Shadow in Equestria

by ClankHoof

3. Meals and Meetings

The next morning, I decided to help out a little around town. Not only to know more about the ponies who lived here in Ponyville, but also to get my mind off of the attack. Twilight was occupied with the writing of a report, as I was told by a baby dragon at her doorstep, of who I learned was who Twilight had been speaking of. So I left a message and headed off for breakfast at the local bakery.

It was only Seven AM, but already the place was buzzing with activity. Everypony seemed to like to eat here before going to work, and I was soon to know why. Up at the counter were two very tired ponies taking orders and handing over bags and small boxes full of goodies that made my mouth water, and my nose seemed to have heightened further, because I was smelling every individual cupcake and apple fritter that came out of the ovens in the kitchen. I almost didn't know if I could hold myself back from just pushing everyone else out of line and taking all I could off the counter and shove it into my salivating mouth.

"Absolutely maddening, isn't it?" said a cheery voice next to me.

I turned to see a very pink pony with very frizzy hair who was copying the very pose I was just in.

"I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new? What's your name? I'm Pinkie Pie! Oh, I just love making new friends! More than I love making cupcakes, which I can give to new friends, who then want more cupcakes. Or was it 'more friendship?' I never can tell, it all ends up to be the same to me. And don't even get me started about parties! I love parties! Do you like parties? *gasp* maybe I should throw YOU a party! Wouldn't that be-!"

"Pinkie! We need more éclairs! We're running low again!" yelled one of the pastry ponies behind the counter.

"Oops, guess I'd better go. Nice meeting you! Bye!" And with that the pink pony bounced away, leaving me a little stunned. How could anyone talk so fast and so long without breath? It left me a little breathless just thinking about it. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but smile a little. Something tells me I'll be meeting that peppy pony again soon.

-S-

After breakfast, I got a tip from somepony that a farm up the road could use some help picking apples. I thought that might be just what I needed, was a little work in the dirt. 'It builds character,' a faintly familiar stallion's voice seemed to whisper in my ear. I startled myself, bringing up that memory, then shook my head. That was from a time long past. I need to keep my mind on the present. At least for now.

-S-

Apparently, I was having a real trouble doing so, as I ended up tripping over a bench near the path and landing flat on my face.

"You know you have wings, right? I mean, instead of tripping over your own hooves on the ground, you could fly over everything." said a voice from above me.

I picked myself up and saw a very colorful Pegasus floating on a small patch of clouds above me and looking a little bored as she watched me dust myself off.

"Yes, well, it's sometimes good to exercise your legs. Otherwise, why have them if you're not going to use them?" I replied.
The rainbow-maned mare snorted. "Landing gear, duh."

I sighed. Great, a smart-aleck, just what I want to deal with this early in the morning. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

"Alright, you may have a point, but I'd still rather walk and enjoy this-until recently-quiet summer morning."

The mare yawned and stretched. "Booooring! I'd rather be zooming through the skies with these babies!" She said, flexing her wings, "I'm the fastest Pegasus in Ponyville, and have always been ready and willing to challenge anyone who wants to try to disprove it!"
Her eyes narrowed at me expectantly. I knew what she was doing: she was daring me to race.

"Well, when you find a challenger, let me know." I said as I turned to be on my way, hiding a small smirk on my face.

She turned out to be faster than I thought, because as I finished my turn, she was hovering right in front of my face.

"What? You don't want to prove me wrong, that you could POSSIBLY be a faster flyer, then we do a race and I win- er, I mean, then we see who wins? Wow, you are one strange Pegasus. Not even wanting to get off the ground. You afraid of heights or something?"

"No, I am not afraid of heights; in fact, I may have climbed mountains higher than you have ever flown. I just don't feel like flying right now." While slightly irritating, it was kind of fun to make such a self-absorbed Pegasus get their pride shot down in such a casual way.

she scoffed, then flew a few feet in the air, crossing her front hooves "Fine then, you're probably slower than even Fluttershy anyways. Wouldn't even be a fair match." She started to fly off, though at first she was only going slowly, so as to tell me I still had one more chance.

I decided to pretend to ignore her and began walking my way too, when I heard her give one last "harrumph" before zooming off, a trail of rainbows being the only evidence of the cyan mare. Seeing this color effect awed me. Not many pegusi can fly fast enough to have a trail the color of your tail. Whenever I flew, I also had a trail, and hadn't really thought about it much. Now that I thought about it, mine had kind of the opposite effect of that pony's, because it was as if you removed the colors, leaving only multiple shades of black and grey, since those were the colors of my tail.

Anyways, I wasn't trying to be mean to her. I genuinely didn't want to fly, and used the most convincing excuse I could think of. I gave myself a mental note to find her later and apologize if I sounded rude. Though I probably still won't take her up on her offer to race. I'm a good flyer, don't get me wrong, but trouble always seems to find me whenever I leave the ground.

-S-

As I came closer to the farm I was looking for, all I could see were apple trees, covering dozens of the surrounding hills. I could see now why they'd needed a helping hoof. I headed through the front gate, and rang the front doorbell, but there was no answer. Then I heard a thumping sound from somewhere within the orchard, followed by a bunch of smaller thuds. I could also see a tree shaking a bit, so figured it was somepony bucking apples. They could either be the owner, or at least someone to point me in their direction.

I found a young brown mare with a cowpony hat on, collecting a couple of apple-filled buckets, and called out a greeting.

"Well howdy there, pard'ner! What brings a feller like you to the apple family farm?" She said with quite the southern accent, "Haven’t seen you b'fore. You new to Ponyville?"

"Yes, I came in late yesterday, after a small incident in the Everfree forest," I replied.

"So yer the one Applebloom's been blatherin' on about saving Sweetie Belle. I think anypony who does something like that deserves a free meal on me." The mare shook my hoof with more strength than I thought she'd have, and she still had the apple baskets on her back, without a single apple falling out. "Name’s Applejack, by the way."

I smiled pleasantly. "I'm Shadow. Though of your offer, I couldn't, ma'am. I mean, I just ate before I came here, and was actually going to ask if you wouldn't mind a little extra help around the farm for a couple days, while I stayed here in Ponyville."

"Of course. We can always use some extra hooves around here. The harvest is coming in, and these trees ain't gonna buck em'selves. You seem like a fairly strong feller, and have already shown plenty of trust by my standards. Have any experience at farmin' before?" Applejack put her load on the cart as she spoke.

"Well, I've done a little cattle rustling, but I don't believe I've ever done any work on apple picking before. It seems easy enough." I said.

"You're right about that, nothin to it." She said, heading towards another tree. In one swift kick of her rear hooves, brought down a rain of apples into waiting empty baskets.

I decided to copy her, so I kicked the tree that was behind me.

"Ahhhh!" I yelled as a ton of apples fell everywhere, some hitting me, and only a few making it into the baskets.

"You alright, Shadow?" Applejack ran up to me as I was nursing a couple of bruises that started to appear on my head.

"Sure. Just...ow... peachy." I grumbled. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"Don't worry, hon. That’s exactly how I was when I first started. It's all about where you position your legs, and how much force you put behind yer hooves. That's how you get the apples into the baskets directly from the trees, instead of having to pick them up after they fall to the ground. It also stops the apples from getting bruised or dirty."

It was unintentional, but she just described exactly what I was: bruised and filthy. Maybe farming wasn't as easy and stress-free as I thought.

"This time, watch closely how I hit the tree."

-S-

Three hours-and a few bandages-later, we heard a clanging sound coming from the barn. One of my biggest accomplishments so far had been showing Applejack how fast I could run. That is, how fast I could run after a dozen barrels, after I knocked a pile over. Not really much of an achievement, as she was the one who caught most of them in the end. Her lasso skills must have won her a few medals or something, as I haven't seen anyone wrangle three rolling barrels with a single piece of rope.

"Maybe you'll do better after a bite to eat." She said with a reassuring smile as we headed towards the barn.

I shook my head. "Apple bucking doesn't seem to be for me. I've caused more harm than good, and probably made you fall behind. It was good to try though, and I thank you for putting up with me."

"Hey, I still want to treat ya to lunch. Ya wouldn't believe how absolutely delicious our meals are here on the Apple family farm! Why, we've got just about everything: apple fritters, apple pies, apple crisp, caramel apples, apple-"

Wow, I had no idea anyone could be so obsessed with apples. Then again, her family members are all named after apple-related things, so I should've guessed. I'm kind of glad I wasn't good at the farm, as I would get sick of apples pretty quick.