Bitter Apples

The sun had barely risen as Applejack escorted the half-asleep pegasus up the path. She smiled sympathetically as he yawned.

Sunny wasn’t the most athletic pony, preferring drawing to exercise most days; on top of that he was only three weeks out of the hospital, although Bon Bon insisted that getting out and figuring out his talent could only help his recovery. It would get him out of the house, at least.

“What do you remember about getting your cutie mark?” Sunny blinked at the question, his mind having drifted quite far off-topic.

“Er... not much,” admitted Sunny. “I seem to remember the Princess, but I was probably hallucinating. Something to do with fire, maybe? I honestly don’t think it has anything to do with farming.”

“Well, we’ll just see about that,” said Applejack. “I’m surprised you haven’t been here before - Cheerilee usually sends students out to figure out the best fit for their talents.”

“I haven’t exactly had a normal education. Dad didn’t like coming into town, so he paid her to come out and teach me one day a week. I learned everything I needed to know in a couple of years, though.”

“Seems awful lonely,” said Applejack. Sunny just nodded, not really thinking, looking instead out at the farm. It seemed an awfully lonely place, too, so far away from Bon Bon. “Yer Circle Jack’s nephew, right? Awful sorry about what happened.”

“I was in the hospital when it happened,” said Sunny, leaving out the fact that it had been a mental institution. In truth, he didn’t often think about Circle Jack, more often occupied as he was with memories of his own parents, or with Bon Bon. “I don’t remember a whole lot. Didn’t know him too well, anyway - he only came to the property until I was seven.”

“What... what did your father do?” Good, she sounded nervous. Maybe Sunny could get her to stop asking questions.

“Every week, he walked down the street to this hollowed-out tree and returned with a bag of bits,” said Sunny. “He’d keep the house repaired enough so it didn’t fall apart between Circle Jack’s visits, and he spent an awful lot of time at his desk, writing and such. I think he said he was a prisoner, once, locked away by Celestia.” True, Sunny didn’t quite remember his father saying this, but it still rang quite true, regardless. Must have come from the gray area.

“I... I see.” No more questions were asked as the ponies walked up to the field, where several other ponies were already hard at work tilling the land. The first planting had been done immediately following the Wrap-Up - and Sunny’s birthday - but there were still other fields to try and sow, along with several projects that awaited completion. Fertile grounds for any pony to try and figure out their talent, in other words.

“Where’ll I be staying?” asked Sunny, his gaze wandering to the barn. True, he could just return home to Bon Bon, but she had been rather emphatic that he stay on the farm, get the whole experience.

“In the house,” said Applejack. “Already got a room all made up for ya. I’ll show it to you once we’re done workin’ for the day, all right?”

“Sure,” said Sunny, trying to keep focussed. “Where do we start?”

They started with planting - since Sunny couldn’t pull one of the planting machines, he instead worked on the smaller plots digging out furrows and planting seeds by hoof. Dirty, exhausting work for the pegasus, who felt no small measure of relief at being called away to help one of the farm’s many smaller projects.

“You’ll be workin’ with Rainbuck, here,” said Applejack, gesturing to a dusty cyan pegasus. In truth, his colour bordered on colourless, an off-white with just the faintest hint of blue - like pictures Sunny had seen of the desert sky. “He’ll show you all you need to know.”

“Mornin’,” said Rainbuck. Sunny knew him from in town, though only by sight. He was a couple of years older and a fair bit shorter than Sunny, though he more than made up for it in build, outdoing even Big Mac by a small margin. Stay, thought Sunny, keeping his underdeveloped wings firmly at his sides. Rainbuck’s cutie mark was an apple with wings - almost certainly as maddeningly unhelpful as Sunny’s own, being a simple sun. “Ready to work?”

“Oh - yes,” said Sunny, attempting a grin and turning to face a rope Rainbuck was working on. There were several others, loosely secured and waiting to be tied off properly. “What do I need to do?”

“First, throw the rope under like this,” said Rainbuck, moving very fast. “Toss it over, pull it through, and grab this part... pull it tight... and yer done. Try that one.”

“Oh... kay,” said Sunny slowly, attempting the knot. It pulled tight, although it seemed somewhat loose. “Is that it?”

“Sure,” said Rainbuck, not paying attention, going to the next rope. It was only Sunny and Rainbuck here, apparently. A glance at Rainbuck’s first knot showed that it looked bigger than Sunny’s - maybe it wasn’t as tight?

With no idea what else to do, Sunny kept tying ropes off, finally reaching the halfway point with Rainbuck long gone. A sense of satisfaction replaced Sunny’s earlier uncertainty - this wasn’t so bad, just tiring. And that would go away with practice.

“Done,” said Sunny to Applejack as she walked up. She glanced at the greenhouse for only a moment before running off - Sunny turned just in time to see his side collapse, several panes of glass shattering on the ground. Rainbuck’s side was secure enough that, although it buckled a bit, it never fell.

“What the hay were you thinking?” asked some farmpony from behind Sunny. He was frowning at the greenhouse, then at Sunny, then back at the greenhouse. “Didn’t you pay attention to the tie?”

“Sure I did,” countered Sunny uncertainly. “I did it just like Rainbuck showed me.”

“So you did the slide-knot, then?” asked Big Macintosh, trotting up beside the other pony.

“I... yeah,” said Sunny, raising a hoof and mimicking his movements. “Under, over the front, through the back, and pulled it tight.”

“No, the slide-knot!” said the first farmpony, smacking a hoof to his forehead. “You have to bring it around and tie it off again so it doesn’t slide loose!”

“But... Rainbuck didn’t...” The two ponies had run off to help with the greenhouse, making any further explanation pointless. That explained why Rainbuck’s knots had looked bigger, at least. Had Sunny missed that step? Or had Rainbuck just not shown him?

“Nice going,” said Rainbuck, chortling as he trotted up beside Sunny to look at the greenhouse. “Gonna take days to fix that.”

Sunny’s face fell. “Why didn’t you show me the slide-knot?”

“I did,” said Rainbuck. “‘s not my fault you weren’t payin’ attention.” Applejack ran up to the pair of them, panting visibly. Sunny’s face fell further as he realized how much work he had made for them.

“Rainbuck, go help put the walls back up,” said Applejack. “They could use yer wings over there. Sunny...” Sunny kept from glaring, though it was a close thing. There was that look again; what good could you possibly be? What am I supposed to do with you? “Go back to plantin’ those small plots, fer now. We’ll get you tryin’ this again tomorrow.”

“He didn’t show me the knot right,” said Sunny stubbornly. “He did the slide-knot while I was busy trying the main knot out. Didn’t bother to see...” That sounded weak, even to Sunny. Why hadn’t he paid closer attention? Applejack just shook her head and trotted off. Wonderful.

The barn doors flew open as Sunny fell back-first onto a pile of hay, exhausted. The doors opened again almost immediately as Rainbuck and two other Apples came in, prompting Sunny to scramble to his feet, drawing a smirk from Rainbuck. “You look comfortable. Why aren’t you comin’ to supper?”

“I’ll be in in a minute,” said Sunny. “I just need to recover, for a second.”

“From what?” asked one of the other ponies. “All you did was buried seeds and broke a greenhouse. Not a whole lot of work.”

“For you, maybe,” said Sunny. “I’m not used to that kind of work.”

“You’re weak, basically,” said Rainbuck, stepping closer. The other two stepped to either side, flanking Sunny. “Bet you can’t even fly, with wings like those.”

“Heard you tried, though,” said the third pony. “Right over the falls, right?”

“Leave me alone,” said Sunny automatically. Rainbuck just laughed.

“Celestia’s plot, you can’t get anything right, can you?” Sunny blinked at the vulgarity. “Can’t fly, can’t put up a greenhouse... you can’t even kill yourself right.”

“Buck off,” said Sunny, grimacing and taking a step back. Rainbuck just grinned.

“Why do you even have wings?” asked Rainbuck. “Seems like you’d be a lot better off without them.

Okay. Enough of this. Sunny scrambled up the stairs to the rafters of the barn, astonished beyond belief that he wasn’t followed. The trapdoor flew open before him as he scrambled up onto the roof, panting heavily. A moment later the first rotten apple flew up and landed next to Sunny’s head.

“Hey! That’s enough!” Applejack. Just in time. Sunny kept curled up on the far side of the roof, dripping in apple juice and shaking violently. Don’t think about it, Sunny recited in his head, a mantra that failed miserably in its goal. On the ground, Rainbuck and his friends ran off, with Applejack calling up to Sunny. “You can come down now - they’re gone.”

“I’m good up here, thanks,” said Sunny, hoping he was loud enough to be heard. He was.

“C’mon, those idiots are gone,” said Applejack.

“I like my wings unbroken!” said Sunny, his voice cracking as a tear trickled down one cheek. “I’ll just stay up here, thanks.”

Several moments later a pegasus landed on the roof. Whoever it was was a cyan colour. Gasping, Sunny scrambled backwards, almost falling off the roof.

“Hey! Stop that!” That wasn’t Rainbuck’s voice. Sunny looked up and saw an oddly familiar pegasus. She looked somewhat like Sunny’s mother, although with a rainbow-coloured mane. “I’m not going to hurt you!”

“Just leave,” said Sunny, feeling a peculiar shame. He didn’t want anypony to see him like this. “Just leave.”

“I’ve got to get you down from here,” she said. “So come on. Rainbuck and his friends won’t be bothering you again - I’ll make sure of it. Just fly down, there’s dinner waiting for you.

One sob. Then another. Sunny tumbled off the roof after making certain that there was hay underneath, then ran off the farm, ignoring Applejack’s calls for him to come back.

***

“Don’t answer it,” said Sunny irrationally as Bon Bon stood up. The knocking almost certainly wasn’t Rainbuck, but a pony couldn’t be too careful.

“Don’t be silly.” It was Applejack. “Come on in - he’s in here.” At least I’m clean, now, thought Sunny, hurriedly wiping his eyes and cheeks.

“I wanted to apologize for what Rainbuck did,” said Applejack. “He told me what he did with the knots, and what he said in the barn. He’s been punished, don’t you worry.”

“Th... thanks,” managed Sunny, burying his face in a mug of hot chocolate.

“I thought you could take a week, recover, and then go back to the farm,” said Bon Bon. “Oh, come on, don’t be like that. Rainbuck won’t try anything, you’ll be with other ponies all day.”

“What about when I need a break from ponies?” asked Sunny. Applejack was uncomprehending, but Bon Bon seemed to understand, at least a little. “I wasn’t even any good. Look at the greenhouse.”

“That was Rainbuck’s fault,” said Applejack. “Yer knots were good - you just needed to do that last part, that’s all. And that’s easy enough to fix. As fer the plantin’... your seeds’ve already sprouted. I’d say this’d be your Talent, Sunny.”

“No... no,” said Sunny. “Thanks, but... I can’t. I... can’t.”

“It’s fine,” said Bon Bon hastily before Applejack could say anything. “We might be able to try again when he’s a little older.”

“Well... all right,” said Applejack reluctantly, heading for the door. Thank the moon. “Any time you want to come ‘n’ work you’re welcome to, all right? We’ll get you sorted.”

“Thanks,” said Sunny, taking another long draught of his rather lukewarm chocolate. The door clicked shut and Bon Bon sat down next to him, a hoof over his shoulders. They slept like that, not hearing when Sunny’s empty cup clattered to the floor, not seeing when the sun crept through the windows with the dawn.

Author's Note:

A short story to act as a bit of a prologue to one I'm working on now, as well as a stand-alone story in its own right. You won't need to read this one to read that one; this is mostly me not leaving well enough alone with the story I'm working on, as well as needing a break. @.@ It's a long one.

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