On the Road to Galloway

by Matthew Penn

Chapter 4

The wheel was put into place on the wagon and the journey continued, but unfortunately for Apple Bloom her brother and sister were still arguing. She tried to cover her ears and distracted herself by singing, but none of that worked. Their loud voices found their way through her meditation.

Moments later, although neither of them knew how long, the arguing ceased, but Macintosh and Applejack were still upset with each other. During periods of silence they only exchanged a few words to each other out of spite.

“We’re lost, aren’t we?” asked Applejack.

“You should’ve ask that pony for directions,” Macintosh said.

“She would’ve wanted cider for that, too. I can’t believe it! The day hasn’t even ended yet, and we’re down to ten barrels!”

They were silent again.

Apple Bloom’s stomach rumbled and grumbled throughout the day. At one point there was a loud grumble coming from none other than Big Macintosh, indicating that he was hungry as well.

“Dang,” she exclaimed, “we still didn’t get anything to eat.”

“Why are you telling me for?” Applejack said. “Just think about something else instead of food, then you won’t be hungry.”

Apple Bloom took her sister’s advice. She closed her eyes and tried to visualize anything other than food. She visualized her family arriving at Galloway on time and on schedule. Nopony was upset, no one was arguing, Macintosh and Applejack had huge grins on their faces and thanked her for accompanying them on their trip. The noise of her stomach pulled out from her fantasy. That went nowhere, she thought. However, she had another idea to keep hunger away from her thoughts.

“Um, I was thinking… to pass the time, how about we play a game,” Apple Bloom suggested.

“Apple Bloom, it ain’t the time for this,” said Applejack.

“Actually, I think playing a game will be a nice idea,” Macintosh said. His tone was very antagonistic toward Applejack. “At least we’ll get a break from hearing you talk.”

“Why you - “

She was cut off. “Go on Apple Bloom, what do you want to play?”

“Um… how about I Spy? I’ll go first. I spy with my little eye…” She looked around to find anything could make the game interesting. So far the road had nothing, save for some trees, rocks, and dirt. “Something that’s… white.”

Macintosh put his hoof under his chin like a stallion thinking of something very important. The sight of them in that position irritated Applejack to no end. When couldn’t take it any longer, she exploded like a dynamite.

“For heaven’s sake, it’s a cloud! A dang cloud is the only thing that’s white around here!”

“You just ruined my turn!” Macintosh yelled.

“Okay, let’s play something else,” said Apple Bloom.

“Please Apple Bloom, not another game,” Applejack begged. “I’m not in the mood.”

“Come on, this will be a fun one. Let’s see…”

Applejack rolled her eyes, brushing off her little sister’s ideas of games. Neither of them had noticed that the environment had changed as they traveled through the trees. Actually, there weren’t any trees in their view. At the last minute, Applejack and Macintosh realized they stumbled upon a field of growing corn.

“Where in the hay are we?” asked Macintosh.

“I have no idea,” replied Applejack.

“I think you made a wrong turn” he told Applejack.

“Don’t you go blaming this one on me! Let’s just turn around!”

“No way! We ain’t turning around!” Apple Bloom said. “This is a dang cornfield for goodness sake, and I’ve been hungry all day!”

“You ain’t eating any of that corn, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said.

“Why not?”

“Because this cornfield belongs to somepony, a farmer probably, and it’s stealing!”

“You see how much corn they have?” Apple Bloom asked. “I don’t think they’re gonna know that one little corn of theirs is gone.”

Applejack shook her head in bewilderment. She gazed about at the large field of corn wondering what to do, which in part lead to her stomach to interrupt her train of thought. Applejack was the kind of pony who could go a few days without eating. Unfortunately this was not one of those times. Now she’ll have to do the unthinkable.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she mumbled to herself. She turned to Apple Bloom. “Go out there and grab some corn for us, will you?”

“Why me?”

“You’re the one that’s hungry, aren’t you? Besides, me and Mac have to watch the wagon.”

She should’ve known this would happen. Apple Bloom had the feeling that Applejack was going to continue to use that excuse. She frowned, then climbed out of the wagon and stepped over the small wooden fence. Many of the crops she looked through didn’t have corn grown to their mature size. The search led her further within the field. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found one mature corn. Good. Now two more to go. Her stomach was becoming very impatient.

After several long minutes of searching, Apple Bloom found two more pieces of corn. Her task was complete. She would have been proud of herself if she knew the way out of the field. “Aw shoot!” she muttered. She looked around and saw nothing but tall, green crops growing from the soil. She could’ve came from any direction. Apple Bloom retraced her steps. How would that work? she thought. Everything looked the same.

She looked at the sky. From the way the sun was positioned in the sky, it was almost late in the afternoon. “Dang it, Celestia,” she said under her breath. She wandered around, not knowing where to go. Looking forward, a strange object scared her out of her wits. She let out a shriek and dropped the three pieces of corn. It was a scarecrow, hung on two pieces of wood with a shirt, pants, and hat. A horse head sewn in cloth with button eyes was used as its head with an unsettling smile.

Apple Bloom caught her breath, then retrieved the fallen pieces of corn. A small noise started her. She eyes and ears looked for the source. The noise was heard again, slightly louder this time. Another moment it was much clearer.

It was coming from the scarecrow.

Apple Bloom’s mouth flung open in an inaudible gasp. Her mind told herself to run away before it was too late, but her legs wouldn’t move. She stood and shivered in place. The arms of the scarecrow moved, and so did the head.

With a loud and angry voice he said, “What are you doing with my corn!”

Apple Bloom let out a panic-stricken cry and retreated from the area. The scarecrow jumped from his resting spot, pulled a small scythe, carried it with his teeth and chased her, yelling at the top of his voice, “Stop touching my corn!”

This has to be a dream, Apple Bloom thought. I must be imagining things. She looked back, and to her horror the scarecrow was catching up to her. She ran faster, screaming and crying. Miraculously, she found the wagon to be in her sight. She called for Macintosh and Applejack with a loud voice. She fell on her face after jumping over the wooden fence, but recovered and climbed back on the wagon.

“What’s wrong?” Applejack said anxiously.

Apple Bloom pointed to the living scarecrow that was coming their way. Not wanting to waste any time standing around, Macintosh and Applejack started their legs and took off, leaving a cloud of dirt behind them. Apple Bloom watched from the back of the wagon as the scarecrow stood in the middle of the road, yelling and waving his scythe like a madpony. She hoped she never had to come across anyone like that again.