Three Kings

by MorseCode

Debts Repayed

The light of the moon is blocked by the large red curtains from entering the spacious master bedroom of the Kings' new house in Ponyville. Except for one thin ray of light that just so happened to pass over Gary's eyes causing the young man to stir and awaken from a peaceful slumber. He sits up and mutters several obscenities as he gets out of his bed. He proceeds to the bathroom and takes a shower and prepares himself for the day. Luckily, he had a change of clothes in his duffel bag, just a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a plain white v-neck t-shirt. As he descended the stairs, he noticed the house was silent and neither of his brothers was awake. He noticed from the clock on the wall that it was only 5:30, still pretty early. Gary fancied himself as more of a night owl and usually preferred to sleep until noon if possible. He decided to take advantage of his early rise and prepare breakfast for himself and his brothers. He would also decide what they need to do for the day. He found the kitchen well stocked except for, not surprisingly, any meat. He did, however, find eggs and the other materials necessary to make pancakes, an old favorite of his and his brothers. He started the stove, pulled out a skillet and began to make breakfast.

A short time passed as Gary prepared breakfast for his siblings. Making the pancakes from scratch wasn't a challenge due to the fact that Gary had a fair amount of culinary training from a cooking class in high school and from taking care of himself for so long. He found himself constantly musing over thoughts of his situation and accidentally burnt the first flapjack in his distraction. Shortly after the clock's hands passed showing the time as 6:00, Daniel stumbled lazily into the living room toward the kitchen. His short hair was damp, and he had a towel hung around his neck, indicating he just left the shower. He threw his shirt on the couch and took a seat on one of the two stools at the kitchen counter.

"Morning, sunshine," Gary said sarcastically as he passed his brother a plate with four, fresh pancakes and a bottle of syrup. "What are you doing up early?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Danny retorted as he poured some syrup over his plate and reached over for a fork. "Was all this here?" Danny questioned as he gestured to the food and utensils.

"Well, I made the pancakes from scratch, but the materials were all here," Gary smirked. "Celestia certainly is a generous woma--err mare. I checked out everything; There should be enough food to last about three weeks between the three of us."

"What will we do after that?" Danny said as he began to devour his breakfast.

"We'll talk about that as soon a Mike is here. Is he in the shower?" Gary said pointing toward the bathroom down the hall.

"Yep," Danny replied continuing his breakfast. Gary took the time to set out a plate for Mike in front of the second stool. After taking a moment to clean Gary leaned over the counter to eat once he noticed Danny was almost finished and Mike was seating himself at the counter. After a quick greeting exchange, the three brothers ate hastily in silence, Once they finished and cleaned up the kitchen, they each took a seat in the living room with Gary on the recliner, Danny on the love-seat and Mike on the sofa.

"Well, first things first, we should make a quick plan as to what to do today, agreed?" Gary asked his brothers who nodded in response. "Okay, I think we need a way to pay back Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. Any ideas?"

"A party," Mike said snapping his fingers. "A "thank you" party. It could be for all of them, but mostly Pinkie."

"Good idea. Pinkie, check." Gary paused for a moment to think, "I've got it, for Twilight we can donate the books from Earth that are in my bag to the library."

"Two down, four to go," Danny said nodding. "Any other ideas? Rarity, Rainbow, Shy and Applejack are left."

"Well, we could always ask Rarity if she wants anything in particular," Gary replied. "We need to visit her anyway for new clothing. It would favor us to have more than one set of clothes or two in my case."

"What about Shy and Rainbow?" Mike asked, "Can we get them anything or help them in some way?"

"Well none of us can fly, control the weather or take care of animals very well so those ideas are out." Danny sighed. "We could always go help Applejack at her farm."

"Uggggghhh... Manual labor." Gary groaned, throwing his head back dramatically.

"Come on you big baby," Mike said grabbing Gary and pulling him up from the couch. "You were never opposed to working when there was a pretty girl involved." The three brothers shared a quick laugh, recalling Gary's antics back in high school. "Besides, this is a perfect way to help her and pay Applejack back." Gary sighed accepting his fate and proceeded to open the door.

"Well then, let's be off. Shall we?" Gary said with a smirk bowing at the open door. "Ladies, first."

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After a short walk in the sunrise and a quick stop to ask for directions, much to Mike's dismay, the three brothers found themselves walking through the apple orchard at Sweet Apple Acres. They were surprised to find that the ponies of Ponyville friendlier and more accepting than before. When they first walked through Ponyville, they received only an occasional fearful glance, but this time, they found the occasional pony waved as they passed. Though it was clear most were still suspicious or worried. After a swift search, Danny spotted a large red stallion hooking himself to a plow in the middle of a field.

"Hey, Big Mac." The youngest human said with a wave. The large stallion stopped hitching himself to the plow and looked up at the three humans.

"Howdy, Danny," Mac said with a nod. "You two must be his brothers. What brings y'all to the orchard?"

"Heya, I'm Mike," the man said in a similar accent to the stallion he was greeting. He stuck his fist out which the hulking red stallion bumped.

"And I'm Gary," the final human said repeating the gesture. "We were hoping to help out Applejack as thank you for the whole saving our lives and whatnot."

"She's over in the west field. She may refuse at first, but trust me, we appreciate all help here so just be persistent." Mac said plainly. The three humans began to walk toward the west field. Gary turned around and gave a short wave to Mac.

"Thanks, Big Mac. Nice to meet you." Gary shouted to the stallion who had finally finished hitching himself up.

"Eeyup," was the only reply from the stallion.

The Kings walked a short distance to where Big Mac had directed them. Once they reached the west field they saw a familiar orange earth pony with a blond mane that was, comically, tied in a ponytail with a brown Stetson hat on top. The mare known as Applejack was to busy bucking a tree to notice the three humans approach her.

"Hey there, Applejack!" Danny said enthusiastically. Applejack was startled by the sudden shout which caused her to slip and fall on her face. Gary gave a small laugh as Danny attempted to avoid doing the same, and Mike walked over and assisted in getting the mare to her hooves.

"Howdy, ya'll. Sorry 'bout that, just caught me off guard was all," she said with a light blush and a small smile.

"No worries, it was worth a good laugh. Are you alright?" Gary said with a smirk.

"Ah'm fine thank you. What brings ya'll to Sweet Apple Acres?" Applejack questioned.

"We were hoping to pay you back by giving you whatever assistance you needed on the farm for a day," Mike replied with a hopeful smile.

"Ya'll don't need to do that. We just did what anypony would have done." Applejack replied earnestly. "You don't owe me anything."

"Don't be so modest, Applejack," Gary said with a sly smirk still on his face. "You did assist in saving our lives after all."

"I'll say it again, we just did what anypony would have." Applejack replied a bit more sternly.

"Please. We really want to repay you, and I've always wanted to try farm work." Mike said matching Applejack's seriousness.

"Fine, you can help for the day," as Applejack finally caved Mike raised his fist in victory and high-fived his brothers. "Ya'll can help me harvest the west field."

"How exactly should we do that?" Danny inquired pointing at a tree.

"Well I just buck 'em like this," Applejack said as she positioned herself on her forehooves and used both of her hind legs to give a strong kick to the tree causing all the apples to fall. The three brothers clapped their hands which elected a small blush and a tip of the hat from the orange mare. Mike and Gary looked at each other for a brief moment, then with a nod and a cocky grin, they each moved in front of two nearby trees. Simultaneously, they kicked the trees which caused three apples to fall out in front of Gary and four in front of Mike. They both reeled back, realizing too late that they were still injured, albeit lightly.

"I believe, there is a more efficient way to do this," Gary said as he grabbed a low lying branch and pulled himself up into the tree. Quickly, one by one, the apples fell out of the tree into a basket on the ground. Mike and Danny quickly followed suit and climbed into two nearby trees and began plucking all the apples from them. A moment later Gary, Mike, and Danny descended from the trees to see Applejack waiting for them.

"All right, we need to harvest all the apples in the west field," Applejack said in an authoritative tone. "With four of us, it should be done before sundown." With that said they all proceeded to begin working for the day. Other than the occasional joke or small talk, the only sound was Applejack's rhythmic kicking of the apple trees.

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After many hours of work and a lunch break that consisted of the best apple-based foods the three humans had ever eaten, the sun was beginning its descent from the sky, and the brothers and Applejack finished harvesting the west field. The brothers were about to discuss what to do next, but they were interrupted as the orange mare spoke up first.

"Thank ya'll kindly. Ya'll didn't have to pay me back as you did, but I appreciate it." Applejack said with a gracious smile. "There still a bit more work to be done, but as far as I'm concerned you've earned your keep and then some. I'm glad to call ya'll my friends, even if you are weird aliens from some far off land."

"Thank you, Applejack. We can never truly repay for saving our lives, but thanks for letting us do what we could." Gary said with a smile of his own. Mike and Danny each nodded and smiled in agreement. "And we're glad we can call you a friend as well." After a quick hoof bump with each of the humans, Applejack left to give the humans some time to discuss the rest of their day. As Applejack left, the three brothers huddled up and began to plan out the evening. Gary spoke first.

"Okay, so we still need to visit Rarity, and I would prefer to get Twilight those books as soon as possible," Gary said as his brothers nodded in contemplation.

"If it's all the same with ya'll, I'd like to say here and help A.J. finish the work," Mike said with a pleading look in his eyes.

"I'm sure that'll work, but can I ask why?" Danny spoke next.

"I'm really liking this work, and I feel like we helped but could do more," Mike said sincerely.

"Alright, that works. Danny, you and I go to Rarity's then the library?" Gary said as he raised an eyebrow to his youngest brother.

"I'd like to go to the library to return the books to Twilight. I may take a while because I want to check out some more books as well." Danny said hopefully to his brothers.

"Okay so you head home, get the books to give Twilight as well as the books to return and then head to the library. I'll head down to the boutique and find a solution to our clothing situation." Gary said with a smirk. He felt a bit strange referring to their new house in Equestria as 'home', but it felt almost normal. The brothers nodded, broke the huddle and went their separate ways. Gary and Danny waved to Mike and Applejack as they departed from Sweet Apple Acres. After a short walk, Danny and Gary reached the outskirts of Ponyville. They were about to separate ways, as their home and the boutique was on opposite sides of the town when Gary spoke.

"The books are in the bag in my room," Gary said to Danny with a serious expression. "Also if you could, ask Twilight for a book or two on Equestrian history, specifically the Elements of Harmony."

"Yea, sure. No problem." Danny said with a smile and a nod. The two brothers then went separate ways and were officially on their own for the second time since being in Equestria.

Author's Note:

FINALLY!!! The next chapter! Sorry for the huge delay. I got busy between school and other life things. Anytime I tried to write I would just not be able to get anything written. I rewrote this chapter three times, but I finally got it done. The next chapter will be in three parts that will be released at the same time. That time should be before Christmas.

Comments

[SCP Pinkamena]

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Does it live?

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UPDATE!