“Come in,” you say, just waking up after hearing a few quiet knocks on your door. You had a nice nap, even though you don’t think it was entirely needed.

“Hello, dear,” Ms. Jubilee greets, walking in with a tray and a few folded up articles of clothing on her back. “Sleep well?”

On the dresser across from your bed, she puts down a new set of clean clothes.

“I did! Thank you, Ms. Jubilee, but you didn’t have to do all that. I’m sure they weren’t all that dirty.”

She giggles. “No, they weren’t dirty. They were filthy! All that sweat and sand.” She smiles and walks up to your bed before placing the tray on your lap.

“What’s all this?” you ask, a little confused.

“It’s lunch, dear. I have no doubt you’re hungry, so eat up!” She raises your blinds a bit so you can see around the room easier.

“Aww… that’s very sweet of you, ma’am, but-”

“No ‘buts’,” she interrupts with a pleasant smile. “It was no trouble at all.”

The tray holds a simple sandwich, some potato chips, and a can of cherry cola, unsurprisingly enough. It is a simple meal, but you are starving, and are incredibly grateful for it.

“Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Jubilee, you have been very good to me.”

“It’s no trouble at all, dear. Now eat and get some rest. I will check in on you later.” She flicks her tail once and turns to leave the room, and you watch her for a moment.

You are wide awake now, and could surely use some company. Perhaps…

“Ms. Jubilee?” you ask, getting her attention. She turns her head and looks back at you, still smiling a little. “Would you like to stay? I haven’t actually had a conversation with somepony in quite some time.”

Her smile gets even bigger as she nods and pulls up a chair next to the bed.

“How have you been feeling, dear?” she asks politely, sounding legitimately concerned. “Your feet looked terrible when I first saw them.”

“They’re doing alright, I think.” You wiggle your toes under the bandages. “They feel a whole lot better than they did, that’s for sure.”

“Now,” she begins, sounding as though she is going to change the subject. “I have been thinking about this since I first saw, but you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Okay.

“I was wondering where it is exactly you come from. Can you tell me about it?”

“Of course!” That’s not a difficult question at all.

For what feels like the next two hours, you tell Ms. Jubilee all about your old home in the realm of man.

Most ponies actually enjoy hearing about where it is you came from, and Ms. Jubilee appears to be no different. Even though you are doing the vast majority of the talking, and are worried she will get bored, she seems to be listening intently.

You tell her about your hometown and what you used to do there; your old hobbies. You describe what it looks like.

You tell her about your old friends. They’re all gone now, but you remember them. Then you tell her about your family. You miss them, of course, but you have gotten used to their absence.

“That must be terrible,” Ms. Jubilee says sympathetically. “No being able to see your family or friends.”

You shrug. “It’s not all that bad. I mean, I miss them and all, and having to move from place to place is rough sometimes, but it’s not all bad. It could definitely be worse.”

“I know the feeling,” she says solemnly, looking out the window.

You glance out the window, trying to find whatever it is she is looking at. But you can only see 800 cherry trees. Nothing special.

“Excuse me.”

Before you can respond, Cherry Jubilee is out of her chair and out your room.

That was odd. She left rather quickly. You thought the conversation you shared was splendid.

But you didn’t get to ask her any questions about her life. Now she knows all about you, and you know absolutely nothing about her.

At some point, you must have eaten your lunch because it is now gone.

You have a bunch of questions for her. Why are you here? And how did a mare like her end up in Dodge Junction?

It looks like you will just have to ask later.

==========

Dinner time rolled around a lot sooner than you thought possible, especially because you spent the afternoon doing absolutely nothing.

But here it is. Wonderful.

Dinner, like lunch, was brought to you by the owner of Cherry Hill Farms. You insisted that you can get everything yourself, but she wouldn’t listen. Oh well. You won’t object to having food brought to you.

This time, Cherry Jubilee ate with you.

“Thank you for everything, Ms. Jubilee,” you say, starting on your meal.

She giggles. “If I had a bit for every time you have thanked me, I could have retired years ago!”

You both laugh at that.

“I know, I know. I’m just grateful is all. I wanted to ask, Ms. Jubilee, now that I have the chance, how is it that you found me? I was unconscious in the middle of the desert.”

“I didn’t find you, hon. Not directly. You see, a late train was coming in from Ponyville to Dodge Junction, and you happened to be lying next to the tracks that train was running on.

“The conductor saw you lying there in the sand and stopped the train. They picked you up and brought you here.”

“Okay. But then how did I end up in your home?”

She smiles. “I was just finishing up at the market when that train arrived in the station. There were a lot of ponies standing over there, looking at something, so I figured I’d go see what the fuss was about.

“I got over there and saw you lying on the floor of the station, looking dreadful. You were even mumbling something to yourself. Nopony knew what to do, so they were just milling about, talking.

“I decided to take charge and I brought you back here. A doctor came over soon after, and fixed you up a little bit. And that’s that.”

Wow.

Your admiration for this mare just doesn’t stop.

“That’s incredible!” you say, glad that Ms. Jubilee is the one taking care of you and not one of those other ponies at the station.

She holds up a hoof. “No need to thank me,” she says, right before you are about to thank her again. “You being here is thanks enough.”

You look at her for a moment while you try to figure out what she meant by that. But before you can ask, she speaks.

“What were you doing out in the desert in the first place?”

“It’s a long story,” you sigh. “A really long story. I don’t want to get into it right now.”

“Of course, dear. May I ask where you were trying to go?”

“Seaddle. I’m still trying to get there.” You don’t mention that you don’t have all that much money. She has been plenty generous to you and you’re not going to take advantage of this mare like that.

“I’m trying to get away from the east coast,” you explain. “I’ve been all over the place; Manehattan, Fillydelphia, Baltimare… I haven’t found that place that feels like home, though. Figured I’d start looking somewhere else.”

It’s not like you have a job or anything already lined up there. You are winging it, so to speak, but again, best not tell Ms. Jubilee.

“I never meant to take a detour here,” you say. “I was trying to go right from Baltimare to Seaddle. There were just a few complications.”

After a moment, Cherry excuses herself. Again, it was rather unexpected and it leaves you wondering, but in a flash, she is gone.

Oh well.

She is a busy woman, surely enough. She runs this entire farm. She can’t afford to spend all day talking to you.

And that’s just fine.

You decide you may as well nap, as there is nothing else for you to do.

==========

You wake up, feeling more awake than you have in a long time. This bed is wonderful.

You look out your window at the hundreds of pink cherry trees that are glowing in the moonlight. You don’t know what time it is, but you are wide awake.

The sky is beautiful out here. There are thousands of stars that light up the town. You can’t see anything like this back east; there are too many city lights.

Who would have thought a cherry orchard would be flourishing out in the middle of the desert! Not you.

But you’re thankful that it is here. If Ms. Jubilee wasn’t here, you might not be.

Much to your surprise, as you look out across the sea of trees, you spot a pony. Cherry Jubilee to be exact.

What is she doing out there?

…

You don’t know. You can’t even guess. Is she inspecting the trees? Not likely. It’s too late. Does she need help with something.

You gasp.

Is she being robbed?

You don’t want Ms. Jubilee getting hurt. Where have those ranchhands gone? She needs help!

Doesn’t she have sons or brothers or someone to help? Where is her husband?

They should be the ones helping her if something is wrong.

The least you could do is help her. Nopony should take advantage of such a kind mare, and as long as you’re around, nopony will.

You rise to your feet. They feel a lot better. You may be able to take the bandages off, but you keep them on. You dash over to the dresser and hurriedly put on your clean clothes.

You don’t need the cane but you take it anyway. It can be used as a weapon if need be.

Now that you are ready, you run through the house, prepared to wake everypony up.

Only problem is, you can’t find anypony. Every room you enter is already empty. You enter one room and no one is inside. You repeat this process a few times.

Where is everypony?

They must already be out there!

You run out of the back door but Ms. Jubilee is nowhere to be found. You venture further into the orchard, looking and listening for any signs of distress.

But there are none to be heard.

Where did she go?

You hope nothing bad happened to her. That would be devastating.

You continue to walk carefully through the orchard, staying on the path. There are a lot of trees here. The orchard is even bigger than you originally thought.

It still baffles you how such a large orchard can be thriving successfully in the middle of the desert.

It also is strange seeing how successful Ms. Jubilee is, considering that she only appears to sell cherries and cherry related goods. You didn’t know cherries were in such high demand.

You walk and finally spot the mare you have been looking for. She is walking along the path ahead of you, observing the trees.

Alone.

Where is everypony else.

You call out to her, and she spins around, startled.

Catching up to her, you apologize.

“It’s alright, dear,” she says. “I just didn’t expect anyone else to be out here.”

“What are you doing, Ms. Jubilee?”

She pauses for a moment. “Just taking a walk, dear. You should go back to bed now, you really need your rest.”

“It’s almost 2 in the morning.”

Her ears flatten and she looks down at the ground, frowning.

“Is there something wrong, ma’am?”

“Please, call me Cherry.”

You smile. “Is there something wrong, Cherry?”

“Not at all,” she says your name. “Why would you think that?”

“Well… you are walking around out here at 2 in the morning by yourself. Are you okay? Where is everypony else?”

She quirks an eyebrow. “Everypony else?”

“Yeah. You know, all those ponies that live here?”

She gives a low, melancholy chuckle. “Nopony else lives with me, dear.”

What

“Nopony has for a long time.”

Oh…

“What about that stallion I saw working in the orchard today?” you ask, confused.

“He just works here. They all just work here.”

Oh… you didn’t know.

“Would you like me to walk you back, honey?” she asks. “You should really get some rest. I am sure you will have to be on your way and out of Dodge soon.”

That you do.

“Yes… I mean, no. I can walk myself back… Goodnight Ms. - uh… Cherry. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

You head back, feeling strange.

==========

You lie in bed, thinking.

It is odd, isn’t it? This whole situation you’re in. How kind Ms. Jubilee is to you for no reason at all.

It’s odd, but that is not a bad thing.

What bothers you is how Ms. Jubilee is walking around in her fields at 2 in the morning, alone.

Maybe she has insomnia.

No. If she did, she could’ve just told you.

You don’t think she was just taking a simple stroll through the trees. Thinking back, you remember the way she looked, the way she sounded.

She looked troubled. Depressed.

It made you upset just looking at her when she’s like that.

You wish you knew what could be wrong, but she hasn’t told you anything about herself.

Not really.

You know that she owns and operates this orchard. And now you know that she apparently does that alone.

But that’s just about it.

She looked so sad even though she tried to hide it. But why?

…

Well no shit. She’s lonely! She’s very lonely.

Just look at her! She lives in this massive house, on this great piece of property, alone. She probably typically eats her meals alone. She walks through the orchard alone.

She does most of everything by herself.

And that has you upset.

A mare like Cherry Jubilee should not have to feel this way. She is the kindest filly you have possibly met ever.

This isn’t right.

It’s not right.

You don’t want her to feel that way.

Who knows how long she has been feeling like this.

No… No. You are going to correct this.

You wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for that mare, so the least you could do is make sure that she is not lonely anymore.

You hop out of bed, prepared to head back outside.

Author's Note

Isn't reading the story better than just clop?
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