Chapter 47 (Mysteries and Unruly Shoppers)
Chapter 47
“So let me get this straight, you all say you saw a ghost chicken, riding a tricycle and singing along to a radio playing a song that none of you have ever heard before?” asked Twilight with a skeptical look on her face.
Penny nodded, having been chosen by the group to act as their spokespony. “That’s correct, and when Honey tried to catch it, it disappeared,” she added.
Twilight jotted down another note on the piece of paper in front of her. “I see,” she said. Chewing her bottom lip for a moment, she asked one last question, “How long ago was this... incident?”
“It was out by the southern edge of Sweet Apple Acres, and we came here straight away, so after factoring in the time we spent talking to you, I would say less than an hour ago?” ventured Penny.
“Okay,” replied Twilight with a single nod as she suddenly stood up and began floating various objects over to her, one of which was her lavender-colored saddlebags. “Then we better get back there before whatever magical signature is left disappears.”
“So you believe us?” asked Honey hopefully. The whole group, sans Penny, hadn’t expected Twilight to really take them seriously. After all, they were all tired after having been out in the sun all day, save for Penny, and it would be entirely plausible that they had all hallucinated the whole encounter.
Again Twilight nodded. “Considering everything that has been going on, I feel it is my duty to take all potential chaotic sightings like this as if they are real. Whether you all really did see this chicken or not is immaterial. I must treat it as though you really did see it, and if it does turn out to be nothing, then no harm done. After all, over the last year, I’ve learned that nothing is entirely outside the realm of possibility when it comes to things that concern Discord and his magic,” explained Twilight as she finished settling her saddlebags on her back and packing the last of her things.
Turning to the others she said, “Alright, I’m ready, so go ahead and show me exactly where you saw this chicken, and I’ll take it from there.”
“Follow us then,” said Penny as she turned and quickly trotted out of the treebrary, the others right behind her. Even though they were all very tired, none of them wanted to be the one to miss the events unfolding in front of them by heading home now.
The group mostly traveled in silence save for the occasional question from Twilight and the scratching of her quill across her paper as she composed her notes. Eventually, the group reached the spot where the rooster disappeared.
“We’re here,” announced Penny as she came to a stop pointing at the road in front of her.
Looking up from her paper, Twilight looked around. “Are you sure this is the spot?”
Penny nodded and pointed to a row of skidmarks a few feet in front of them. “Yep, those are Honey’s skidmarks from where she almost crashed into the chicken.
Putting her quill and paper away for a moment, Twilight’s horn lit up as she advanced on the spot, her head low to the ground as she cast several scanning spells. Reaching the spot, she hummed thoughtfully to herself for a moment before turning around and heading back towards Ponyville, head still low to the ground and horn still lit up. She came to a stop a few yards up the road and started walking back and forth across the road in a search pattern. Occasionally she would stop, pull out her quill and paper and jot down some more notes before resuming her scanning. Eventually, her horn winked out and she rejoined the group.
“Well, what did you find?” asked Penny a bit worried that Twilight hadn’t found anything to back up their claims.
Twilight frowned. “There are traces of chaos magic here, along with some underlying spatial and temporal resonances. Though unfortunately, it’s decayed enough that I can’t say for certain just what happened here, other than that something happened.”
“But you believe us, right?” asked Brulee hopefully.
Twilight looked up at the weary stallion and gave him a reassuring smile. “I do, but unfortunately, there isn’t much magical residue left for me to study. Whatever happened here wasn’t very strong. Which makes sense with what you all reported initially.”
“So... what do you think happened?” asked Honey hesitantly, unsure if she actually wanted to know, but too curious to let the matter go.
Staring up at the sky, Twilight rocked her head back from side to side as she tried to formulate a response. After a minute of thinking she finally sighed and said, “I’m not really sure, but if I had to guess, I would say that this was some residual effect of Discord bringing Allen here from his world. Inter-dimensional travel isn’t very well studied, and for good reason. Other than Starswirl the Bearded, nopony has been able to safely open a portal to another world without there being... issues.”
“What kind of issues?” asked Clover curiously.
Twilight cringed. “Messy issues, the kind that I don’t really want to remember after having read about them. So let’s just say that opening portals or summoning objects from other worlds isn’t easy or safe to do and leave it at that.”
Clover gulped and gave a single nod. “Noted, don’t open random portals to other worlds.”
“So... do we need to worry about anything bad happening?” asked Honey, the others all nodding along as she had been the one to ask what they were all thinking.
Again, Twilight did not immediately respond, which worried everypony around her. However, after a few moments, she slowly shook her head. “I don’t think so... normally we would have seen some sort of major indications of trouble by now, however other than Allen and his farm appearing, along with the sunflower and now this rooster, we haven’t seen much of anything that would cause concern,” everypony began to relax. “However,” she continued, which made everypony tense back up again, “that doesn’t mean that something of concern won’t happen in the future. Dealing with chaos magic like this is... well, chaotic and unpredictable. Both Lyra and myself have run many calculations and probability curves on possible outcomes of Discord’s shenanigans, and we just don’t have enough data to definitively say whether things are getting better, staying the same, or getting worse. Only time will really tell.”
“So... what do we do?” asked Rye hesitantly.
Twilight shrugged. “Keep an eye out for any strange phenomenon happening around Ponyville, such as the aforementioned chicken. It’s been over a month since the last incident that we know about happened.”
“What do you mean, ‘that you know about?” piped up Brulee. “Are you saying that there might be other events happening that we don’t know about?”
“The possibility is always there. There have been reports of clouds randomly appearing and disappearing over the past few months since Discord’s defeat. In addition, Fluttershy, one of my friends who is good with animals, has told me her animal friends will get randomly spooked for a few minutes before returning to their normal behavior as if nothing happened. So at this point, we are not sure just exactly what is going on, only that we know that something is happening.”
“But you can’t predict when and where it will happen or even what will happen,” finished Clover.
Twilight nodded, a pleased smile on her face that somepony understood what she was trying to say. “Exactly,” she said, “so really, at this point, all we can do is just keep our eyes and ears open for anything out of the ordinary and report it when it happens. I know it’s not an ideal strategy, but until we have a better understanding of what is going on, that’s the best option we’ve got.”
The others all looked at each other for a brief moment before Penny turned to Twilight and said, “Well, it’s not exactly what we wanted to hear, but thanks for telling us.”
“And for believing us,” added Honey.
Twilight gave them a warm smile and replied, “It was my pleasure. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to run a few more field tests and take some samples for further study back at my lab.”
Sensing that they were dismissed, the rest of the ponies all left Twilight to her studies and headed back to town. As they walked, they each quietly ruminated over the new information that they had uncovered. Penny in particular felt a tinge of worry over what might happen to Allen if things got worse.
Ponies, as a prey species, did not care for things that they did not understand and would often times react in an overly negative fashion towards perceived threats. This led to many misunderstandings in the past between the ponies and the other species of the world. A common stereotype among those other species was that ponies were xenophobic speciests that thought of themselves as morally superior to everybody else.
While it was true that there were elements of Equestrian society that were xenophobic and bigoted, Penny felt that for the most part, ponies were just skittish by nature of new things that they didn’t understand. Once they realized that whatever was spooking them wasn’t going to hurt them, they would warm up to the thing rather quickly. Of course in the meantime, whatever was persona non grata in the eyes of ponies would have a difficult time living among them. Thankfully, it seemed as though the ponies of Ponyville were made of sterner stuff than their contemporaries from other parts of the country.
I suppose living next to a wild forest full of dangerous creatures tends to desensitize ones fear of the unknown a bit. Thought Penny to herself as the group passed over the western stone bridge leading into the market square.
Sighing to herself, Penny turned to the others and said, “Well everypony, today has been an interesting day, to say the least, but I’ve got paperwork to do, so have a goodnight.”
“You too,” replied Honey with a smile, her brothers and Brulee simply nodded or grunted their goodbyes as their exhaustion from earlier was starting to catch up with them now.
Waving goodbye to the tired group of ponies, Penny turned and headed across the still-busy market. Reaching her door, she lit up her horn and unlocked it. Stepping inside, she had just enough time to slip off her saddlebags and set them next to her desk when the door nearly burst off its hinges behind her.
Shrieking in alarm, Penny spun around, her horn reflexively lit up with a basic defensive spell, ready to blast whatever had foolishly decided to startle her after today's events.
However, as soon as she saw that the intruder who had burst through her door was a pimply teenage colt in a Barnyard Bargains vest, she let her horn go out and slowly straightened up from her defensive stance. Fixing the colt with a very unamused expression, she took a few moments to let her heart rate return to more normal levels before asking him in an overly calm manner, “Hello, how may I help you?”
The young teenager, out of breath, held up a hoof signaling that he needed a minute to get his breath back. Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Penny waited impatiently for the colt to speak, her left front hoof tapping an irritated rhythm on the wooden floor beneath her.
Finally, after a few moments, the colt asked, “Are you, Miss Penny Farthing?”
“I am,” she replied, somewhat patiently.
“Awesome, I’ve been looking all over town for you for like the past hour,” wheezed the colt.
“And why is that?” she asked when the colt didn’t elaborate further.
“Cause Mr. Rich told me to come find you. He says he ‘needs to speak with you right now’. His words, not mine.”
Sighing to herself, Penny wearily turned around and floated her saddlebags back over and set them on her back before fastening them again.
And here I was hoping I could have the rest of the evening to myself. She grumbled quietly to herself as she shooed the colt out of her office before closing and locking the door behind her.
“Alright, lead the way,” she sighed tiredly, figuring that it was best to deal with whatever problem Filthy had with Allen’s hay now rather than later.
“Right, follow me,” replied the colt with a wave of his hoof before he took off at a fast trot with Penny in tow.
The trip to Barnyard Bargains was both quick and quiet, as neither pony was the in best of shape and thus had to save all of their breath to keep moving. Soon, however, Barnyard Bargains came into view, and Penny came to an abrupt stop, her jaw just about hitting the floor in the process.
Why are there so many ponies here?! She wondered as she took in the gigantic crowd that was milling around in front of the store.
“Ms. Farthing, this way!” yelled the grocery colt, having noticed that Penny had quit following him to gawk at the chaotic crowd.
Giving her head a shake, she quickly followed him around the side of the building, away from the crowd and to an entrance around the back. Ushering her through a door with an Employee’s Only sign on it, he took her to Filthy Rich’s office.
Giving a quick knock on the door, which was almost immediately answered by a rather frazzled-looking Filthy Rich, the colt gave a sloppy salute and said, “I found Ms. Farthing for you, Mr. Rich!”
“Finally! Where in Tartarus have you been?! You’ve been gone for nearly an hour!” reprimanded Filthy crossly.
“I-I’m sorry Mr. Rich I-” stammered the colt as he tried to explain why he took so long.
However, the usually personable Filthy didn’t look as though he was interested in hearing any excuses and opened his mouth to cut off his worker in preparation for giving him a good dressing down for his tardiness.
Penny however was quicker. “It’s my fault, Mr. Rich,” she began, catching the attention of the unhappy store owner, who turned his glowering expression on her instead. The poor colt nearly sagging in relief at having been spared his boss’s wrath, if for a little bit, “I’m afraid I wasn’t in my office and this young colt has been running all over town trying to find me. I had just returned to my office from Allen’s place when he came bursting in through my door not a minute later. He brought me here as fast as he could.”
“I-it’s true Mr. Rich, honest!” piped up the colt, sensing that his job might not be as gone as he had thought a minute ago.
His glower lessening, Filthy took a deep breath before letting his frustrations go with a mighty sigh. Turning back to his employee, he fixed the young colt with an apologetic look and said, “I’m sorry for yelling at you son, that was wrong of me. Thank you for getting Ms. Farthing here as soon as you could. Now, go ahead and see where you can help with organizing this circus out front, okay?”
Giving another salute, the colt replied, “Yes sir, Mr. Rich, I’ll get right to it,” and with that, he turned and scampered away as fast as he could, grateful to have escaped that situation with his job still intact.
Turning her attention to Filthy, Penny lifted an eyebrow and gave the frazzled store owner a look of mild disappointment.
Wincing at her look, Filthy lowered his head and said, “I know I shouldn’t have done that, I’ll make it up to him later. The colt’s due for a raise anyways, an extra bonus won’t hurt the store budget too bad.”
Penny didn’t say anything, merely nodding, satisfied that Filthy had learned from his mistake.
If there is one thing that I will not tolerate is a boss who treats his employees poorly. Giving her head a shake, she turned her attention to the double doors that lead to the front of the store and the hustling workers struggling to move pre-portioned hay from the backrooms to the front to meet the demands of picky customers.
“So...” she began quietly, “I take it that Allen’s hay is a hit?”
Filthy used a hoof to try and slick back his mane, he was only partially successful. “Unfortunately, it would appear so. We’ve already gone through three of the bales, and we are nearly halfway through the final one.”
“Well, luckily for you, Allen’s got plenty waiting in the field, all you need to do is go and collect them,” replied Penny, a cheeky smile tugging at her lips.
Filthy sighed, a tired look on his face. “Unfortunately, I can’t spare anypony to go and collect them. In fact, I’ve had to pull in every worker just to keep the crowd under control and moving in a semi-orderly fashion. That and breaking up fights between impatient mothers and their screaming, ill-tempered foals.”
“Ah, that could be a problem,” said Penny, finally understanding why Filthy wanted her here so quickly. “So let me guess, you want me to go and have Allen bring you more hay, is that it?”
“Well, you do have employees that could easily pull a wagon back and forth, don’t you?” replied Filthy, a touch of annoyance creeping into his voice.
Penny shook her head. “I’m afraid our employees aren’t able to work anymore today as they are physically exhausted. So it’s just Allen and I left, and I’m not exactly built for pulling heavily loaded hay wagons. Which reminds me, how much did those bales weigh?”
“They averaged around nine hundred pounds each,” replied Filthy tiredly as his one hope for rescue seemingly vanished in front of him, like a mirage in the desert before a weary traveler.
“You might consider seeing if anypony else in town might be willing to run loads between Allen’s place and here,” offered Penny helpfully.
Filthy shook his head. “No dice, I’ve tried everypony that I could think of, including the Apples. Tartarus, I was so desperate, I asked Ditzy if she could do it. Sadly, she said she wasn’t available, apparently, she’s got a date tonight with Time Turner, and she told me she wouldn’t miss that for all the bits in Equestria.”
“Sounds like you’re just going to have to tell everypony you're out when you use the last of the hay up,” replied Penny with a shrug.
Filthy slowly turned his head to regard Penny as if she was crazy. “You... want me to tell them that I’m out of hay? Have you lost your mind?!” he exclaimed incredulously as he pointed a hoof at the double doors and the unseen crowd of rowdy customers beyond.
Feeling a tad defensive at being called crazy, Penny shot back, “Well it’s the truth isn’t it?”
Grabbing her foreleg with his, he all but dragged her to the door and pushed it open with a hoof, being very careful to stay out of the direct line of sight of the shoppers, and said, “You want me to tell that crowd out there, that we don’t have any more hay to sell them?”
One look was all it took for Penny to understand what Filthy was getting at. What greeted Penny’s eyes was a crowd on the edge of starting a full-on riot. She could see it in the way that everypony was looking at each other, how they were pushing and jocking for a better position, and their expressions all said the same thing, If I don’t get what I want, I’m not going to be happy, and if I’m not happy, nopony is going to be happy. She shivered as long-repressed memories of working retail around Hearths Warming and all of the various last-minute shoppers trying to take advantage of sales in their desperate search for presents, came burbling up from the back of her mind.
Letting the door swing shut, Filthy quietly whispered in Penny’s ear. “I can’t stall them for long. I’ve been having my employees go as slow as they can, along with giving out the smallest amount of hay that we can get away with, but I’m running out of time, and this crowd is one word away from going crazy.”
Fixing the store owner with an incredulous look Penny asked, “All of this from giving out free samples?”
Filthy’s ears fell flat against his skull, and he replied defensively, “It started well enough, but then it just sort of got out of hoof. One minute we’re giving a few hooffuls away for free to happy customers, the next minute we’re being literally swarmed by ponies who want Allen’s hay, and they won’t take no for an answer!”
“And you didn’t think to prepare for this or something?!” shot back Penny.
“I’ve never had to deal with something like this before! Everypony that tried Allen’s hay said it was the tastiest, and crunchiest hay that they’ve ever had! I didn’t think things would get this out of hoof, this quickly!” retorted Filthy angrily.
“Well, why don’t you get the town guard to come and disperse the crowd?”
“I did, and they are! But there’s too many ponies out there, and they’ve got the dander up! It’s all Palisade can do to keep the crowd somewhat under control!” hissed Filthy in reply.
“Mr. Rich, Mr. Rich!” exclaimed a panicked employee who had come running up from deeper in the backroom.
“What?!” snapped Filthy.
“W-we’re out of hay,” she whimpered.
At that moment, Filthy’s anger was extinguished, as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on him and as the color drained from his face, he quietly asked, “You mean...”
The employee nodded. “I just sent the last of the hay out front. We even swept the fines off the floor and mixed them in, but...” she trailed off as she glanced to the door and the mass of tired and soon-to-be very angry customers beyond it.
Filthy didn’t say anything, he just stood there stunned. His brain ran a million miles a minute, but he couldn’t think of anything. Licking his dry lips, he opened his mouth, but then closed it again when he couldn’t come up with anything to say.
Penny, seeing that Filthy was locked up, turned to the nervous worker in front of her and asked, “Are you sure there isn’t any more hay back there?”
The mare shook her head. “N-no, I-I checked myself, we used it all up.”
Sighing, Penny realized that it would take too long for her to get any more hay before anypony out front realized the store was out. So squaring her shoulders, and putting on her best ‘I am in control’ face. She pushed through the doors and strode up to the counter, reaching it as the last batch of hay was hoofed over by the overworked employee.
Coming to a stop next to him, she watched as that customer was replaced by another.
The customer looked around at the empty counter and gave the worker a dirty look. “So, where’s my free sample? I’ve been waiting for over an hour for it.”
Seeing the poor worker tense up next to her, Penny laid a comforting hoof on his withers and taking a deep, practiced breath, she put on her most winning smile and said, “I’m very sorry ma’am, but I regret to inform you that we have currently run out of free samples this afternoon. However, I can assure you, that by tomorrow, Barnyard Bargains will be fully stocked with Ross Family Farms hay at a very reasonable price.”
The mare’s face scrunched up in displeasure and she opened her mouth to make a no doubt scathing retort. However, Penny forestalled her by speaking first. “I understand that this is not ideal, however, Barnyard Bargains did not foresee the level of demand that its customers would place upon the limited stock for this new item. This promotion was merely to gauge if this item would be something worth stocking, and judging by the reception, I would say that it is a hit. As such, we will endeavor to make sure that by tomorrow morning, Barnyard Bargains will be fully stocked to meet future demand, and as a way to show our gratitude for our customer's support, all ponies that did not receive a free sample today will be given a voucher for one tomorrow.”
“Well, fat lot of good that does me right now!” spat the mare bitterly at having found out she’d wasted several hours of her day waiting for something and now being told that she wasn’t going to get anything. “You ponies should have done a better job of making sure you had plenty of stock before pulling a stunt like this!”
“Again, ma’am, we are sorry. We did not expect this level of interest in the new product,” replied Penny amicably.
The mare snorted angrily. “Well, you should have! Ponies have been looking forward to hay season all winter around here. That cheap hay that Filthy brings in during the winter tastes bland and rubbery. You can’t make anything good with it besides stew and casseroles! I want some good quality hay damnit!”
Penny felt her patience running out as the irate customer turned around and started yelling out at the crowd telling them that Barnyard Bargains had run out of hay and that they were horrible ponies for inconveniencing their customers like this.
Looking back over her shoulder, Penny saw that Filthy wasn’t by the door anymore. She hoped that he had overheard her explanation to this irritating customer and was working on those vouchers while she tried to keep things under control. However, she realized that if she didn’t do something soon, this crowd was going to go into a frenzy and cause a riot.
Taking a deep breath and lighting up her horn, she looked over at the cowering worker and leaning down whispered in his ear, “Cover your ears, it’s gonna get a bit noisy.” Straightening up, she released her spell, which was a lesser version of the Royal Canterlot Voice, and was most commonly used at events that required an announcer to be heard over the general crowd but not at levels that threatened to blow ponies away with its strength.
“QUIET!” she shouted, her spell having the desired effect of short-circuiting the building anger within the crowd and preventing it from morphing into an angry mob. Seeing that everypony nearby had clapped their hooves over their ears in an effort to dampen her shout and that she had their undivided attention, Penny climbed up on the counter and said in a lower volume, “I’m sorry everypony, but unfortunately, we have run out of free samples tonight, as we were not expecting this level of turnout. We would like to thank you for your patience and understanding. In addition, we are planning on giving out special vouchers for those of you who did not get a free sample today. These vouchers may be redeemed here during this week for a free sample of Ross Family Farms hay when we have more in stock. I would also like to remind everypony that causing trouble can lead to your ejection from the store and denial of this voucher. Additionally, it will lead to your arrest by the local guard and you will get to cool off in the local jail. So if you will please remain in line and calm, we will quickly get you your vouchers and you will then be able to come in tomorrow to get your free sample along with a purchase of freshly cut hay. Thank you again for your patience and understanding in this matter,” and with that, she cut the spell and stepped down off the counter.
By this point, a basket of freshly made vouchers had been brought out from the backroom and placed on the counter. Giving the counter colt a nudge with her hoof, Penny watched as he gave a startled jerk, before realizing what she wanted him to do. Grabbing a hoofful of vouchers, he all but threw them at customers as the line began moving forward slowly, but steadily, and while the customers weren’t happy, they didn’t look like they were one step away from becoming an uncontrollable mob either.
I’ll count that as a win. Thought Penny as she watched the line move along, before turning and slipping into the storeroom.
Looking around, she spotted Filthy Rich using a hoof stamper to sign the vouchers, while another employee used a miniature printing press to create them.
Walking up to the store owner, she said, “Well, that’s taken care of.”
Pausing for a moment, Filthy looked up at her with a grateful expression and said, “Ms. Farthing, I can’t thank you enough for this.”
She waved away his thanks with a hoof. “It’s not a perfect solution, and to be honest I wasn’t sure if it would work or not.”
“I-if what would work?” asked the pony running the printer.
Looking over at him, she replied with a wink. “Oh, just an old trick one of my business professors taught us. In that, if you are in a situation where you’ve run out of product and ponies are getting rowdy, give them a voucher for some free stuff that they can redeem at a later date. It makes them feel as though they didn’t completely waste their time and allows them to feel as though they got at least something to show for their efforts. In this case, they can still get their free sample of hay, without having to fork over any bits in case they don’t like it. I figured Filthy was probably going to either continue the free samples for a few more days or wouldn’t mind losing a bit of money from lost hay sales in exchange for not having his store wrecked by angry customers.”
“You figured right,” said Filthy as he resumed stamping as if his life depended on it.
“Huh, I never figured something like that would work, until now that is,” remarked the printer operator.
Penny shrugged. “It doesn’t always work, such as if the crowd is too far gone to mob mentality, no amount of free stuff is going to stop them from wrecking the place. But if you can get their attention before they cross the threshold, and the offer is good enough then you’ve got a better than even chance of pulling it off.”
“Well, I’m just glad it worked,” muttered the printer pony as they returned their full attention to their work.
“Me too, me too,” sighed Penny as she grabbed a nearby chair and sat down in it and watched the barely controlled chaos of workers rushing to and fro as they worked to keep things moving.
After an hour or two, things began settling down, the crowds had dwindled and Filthy had just finished stamping the final voucher when an exhausted-looking Lieutenant Palisade trudged into Filthy’s office.
Kicking the door closed behind him with a hind hoof, Palisade gave Filthy an annoyed look. “Mr. Rich, next time you plan on nearly starting a riot, kindly don’t, or at least have the good sense to warn me beforehoof.”
Holding up his hooves in a placating gesture, Filthy replied, “Believe me, lieutenant, it was not my intention for things to get out of hoof-like they did. Though I am sorry that it happened, so please accept my humble apologies in that regard.”
Pulling his helmet off with a hoof, Palisade let loose a tired sigh. “Well, apology accepted, and thankfully there was no meaningful property damage or injuries beyond a few bumps, bruises, and hurt feelings, so paperwork should be minimal.”
Stepping forward, Penny gave the tired guard a grateful smile and said, “Thank you for your help Lieutenant Palisade. You and your ponies helped keep things from getting out of hoof outside.”
“And Miss Farthing helped keep them from getting out of hoof inside,” remarked Filthy as he opened up a desk drawer and pulled out a glass bottle and three shot glasses. Pouring an equal dollop of amber liquid in each glass he said, “I think we could all use a calming drink right now to help settle our nerves after that near disaster earlier.”
“Normally I would refuse when I’m on duty, but as of five seconds ago, I clocked out,” replied Palisade as he accepted a glass.
Chuckling, Filthy offered the second glass to Penny who took it with a nod of thanks.
Grabbing his own, Filthy raised it up and said, “Well then, I’d say here’s to a successful launch of a new product with minimal property damage!”
The other two raised their glasses and clinked them against Filthy’s before knocking them back and draining them in one go.
Smacking her lips, Penny regarded the now empty glass with an appraising look. “That was pretty good, where did you say this came from?” she asked.
Putting the bottle away, Filthy replied, “Sweet Apple Acres, they keep some cider back each year to let ferment a bit longer. This cider’s about five years old now.”
“Sweet, and smooth, I like it,” remarked Palisade as he passed his now-empty glass to Filthy. “I’ll have to see about getting a bottle or two for myself while I’m stationed here.”
“Well if you want one, you’ll need to order it ahead of time. Anything having to do with Sweet Apple Acres cider sells out quickly around here,” said Filthy.
“Hmm, well, in that case, I know where I’ll be heading tomorrow.”
Penny nodded in agreement. “Same, that was really good, thank you, Mr. Rich.”
Filthy waved away the thanks. “No, thank you for your help... though do you think Allen would be willing to bring a few wagon loads in tomorrow? I’ve only got the two wagons, and I don’t think they’re going to be enough to keep us stocked up. First cutting around here tends to make ponies a bit pushy. I try and keep my store stocked with hay over the winter, but unfortunately, it’s not always of the best quality, and this year's hay, unfortunately, fell short.”
“So I heard,” said Penny as she remembered the unhappy customer from before. “But I’ll see what he says. He might charge you extra if he brings it here himself though, so just be ready for that.”
“If he can help stock my store quickly, I’ll happily pay... so long as it’s a reasonable price that is.”
“I’m sure we’ll work something out,” replied Penny as she and the two stallions exited Filthy’s office.
“Well, thanks for the drink, Mr. Rich, but I better get going and let my subordinates know that I’m off for the night. Have a good evening you two,” said Palisade with a nod as he turned and left.
“And I better go and let Allen know about the change in plans. Did you want any hay delivered tonight or early in the morning?” asked Penny.
“If he can make a delivery tonight, that would be excellent. If not, then as soon as he can tomorrow will work as well,” replied Filthy with a nod.
“I’ll see what we can do,” said Penny as she and Filthy reached the back door of the store. “If you don’t hear from me tonight, then assume that we’ll make a delivery first thing in the morning.”
“Perfect, try and be here before eight, as that’s when the store opens. If you can make a delivery tonight, we’re open until nine,” said Filthy in reply.
Giving a nod in understanding, Penny waved goodbye and even though her legs protested, she turned and headed for Allen’s place.
By the time she made it to the field, the sun was getting low in the afternoon sky. Looking to the right, she spotted a large cloud of hay dust in the distance. “Looks like Allen’s still baling,” she commented to herself as she changed direction and set out across the now clean field.
Weaving her way between the round bales, Penny quietly marveled at how quickly Allen had managed to clear the field of loose hay. Amazing, it would have taken an army of ponies to do all of this in the same amount of time as Allen and the others did.
Reaching the area where Allen was working, Penny came to a stop next to a random round bale and sat down next to it as Allen sped towards her. Looking out over the field, she could see that he didn’t have much left, and would probably be able to finish it all before the sun went down. Though she wasn’t sure if he would be able to do this and bring Filthy the round bales he wanted before night fell.
Well, regardless, I won’t know until I ask. She thought as she watched Allen come to a stop and let the round baler disgorge another bale. Getting up, she trotted over to Allen, who having noticed her, throttled down until the engine was just gently burbling. Putting the tractor in neutral, Allen climbed down and took off his earmuffs.
“Hey, Penny, what are you doing back here? I thought you’d be at home right now,” asked Allen curiously.
“Well I was, but there’s been a slight change in plans,” replied Penny.
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Well, it turns out that your hay is really popular, like, really popular.”
Allen chuckled. “That good huh?”
Penny nodded. “Good enough that ponies nearly rioted when Filthy ran out.”
Both of Allen’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as he gave Penny an incredulous look. “Seriously?”
“Yep.”
“Wow,” he shook his head in disbelief. “That’s crazy.”
“I know, thankfully the situation was defused, but Filthy wants to know if you can deliver some hay to his store, either tonight before nine or tomorrow morning before eight.”
Allen rubbed the back of his neck, an unsure expression settling on his face. “I don’t know Penny. I’d rather not waste fuel driving back and forth like that. I mean, that’s why I hired everypony in the first place.”
Penny nodded. “I know but, I don’t think anypony is going to be up to helping tomorrow. They’re tired and a bit spooked after seeing a ghost chicken out by Sweet Apple Acres.”
“A what chicken?” asked Allen, who was not sure if he’d heard Penny correctly or not.
She shook her head. “I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Right now, I just want to know if you’ll make a trip or two into town for Filthy. He’s willing to compensate you for it, within reason.”
Allen rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at the unfinished field behind him, then down at his watch. “I’m running out of time to get this all baled tonight. If I push it, I should be able to get it all done in another hour or so, but that isn’t going to leave me enough time to get wagons filled and delivered tonight.”
“So... do you want me to tell him that we’ll deliver it tomorrow?” asked Penny.
Allen shook his head. “I’m not delivering anything. I’ll load it, but if Filthy wants that hay, then he can come and get it. I don’t have enough fuel to waste on driving in and out of town like that. I’ve got some wagons that’ll hold more round bales than the ones he brought today. You tell him that if he brings the ponies to pull them, I’ll let him use my wagons to transport the hay. But he’ll need to supply the harnesses and single trees to pull them with.”
Penny bit her lower lip. “Filthy isn’t going to be happy hearing that, and I don’t know if he’ll have the ponypower to do all of that either,” she replied hesitantly.
Allen shrugged. “Well, that’s just the way it is. I’m not wasting precious fuel moving hay around when he can get a few ponies to pull the wagons. If he doesn’t like it then too bad.”
Sighing Penny saw that Allen wasn’t going to budge, and to be honest, she didn’t blame him. He was already going to be using up more fuel than he wanted, loading the wagons, it didn’t surprise her that he wanted to avoid using up fuel going back and forth between Barnyard Bargains and the field.
“Okay,” she said with a nod. “I’ll go and let him know then.”
Allen gave a nod. “Alright, sounds like a plan,” he paused and looked back at his watch one last time, “and unless you need me for anything else, I need to get back to work.”
Giving a shake of her head, Penny waved a hoof at Allen and said, “No, that should be all. I’ll swing by in the morning and fill you in on the rest of today's events.”
“Okay, works for me. See ya tomorrow then,” replied Allen with a wave before he put his hearing protection back on and climbed back on the tractor.
As Allen resumed his interrupted work, Penny turned around and made the final trip back to town for the night to relay the bad news to Filthy.
Here’s hoping he’s had a few more drinks of that apple cider to help mellow him out since I last saw him.
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Pity round bales cant be done like the old horse drawn beer barrel delivery with the wrap rope using the barrel like a pully?
As for sticking more than a few round bales on a trailer, thyre gonna need more than a single tree. A decently loaded trailer is a lot heavier than a house. Especially a wooden house.
Plus unless they can figure out a solution to fuel issue he can't afford to waste anything.
11417236
Well, depends on the size of the house. Besides, unlike the house, the wagon has wheels. A pair of decently sized ponies shouldn't have any issues pulling a loaded hay wagon. They just need to make sure the single trees are properly attached the the wagon shaft, which might require some welding on Allen's part.
Just as well really, getting that tractor through the roads of a pre-industrial village would have been such a nightmare.
The joy of retail
amazing chapter. and i can understand good hay is supper hard to find.
are
Another great chapter! Now they need to come up with a good slogan to market the Ross Family Farms hay.
"It's so good they'll fight you for it!"
Another excellent chapter.:D
Pony pulls the wagon!
Is it weird that in the back of my head I’m shipping Penny and Allen hard? 😆
11417316
If Alans equipment is not the newest stuff, its pretty much restricted to the size of a large horse and cart anyway. The whole design principle of the first tractors was that they could get through and where existing horse and carts were used, so they had to fit. Theyre one rigid body because theres not exactly room for suspension. If youve ever managed to sit in teh seat of the smaller tractors, you haev to be careful sticking your elbows out cos the tops of the rear wheels will hit them. The small tractors with the front wheels really close together I thought was so they didnt need Ackerman steering, or a pivot axel, just a T post with axel stubs?
11417616
I think I dimly remember some mention of him having fairly modern stuff, something about his father/grandfather going and buying the latest and greatest?
In any case, the tricky thing here is that Ponyville is scaled to ponies, not humans, and that includes the roads. I often default to a hobbit-to-human scaling when thinking about ponies, so everything's a fair bit smaller, though still rather spacious due to all the pegasai. So Allen in any tractor, old or new, is going to loom like a combine harvester on a two-lane highway.
11417484
Fixed, thanks. As for the slogan, that's not a half-bad one, I might have to 'borrow' it.
11417636
His father did buy a bunch of new stuff but then had to get rid of it when they couldn't make the payments. Most of what Allen has is pretty small. His 706 and 806 should be able to negotiate the streets of Ponyville without issue, and the Super M will be a piece of cake, once Allen gets it running of course. However the Case 7220 would probably be too big for some streets, but might still be able to fit so long as the streets are cleared ahead of time.
11417653
Ah, so he's not going around with any of the yomping great Deere vehicles you see here and there and on the highway when you're running just that little bit late. I'll adjust my imaginings then.
11417667
Allen wouldn't be caught dead in John Deere green. He's a red power guy through and through.
11417681
I never knew there was a rivalry. I guess you learn something new every day.
11417691
Oh yeah, I've run into farmers who would rather die than use Deere equipment, and vice versa.
11417636
That was one of the weirdest things I ever saw, because the hamlet where I saw the combine harvester had a wide road for handling the old cattle droves. Somewhere around the 1500s buit, and the thing barely fit between the walls on one side and the cars parked in front of the row of mill workers houses the other side, and had to take it slow to lift the telephone wires from the pole over the cab. It was weird, because I had no idea how it got on that road in the first place. the far end was a walled cutting between the tip of a hill, and the flat end of a very heavily built old farmhouse that aws just wide enough to allow a bus through, as long as a pidgeon didnt try it at the same time.
neck
11418270
Fixed, thanks.
Hmm, shame Allen doesn't have a cart for his horse. Bet he could haul quite a bit.
smallfarmersjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sfj_hay_making_single_horse4_02.jpg
huh, come to think about it, we haven't heard anything about Reuben for a long while now... I wager he could be a huge help around the farm, if they figured out a way for him to work with the ponies.
Hopefully there are some spare workers to pull the trailers.
Well this is brewing a perfect storm to be sure. Congratulations on your hit new product! Turns out it is now a possibly national disaster site and needs to be decontamination! Good thing noone at any of that! Also it might be haunted with chais magic. Only in Ponyville! What luck!
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the chicken they saw was Rocky Rhodes from Chicken Run