• Published 18th Apr 2012
  • 4,305 Views, 74 Comments

The Adventures of Cyborg Braeburn - totallynotabrony

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Chapter 4

Braeburn didn’t realize how much rest he had missed over the past few days. He was still asleep when Applejack tromped into his room and shook him awake.

“What time is it?” he muttered, glancing out the window. The sun was already well and truly up.

“It’s past time for breakfast,” said Applejack. “Ah saved you some. Big Macintosh and me are goin’ out to the orchard.”

“Thanks for waking me up.”

His cousin nodded. "Don't forget, Pinkie's thowin' you a party tonight." She left the room.

Braeburn got out of bed. For a moment, he thought about leaving his electronics powered down. He sighed and flipped the switch on.

Moron, he berated himself. You can’t get rid of the legs. There’s no point in acting like the ear and the eye don’t exist. Braeburn headed out to the kitchen. Three out of every four steps made a clanking noise.

The food was getting cold, but it tasted as good as AJ’s cooking usually did. When he was finished, Braeburn sat for a moment, trying to think of something to do. The house was quiet. Granny Smith was probably taking her morning nap. Apple Bloom was at school.

Braeburn decided to walk down to the orchard and see what Applejack and Big Macintosh were up to. Maybe he could lend a hoof.

The familiar sound of applebucking greeted him as he drew near. The quick, hard thwack of Applejack’s kicks contrasted with the deeper thump every time Big Macintosh bucked a tree.

They both stopped when Braeburn came walking up. “Anything I can do?” he asked.

“Well, if you wouldn’t mind pickin’ up the baskets and carryin’ ‘em to the barn for sorting,” said Applejack.

Braeburn nodded, happy to be useful again. It was the first honest work he’d been able to do in a long time. He wiggled into the yoke on the apple cart and pulled it around collecting full baskets of apples that had been bucked off the trees.

The work went well for a few hours. As Braeburn returned from the barn with an empty cart, he heard a faint noise. It grew louder, and he soon saw a strange machine flying overhead. It had two spinning propellers and was making a terrible racket.

Braeburn’s first instinct was to run, but as the contraption settled into a hover over the orchard, he remembered that his cousins were still out there. He slipped the cart yoke off and ran in that direction. Despite only having three mechanical legs, he moved faster than ever before. The artificial joints had greater spring to them, and his stride was longer and quicker.

Braeburn skidded to a halt as he came upon the strange flying machine. Monstrosity was painted on the nose. The name seemed remarkably appropriate.

Valiant stepped out of the cockpit. His eyes were red and he looked somewhat distraught. For some reason, a falcon was perched on his shoulder.

“Yo, Apples!” he called. “Do any of you know a pegasus mare named Merry May?”

“Can’t say that I do,” replied Applejack.

“Well, she got murdered and then somebody mailed me her head.” Vailant gesticulated with his hooves. The bird struggled to stay on. “Totally ruined my day,” he said.

“That sounds terrible,” said Applejack.

“Yeah. Well, anyway, I've got other ponies to talk to about this.” Valiant climbed back in his machine and started the engine. He departed in a cloud of dust.

“What in the world…” said Braeburn.

“Just Valiant bein’ Valiant,” said Applejack, shaking her head. "Ah have no clue how he managed to end up in a murder investigation. Can't say I'm surprised, though."

“What was that thing?” Braeburn asked.

“Ah’ve given up tryin’ to figure out how he builds those machines of his,” said Applejack. “Admittedly, it can be useful to fly without wings, but Ah don’t trust his piloting skills.”

“What was with the falcon?” asked Braeburn.

“Oh, it’s just Valiant’s pet bird. He adopted the little guy about the same time Rainbow was lookin’ for a pet. Name’s Captain.” Applejack frowned. “Ah don't know why, but he giggles every time he mentions ‘Captain Falcon’.”

Braeburn shook his head. “Well, I left the cart back up by the barn.”

“Ah’ll get it,” said Applejack. “You take a break for a little while.”

“I don’t need a break,” said Braeburn as she left. It was true. He didn’t feel like he had worked very hard.

Big Macintosh shrugged and moved the wisp of grass he carried between his lips to the other side of his mouth. Braeburn glanced at a few empty baskets nearby. He walked over to an apple tree that still had fruit hanging from it. It had been so long since he had done any applebucking, that he couldn’t resist giving it a try.

Braeburn steadied his front legs and gauged the distance to the tree. He pitched himself forward to get his hind end in the air and then kicked.

CRACK

Big Mac’s mouth opened in surprise, dropping the piece of grass. Braeburn looked over his shoulder. The tree lay on the ground, its trunk shattered.

“What? I…” Braeburn gasped at what he had done.

“Braeburn! What in tarnation happened?” demanded Applejack as she arrived with the cart.

“I didn’t mean to.”

Applejack sighed. “Ah guess you didn’t know that was going to happen. Maybe you’d better stick to pullin’ the cart.”

He took the yoke from her and returned to ferrying apples back to the barn. Suddenly, the day wasn’t looking as good as it had that morning.

I’m going to have to be careful, thought Braeburn. I could accidentally hurt somepony.

Braeburn remembered Valiant going on a rant about something he called ‘goddamn Spiderman comics’. Braeburn hadn’t understood most of it, but one clear phrase had stayed with him. With great power comes great responsibility…

Braeburn didn’t want to be responsible. He just wanted to work on the farm and be a regular pony. It looked like that goal was getting harder to achieve all the time.

After the day's work was done, Braeburn got cleaned up in preparation to go to the party. He had no idea why Pinkie was so insistent that a celebration should be held in his honor.

Applejack had offered to get the party moved to Sweet Apple Acres. Braeburn had told her no. If he was going to reintegrate himself into society, he couldn't hide forever. Still, he was nervous.

"Ready?" asked Apple Bloom. She had gotten her homework done quickly after getting back from school and was excited to go to the party.

"I guess so."

"Cheer up, cousin," said Applejack. "Everypony'll be there."

As he put on his hat and the borrowed duster, Braeburn wondered what he was getting himself into.

Author note:
While based on A Dream, please consider this story to be completly different. I'm going to retcon stuff in the interest of trying to write a better story.