Rainbow's Lonesome Road

by Centurion Pike-Wall

Work

Author's Note:

Hello, everyone! I'm backkkkkk! And so is the story!

A few weeks later

The farmhands, now including Void Streak, all were gathered outside of the quarters. They all had been given sun-goggles, a pith helmet -like hat, and long sleeve shirts to protect them from the sun and the sticky Fronds of the date trees. In front of were several crates, a bunch of long knives on a box, and several ladders. Iron Plow also stood in front of them in a similar outfit, but with a stetson instead of a pith. One of said knives was in her mouth, clutched in a corner of it like a cigar.

"Aliright, boys, you know the drill. Date with shepard, antenna with garrett. I'll take the rookie. Get to work. You know your sectors." She said. Like she said, the pair's of them took a box, a ladder, and each a knife and went toward an area of the, orchard? What do you call an date farm?

Void was pulled from this train of thought when plow said, "Hey, rook. Get over here. Take the ladder." So, she did. It was a folding one made of wood, and was surprisingly compact. As they walked toward an area on the far side of the plot, her boss decided to explain what they were doing.

"Alright, you see how the guys have put those bag-looking things over the Date bundles?" After Void nodded, she continued . "Ok, so those things are tied off. That's what the knives are for; we cut off the knots and throw them down. Then we position the crates underneath them, and shake the bundles. The dates fall in, and we move them to cold storage in the cellar. So, one of us puts the crate under the bundle and holds the ladder, while the other cuts and shakes the dates. Get what I'm telling you to do?"

She replied, "Not really. Do I go up or do I hope the ladder?"

Plow laughed at this. "Yeah, I guess I could have told you. Well, we take turns. I hope the ladder for this and, say, 5 other trees, then you hold it for another six. We can only really get twelve trees done a day, well, actually, we could get more, lots more. But we can only get twelve and still have time to process them. Ah, this one looks good."

They had stopped just below a decent sized tree. As plow positioned the ladder, Void remembered the warning she had been given. So, she pulled out and slipped on her bandanna and goggles. When she was ready, she climbed up the ladder, the knife in her left hoof.

When she reached the top, she saw what she was her target. A knot tied behind a massive bag of a waxy white material. Lifting up the knife, she began to saw away at the knot. Finally, it snapped, and she pulled the bag off, lowering it and the knife down to plow. She then went over to the bundle. It was loaded to bursting with small, brown fruits.

She looked down at the box, seeing if it was lined up. "Move the box a little bit to the left," She shouted down. With the adjustment made, she began to shake it. She was really careful, not wanting to step to far and fall off the tree. As such, she only was able to shake off a few dates.

Iron plow soon got frustrated. "Step off the ladder and onto the frons! You'll get more of them that way!"

" But-"

"Don't worry! Those frons are strong! They can hold a full grown bear, for cryin' out loud!" Know with a little more confidence, Void stepped off the ladder and onto the thickest strand of the leaves she could find. Sure enough, the bundle of frons she was on didn't even bend under her weight. She soon began to shake harder, and from a much better position, with the immediate effects being clear. Soon, only a few dates were left, but these were a light yellow color.

When she made this fact known to Plow, the farmer just said, "leave um. Those ones ain't ripe, so we wait. We'll come back at a later date, after we clear all of the trees in the area, we'll sweep back to get um. Now get down, I need to adjust the ladder."

Void slipped down, and stood off to the side. As the ladder was put into a new area, she looked into the crate. The dark brown fruits filled up only a small area of it, but was still a massive amount. She was then made aware that the ladder was back in place. Once more, she climbed up, cut the bags knot, and shook the bundle. She went down again, and the ladder was moved. They repeated this process at least 6 more times. She then realized that they had to do this whole thing at least 11 more times.

This would be a long, sweaty day.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was indeed a long day. They had started at roughly 5:00 in the morning. It was 1:00 before they were done. By this point, it was way too heavy to move the crate back to the house, so they had to use a cart. When they got back, Plow went over the instructions on how to prepare the dates.

"Ok, you and Garrett will work on cleaning and sorting them. You are to rub the dates with these towels, change the towels every, say, 45 dates. Once you run off any excess tough skin, put them down the shout. Garrett'll sort um. Good luck you two! ". With that she walked off toward the house.

And so, the two of them began to work. It was pretty easy, and a lot less tiring then picking the dates. But it was by no means easy. The hard excess skin she had to scrub out was tough, and the fact that some had been pressed to the bottom of the box for most of the day made it no easier. To make matters worse, The griffin decided to strike up a conversation. One about a rather, sensitive topic.

" So, how does it feel? You know, to lose your wing? "

Void sighed, then looked down at the soupy mess of water that she was washing the fruit in. She then, as she continued to work, replied. "Well, it's my special talent, flying. Its, just, hard to believe it's gone. It's like somepony-"she stopped when she was Garrett glaring at her. "SomeBODY, sorry. Anyway, it's like somebody just got rid of, say, a personal belonging. But, it's not like I'll kill myself or anything. I just, need to adjust. "

The conversation, thankfully, shifted to other topics. By nightfall, they had finished off the date pile, and went back to the shack. The others began to play cards on the table, betting with some of the pay they be been given. Void, still not knowing the rules, as well as wanting to save her pay, just went over to her mat and laid down. She closed her eyes and went out like a light.

Tomorrow, a similar fate, one of sweat, dates, and lots and lots of flys, awaited her. And the next day. And the next.

Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Hope that somehow they get a cybernetic wing for her. The sky timelines shows it's possible and still waiting on Luna

[Centurion Pike-Wall]

9033812
like I said, rainbow, or Void Streak now, will meet Luna at a later date. As for a cybernetic wing, only time will tell. Now, what do you think so far?

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

9033816
A tad ooc for Celestia and the man 6. I understand why they want to try this but the mane 6 getting physical is really pushing it and a device that dangerous and easy access?

Though the big thing is even if they had pulled it off and erased her memory of MDW the whole towns knows about MAD so it would likely be brought up and Dash would figure it out again so the whole idea is clawed on outset. I hope this is brought up to Celestia. I really hope Luna or even Cadance with her get on Celeste and the mane 6.

[Centurion Pike-Wall]

9033878
Again, since this takes place from Rainbows POV, and she isn't in equestria, we won't find out. For a while anyway.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

9033902
aaawwww

[Texus]

Somehow I hope that Rainbow is in that state is going to be a problem for the others and Celestia in the end, like a bad reputation or something like that.

9033902
Well I don't think one chapter would hurt, once in a while like every five chapters, maybe just to show some important things happening in Equestria or how badly it works out for them at the moment.
However I think for now I'm glad that I don't have to read about them maybe planning to kidnap Rainbow again or something like that.

"Don't worry! Those frons are strong! They can hold a full grown bear, for cryin' out loud!"

She's probably not being rude here and maybe it's even her way to help Rainbow with the fact that her wing is lost, but I think she could Remember that is maybe why she isn't used to working this way.

"Well, it's my special talent, flying. Its, just, hard to believe it's gone. It's like somepony-"she stopped when she was Garrett glaring at her.

Has she done something before?, or does he want to kill everyone right away for a mistake? I think this wasn't even brought up so far.