Home Again

by drnkntst

Chapter 14

Chapter 35

It had been a week since their fateful trip to and from Canterlot. Due to many circumstances, including inexperience among the girls with dating and mass dating for Rick, they decided it would best serve all involved to take their time with their relationship. They had also decided to both not make a big deal out of it and not keep it a secret.

Now fall was setting in and that meant that Applejack and the other Apples were busy on the farm getting the harvest in. That also meant Cider Season was only a few days away. Rick had decided to help out as much as he could. He also, despite AJ’s protests, refused any sort of payment for his work since he was being fairly well compensated by Celestia for a job that pretty much equated to hanging out with his best friends… most of the time; there was an occasional hiccup every now and then, nothing ever more serious than a minor flight training injury. The most important reason he refused payment was the fact that accepting money for services rendered from a girl you are… kind of dating, just seems… wrong.

Applejack bucked the trees to harvest apples. Apple Bloom was running around the base catching the apples as they fell. Granny Smith was manning… mare-ing the quality control station, making sure only the best apples made it down the chute to the juicer. Big Macintosh was running on a treadmill to operate a large stone wheel that served to crush the apples into cider. It was a fine, oiled machine that served to make the absolute best cider in all of Equestria. If the stories Rick had been told were true, then ponies would actually camp out in line to get their hooves on a single mug of the fruity nectar.

Rick had decided the best thing he could do was assist in the bucking. He would also manage to collect his own apples by forming a broad, flat cone shaped force field around the tree’s trunk. This meant he couldn’t keep up with Applejack, but who could? He would also have been better suited to keep up if he were able to stop staring… *ahem*… admiring her ‘form’.

“How ya doin’, Sugarcube?”

Rick’s vision snapped off AJ’s muscular… cutie mark and up to the apples collected in his force field. “I uh, I’m doing just great, how about you?”

“Doin’ good, thanks ta your help, we should be able ta almost double our normal production. Dash should be happy ‘bout that. She never seems ta manage ta get any cider fur herself.”

“Poor thing, hopefully that won’t happen this time around.” The force field collector stretched and changed shape, turning it into an enclosed container so as not to drop any apples. “In fact, I’ll just have to make certain of it.” The magic container of apples emptied into several bushels for sorting, then, there was a pleasant surprise.

The lips that had been pressed against his cheek pulled back. “You, Sir, are uh good friend,” Applejack told Rick as a smile filled her face and a warm blush filled his.

“Oh, uh, heh-heh, I uh need to get back to um work.” Rick was caught off guard and tripped a little as he turned back to the orchard. He heard Applejack giggle at him as he did so.

Rick made sure to give each Apple a break from their stations. This made it possible for them all to work efficiently through the entire day. By the end, he again found himself harvesting apples with Apple Bloom sleeping on his back. The sun was just getting ready to set so they decided to call it a day.

Big Mac was hooked up to wagon being loaded with barrels of cider by Rick. Once it was full, Big Mac hauled it towards the barn. Rick followed suite with another wagon full of barrels plus six more being magically carried with Apple Bloom still sleeping on his back. Granny Smith had already gone back to the house to start cooking dinner. Applejack was walking back alongside Rick.
“Ya know, Ah can’t begin ta tell ya how much it means ta me that ya decided ta spend yur day helpin’ mah family with tha cider makin’ today.”

“Well of course, I know how important it is to the Apples,” The wagon was parked and unhitched from Rick who set the floating barrels down inside the barn, “how important it is to you.” Rick smiled down at her blushing face. Applejack kicked at the dirt and looked up at him with a grin. She was about to show her affection but at that very moment, Apple Bloom woke up.

“Huh, wuts goin’ on?” Both adult ponies smiled at her.

“We were just finishing up for the day and were about to head in for dinner.”

“Mmm, that sounds nice,” Apple Bloom dozed off again. AJ and Rick shared a chuckle before heading inside. The little filly managed to stay awake just long enough to eat her dinner.
The rest of the Apples decided they needed to get to bed early too, Cider Season started tomorrow. Since Rick was offering to help, it was decided that he should spend the night. After a comical misunderstanding, he curled up on the couch in the living room and settled in for the night.

Chapter 36

The sweet smell of pancakes with baked apples and cinnamon woke Rick from his slumber. There are few better ways to start the day. Although, if that start would come after sunrise, that would be pretty good too. But today was the start of Cider Season, the Apples relied on the money made selling the cider to keep the farm running and therefore no time could be wasted.

Rick opened his eyes slowly and saw Applejack at work in the nearby kitchen. The sight of her working quickly and proficiently brought him back to years past. His wife, Hanna, was always a joy to watch in the kitchen. It wasn’t an old fashion, sexist idea that was the reason for her spending so much time in the kitchen, she was simply better than Rick. He was a good cook, she was a master.

Rick continued to simply watch AJ. He was staring at her, just admiring how fluidly she moved from one thing to the next, pancakes to juice, apples to toast, muffins to syrup. She was a sight to behold to say the least. He would have happily continued to watch her work, but a pan falling from an open cabinet made that impossible.

The pan was plucked out of the air by a magic hand and replaced in the cabinet it came from. The sound of metal sliding on metal caught her attention. She looked up just in time to see the pan find is place and the door shut. She turned to face her savior, “savin’ tha day once again Ah see.”

“Well,” Rick slowly climbed off the sofa and started to walk over to the country mare, “it was either that or let breakfast get ruined,” he joked.

Applejack giggled, “we can’t have that now can we?” She nuzzled Rick’s shoulder when he stepped up next to her; he did the same on the side of her neck. He couldn’t help but notice how she faintly smelled of the sweetness of apples. She raised her and whispered in his ear, “ya may wanna cover yer ears.”

“Huh?”

“SOUP’S ON EVERYPONY!!!” Rick eventually got the ringing to stop. By the time he did, the rest of the Apple family had already come down the stairs. First thing he could hear was Applejack laughing herself sick. “Ah, heh-heh, did try ta warn ya.”

“Yeah, yeah you did.” Rick was rubbing one of his ears, but that was mainly a distraction. Seemingly out of nowhere, magic hand grabbed the brim of Applejack’s Stetson and pulled it down hard over her eyes. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he set the table for everyone.

The meal was a little rushed, they had work to do after all, but it was also delicious. There was light conversation and short anecdotes as well as work assignments for the day’s events. The family all enjoyed their breakfast, Rick enjoyed his a little more due to the closeness of the pretty, lean, muscular female by his side.

It was decided that Apple Bloom would work the counter and Big Mac would maintain the stock. Apple Jack was in charge of the accounts while Granny Smith was on quality control, which would mean she would spend most of the day in her rocking chair since the cider was already made. Rick decided he should be on crowd control. No one thought it was necessary, but better safe than sorry.

They left the house and set about their jobs. Rick was caught off guard by the fact that there was not only a line, but a line of tents stretching as far down the road until he couldn’t see anymore. The first tent in line, a bright pink dome tent, unzipped and out stepped Pinkie Pie looking a little disheveled but perky as ever. She gave off the ‘morning person aura’ that Rick always hated but who can ever be mad at Pinkie Pie.

“Good morning, Pinkie, here for the cider?”

“You betcha! I never miss a Cider Season!”

“Well I hope you enjoy this year’s batch. We worked very hard to make sure it’s just right.”

“If you worked on it, then I bet it’ll be the best ever!” She beamed with her usual bright cheerfulness. Rick couldn’t help but smile at her.

“Thank you, Pinkie, I need to get going now, see you later.”

“Bye-bye!”

Rick started walking down the row of tents, greeting ponies who had stepped out into the daylight. After a while, the tents stopped and the ponies were just standing in line patiently waiting to purchase their share of the sweet-sweet nectar that was the Apple family’s apple cider. Soon enough, he found the three mares he had hoped he would find, Fluttershy, Rarity and Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“There are my three favorite girls in the whole wide world.” He trotted up to the trio and embraced them in a big hug. They leaned into the hug in an attempt to get as close together as possible.
“Good morning, Dear, how are you?” Rarity asked as the hug was released.

“I’m feeling very good, thank you for asking. I must say, this body is fantastic,” he thought, for a second, he heard a whispered ‘I’ll say’ and decided to ignore it, “we worked all day and I don’t even feel tired. My old human body would be sore and I’d just want to spend all day on the couch.” This comment was rewarded with a round of giggles. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh, she overslept and is somewhere near the back of the line,” Fluttershy answered.

Rick thought for a second, then came up with an idea. A large force field appeared above the group and started to change into a rainbow. It wasn’t very colorful; an all-orange rainbow doesn’t exactly show the whole spectrum. Rick didn’t know what her cutie mark looked like, so this was the best he could do. Either way it worked. A small blue dot was quickly enlarging on the horizon and was followed by a familiar jet-like roar and rainbow trail.

Rainbow Dash touched down with the group. “Hey, everypony, what’s up?”

“Good morning, Rainbow, I see you got my message.” He looked up at the fading force field.

“It kinda stands out,” Dash smiled.

“That was the general idea. So, I heard you overslept a little.”

This got rid of the smile, “Yeah, and now I can only hope there’s some left when I get up there. Pinkie always buys up some much, that there’s never any when I get there.”

Rick didn’t have the heart to tell her that Pinkie was at the front of the line this morning. “Well, all I can tell you is, Applejack said we managed to double her normal production.” This perked her back up.

“Oh yeah!” she pumped her hoof and floated up above the crowd. “I better get back in line before I lose my spot.” She was gone instantly, only a fading rainbow as evidence left behind.

Rick turned back to the three fillies, who were all smiles, and shared a laugh. “Well, ladies, I need to get moving. Got a long day ahead, but I will see you soon. I definitely want to see you all after we’re done today.”

“You’ve got it. We’ll meet up with you after you’re done here,” Twilight reassured.

“Yes, Darling, I for one wouldn’t miss it.” Rarity said just before they all squeezed together in a hug once again. Sadly, they got interrupted by an argument back towards the front of the line.

“Well, duty calls I suppose.”

Rick left, reluctantly, and headed toward the disturbance. He managed to resolve it by lifting them up and having them talk it out calmly or risk going without cider for a year, maybe more. Luckily, this was the only issue to come up. He did get a good laugh out of Pinkie somehow managing to not only carry a half dozen tankards of cider, but also walk on two legs while doing so.

After a couple hours, Fluttershy, Twilight and Rarity reached the front and retrieved their share of cider. They decided to remain there with Rick and Applejack and simply enjoy each other’s company. Shortly after, the supply ran out and Applejack notified the crowd.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” a familiar pegasus cried out and came rushing over the retreating, groaning crowd. “How did you run out if you doubled your production?” Rainbow was making no attempt at hiding her frustration.

“Now, Dash, ya know we always make as much as we can, but we can’t always make enough for everypony.” With this, AJ reached under the counter and pulled out a lidded jar and held it up like a peace offering. “Luckily, Rick here had us set some aside jest fer you.”

Rainbow landed with a thud and shocked expression. She then rushed over to Rick and hugged him tightly enough to make him worry about the safety of his ribs, then she grabbed her jar and flew off toward her home with treasure in hand yelling her thanks the whole time.

Completely satisfied with the response received, Rick looked at the four mares nearby, “well, girls, shall we go?”

Comments

[Midnight Flame]

How the hell will this work out

[doctor_n]

2993581
Through the magic of bullshit sciences and fictional plot devices.

[The Slending Angel]

3919032 Amen.

[damnaion]

14# hummm

[Boss_Hoss1]

Srsly? Crowd Control does not include making sure Pinks has ONLY one mug A DAY unless she takes a turn running on the cider press?
-Even when last year or so in the timeline was the first Cider Season Rainbow had EVER tasted Sweet Apple Acres Cider in all her years in Ponyville?
She cant be the only Ponyvilian this has happened to. 2/3 of the line EACH DAY in the Cider episode never had cider, but Pinks was at the head of the line every day of Cider Season buying the equivalent of 2 barrels and unknowingly taunting Dash about it.
Doubling the production still means a 3rd of the line goes without. I would have instituted a stamp system like a club until everypony had bought at least one mug over 2 days, or a prebuy system at least where if you paid for it and dont get it that day it gets delivered later.

[DerpTape]

4819900
Ahhh, but that would make sense.

P.S. Thank you author for only going:

After a comical misunderstanding, he curled up on the couch in the living room and settled in for the night.

And not actually doing the full scene. We have all seen/read the quote-unquoute comical misunderstanding so many times, that at this point it is either tedious or just painful. Good on ya for doing it this way.