The Rock Farmer's Daughters

by Sketcha-Holic

13. Evening with the Apples

It was a long and quiet walk, especially since the streets of Nickerlite were mostly bare as twilight approached. Few ponies were out and about, and those that were didn't raise a fuss about the entire Pie family having walked into town. However, as Pinkamena noticed, there were those who gave a passing glance, mostly looking at the lean stallion with them. And then they'd look at her and whisper to each other.

She blew some of her hair out of her face. She suspected that they were talking about her and Cortland, and if they knew the Pies were heading to the Apples' farm, things would get worse. The thought of being in the same house as that arrogant colt was bad enough. If anything, she wished that Lemon Drop had been the one to invite the Pies to dinner instead of Haralson. She was far more comfortable around the candy shop owners.

Noting the looks that the passersby were giving Cheese, she was a little worried about him somehow getting roped into the whole courtship rumor mess. After all, it had been years since Pa had hired a stallion, and Pinkamena was sure they'd suspect some kind of attraction between him and one of the Pie sisters. And who better for a juicy story than the pink mare torn between the eligible bachelor of the Nickerlite Apples and the bespectacled drifter currently employed by Igneous Rock?

Hmph, I'm not torn between them, she thought with a huff. I wasn't attracted to anypony in the first place.

They were soon upon the orchard, and the smell of apples was wafting in the air. The scent hit her nostrils, and a hunger pang arose in her belly. She heard another pony's stomach rumble—whose it was, she didn't know.

They finally came upon a farmhouse in the midst of the orchard, and they were barraged with the scents of various foods, both apple and non-apple kinds. It made the emptiness of their stomachs all the more apparent, and had their mouths not been shut, they would have watered.

They made it to the porch, and Igneous sighed. "All right, we'll be on our best behavior tonight. We don't want to abuse the Apples' hospitality. Even if they have already finished their supper, we will be gracious guests. Understand?"

The mares gave single nods, while Cheese gave several rapid nods. After this affirmation, Igneous knocked on the door and waited for one of the Apples to answer.

It wasn't even five seconds when the door opened and Igneous was suddenly pulled into a bear hug. The perpetrator, Haralson, was throwing out a booming laugh as his legs were wrapped around the tan pony. The others gaped at the scene before them, wondering why he did that. Cheese stifled a laugh, and Pinkamena gave him a scolding glance.

"Hahaha! So ya accepted mah invitation after all!" Haralson chortled, squeezing his fellow stallion.

Igneous looked as if he already regretted his decision. "Let go of me."

Haralson released him and looked to the rest of the Pies and Cheese. "Well, don't just stand out there! Come in, come in!"

They entered the house, and Pinkamena looked around. The interior was decorated with an apple theme, and the room was quite warm and inviting. The couch and a couple of chairs were arranged against the back wall and a couple of corners respectfully, a white bookshelf against the left wall was filled with all sorts of books, and many pictures of the Apples' many relatives were hanging on the walls.

When a hoof went over her back and pulled her close to a large and strong body, she felt an unpleasant jolt inside her, especially when the pony who did it started to speak.

"Oh, Pinkamena! Ah'm so glad ya made it!"

She scowled upon hearing Cortland's voice. "Let go of me."

"Oh, but Pinkie! Yer so soft and huggable, even for a rock farmer mare. Why would Ah want to let you go?"

Pinkamena glanced at the direction of Igneous and Haralson, who both sported disapproving glares. "You want to be punished by your pa or mine?"

Cortland noticed the glares, and he immediately let go of her. Pinkamena drew close to Maud, who immediately patted her reassuringly. She didn't feel so hungry anymore, and she just wanted to run all the way home. Of course, not only was it rude, but it would make Cheese think that he was right, that she was afraid of Cortland. She knew that she wasn't; she just didn't like him.

Cortland looked up and saw Cheese, who had been watching the scene with a curious expression. Narrowing his eyes, he asked the lanky pony, "Who are you?"

Cheese stared at him for a moment before opening his mouth to answer. However, he was interrupted by Haralson answering for him. "That's the Pies' hired hoof, Cheese Sandwich. Ya know, the colt that yer sister was chatterin' about?"

As if right on cue, said sister ran into the room and latched herself onto Cheese's leg. "Whoo! Mah future husband's here!"

Cheese flushed when he heard that, and Haralson gave a hearty chuckle. Pinkamena glanced at Cheese's red face, and felt a strange tightness at the corners of her mouth and a small amount of pressure in her chest and throat, waiting to be released. It was all gone with a simple swallow, but she felt kind of bad for not letting it out.

Cortland snorted. "Ah was expecting somepony… younger."

Cheese quirked an eyebrow. "As in someone from the schoolyard?"

Idared stuck her tongue out. "No way! All the colts at school are icky meanies! Cheesy's really nice!"

"Huh." Cortland approached him, and scrutinized him with several quick glances at different areas of his body. "You really are a skinny thing. Ah'm not sure yer good enough for mah sister."

Cheese chuckled, taking it in stride. "Aw… really? Well, I suppose she does deserve the best Equestria has to offer."

"Yer plenty good!" Idared whined. "Any mare would be lucky to have ya!"

"Me? Nah. I'm sorry, but I don't think I'd interest any mare in that way. Just ask the Pies."

Marble nodded. "We're just thinking of him as a temporary brother. Although he does tell good stories."

"Whether they're true or not, they are very interesting tales," Limestone added.

Pinkamena could see slight exasperation in Cheese's face. Whether that meant that he really did have those adventures he talked about and he was frustrated that they didn't believe him or that he was in no mood for storytelling, she did not know.

Just then, a light pink mare with red hair in a bun popped out from the kitchen. "Supper's ready if y'all want it! There's plenty for everypony!"

"Thanks, Blossom," Haralson said. He glanced at Cheese and said, "How 'bout you tell us one of them stories at the table?"

---

The Apples didn't seem to care at all that the main reason the Pies came was because a mouse invasion stripped them of their food. They actually found it kind of humorous, even though the Pies didn't. Even so, the Apples were happy to share their meal with them.

The meal had a small variety of vegetables, consisting of steamed carrots, corn on the cob, boiled peas, and baked potatoes. A pot of hayballs in cheese sauce took up the middle, and cool applesauce had its place further away. Freshly baked bread was on its place on the table, with a stick of butter on a small platter beside it. Apple pie was on the table as well, directly opposite of the bread. Glasses of apple juice were arranged around the surprisingly large table, adjacent to the plates.

Maud Pie had been staring at her potato for a couple of minutes. The she smelled it in dry curiosity before she mashed it with her hoof. Stayman and Idared were spreading globs of butter on their slices of bread, licking their lips in anticipation. And everypony else was eating their meal and listening intently to Cheese's tale.

"…so that stallion had always had an attitude problem. April Showers threatened to fire him if he didn't behave during work hours, but when it came to break time and after hours, he would always give me a funny look, and said some pretty unkind things that I shouldn't repeat." Cheese munched on another hayball and wiped his mouth. "I'm sure he would have pounded me to dust had I not found ways to slip away every time he confronted me. Still, as big of a jerk as he was, I didn't expect him to get arrested."

"Arrested?" Haralson asked. "Fer what?"

Cheese rubbed the back of his head and glanced at the twins. "Well… let's just say there was a gruesome encounter with a calf."

Blossom gasped, the twins were confused, while the rest of the ponies sans Maud were wide-eyed. Cheese grimaced, the memory of the news of what his fellow employee did still giving him shivers. He hated to imagine the scene.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened to him after that, but it doesn't matter now. So, April replaced him with this mare named May Flowers. She was quiet at first, but she ended up a little sassy and she didn't quite understand the concept of personal space."

"Neither does a certain somepony at this table," Pinkamena muttered under her breath.

"So, after she had been employed a while, imagine everyone's surprise when she went to the doctor for a checkup, and discovered she was not only pregnant, but was due in a couple of weeks."

Cloudy blinked. "How in Equestria did she miss that for eleven months?"

"Beats me. But hey, her colt turned out pretty cute, and we all loved the kid." He popped a few more hayballs into his mouth. "I wonder how they're doing these days."

"I'm sure they're fine, Cheese," Haralson said. "Ah am sorry to hear about that former co-worker. Sounds like he woulda killed ya if given the chance."

"Ehehe… yeah…" Cheese mumbled, taking a sip of his juice.

Haralson turned to Igneous, and asked, "Didn't you used ta make reforming criminals work on the rock farm and that quarry in the mountains?"

Igneous was in the middle of chewing his potato when that question was asked. With a sigh, he swallowed and answered, "Yes… with mixed results. Had to stop once Maud was born."

"Ah understand completely. Wouldn't want those kinds of ponies near my flesh and blood, either."

"Puh, especially since they'd get into fights all the time. I needed to constantly remind them who was in charge. A rock farmer's strength comes in handy for those situations."

"And for threatenin' any suitors of yer daughters?" The Apple stallion leaned forward and pulled a wry grin upon saying that, and didn't notice Cortland's sour expression.

Igneous replied with a dead serious tone, "Yep."

Haralson's mouth formed into an O, and he nodded. Turning to Maud, who sat across from him, he asked, "Would you like some salt with that?"

"No thanks. This potato's fine."

"Oh! Oh!" Stayman squealed. "I want some salt, Pa!"

Haralson chuckled as the salt was passed to his younger son. "Careful now, we don't want too much salt on that."

Stayman rolled his eyes, and begin to salt the spud, only for the top of the salt shaker to fall off. The contents were unceremoniously dumped onto the potato, and there was a sparkling white hill now perched on his plate.

After staring for a few moments, he asked, "Can I still eat it?"

As Cheese chuckled along with the Apple parents, he couldn't help but notice the stare that Cortland was giving him. It would seem very neutral to the casual observer, but he could sense a fair bit of coldness in those eyes. It was very discomforting, and Cheese attempted to shake it off by consuming more of the hayballs.

He could still feel those amber eyes boring into him.

---

While the parents of both families stayed inside to talk, the Pie sisters, the Apple kids, and Cheese were all outside, most of them enjoying some apple pie. They were looking up at the night sky, with the twins counting the stars, Cheese searching for simple constellations, and the Pies deep in conversation about what the moon must be like.

"The moon looks like a hunk of pumice," Marble stated.

"Pumice?" Limestone said. "Are you saying a super volcano spat out the moon long ago?"

"No, I'm just stating what it looks like. The moon's origin must be magical."

"Maybe if we ever meet Princess Luna, we can ask her."

"Isn't the moon older than Luna or something?"

"Well… d'oh, I don't know!"

Maud, as she was pulling a fine specimen of a metamorphic rock out of the yard, merely glanced up at the moon, and mumbled, "I wonder what a moon rock is like."

Pinkamena was lying on her back in the grass. "I wonder what it's like actually being on the moon."

Cheese wanted to joke that the moon was made of cheese, but he held his tongue, feeling that they wouldn't be too fond of a quip like that. With a sigh, he continued to connect stars into a silly shape. He found himself connecting stars to form… a five-pointed star. Taking another bite of his pie, he looked at the twins, who had already passed a hundred.

"One hundred and one…"

"One hundred and two…"

"One hundred and three…"

"One hundred and four…"

"Wait, didn't we already count that one?"

"Idared! You'll make me lose count!"

Cheese finished the last of his pie, and stood up. "Well, I guess I'll just take my plate back inside."

He climbed onto the porch, passing Cortland in the rocking chair. He tried to ignore that icy stare, which frightened him even more than Pinkamena's did. He opened the door and slipped inside, interrupting the conversation taking place between the Pie parents and the Apple parents. They all turned to look at him.

"Oh, don't mind me. I just finished my pie."

Blossom smiled. "Coming in for seconds?"

"No, I'm full, but thanks for the offer." Cheese walked into the kitchen and set the dirty plate in the sink. He looked at the pie, which still had enough for four ponies to have seconds, and tried to guess who'd come in for seconds. Then he set off to walk out.

He froze in his tracks when he heard, "Haralson, aren't you worried that he'll get possessive of her?"

"Ah've talked with him, Igneous. Ah told him that 'no means no' and that it's obvious that she ain't interested. He accepted it without complaint."

"Ever crossed your mind that he might be lying just to please you? You saw what he did when we arrived!"

"Igneous, we Apples are an honest bunch. Sure, he slipped, but he told me he'd put in the effort to leave her alone, or at least talk to her like the normal pony she is instead of a mare he's tryin' to woo."

"I'm pretty sure he'll think that if I caved in to your invitation, then she'll cave in to his efforts of courtship. It's obvious he thinks of her as a prize!"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down! Ah'm tellin' him there's plenty of mares in town, and if Pinkamena says no, he should just move on. And yes, he has retorted, 'she's just playing hard to get.'"

"'Hard to get'? She's made no secret that she finds him annoying."

"Ah've noticed."

Cheese decided not to interrupt their conversation again, and he slid out the door in the kitchen that led outside before another word was said.

Once the cool evening air hit him, he sat down and sighed. Was this whole Cortland thing that big a deal? Are they sure they aren't just making a mountain out of a molehill? He shook his head. If Cortland really was trying his best to court Pinkamena, then he was wasting his time. After all, she was a surly and stubborn mare.

Admittedly, she was kind of pretty, especially with her beautiful blue eyes, and she did help him out at times when he needed it, though it was just because she pitied him, he was sure. But Cheese still thought that trying to pursue her would only lead to a dead end.

Suddenly, he felt himself being tackled and wrestled to the ground. Before he had any time to comprehend what was going on, he was thrown into a tree. His head hit the trunk and he could hear a thud between his ears. Gritting his teeth, he had barely cracked open his eyes when he was pinned to the very same tree. Of course, his vision was blurry, meaning that his glasses had flown off somewhere between the tackle and being pinned to the tree.

"So… workin' for Igneous Rock?"

That was Cortland's voice. Cheese found himself with a lack of surprise.

"That must mean yer around the Pie sisters all day…"

"Yeah?" Cheese replied. "So?"

"Hmph." Cortland dropped Cheese, who still was against the tree. "It seems you have yer pick of Maud, Marble, and Limestone."

Cheese rubbed his head. "Excuse me, but—"

Cortland stomped on Cheese's tail, and had brought his face too close for comfort, especially since hot air blew out of his nostrils and onto Cheese's face. "Just don't touch Pinkamena."

Cheese squeezed his eyes shut and turned away. "Okay, first off, I'm their temporary brother. Igneous told me that wooing any one of his daughters is off limits. And second of all, last time I checked, Pinkamena is not yours. Heck, she doesn't even like you!"

Cortland chuckled. "She's just playin' hard ta get. She knows Ah like a good challenge."

"Good challenge, my hoof. You're just obsessed."

Cortland drew away, much to Cheese's relief. "Hm, yer right… maybe Ah am. Ah mean, pink just stands out at that rock farm, and it don't hurt that she's a lovely little thing. Years on that rock farm have made her mighty curvy, don't ya think?"

"Umm…"

"But ya still need ta heed mah words. Ah don't want to see no contact that Ah'll see as lovey-dovey."

Cheese rolled his eyes. "No lovey-dovey looks from me. I'm just staying as long as I need to."

"Good… very good. Ah'll win her over; you'll see."

And I'll become an alicorn princess, Cheese thought. "Okay... where did my glasses go?"

"Oh?"

Cheese felt the glasses being placed on his muzzle, and he blinked a few times to adjust. Looking up at Cortland's face, he stood up, brushed his poncho off, and then started to walk away. "Thank you. Now, I suspect that we're going soon."

With a smirk, Cortland asked, "So… yer a wanderer?"

"Uh… yeah?"

Cortland shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Don't that mean yer family don't love you? Or do you even have a family?"

Cheese froze mid-step. He felt an icy coldness in his belly, and he looked down, pawing at the ground. His mouth was shut as tightly as possible, and his breaths came in quick, but heavy spurts. Part of him wanted to lash out at the other pony for saying that, but another part just felt like turning to stone.

Cortland chuckled. "Well… either way, you just don't belong anywhere."

With that, he went inside, and Cheese took heavy steps forward, taking his sweet time returning to the front yard. He hoped that Igneous and Haralson would just finish their conversation soon so they could get going. He just wanted to head back to the rock farm and curl up in his bed.

Author's Note:

And here we have the awaited "dinner with the Apple family" chapter!

So, the tale that Cheese recounted? It's based on a true story, involving real life horses. No, it was not in my local news; it was my dad's horses that were involved (and my uncle's unfortunate calf). So, yeah, we really did have a situation sort of like that, though the horse that lashed out was supposed to be gelded, and well… it was done… improperly by the previous owner (and yes, we put the horse down).

And we didn't notice that our replacement mare (bought after the whole calf incident) had been pregnant the whole time we had her until she was very close to the due date (a person with more horse knowledge than us noticed in time for everyone involved to prepare for the arrival).

The resulting colt has now grown up to be quite the handsome horse, and he's currently being trained to carry a rider.

Real life is stranger than fiction. Xp

Comments

[River Starlight]

Wow!

[scoots2]

Cortland!

Yes. Because threatening the other guy always works. Especially when he wears glasses and has not done a thing to you. Honestly, that is dumber than a bag of hammers, because if the girl likes him, she will come racing in, stand over him, and the best you will ever get from her, ever, is a big piece of her mind.

I've never liked Cortland. I don't like him more now. His behavior has crossed the line into dangerous, and I'm sincerely concerned for Pinkie.

[SageBrony07]

Nice job with this story. Now Cortland is crazy. Lets see what happens next that will slowly let Cheese and Pinkie into each others heart.

[DILLYbOd]

interesting...

[Zephyr]

Suddenly my view of Cortland from being some dumb rural idiot, turned to a prick. He should be beaten to pulp. Some broken bones would also do, for good measure. Hm.
This will cause problems.

-Zeph

[rainbow20percent]

so Cortland is a crazy jerk who is obsessed with pinkie this adds a lot of interesting things that could happen I cant

[rainbow20percent]

I cant wait

[ferret]

Yeesh Cortland is crazier than I thought. It was sort of impressive how Cheese managed to keep him from beating Cheese to a pulp, just by talking him down, capitulating to his demands and stroking his pride a bit. He needs to channel his inner Discord or something though, or the whole Cortland mess will blow up and he'll end up getting the blame somehow. I wonder if he's been chased out of town that way before.

[Queen of changelings]

Oh mah gosh best yet but pretty sure your next chap will top it
Hey cortland's a crazy colt
Pinkamena's more annoyed than normal
And cheese is hilarious
Keep up the good work

[Derpator]

There are two things I hate about this story:

1. The updates always manage to slip pass me unnoticed, so I don't find out about them until days later.
2. This story is not in my favourites list (at the time of this comment).

In other words, I'm a doofus. I've actually had some small history with this. I saw it before I joined the site, and I remember getting very interested. At that time, I noticed the updates every now and then, and it just got better with each chapter. I have no idea why I haven't kept track of this in the slightest since I joined. Again, I'm an idiot. I'm going to fix that now though, as this should have been put in my favourites weeks ago.

Even though I've read it all, I'll only comment on the latest chapter, otherwise this comment might drag. Like pretty much everyone else, yeah, I hate Cortland. I was half-expecting you to take him even further and do the unspeakable: smash Cheese's glasses after he tackled him. I can rest though, knowing that he will get his comeuppance at some point. By who's hoof is anyone's guess though, although I'm banking on a teamed up Pinkamena and Cheese. It might not be a physical beating, seeing as that might be a little extreme, but I wouldn't be shocked if Pinkamena sort of forced a kiss from Cheese right in front of Cortland's face. Of course, that's just my imagination running off again.

I don't think I can really say anything else, other than I can't wait for the next chapter.

[ashiida]

Amazing as usual. You have no idea how much I want to make a comic out of this.

ToobadIsuckatSAI.

[Phenoix12]

I predict that Cortland is going to eventually do something very bad to Pinkie and/or Cheese.

[Spirit Shift]

"That's the Pies' hired hoof, Cheese Sandwich. Ya know, the colt that yer sister was chatterin' about?"

Didn't realize this till now. But why didn't Cheese go to the Apples instantly? (Other than plot reasons of course) The apples always hire helpful hooves. Cheese stated that there was one just about everywhere, so he should know this.

[corona320]

Is the author insinuating the euthanized horse was a calf molester???? I only cane to that conclusion in consideration of the horse being referred to as gelded. I don't rightly know what gelded is , but I imagine the horse didn't take to it.

[Super57]

I want to cry for how sad Cheese life is, I just want to hug him and tell him everything will be all right. And I am a guy! >_<.

I want to punch Carlton....HARD.

[Party Splat]

"Oh! Oh!" Stayman squealed. "I want some salt, Pa!"
Haralson chuckled as the salt was passed to his younger son. "Careful now, we don't want too much salt on that."
Stayman rolled his eyes, and begin to salt the spud, only for the top of the salt shaker to fall off. The contents were unceremoniously dumped onto the potato, and there was a sparkling white hill now perched on his plate.
After staring for a few moments, he asked, "Can I still eat it?"

Need I say more?

[Princess rosa]

Ooh cheese thinks pinkamena is pretty. do I sense some attraction?

[DragonMaus]

If he keeps up like this, Cortland's going to get himself maimed.

[TwibraFlattercordlover]

Cortland chuckled. "Well… either way, you just don't belong anywhere."

You son of a flame.

[Godslittleprincess]

Okay, if Cortland wasn't a jerk before, he definitely is now.