and Honey had just gotten started on the rake.
“So, how are things going out there?” asked Penny casually as she continued watching the activities in the field.
Having caught his breath, Clover replied, “They’re going okay. We’re struggling to keep up with Allen though. His tractor just gobbles up those big windrows and spits out those round bales like crazy. Brulee and I were keeping a steady pace, and Allen was still gaining on us.”
“Not surprising,” remarked Penny, “machines don’t get tired like ponies do. The only thing that would stop Allen is he runs out of fuel or he gets tired, and something tells me that he’d probably finish this field before either of those things happen.”
Brulee groaned and remarked, “Yeah that’s nice and all, but I don’t see us finishing this field tonight. We’ve barely gotten over a third of it raked and I’m ready to call it quits. My legs feel like jelly and every muscle feels like it's on fire.”
Clover nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty tired too, though I think I can do a few more acres if I get a chance to rest for a bit. I’m just not used to pulling that long and hard.”
“Is it that difficult?” asked Penny curiously as she turned around and sat down next to the two stallions underneath the shade of the apple tree.
“It’s not so much that it’s hard or heavy, just that you’re having to keep a steady pace and pull it through heavy hay,” he replied.
Brulee nodded, his ears dropping as he laid his head against the ground tiredly. “Yeah, and this hot weather doesn’t help either. I don’t think I’ve ever sweated this much in my life before.”
Looking over at Brulee with a sudden, serious expression, Clover asked, “Have you had any additional salt today?”
Blinking sluggishly, he slowly shook his head. “No, why?”
“Because you need to replace the salt that you’ve sweated out since you’ve been working,” said Clover seriously as he levered himself up with a groan and trudged over to his nearby saddlebags. Opening a flap with his muzzle, he reached in and pulled out a pill bottle, and slowly walked back over. Popping the cap off, he dumped several white-colored pills into the frog of his hoof and wordlessly gave them to Brulee, before dumping some more out for himself and downing them in one gulp.
Following suit, Brulee washed the pills down with a deep gulp of water from the bucket, before he laid his head back down on the grass and closed his eyes. Clover meanwhile sat down next to Penny and watched Allen work.
“How much do you think you guys can get done today?” asked Penny quietly.
“Maybe half,” replied Clover, “I’m the strongest between my siblings, and even I’m pretty tired.” He paused and glanced up at the sun hanging far above them. “Judging by the sun, I’d say it’s probably just after noon. Honey and Rye will probably quit here in about another hour or two at most.”
“What about Allen? He wanted to get the field done today,” asked Penny.
Clover shrugged. “We can only do so much. Sure we could push it and try and do more, but then we run the risk of hurting ourselves. Poor Brulee over there is probably going to be out of action tomorrow judging by how much he was hurting by the end.”
“Is he going to be okay?” asked Penny worriedly, her voice low.
Clover nodded. “Yeah, he just overdid it. I’ve seen it before. He’s strong sure, but he’s not used to doing this kind of work all day in this kind of weather. Once his body gets used to it, he’ll be able to go longer. I bet if Big Mac was here working with me, he and I would still be out there raking. Point is that Brulee, and to a lesser extent my siblings and I, aren’t used to this kind of sustained work, so we run out of steam sooner than we’d like. Give it a week or two and we’ll be able to stay out in the field longer.”
Penny silently nodded and turned her attention back to watching Allen work. With nothing more to say, the three ponies silently watched from their shady spot as the others worked. Eventually, however, Honey and Rye ran out of steam themselves and slowly plodded back to the welcoming shade of the apple trees.
“Ugh, my everything hurts,” complained Rye. Honey just grunted in agreement before then dunking her head into a bucket of water and chugging for all she was worth.
Clover had wordlessly stood up and retrieved the salt pill bottle from his saddlebags and hoofed his siblings their dosage of pills, which they gratefully accepted.
Standing up from her spot of chosen grass, Penny walked over to assess the team.
“How are you all holding up?” she asked.
Honey gasped as she came up for air and said, “I don’t know about my brothers, but I’m done for the day.”
Penny nodded and turned to look at the three stallions. “And what about you three?” she asked.
“I’m wiped too,” said Rye tiredly.
“I could do a little more, but only if Brulee can help,” replied Clover who out of the four looked to be in the best condition.
Brulee shook his head. “I’m done for the day, and tomorrow too,” he quietly groaned from his spot on the ground.
“Yeah, not taking enough salt will do that to you,” said Clover with a nod of understanding. “You’re strong, but you can’t work outside all morning and through the hot part of the day like that without drinking plenty of water and keeping your salt levels up.”
Raising his head slightly, Brulee looked over at Clover and replied, “I didn’t see you take any salt tablets today.”
“That’s because I took em before I started working,” shot back Clover, “That and I drank a bunch of water before we set to work. Plus I’m used to this kind of work, so my body isn’t gonna give out on me like yours is right now.”
“Ugh,” said Brulee as he let his head flop back down.
By this point, Allen had noticed that his workers weren’t working, and had decided to see what the hold-up was. Pulling up next to them on the 806, he shut the engine off and hopped down.
“So, what’s going on?” he asked.
“We’re done for the day,” replied Clover simply. “Brulee overdid it and the rest of us are too tired to keep working at this pace and with it being this hot out.”
Looking around at his tired crew, Allen nodded in understanding. “Yeah, you guys look like you’re about to fall over.”
“Sorry, we couldn’t do more,” said Honey, her ears turned down at having been unable to finish the job.
Allen waved her apology away. “It’s fine. You guys did a super job today, I reckon you got at least half of the field raked for me, and I greatly appreciate that,” pausing he looked at his watch and said, “It’s about two o’clock. I should be able to get the rest of the field raked tonight, and most of it baled. Whatever I don’t get done tonight, I’ll finish tomorrow. The dew hasn’t been that heavy the last few nights, so I don’t expect it would bother the windrows much if I leave some behind. Worst case scenario, I just flip them over in the morning and finish baling then.”
Turning to Penny he said, “Go ahead and give them their pay for the day and send them home when they’re rested. If they want, they can cool off in the house for a bit. I’ve got the air conditioning turned on, and you know where the water cups are inside. Make sure they get some more water in them before they go.”
Nodding Penny said, “Okay, but what about you?”
“I’ll go grab the seven and hook it up and finish raking,” said Allen, “If it all goes well, I should have the rest of the field raked up by six, and then we’ll see from there how much gets baled up tonight.”
“You’re not going to take a rest?” she asked.
Allen shook his head. “Naw, I’ve still got some water on the tractor, and I don’t really have time to waste resting. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” he said when he saw her concerned look, before turning away, intent on not wasting any more time.
Looking back and forth indecisively between the crew and Allen for a moment, Penny sighed and said, “Okay, everypony let’s go get you inside and paid,” before turning and heading for Allen’s house.
Clover and the others levered themselves up with a groan or, in the case of Brulee, were helped up to their hooves. As the group of ponies wearily trudged towards the promised land of air conditioning, they could hear the other tractor fire up and drive off to finish the job they couldn’t.
Upon reaching the house, Penny let them in, as Allen had left the door unlocked, and everypony let loose a happy sigh of relief as the cool air inside washed over them.
Making a beeline for the kitchen, Penny pulled out several cups and filled them with cold water from the sink before passing them out to the others. Everypony greedily drank down their allotted water and all of them passed their cups back for refills when they were empty. After several rounds of draining and refilling, everypony felt their thirst was satiated.
By this point, Penny had opened her saddlebags and pulled out her ledger and bit bag. Looking at Clover she asked, “Okay, so when did you guys get here this morning?”
Taking a sip from his water cup, Clover thought about it for a moment before replying, “I believe it was just before nine o’clock, right?” he asked, looking over at Honey for confirmation.
She nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Looking up at the nearby clock, she saw that it read just half past two in the afternoon, and after doing some quick math she withdrew the bits from her bag and divvied it up amongst the workers.
As each pony came to collect their pay for the day, she had them sign their initials next to each ledger entry, signifying that they had in fact received their promised pay.
With the last pony paid, she made a final note in her book before closing it and putting it away, along with the now much lighter bit bag.
“Alright, as Allen said you can stay here for a little bit and cool off. However, I will need to go into town soon, so when I leave I’m afraid you’ll need to go as well.”
Everypony nodded in understanding and took the opportunity to enjoy the cool air. While central air conditioning existed in Equestria, it was somewhat out of reach of the general population at the current time, being limited to larger commercial, government, and service-related buildings such as hospitals or those ponies who were sufficiently wealthy to have one installed in their home. Though there were magically enchanted fans that could help keep a pony cool, they tended to have a limited area of effect and would struggle if the ambient temperature got too high.
As such, everypony present was in no hurry to leave. However, eventually, Penny forced them out as she herself had to go, and while she didn’t think Clover, his siblings, or Brulee would cause trouble if left alone in Allen’s home. She didn’t feel it appropriate to let them stay when she left. So with some grumbling and hoof dragging from them, she chivvied them outside and shut the door behind herself. The hot, June air already causing her to sweat before she’d even had the chance to fully shut the door behind her.
“Okay everypony,” she said as the door latch clicked closed behind her, “you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”
Everypony else groaned at the tired old joke that ponies liked to utter whenever it was closing time at some late-night establishment or when they were trying to get rid of the last few party guests that stubbornly tried to keep the party going when everyone else had long since gone home for the night.
“Well thanks for letting us cool off inside for a bit,” said Clover as the group slowly started the long walk back to Ponyville.
“Don’t thank me, thank Allen,” replied Penny as she fell in alongside him.
“Well, still thanks anyways.”
Looking back over her withers, Penny addressed Brulee, “Are you going to be okay?”
Perking his head up slightly, the tired stallion nodded. “I’m feeling a bit better, but I’m probably going to take it easy tomorrow.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” piped up Rye, “wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself after overdoing it today like you did.”
“Agreed,” said Penny with a firm nod, “in fact, I think all of you should take it easy tomorrow. From my understanding, Allen isn’t really going to have much for you to do anyway. Though if that changes, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
Brulee and the others each gave a grateful nod of appreciation in reply but said nothing more. Walking in silence, the group soon passed by the field Allen was working in. It was hard to tell, but it seemed as though Allen had made some progress since they’d last seen him. After confirming that Allen was doing okay without them, the group continued on. Entering the shaded section of road that meandered between the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, the group continued on, thankful for the respite from Celestia’s burning sun.
There wasn’t much talking amongst the group as most of them were too tired to hold a conversation and walk at the same time. However, the silence was suddenly broken by the sound of distant music.
Stopping, the group looked around in confusion as they couldn’t figure out where the music was coming from.
“Do you guys hear that music?” asked Clover in confusion.
Honey nodded her head. “Yeah, I hear it too, where is it coming from?”
“I don’t know,” replied Rye, “though the tune is rather catchy, don’t you think?”
“I’ve never heard it before,” said Brulee as everypony continued looking around searching for the source of the music.
“It sounds like it’s getting closer,” commented Penny, then with a startled gasp she pointed to a spot just up the road in front of them and said, “Look!”
As one, the other four turned their heads and felt their brains lock up at the strange sight before them. It was a chicken, riding a red and yellow tricycle with a little radio on the back. The music by this point was loud enough that they could make out the lyrics to the song being played.
~Oh well I’m the type of guy that likes to roam around, I’m never in one place, I roam from town to town~
As the chicken drew closer, Penny noted that it appeared to be a rooster with a brilliant green tail and a little blue bandana with white dots around its next. But what was odd to her, besides the fact that she was watching a rooster ride a tricycle, was that he was singing in time with the song.
“I’m not the only one seeing this right?” asked Brulee nervously, as he wondered if he was suffering a hallucination from delayed heatstroke or something.
“I’m seeing it too,” whispered Honey worriedly.
The rooster continued to sing and pedal on, taking no notice of the five ponies staring dumbfounded at him. Parting, they watched as he happily pedaled between them.
“Is it just me or does that rooster look strange to you guys?” asked Rye suddenly.
Shooting her brother an ‘are you serious look, Honey shot back, “Rye, it’s a rooster, riding a tricycle, and singing along with a song none of us have heard before. This is the very definition of strange.”
“No, besides that,” Rye quickly replied, a tad defensively, “I mean, he looks a little... faded, is what I’m getting at, like he’s a ghost or something.”
Tearing her gaze away from her brother and back to the rooster, Honey realized that he was right. The little bird was almost translucent. Taking a sudden, deep breath, Honey broke into a run to try and catch up to the strange bird.
“Hey, wait!” she called out, but the rooster didn’t seem to notice her and continued pedaling away.
“I said wait!” she called again, having nearly caught up with him when suddenly the rooster stopped and backed up as if he’d just seen something along the side of the road. Honey, however, not having anticipated that he would stop and reverse so suddenly, dug her hooves in and tried to keep from running the little guy over, however she was going too fast and couldn’t stop in time.
“Look out!” she yelled seconds before she would skid into him. Closing her eyes, she braced for the impact, but the impact never came. Coming to a stop and opening her eyes, she saw that the rooster wasn’t in front of her anymore. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen, and the music had suddenly stopped.
“Are you alright?” asked Penny as she and the rest of the group came running up.
Feeling a little shaken, Honey gave herself a quick look over and hesitantly nodded. “Y-yeah, I think so. D-did I miss the rooster or something?”
Clover shook his head. “No, it looked like you were going to hit him when he just phased through your legs like he was a ghost or something. Then he just faded away right after.”
“Did you feel anything?” asked Brulee.
“No... not a thing, that’s why I thought I might have missed him,” replied Honey, an unsettled expression on her face.
The group all looked at each other and then around at the quiet apple trees. All of them were wondering what had just happened.
“D-do you think we should tell somepony about this?” asked Honey nervously.
“And who are we going to tell?” asked Clover skeptically. “Nopony is going to believe that we just saw a ghost chicken riding a minotaurian toy and singing a song none of us have ever heard before.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” replied Penny, “there is at least one pony that I know that might listen to us.”
Turning to regard Penny with a raised eyebrow, Clover asked, “And who is this pony?”
Looking around at the spooked ponies, Penny straightened up and replied firmly, “Twilight Sparkle. There was an incident at the Ponyville Schoolhouse a few weeks ago where a fully grown sunflower appeared behind it. Allen happened to find it and told Twilight about it. I bet you that she’ll take this report just as seriously.”
“And what if she doesn’t believe us?” Shot back, Clover. “I mean, we don’t exactly have any physical evidence like a giant sunflower to show her this time, and she might think we’re just hallucinating from sunstroke or something.”
Penny shrugged. “Then I guess she doesn’t believe us. Even though I don’t know her very well, I think she’ll at least be willing to hear us out and come investigate the area. So, unless you have a better idea other than just pretending we didn’t see anything, then I suggest we get going before whatever magic allowed that chicken to ride through here like that disappears.”
The others didn’t argue with her any further, and they all quickly resumed their journey, their tiredness long forgotten as they hastened on their way. Hoping that they wouldn’t run into any more strange oddities before they reached Twilight.
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And to think I thought this was going never be finished like so many stories.
Rocky from Chicken Run!
Man I feel tired just reading about all this work, much productivity, such labor!
That rooster, sounds very familiar, but for the life of me I can't place him. Heh, wouldn't it be a thing and a half if this wasn't Discord's doing at all, but Allen's human-type magic coming in?
Damn, nice work there.
Recognized the song but not the chicken ...
11405931
Ding ding ding! We have a winner. Chicken Run was one of my favorite movies as a kid.
11405930
Eh, there's still plenty of time for me to never finish this.
11405939
Well, farm work is hard work. Also,
11405956
It's one of my favorite Aardman movies that doesn't feature Wallace and Gromit.
With plentiful, cheap, and apparently delicious hay it seems that Filthy Rich just hit the jackpot. It seems like Ross Family Farms is gonna be known as a quality brand.
I wonder if Filthy is going to set te bales up like Kitchen roll or other fabric dispensers?
How much would you like today Granny?
About three lengths for now.
Another great chapter.^^
11405956
I didn't realize this was a reference to Chicken Run. I recognized the lyrics from The Wanderer and my brain went "Fallout 4"
I knew it was a Chicken Run reference once I read that he was riding a tricycle. A great movie and a very appropriate chaos cameo. Considering that chicken run takes place on a farm and they were also on a farm. Looking forward to more as always!
Something tells me that these bizarre occurrences would occur more and more frequently.
From the title I could've sworn it would be a problem on the engine of one of Allen's machines. Very glad it's just pony workers being silly about work methodology. Reminds me of what Harry Truman said about mules...
Wait what? Chicken Run's very own Rocky... that would be goofy if it wasn't deadass like a ghostly impression (residual haunting). Creepy stuff.
Think you meant to say Honey here, because Penny wasn't working the field with Allen, still keep up the good work.
11518702
Fixed, thanks.