Life as an Equestrian Pony

Chapter 2: Work

Michael was excited, but also thoroughly confused by this rush of new information. He knew this place, he knew all of the towns, and the histories, and the ponies who live in it; but how, why? And, why can he only remember facts about Ponyville and not anything about himself?

His hooves carried him forward, driven by the desire for more information. The wind ruffled his feathers as it rushed passed him. In anything other situation, Michael would have thoroughly enjoyed the feeling, but the urgency of the situation prevented him from enjoying the moment though.

Curious ponies stopped to ask him why he was in a hurry, but he didn't stop. His main objective was to get to the library. He knew that the smartest pony in Ponyville resided in the hallowed out tree filled to the roots with books. In a desperate time, Twilight Sparkle had learned a memory spell to help all of her friends remember who they truly are. There was no doubt she could perform this spell again.

Finally he had arrived at the library. After a knock on the door, the pegasus waited patiently for the purple alicorn to open the door. A little too much time has passed for his liking; he was just about to give up when a purple clawed hand had opened the door.

"Spike!" Michael exclaimed. "Is Twilight here? I need to talk to her."

The baby dragon looked at him quizzically. He hadn't met the pegasus before, so wondered why he knew his name. But he passed it off and decided to answer his question. "Twilight is busy; Canterlot business."

"Oh," is all Michael could think to say. "Do you know when she'll be back?"

"I don't know," the dragon said. "Sometimes she could be gone for an hour, sometimes a whole day."

"A whole day?" Michael asked in despair.

"Sometimes even a whole week."

"Oh my." The persistent longing for knowledge would drive Michael insane within a week's time. "I can't wait that long!" He began to panic, wings flapping sporadically. "Maybe I can go to Canterlot to find her. Then I'll need a train pass. I can buy one. Oh… I don't have any money. I could find a job! Oh but that could take forever." His mind raced frantically and wouldn't give him a break.

"Hey, pony… dude," Spike tried to interject but Michael couldn’t stop. "Snap out of it!"

Finally, the pegasus stopped and sat down, feeling defeated. "What should I do?"

"If it's really that important that you see Twilight," said Spike, "I can send a letter to Canterlot requesting her return."

"Would you do that? That would be wonderful." Michael breathed a sigh of relaxation.

"Yes. But I can't guarantee her immediate return, so don't hold your breath." Michael nodded in understanding.  "You say you're short on bits? Use this time to find some work. Go, explore, be a pony and do whatever it is ponies do."

"Thank you for your help," Michael said before he left.

"Uh-huh," Spike replied, and slammed the door behind him. How dare this pegasus wake him up from his nap.

Michael wandered through Ponyville, keeping an eye out for places to work. But what do ponies do? Looking around, he noticed that everypony had a mark on their flank that represented their line of work. An orange pony with even oranger hair had carrots on her flank; she sold carrots at her stand. Another pony had an envelope on his flank; sure enough, he was a mail carrier. He was traveling with another pony, a grey pegasus with blond hair. She was studying what he did, probably an apprentice for the job, but her mark wasn't mail related; she had bubbles on her flank. Michael concluded that maybe not all marks signified their line of work. But when he turned to look at his own flank, it was bare. If only he knew what his special talent was, he would be able to find some work easily.

He tried to look back through the thick haze that fogged his mind. Although he didn't know what he was special at, he did remember that he was a very hard worker at, whatever he did. Thinking of jobs that would require hard work, he remembered the nice friendly pony he met in town square. Working on an apple farm must require tons of hard work. Certainly it wouldn't be hard to find some work there.

Set with a new destination in mind, Michael trotted off for Sweet Apple Acres. The enormity of the orchard never dawned on him before; but as he stood there at the front gate, gazing over the endless fields of apple trees, he wondered if he might be picking off more than he can chew. Doubt rose up and tempted him to just turn around and leave right now, but a sweet southern voice calling out stopped him in his tracks.

"Howdy, Michael! Fancy meetin' you here." She trotted up to meet him, yellow tied main and tail bobbing as she did so. "Was Twilight able to help you?" As she smiled brightly, a bead of sweat tricked down her cheek. It was definitely hard work but she loved every moment of it.

Michael got lost in his thoughts again, but was able to catch himself this time. "Oh, no. She wasn't home."

"Well, that's too bad."

"Yeah," he replied, almost forgetting why he even came here.

The pause was going on longer than Applejack expected. "Well we're quite busy here at the acres. I should probably…"

Work. "Do-you-need-any-help?" he blurted out.

"Pardon?"

He cleared his throat. "I meant to say, can I work here on the farm… with you guys?"

Applejack pondered the request for a moment before answering. "Well, I don't see why not. We'd be glad to have your help."

Applejack led Michael into the farm. She had a kart full of empty baskets set up near a patch of unpicked trees. She picked a basket up from the kart and set it down by the tree. "Hold this basket on your back and catch all of the apples as they fall. Think you can do it."

Michael nodded and scooped the basket up onto his back and positioned himself under the apples. A loud TONK came from Applejack bucking the tree trunk. The tree shook violently; unable to keep their hold, the apples fell. Michael scurried back and forth and around the tree, the basket getting heavier with each apple it caught. She bucked the tree until all of the apples were off the tree and in the basket.

"Fwew." Applejack wiped her forehead, "There's one tree. Ready for another?"

Michael had set the basket back on the kart and prepared another one. This job wasn't that bad; sure it was hard work but it was unbearable. How bad could this be?

By nightfall, Michael had eaten his words and spat them back up. One tree was nothing, five wasn't too bad, but by the twentieth tree, he was really starting to feel the ache in his back. Applejack asked if he needed a break but he was determined to do as much work as he could. They got through 50 trees and as tired and sore as he was, he was just as satisfied with the work he had done.

Michael had just picked up another basket when Applejack spoke up. "I think we should call it a day." He put the basket back down. "Thanks a lot for your help today, the Apples appreciate it. You're a darn good worker."

"I'm glad I could help," he smiled.

"You best be gettin' home before it gets too dark," she said.

"Home… right." Michael realized that he hadn't even bothered trying to find a place to sleep. Honestly, he didn’t think he'd be staying beyond an afternoon.

"You don't have a place to stay do you?" Michael shook his head. "Well, shoot. You could crash here if ya don't mind a scratchy bed. It's all we got."

An apple, a job, and a place to sleep; was there no end to this pony's generosity? "Oh, I couldn't possibly. I've imposed enough on you already."

"Nonsense. You listen here. I wouldn't be able to sleep knowin' you're out there with no place to sleep. I insist."

"Well… when you put it that way, thank you again."

Applejack's green eyes glowed in the evening darkness. "Anythin' for a friend in need."

A friend; it was an odd feeling, having a friend, but it also brought warmth to his heart. He couldn't remember feeling anything like this in his past life. Not only was Applejack his first friend in Ponyville, but possibly his first friend ever.