Fledgling
“Alright, just a little further! Almost got it! No, no, a little to the left. Perfect! Now, hold’er steady while I nail it in place.” Applejack called out from above and started pinning nails into the brackets that held the sign up to its home on the archway next to the street. Sweat beads started running down my brow as I stood on the tips of my hooves, stretching up to hold the sign in place while she worked.
“Ya know, it’d be a mite easier if you used those wings of yours instead a’ strugglin’ to hold it in place down there. You sure you’re feeling up to this kinda work today, Sugarcube?”
“Y-yeah!” I winced as I pushed myself as high as I could reach, causing my still recovering leg to protest from the exertion and my ears to splay back betraying my assurances. “I feel better than ever,” Applejack shot a questioning glance down at me before striking the last nail into place. “Besides, there aren’t any more apples to pick since we finished the fields yesterday, right? I need to earn my keep somehow.”
“Well, not exactly. We still got several more fields to clear before the season’s over, but the east field is growin’ a bit slow this year, so them apples won't be ready till tomorrow.” She said as she climbed down the ladder she was perched on. I let the sign go and watched it happily sway on its chains as though it were waving to us in thanks for fixing it.
“Oh. And how many fields did you have again?” I asked as I rubbed my sore flank, working the minor throbbing from my hip and leg.
“Well, there’s the east and north fields, then if the Zap Apples come in this year we’ll have to spend about a week harvesting them. After that’s done, we got the corn that needs pickin’ and shuckin’, the carrot fields need plowin’, and the wheat and hay fields need harvestin’ before winter comes.” She said in a matter of fact tone as she packed up her hammer and nails into her saddlebags and took the ladder down.
“And you handle all of that yourselves?” I could hardly believe that Applejack, her brother and sister, and her grandmother managed that much without modern equipment. I looked out across the fields at all the different plots and crops that grew and a sinking feeling hit my gut.
“Mostly. Sometimes we get a little help from our cousins if they get ahead on their own farms, but for the most part it's just us. Sure it can get busy from time to time, but we’ve always managed to make it work. Slow days like today don’t come too often though, so we can get behind on little jobs like this here sign or fixin’ the fences.” She pointed across the farm to her brother as the large red stallion effortlessly pulled up an older fence post and replaced it with a new, freshly painted, white post.
“He just yanked it out of the ground with his teeth…” I stared at him as he worked, quickly tapping the new post into place and moving to the next. “This is a slow day?”
“Yup! Besides, if we let this little stuff go, it can cause a big problem later on down the road. What if this here sign fell and hit somepony comin’ to visit?”
“I guess you’re right. I just didn’t realize how much work a farm actually took…”
“Well, y'all did come from Manehatten an’ all. It ain’t surprising that a city-girl like yourself wouldn’t know the ins-an’-outs of country life. But I gotta hand it to ya, you ain’t no slouch either.” She playfully punched my shoulder and started trotting back towards the barn. I couldn’t help but resent that remark. It’s not like I wasn’t born and raised in what would be considered the country, but most people where I grew up commuted to work in the nearby city. I never really considered how easy our “country life” was compared to this though.
“Wait, she called me a city girl again. Ugh…” Then again, a compliment from AJ felt like a genuine gold medal for a job well done, so I let it slide…that time.
She and I chatted as we walked our equipment back to the barn. It was a pleasant day, and the smell of apples was thick in the air as the sweet fruits glistened in the sun all along the hillside behind the house. I breathed in the fresh air and smiled to myself, enjoying the picturesque environment and letting the dark thoughts that I fell asleep to the night before evaporate for the moment. We were in the middle of talking about the weather forecast for the coming week when something caught her attention and she looked around me.
Big Mac was waving us down from the field a little ways off. “What’s up, Big Mac? Need somethin’?” AJ yelled, nearly bursting my eardrums in the process. That orange mare had a set of lungs on her.
“Eyup!” Big Mac bellowed back from the field. He pointed to the wagon he was hauling and looked at his sister expectantly.
“Let me guess, ya’ ran outta posts?” She replied as I winced. I stepped back from AJ and around her other side to get out from between the shouting siblings and save my poor ears from further damage.
“Eyup!”
“I told you that ya’ll were gonna run short!”
“Eyup!”
“There any more posts in the barn?”
“Eyup!”
“Then why don’t you come get ‘em?”
“Nope!” He pointed to a pile of fence boards that still needed to be hammered back up after he removed them from the old posts.
“Right. Well, you just get to work gettin’ those boards back up and we’ll bring you the last few posts.”
“Eyup!” And with that, he grabbed a box of nails and started replacing the boards by hammering them in with his horseshoe capped hooves. How any of these ponies could be strong enough to do that without using an actual hammer was well beyond me.
“Your brother’s a stallion of few words, isn’t he? Sometimes I wonder if he only knows those two. Come to think of it, he didn’t really say much at dinner last night either, did he?” I asked AJ as we entered the barn. She propped the ladder against the wall and placed her own box of nails on a shelf with other hardware items.
“He’s just shy. He can talk when he wants to, he just don’t see fit to say more than what needs to be said. Though, by the looks of it, you seem to be takin’ a liking to him,” she teased with a chuckle.
“W-wha? No! What gave you that idea?!” I blurted out as I felt the color rise in my cheeks.
“I’ve seen you starin’ at him a few times since yesterday.” She wasn’t wrong. I had caught myself staring a few times, but mostly in awe of just how big he was or how strong he was. Not because I liked him or anything, more like I admired him. I was pretty healthy back on earth, but I wasn’t exactly tall or particularly strong. I always admired the dedication of those bodybuilders and gym nuts that spent years of their lives sculpting their bodies to be the living images of those Greek and Roman statues of gods, and Big Mac’s physique reminded me of them somewhat. Those rippling muscles, long flowing mane, the way he was able to buck a tree without toppling the whole thing down… The heat in my cheeks flared as I tried to reel in my wayward thoughts.
“Haha! See? You’re nearly as red as he is! It’s alright, Z. Your secret's safe with me.” She gave me a wink and chuckled. “Now, where are those posts?”
I stood there, having an existential crisis for a few moments before AJ snapped me back to reality with a tap of a hoof. I nearly jumped out of my skin and squeaked, causing her to laugh again. “Calm down, Sugarcube. There, up in the loft. Think you can hop up there and toss two or three down?”
“Y-y-yeah, let me just get the ladder.” I said, turning to grab it from where she had stored it earlier.
“You got wings, don’t ya? It’d be faster if you just flew up there and knocked ‘em down.” AJ said, matter-of-factly. “Or did me calling you out about Big Macintosh rattle you?” She chuckled again, reinvigorating my heated face. I knew she wasn’t being mean, she was just having a bit of fun about the whole thing, but she still touched a bare nerve.
I wasn't embarrassed about Big Mac that time, though that in of itself was another can of worms to be opened at a later date. I shuffled in place for a moment, looking up at the loft where a small stack of wooden posts sat there, seemingly taunting me. “I think I’d rather use the ladder, AJ.”
She must have noticed my change in attitude, as she quickly stopped chuckling and adopted a worried expression. “I’m sorry, I was being a mite rude. I didn’t think you’d take it so hard.”
“Just ‘a mite?’” I sighed and shook my head, “No, it’s ok. I know you were just kidding. But I’d still rather just use the ladder, if you don’t mind.”
AJ raised an eyebrow towards me, “Something else is bothering you, ain’t it?” AJ asked. I had felt like she knew something wasn’t quite right with me from the start, but I had hoped to avoid the subject.
“No, I’m fine, really. I just…I would rather just help out like an earth pony. I wouldn’t want you all to get jealous or anything…” I tried to laugh it off, but it came out strained and fake.
“Now I know you ain’t tellin’ me the truth.” AJ deadpanned, “Look, you can tell me if something’s wrong. Any friend of Twilight’s is a friend of mine. You can trust me to help you out when you need it. Are you still hurt somehow? Or did something happen to you in the Everfree that scared you into not flyin’ no more?”
My eyes darted to the floor, trying to avoid hers, “No. I just can’t.”
“Can’t what, Zinnia?”
I was getting frustrated and didn’t know how to, nor want to, talk about this with her. I mean, AJ was an earth pony. How was she supposed to understand when I didn't? “I’m a pegasus who can’t freaking fly. I have dead wings. I don’t even know why I’m embarrassed about this when I’m not even a pony in the first place, but I am and I don’t understand it at all!”
I sighed heavily, and looked at AJ, who’s green eyes shimmered in the light coming in from the parted door and windows of the barn. She was actually concerned about me, and how I was feeling. She looked like she wanted to help me, even though we literally met just yesterday and hardly even knew me. She even joked about me liking her brother like we’d already been friends for a long time. Normally, I wouldn’t have talked to anyone concerning something that felt so strangely personal to me. I mean, on a scale of one-to-ten this felt on par with talking to one’s own mother puberty, but something told me that I could trust her.
“I…Ok…promise me you wont tell anypony else.” I said, gathering up my courage.
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” She recited some strange version of a common children’s promise, making the motions along with the sayings. I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or not. Apparently she noticed, though the look of confusion on my face probably tipped her off, “It’s a Pinkie promise. Believe me, I won’t break it. No one breaks a Pinkie promise…ain’t good for your health…” She winced as though remembering some uncomfortable memory with a far off look in her eye.
“...Wha?”
“Uhh, nothin’.” She said as she weakly tried to laugh off whatever it was she thought about, “I promise I won’t tell nopony else. You can trust me.”
“Alright…” I sat down and took a deep breath, attempting to clear the anxiety from my chest with little success. “I…I can’t use my wings.” I winced, waiting for a response.
“Like you can’t use em’, or you can’t use ‘em?” AJ asks, clearly confused.
“I can’t use them, at all. Ever since I woke up in the Everfree forest, I haven’t even been able to stretch them on my own. I don’t know what’s wrong with me…” I looked down, hiding behind my autumn orange curtain of mane. “I feel like I’m defective…”
“Zinnia, you ain’t defective. You work just fine! Just look at how much you’ve helped us out yesterday, and today. We’re right on time with the harvest and even had extra time to fix up the place today! I don’t think we could have caught up without your help.” AJ’s attempt to reassure me didn’t really touch on the issue though, of course.
“Sure, my legs work, and I can carry stuff, but that isn’t flying. What good is a pegasus that can’t fly? Isn’t that kinda what we were born to do?” AJ opened her mouth, but no response came. She seemed at a loss here, unsure of what to say. We both sat in silence, her chewing on her cheek as she tried to think of something while I shuffled awkwardly at the floorboards and hid my embarrassment behind my mane.
“Why don’t you ask your friend for help?” A deep voice broke through the silence, causing us both to look towards the door. Big Mac had apparently come to see what was taking us so long to bring him the last few posts and heard my confession. I immediately flashed bright pink and fell to the floor, covering my face with my hooves in complete humiliation.
“Oh, horseapples. You heard all of that, didn’t you?” AJ asked, sounding embarrassed out of pure empathy for me.
“Eyup.” He nodded.
“You know it ain’t right to eavesdrop on other ponies!” She chided.
“Nope.” He shook his head, but remained firm.
“But he's right. I know it’s embarrassing for you, Z, but maybe we should ask my friends Rainbow and Fluttershy about it. They might know what’s wrong, and how to help.” She tapped me with a hoof to get my attention. “Think you could give it a try? I can be there too, if you like.”
“I think I’d rather disappear under a rock…” I said in a muffled voice as I talked into the floor, legs still covering my face. “But,” I lifted my head up, my face still red hot, “I trust you, AJ. If you think they can help, I'll try,” though part of me doubted that her friends would be able to do anything.
“If it’s got anything to do with flying, Dash is your girl. She’s pretty much the best flyer around these parts, maybe even in all of Equestria. Fluttershy ain’t so much a strong flyer, but she’s the kindest pony I know. I bet between the two of ‘em, they’ll get you airborne again faster than greased lightning.” Applejack said proudly. Her confidence in her friends was almost palpable, which helped ease some of the anxiety I felt about the whole thing. If she believed in them, they must be something special. If nothing else, maybe Twilight could look into it. Maybe she could figure out some sort of magic remedy to fix me.
There was one last thing that was bothering me though. Something I couldn’t just ignore. “Wait…” I said, still trying to collect myself as I stood back up from the floor. The two siblings looked at me curiously. “Did Big Macintosh just say more than one word in a sentence?”
AJ looked at me incredulously before laughing loudly, unable to control herself. I looked at Mac, who just gave me a sly grin as he walked past and took down the last few poles he needed from the loft. With poles in tow he made his way back towards the exit, looking over his shoulder at me before he left to finish his chore.
“Nope.”
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started reading it it's pretty nice so far
11192861
Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to read, any and all feedback and criticism!
Now this I've got to see; I'll be willing to see how good Z is going to be training with Rainbow Dash. When you view your world with an attitude of gratitude, you are training yourself to focus on the good in life.
11197416
Thank you! To be honest, his parts were some of my favorite to write in that chapter! I'm glad that you liked it. And thank you for the feedback! It's always appreciated!
I have this feeling getting her to fly will involve pushing her off a cloud. I mean that's pretty much the same as jumping into the ravine.
That would be a mite. Sorry; I'll stop being a grammar Nazi now.
11200834
Thank you! I actually really appreciate that. It's hard to catch all the little errors since I'm my only editor.