Meeting His Heroes

by origami

Thorax's Story - Part 6

"Those dreadful ruffians!" Rarity spat out as she heard Thorax finish his story regarding the diamond dogs and buffalo. "Threatening Chief Thunderhooves and his buffalo for a few turquoise gems!"

"You actually turned into a dragon and scared them off?" Fluttershy asked Thorax.

"I did," he answered, "and the buffalo were gracious enough to let me go."

"And ya started headin' on in towards Appleloosa?" Applejack finished.

Thorax gave a nod. "I got to Appleloosa sometime around midday, but my arrival didn't really go smoothly."

"How come?"

"Well, I arrived in an apple orchard and... they accused me of stealing."

"They thought you was tryin' ta take apples?!"

"They did, but I was able to convince them otherwise. In fact, thinking on it now, I did meet your cousin Braeburn, because he was the one that accused me of stealing apples."

---

I was approaching the town of Appleloosa when I came across a fairly strange sight to see in a desert - an apple orchard. To the left and right of a fairly wide path leading towards the main part of town were large apple trees, all of them full of big red apples, which at that point in time, meant they were ready to be harvested.

Feeling my body begin to ache from the exertion I had earlier, I decided to stop under the shade of one of the large apple trees. As I laid down in the shadow created by the canopy, my sight caught one of the fruits on the ground; some small marks told me that a squirrel or critter of a similar size had likely knocked it down in an effort to eat the rather delicious-looking fruit.

In fact, looking at it had got my appetite going, though mine unfortunately wasn't for apples.

I decided to pick up the fruit and look it over in my hooves. The skin was flawless, save for the aforementioned marks from the small animals. It had a stem with a pair of leaves poking out from it, and felt fairly firm, but with some give to it. Going from memory, what I observed meant that the apple was ripe and ready for eating.

"DROP THAT APPLE, YA DANG THIEF!"

I jumped up from my spot and looked around in fear and confusion. Soon enough, I sensed anger approaching me very quickly, and before I could react, a hoof had pushed me back up against the tree I was relaxing under.

"WHAT ARE Y'ALL DOIN' TRYIN' TA TAKE OUR APPLES?!" the voice accused me.

I finally laid eyes on my accuser, who turned out to be an earth pony stallion with yellow coat, dirty blonde mane and tail, wearing a cowboy hat and vest, and a large red apple adorning his flanks.

"SPEAK UP!" he shouted at me, a scowl plastered on his face.

"I-I wasn't stealing-"

"HORSEAPPLES!" he interrupted, practically spitting on my face. "I FIND Y'ALL IN OUR ORCHARD AND YA IS HOLDIN' AN APPLE LOOKIN LIKE YA READY TA EAT IT! Y'ALL DIDN"T DO ANYTHIN' TO HAVE A RIGHT TA JUST TAKE AN APPLE AN' EAT IT!"

"I wasn't stealing!" I attempted to defend myself. "Honest I wasn't!"

"Then what was ya doin'?" he asked me, starting to calm down a bit.

"I was walking from Dodge Junction when I came across this orchard."

"Y'all walked here from Dodge Junction?" he parroted with a raised eyebrow, then shook his head. "If that's the truth, then y'all is either not afraid of anythin' or just plain dumb. Them grounds between Dodge Junction and this here orchard is the territory of the buffalo; it's their stampedin' grounds."

"It is?" I asked, trying to make it sound like I genuinely didn't know.

"Eeyup. They ain't too fond of ponies walking through during their stampedin' time, even if we all made peace a while back."

"I didn't know," I told him, this time meaning what I had said; I really hadn't known the first time. "I meant what I said, though. I came here from Dodge Junction and was hoping to find Appleoosa."

The stallion's demeanor changed from skeptical and angry to excitement. "Well why didn't ya say so? This here orchard is right on the outskirts of AAAAAPLELOOOOOSSSSSAAAAA!"

...What?

"My name's Braeburn, and on behalf of Appleloosa, let me give ya a better welcome than I did a moment ago."

Braeburn extended a hoof to me, to which I cautiously offered my own. He proceeded to tap mine and then wrap one of his forelegs around me.

"I don't know if y'all plan on stayin', but this here town is grownin' into a mighty fine place to live, and if y'all is lookin' fer work, then ya got here just in time!"

"What kind of work?"

Braeburn had a good laugh at my question. "If ya would just take a look around, I think ya can figure it out fer yerself."

I look at the trees again and realize that the stallion is referring to the harvest of this year's crop of apples.

"So you need ponies to pick the apples?"

"HA! Hay no! We don't pick apples. We buck 'em!"

"...Huh?"

After hearing that last bit, I had to wonder if this stallion had some unusual preferences in regards to fruit, and how it was consumed.

"I'm talkin' about Apple Buckin'," he went on to explain. "That's when ya go up to a tree full of ripe apples and give it one, good, swift kick!"

Braeburn punctuated his statement by turning around, rearing up his hind legs, and jamming them as hard as he could into the trunk of the tree. The impact shook the tree so hard that the ripe apples snapped off the limbs and fell to the ground.

"Now, normally, we have baskets set up to catch 'em when they fall, but I was just showin' ya how it's done. We can pick these ones up and take 'em in for cider pressin'."

"You can't just eat them?"

"Nnnope. Them apples hittin' the ground got bruises on 'em, and that makes the fruit not taste as good as they should, so we take 'em and press the juice outta 'em and make cider."

Braeburn then leans closer to me in a conspiratorial manner and adds, "we also take some of the cider and give it an edge, iffin' ya get mah meanin."

I've tried the kind of cider that Braeburn was talking about, but honestly, I didn't much care for it.

"So, if ya was lookin' fer work, we're gettin' ready for harvest season. Ya get twenty bits a day, along with three hots and a cot. Whaddaya say?"

Twenty bits a day, along with room and board, as well as meals. If I could sustain myself on normal food, I'd call it a pretty decent deal.

"That sounds like a good offer, but-"

"Then it's settled!" Braeburn exclaimed while cutting me off, not giving me the chance to refuse his offer.

---

"Yeah, Braeburn can get a bit pushy without meanin' to," Applejack confessed to Thorax.

"I didn't mind it so much," Thorax told Applejack. "In fact, the week or two I spent there did help me to acclimate better to Equestria. I just wish some things had went differently than they had at the time."

"Things went differently? How so?"

"Well... I was introduced to the farm hands that would be helping with the harvest."

"What's wrong with that? Ya ought ta get ta know yer coworkers."

"Oh, I knew him already. He called himself Fuzzy Peach, but his real name was Earwig."

"Earwig? What kind of name is that?"

"A changeling name."

Author's Note:

Well, that's not good.

This is the last new chapter for October. I'm going to work on having a few chapters for next month, but my biggest focus will be a piece of artwork for the next chapter of Fitting In Is Hard To Do. No spoilers, but the next chapter will wrap up the Kindness arc.

Comments

[theOwtcast]

In fact, thinking on it now, I did meet your cousin Braeburn, because he was the one that accused me of stealing apples."

Aw come on!

"My name's Braeburn, and on behalf of Appleloosa, let me give ya a better welcome than I did a moment ago."

Oh good, that went better than in another version I know-

"Oh, I knew him already. He called himself Fuzzy Peach, but his real name was Earwig."

-or not