Fleeting Memories

by Kaidan

IV. Apples

After waking up Twilight and Spike with my screaming, I decided the best thing to do would be to head off to take Applejack up on her job offer. It would be nice to have my own room and earn some bits while my memories come back to me. I had something now that I hadn't had before, a sense of purpose. Who ever the sergeant in my dream was I felt he was important, what ever task I had was important. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that sense of dread and fear so I have come to believe that whatever shot me out of the sky is trying to protect itself.

Sweet Apple Acres covered large swaths of hills and rivers outside of Ponyville. It was still early in the morning as I approached the farm house. "Applejack, is this the new pony you were tellin' us about?" a yellow filly called out. I greeted her "Hi there I'm Comet, and I am new in town." The filly replied "Hi, I'm Applebloom! Me and my friends are making breakfast this morning!"

Out of nowhere darted two more fillies "I'm Scootaloo--" and the other shouted "I'm Sweetie Belle, and we're--" The 3 of them in unison shouted "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CHEFS!!!" I couldn't help but laugh as I wondered if there was such a thing as a normal day around here.

"Calm down there sugar cubes 'n let our guest have some space" Applejack chided with a grin. "Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres Comet, the fillies offered to make us breakfast today. I told Granny to make us some apple pies in case breakfast... doesn't go as planned. I reckon I'll show you to the guest room and we'll get to apple buckin' after that."

"Thanks, everypony sure has been nice. You must be Big Mac" I asked the large red stallion who was putting his yoke on. "Eeeyup" was his sole reply. Applejack added "Don't you worry, once he gets to know ya, you'll be wonderin' how to make him stop talkin'."

I sat down at the tables outside and could see the crusaders bringing over breakfast. They had oatcakes, some burnt oatmeal, and apple fritters. It looked edible for the most part, and the fritters turned out tasting much better then they looked. We chatted about the farm and my job responsibilities, before the fillies offered to clean up the dishes. They all turned in unison to look at their flanks, and sighed with dissapointment.

"Oh well girls, we still have all day to go crusadering'" Sweetie Belle chirped. "We'll just finish up the dishes and head out for our next task." Scootaloo had a mischievious look in her eyes as the three jumped and shouted in unison "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PARKOUR!!!"

~*~

The morning went by quickly. All I had to unpack was a saddle bag and my journal. After that I had fed chickens, bucked apple trees, and gotten an earful when I asked Applejack why their vegetable garden didn't have any carrots. Apparently there's a family feud between the Apple and Carrot families. I had decided to head into town and find something to eat with Big Mac.

"So Big Mac, want to eat at McDaisy's or Hay in the Box?" I inquired. Big Mac was a colt of few words and just replied "McDaisy's." We headed over to the outside seating area for the restaurant and sat down. I looked over the menu and ordered from the waiter. "I'll take a McDaisy sandwich and extra hay fries, with some apple cider" I told the waitress. "How about you Big Mac, the usual?" The waitress asked. Big Mac just grinned and said "Eeyup." If I didn't know better I'd say he was blushing at the waitress.

After the waitress was out of earshot I gave him a quick jab "So you like the waitress huh?" Big Mac just sat there for a moment while I grinned at him before admitting it with a "Eeyup."

I looked around while waiting for the food and noticed the musician Lyra sitting alone at the next table. Big Mac had noticed me staring and it was his turn to jab me in the side. "Yup" I replied to Big Mac and he prodded me again. "Hey Lyra, why don't you sit with us so your not eating alone?" I called over to her.

"Oh, thank you. I was just taking a break from practicing for Hearth's Warming Eve in a few months," Lyra responded. After she had sat down next to us the waitress returned with our food. I watched her and Big Mac grin at each other. "So Lyra, you spend your time performing concerts and playing in the park, what's that like?" I inquired.

"It's quite relaxing, and I get to play beautiful melodies for everypony. How about you, are you on the weather team?" Lyra asked. I tried to look busy chewing on some hay fries but eventually admitted "Actually I'm helping Big Mac and Applejack on the farm. Since I crashed in Ponyville I haven't done any flying, I'm still sore" I lied. The truth was I wasn't ready to risk any more falls until I had a better idea what had come after me.

We had a quiet lunch discussing all the other ponies in town. It turns out the waitress name was Daisy, the grand daughter of the pony who had founded McDaisy's. There was also Zecora who was the zebra sitting a few tables down from us, apparently she doesn't visit town that often. I had finished my food and chatted a little longer with Lyra before she told me she had to get back to practice.

"I can see why you like it here Big Mac, plenty of kind mares to go around" I chatted. He responded with a blush I'd expected, but then said "Eeyup, me 'n Daisy are goin' to Hearts 'n Hooves together this year."

"That's wonderful!" I replied, glad to have heard him utter something other then eeyup or nope.