Sugar, Cubed

by BlazzingInferno

Early Morning Chores

“What’s Pa doing out there?” Applejack whispered.

The view from the little filly’s bedroom window made no sense. Pa was standing in front of an apple tree without a barrel, a rake, or even a watering can. He just stared at the tree without bothering to buck the glistening, red apples off the branches. For minutes on end he’d stand there, only pausing on occasion to glance at a small book resting on his hoof. There was barely enough sunlight out there to work in, let alone read by. Nopony else would be up for a half hour.

Her hoofsteps were nearly silent as she crossed the hallway. If she woke up Ma or Granny Smith this early, she’d never hear the end of it. Her big brother was a different story. She pushed open his door and approached the bed.

“Hey, Big Mac.”

The sleeping form under the covers didn’t move.

“Big Mac!”

Finally he stirred. “Huh? AJ?”

“Pa’s doing something outside; looks mighty strange to me.”

“Pa’s just being Pa, and you’re supposed to be in bed. Sun’s not up yet.”

“But–”

“Nope.”

“I just–”

“Nope.”

She scowled. “Fine.”

Her hoofsteps were equally noiseless as she made her way down the stairs, including the hop at the end to skip the creaky step. She couldn’t count the times Big Mac had put his full weight on the thing after being out late with his friends. Even if the groaning wood didn’t wake her up, the inevitable scolding from Ma certainly would.

Soon she was standing outside and at the edge of the orchard. She crouched behind a tree trunk and watched Pa continue his strange ritual. He studied the nearest tree, once again without bucking even a single apple, and then consulted with his little book. From this perspective she could see the pencil he was holding in his mouth.

Pa was the biggest stallion her young eyes had ever seen. The first time she saw him knock an apple out of a tree, she’d been sure the tree trunk would be the next thing to hit the ground. Seeing him standing here, still and silent with a book on his hoof, was like looking at another pony entirely.

“You gonna hide back there all morning, AJ?” His voice was as deep as rolling thunder.

She froze. Did he know she was there, or just suspect? Could she just take a few careful steps back and pretend she’d never left her room? It wasn’t worth trying, not when it meant lying to Pa. Instead she stepped out of her hiding place and hung her head.

“Sorry, Pa. I know I’m not supposed to be out this early. I just wanted to see what you were doing.”

He rolled the pencil between his lips. “What do you think I’m doing?”

“Can’t say. You’ve just been staring at those trees, and reading… only why would you ever write in a book? Wouldn’t that ruin it?”

“Why don’t you come on over here, and I’ll show you.”

To her surprise the only text in the book was hoofwritten, and most of it was numbers. “What is this?”

“Just take a look at this tree; tell me how many apples there are.”

One glance at the tree was all she needed. “Ten.”

“Right, and here’s the ten in my book.”

She followed his gaze down the columns of numbers until she found a freshly drawn one and zero. “So you’re counting all the apples?”

“Kinda, but there’s more than that. See, I’ve got numbers for how many apples each tree produced for nigh on thirty years. Same goes for the date they started producing, when they stopped, when the rainy season was…”

“But why?”

He flipped the pages until they reached the end. “Know how the pegasi give us a weather forecast?”

“You mean like when they’re gonna make it rain?”

“Right. Well, with all these numbers, I can give you an apple forecast.”

“That’s just crazy talk. How can anypony know how many apples there’re gonna be in advance?”

He tousled her mane. “Oh it’s not easy, Sugar, but it’s not crazy either. You just gotta track everything a tree cares about for enough seasons, then–”

“Fifty-seven.”

“Pardon?”

She pointed to the last column on the page where he’d added up the crop yields for the last few trees. “You should’ve written fifty-seven here, not sixty-three.”

He rolled the pencil between his teeth while he redid the sum. “Well I’ll be, you’re right. You learning arithmetic in school this year?”

“Yep. Teacher says I’m top of the class when it comes to math. Don’t know why the other fillies have so much trouble with it; it’s just numbers.”

“You don’t say… you know why you’re not allowed up so early?”

She frowned and hung her head again. “I’ll be too tired for all my chores after school.”

“Right again. So how about we change things just a bit?”

“How do you mean?”

“We’ll change what chores you need to do. How’d you like to get up bright and early with me and count apples? You can make sure I get the sums right, and I’ll tell you all about statistics and apple forecasts.”

Her leap of joy nearly brought her to eye level with him. “You mean it, Pa? Just you and me?”

He grinned. “Just you and me.”

“Sounds great, only… what’s statistics mean?”

“We’ll get to that in due time, Sugar, we’ll get to that.”

Comments

[ThatClosetBrony]

My headcanon has just made a thing...
So, if Applejack were to actually be great at academics, and nothing were to stop her (i.e. her parents dying), and she kept her strict, honest upbringing...
We would have a genius Applejack that wouldn't become corrupt and would have an insane work ethic. Now, she's an earth pony, so what's she going to do? Fight for earth pony rights and against prejudice. So now that she has a Noble Peace Prize under her belt, she makes things that allow every race to have access to traits that other races have. Naturally, she had to work on the farm, and would have a fit body. She would likely learn self-defense, and be able to outpace assassins.
Basically, Equestria is changed forever.
...
This would make a brilliant story, wouldn't it?
...
THIS IS MINE SCREW YOU YOU CAN'T TAKE MY IDEA

[Devantejah]

5103917 How's that story coming along?