Equestrian Tales

by qwefg

Picking Apples ch3

Baldwin yawned as he slowly started his daily retain again as he avoided the couch where his sleeping guest was sleeping and walked outside. The brisk cold air filled his nostrils as he head slowly stopped throbbing from alcohol he had consumed yesterday. His saddle bags now had the faint jingle of bits inside them instead of yesterday’s lunch bashing up against itself.

With a deep sigh Baldwin went back to checking his apple trees… and then oddly enough trying to figure out what to do as his apple cart was surprisingly empty.

“That’s right…” Baldwin groaned rubbing his head “She bought them all…”

While he was happy for the amount of bits he had earned… sadly he knew that now he was going to have to do a bit more apple bucking and try to avoid any new bee hives. Tender Grasp the town vet claimed it wasn’t from any type of insect that she knew of, but Baldwin was willing to bet a basket of apples that Honey Dew accidently lost one of her bee hives or something along those lines.

The earth pony pulled the empty cart and prepared to start apple bucking until he spotted the tree his newest house guest had crashed into. The large apple tree had been standing on the farm before his parents had even been born. His mother once joked that the entire village was once founded around the old tree.

Baldwin rubbed his hoof against the apple tree as he thought over his choices. The tree was old and it wasn’t producing as many apples as it used to. Good fire wood needed time to sit out and for the sap in the wood to slowly dry out. In fact a few places paid good price for good quality wood as they use it to cook Hay Buggers or some other random item on their grills.

Still a small smile was brought to his face as he saw the damaged caused by Verrat slowly healing as the stubborn old tree refused to go down for the count. Even then some of Baldwin’s favorite apples grew on this tree as he couldn’t help but wonder if there was a hint of truth in what the crazy griffin had said to him yesterday about sad apples and earth ponies making wonderful apples because they were happy.

******

Baldwin placed the apple cart next to his house as he planned on taking a cold shower and then eating something for breakfast. To his surprise he smelt something… nice coming from his house. When he opened up his door he spotted Verrat using the eye of his oven to cook herself up something as the kitchen table was covered in food.

On the right side of the table closest to her various wrapped pieces of food sat on the table ready to be whipped into one of the rather scrumptious looking culinary delights that rested on the left side of the table.

Verrat was currently using his spatula as the lovely scent of sizzling eggs filled the room as various vegetables sizzled in alongside as she flipped what now could be seen as an omelet. Baldwin slowly walked up to her as the griffin was so caught up in her cooking she hadn’t even noticed him. A part of him couldn’t help but chuckle as he never would have pegged her as a chief.

Verrat slowly muttered to herself “Cheese… where’s the cheese?”

Baldwin couldn’t help but smirk as he saw she didn’t have any cheese as he said “What type of cheese?”

Verrat lost in her own world responded “Mozzarella would be nice, but I kind of miss having one with Swiss cheese… of course provolone cheese would also work.”

Baldwin blinked as most of those terms went over his head “Uh… I’ve got yellow cheese and white cheese?”

Verrat turned around as she was about to say something until she spotted him. Baldwin opened the fridge door as both blocks of cheese stood in his fridge as Verrat ust stared at him with her mouth open. She just stared at him in confusion until the omelet started to burn forcing her to snap back into reality.

Verrat hissed in frustration “One slice from each block… I’ll just make them two small omelets instead of a regular sized one.”

Baldwin smirked at her frustration as he carefully made two thin slices as Verrat quickly snatched up the slices and tossed them with the omelet and went to work. She had worked so hard to only use the items she had bought from him yesterday and whatever was left in her saddle bags. He couldn’t help but feel smug as she finished the omelet and started one last dish.

Baldwin watched her toss various vegetables along with a few herbs and oil he didn’t recognize were soon added into the frying pan. Verrat snatched each ingredient off the table trying to hold onto her pride until she grabbed the last bundle and hissed in indignation as Baldwin could smell the expired veggies from outside the kitchen.

“Need some extra veggies?” Baldwin playfully replied back

It was rather fun being the pony that had the items to her solution.

Verrat kept her eyes on the frying pan shouted “Lettuce, onion, cabbage, any baby leaf spinach you have… I’ll pay you back for them.”

Baldwin gathered up the vegetables and placed them near Verrat as she started chopping them up before placing them into the pan. The griffin continued to push the vegetables around for a few moments before saying “Thanks for not laughing… about yesterday.”

“Why would I laugh?” Baldwin asked out loud in confusion.

Verrat glanced at him for a moment before muttering “Because of my… breakdown.”

Baldwin shook his head “If I did laugh at you because you miss your home then I should be tied to the railroad tracks and have the train run me over.”

Verrat smiled as she seemed to try to relax for a moment before she sniffed the air “After you take a shower. You reek.”

Baldwin rolled his eyes “What if I have to go back working outside again?”

Verrat slowly started to pick up her ingredients “Then you’re not getting any of this breakfast.” Baldwin blinked as he just realized… there was enough food for two people. “You did cook lunch for me after all.”

Baldwin shook his head and countered “That you paid for.”

Verrat raised an eye brow as she said “So you’re saying you would be perfectly fine with two slices of bread and possibly some apple jam spread across it for breakfast instead? If so I can wrap up the rest of this for…”

His stomach grumbled as she smirked. Baldwin marched out of his own home grumbling “Stupid crazy griffin stealing my kitchen to make me breakfast to get back at me yesterday for… even if she is a good cook.”

Baldwin set up the shower stall and muttered as Verrat shouted “And would it be alright if I took a shower after you?”

Baldwin rolled his eyes “Yes dear.”

“What?” Verrat shouted in confusion

Baldwin quickly turned on the outside shower as the soothing icy cold touch of water snapped him back into reality as he shouted louder “Heating Busted!”

Baldwin shivered in the cold shower as he prayed to Celestia she didn’t catch that.

******

Baldwin sat out at the market again as he looked over the figures again. He just needed to earn a few more bits just to cover any accidents that happened during the winter… and possibly to help him stay finically secure during the spring if the trees took a while to bear fruit or if there was a temporary shortage of customers.

Sparks came up to his stand as his yellow coat was smeared with dirt and mud as his orange mane was a mess… yet the crazy earth pony smiled with glee as he said “Baldwin! Good to see you again.”

Baldwin sighed out loud as he said “What is it that you want Sparks?”

Sparks glanced at the apple stand “A dozen apples… No make that two dozen as I’m helping lay out the tracks to the train!”

Sparks grinned when he caught Baldwin’s expression “It’s not like the old trains… no they have funny looking ponies running the trains now, but most of them focus more on how the train works than looking down on ponies or spending tons of bits. Of course most of those bits seem to be going towards workers now!”

Baldwin sighed as the train really did seem unstoppable now and judging from the earth pony’s saddle bags the train wasn’t just going to ride past their little town… it was going to change it. The only question was how much of the town was going to change because of it.

Sparks sniffed the air and then stared at Baldwin “Why do you have your mane combed?” Spark’s sniffed the air like a dog trying to catch wind of a scent “And is that… What did you have to eat this morning?”

Baldwin placed Sparks’ order aside “Here are your apples.”

Sparks started at the apples for a moment “Come on Baldy… there’s a story to it. Can’t you tell me about it?”

Baldwin rolled his eyes “You just want to spread some gossip.”

The full grown earth pony whined “But if you don’t tell me what I want than I have to guess and I have a very active imagina…”

His mouth was left wide open as he was staring at something behind him. Baldwin turned around to see Verrat flapping her wings as she was trying to carry a basket full of food. With a small hiss from the back of his throat he quickly rushed over to help the crazy griffin with her items.

The griffin muttered in annoyance “I just needed a couple of items.”

“I told you to stay off your foot. Even if you can ‘fly’ you still need to land and that involves landing which involves landing with your feet.” Baldwin replied in annoyance “If you needed a few more items than you could have simply given me a list of what you wanted.”

Verrat rolled her eyes “I’m not helpless. Carrying a few items isn’t going to…”

There was a small pop or a crack coming from her foot as Verrat just froze as the expression on her face told him everything he needed to know. With a loud sigh he lifted up the stubborn griffin and placed her on the back of his apple cart.

Baldwin stared at the griffin and firmly stated “Just stay there and stay off your foot!”

She huffed in annoyance at being treated like a foal. He grunted in annoyance with having to deal with the prideful fool who refused to ask for help. When he got behind his apple stand again Sparks was still standing there with a large grin on his face.

“No.” Baldwin snapped quickly ending the conversation.

Sparks pointed his head at Verrat and replied “Come on! You with a griffin? There has to be a story behind that!”

Baldwin gritted his teeth as he replied “She is not ‘with me’ as I’m just helping take care of her until she’s back to health.”

Sparks continued grinning as Baldwin felt his eye start to twitch. Why couldn’t Spark be like the rest of the customers and simply leave after he made a purchase?

The crazy earth pony plopped his head on the apple stand “Come on! It’s killing me not knowing the tale behind it!”

Baldwin moved Sparks to the side and prepared to deal with the other customers “How many apples do you want?”

The Pegasus mare stared at Verrat “Who’s she? Did you hire a body guard or something?”

Baldwin twitched as he glanced at the other customers behind her. None of them were looking at the apples as they were all interested in the griffin behind him.

“No she is just a temporary house guest.” He calmly replied “Is there anything you want to buy?”

More ponies started to gather drawn to the commotion as something ‘interesting’ was happening over by his stand. Baldwin hated it because they were keeping the paying customers from reaching his stand and buying his apples!

After a large enough group came around Baldwin finally caved in “Fine… she was flying over my orchard. She fell and crashed into one of my apple trees and injured herself. That’s it.”

Sparks groaned “But why was she flying over your farm? What was the cause of the crash or the fact she looks like a mercenary?”

At that comment Verrat snapped back “I didn’t know it was his farm. The jerk hit me in the wings. My foot is a little bit busted up, but I’m not helpless.”

Baldwin face hoofed as the crowd started to gravitate towards the injured griffin. They were talking to Baldwin because they didn’t want her to over hear their conversation. Since she apparently could hear them they decided to skip him and go straight to the source.

The crowd kept staring at her as he could see Verrat’s feathers start to ruffle as she was getting irritated at them. With a quick motion of her claws she signaled him to help her out.

Baldwin simply shrugged “Sorry I can’t help you here.”

Verrat hissed as she whispered loudly enough for anyone to hear “What do they want?”

Baldwin couldn’t help but chuckle a little “They want you to tell them a story.”

She shook her head and whispered loudly again “A story? I don’t know any stories!”

Baldwin sighed as he replied “Just… just tell them about one of the jobs you were on. Surely one of them must have been interesting.”

Verrat glanced at the crowd as it looked as if she was getting a hint of stage fright before she looked back at him “I don’t know any interesting stories! The most I do is just hit stuff!"

Baldwin tried not to smirk as he replied “Then just tell them the time you hit something, but make it sound good?” Verrat gave him a deadpan look as he continued “I’m not the one who decided to fly into town on an injury instead of simply getting some rest.”

Verrat glanced back at the crowd as they had gotten themselves comfortable. A lot of ponies were interested in what she was going to say or more likely hope she would accidently reveal an interesting piece of gossip. The train had yet to arrive and everypony wanted at least a small piece of the upcoming excitement that would soon be visiting their town.

Verrat sighed as she took a deep breath “Uh… there was a… job over in Forest Oaks that had a… spider problem.”

******

Baldwin couldn’t help but smirk as she finished “Look I didn’t know you couldn’t cut the webs. I just thought they would easily come apart… not gunk up my sword.”

One of the foals shouted “How did you beat the creepy spider monster then!”

Verrat rubbed her sides “The creep hit me in my side. Still this is the reason why you see adventures carry more than one weapon. I grabbed the end of my pole.”

“Why did you have a ten hoof pole?” another filly shouted.

Verrat chuckled nervously “It’s ten foot pole… and it’s just something that’s more of a… spare tool. It’s hard to explain to non-adventures. Anyway I grabbed the pole and tied the rope to it along with the lantern and swung it around.”

There was a small smile on her face as she said “I wasn’t very good at it as the rope got tangled up in the branches above. Thankfully the lid wasn’t as tight as it should have been as it fell open above the spider spilling the hot wax all over it.”

Baldwin went back to his sales as another pony placed another order of apple cider before returning to listen to Verrat’s tale. She wasn’t a great story teller, but she tried her best to answer any question they asked her… and just watching her expressions and gestures as she tried to tell the story somehow made it all the more endearing.

“That’s when the spider rushed at me only to ram into one of the trees a lumberjack had been trying to cut down before the infestation. The tree started cracking as I moved out of the way before it landed on top of the spider.” Verrat chuckled “It took a couple of minutes freeing everyone else and recovering my sword.”

“Why didn’t you check to see if the monster was dead or knocked out first?” a foal asked out loud.

Verrat frowned “It was a big spider and I didn’t have a weapon at the moment. If it was playing dead than I’d rather have a sword in hand to poke it rather than a stick I picked off the forest ground… and my pole was also tangled up in the branches that fell down.”

Verrat shook her head “Still the spider was down and some nearby Royal Guard ponies heard the commotion… they used their fancy magic to tie the creature up and were going to relocated to the Everfree Forest or something… Still we got paid as we found the missing ponies and helped rid them of the monstrous spider that plagued their woods.”

The foals cheered as their parents smirked. Baldwin packed up the rest of his supplies as he felt like it was time to head back home. He already made enough sales to cover today and he doubted that his new house guest would enjoy sitting by the cart and having ponies question her about our living situation.

******

When they arrived back at the house Verrat just fell beak first into the couch as she looked exhausted. Baldwin put away the apple cart and went over the numbers again trying to take into account the difference between the new items… and how much of it was actually sold due to convince because his stand was near Verrat’s story time.

He sighed as he missed the old days were he didn’t have to be so… precise in his sales checking up figures and costs. He also knew that if he didn’t adapt to these necessary changes than he was certain to lose the farm when the train rolled into town.

He glanced at his new house guest “I told you if you needed anything I could get it for you.”

Verrat grumbled as she sank deeper into the couch “I’m a grown woman… besides you didn’t tell me I would be swarmed by ponies if I left this house.”

Baldwin shook his head “We don’t get a lot of griffins so you were bound to attract some attention.”

Verrat sighed as she pulled out some spare bandages and started changing the current ones around her foot. Baldwin looked to make sure she didn’t injure herself further by her attempt at staying air born all day as he knew the pressure only grew each time she landed.

He didn’t know much about flying, but he did know that lifting off and landing was a lot harder than simply walking. There was no telling how much extra pressure she had applied to her foot until he caught sight of her blunder.

“Still I thought you would have a lot more tales than just that story.” Baldwin replied off hoof.

Verrat grumbled “Being a merc isn’t that interesting. Besides I’d never hear the end of it if Maxwell caught wind of this.”

Baldwin glanced at Verrat “Who’s Maxwell?”

The griffin sighed as she finished bandaging up her foot “An idiot who runs a bar in Canterlot. Each week we try to visit and trade stories during out poker games… mostly it’s an attempt to unwind without having anyone judge us.”

The name sounded familiar for some reason “What’s his story then?”

She chuckled “He and his band of misfits went looking for the Elements of Harmony until that crazy…” A piece of the ceiling fell on her foot causing her to fall of the couch and groan in pain.

Baldwin rushed over to help only to hear her mutter “Not your fault… not your fault… it’s…” She just growled as she glared at the broken piece of wood “Worst part of all of this. Any time I try to swear something bad happens.”

Baldwin picked up the piece of wood “Then why do you bother to swear?”

She just sort of glared at him “Because… because everything that was me… before being forced to turn into a mercenary… my name, my language, even my very voice… it was stolen from me and replaced with something else.” Her wing brushed against the floor “I… can’t even remember my own name and yet every time I try to curse back in my native tongue…”

She sighed as she glanced at her injured foot “I can just feel that I’m brushing up against it… only to then have it slam shut in my face.”

Baldwin glanced at her as he didn’t know what to say “Is this…”

Verrat huffed in annoyance “That’s pretty much the case for everyone who got dumped here. A little bit of memory loss… a curse that suddenly snaps and hits them upside the head everytime they curse… sometimes even your very pattern of speech could be altered making your own voice sound unnatural to yourself.”

Baldwin rubbed the back of his head “Isn’t there anypony who can help?”

Verrat rolled her eyes “Yah right. Most of you Equestrians can’t figure us out and that little “flare of bad luck” that happens when we curse? Most just tell us to keep out tongues civil or start to experiment as they want to know why such a curse even exists or how it works. Equestrian swear words work just fine, but native ones…”

She motioned to her foot. Baldwin just nodded as she seemed to have calmed down. He didn’t know exactly what was wrong with her, but he could tell that she was just frustrated at it all. She didn’t want him to give her any advice or somehow magically solve her problems… she just wanted to be able to rant without being judged.

Baldwin listened to her continue as she started to talk about her weekly poker games as she seemed to be more at ease now. Soon they began trading stories as she talked about her life as a mechanic working on vehicles as he traded stories about how the farm used to be when he wasn’t the only pony working on the farm.

Sure they knew that talking about the past wouldn’t change the present, but for that one moment… they didn’t care.

Comments

[ferret]

his daily retain again
it was actually sold due to convince