Fighting Freedom

AN: Not the Applejack dialogue, oh god anything but that! If I cut her out of the story you can't be mad at me.
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"Oh bugger."

Applejack was only a few feet from me, and quite honestly she looked pissed. To be fair I was eating her food, but it was only a few apples. I quickly ran a few scenarios through my head before acting. I put down the second apple and grabbed my staff. I leaned on it heavily as I stood up, and continued to do so.

"I'm sorry I don't believe we've met. I'm Silver if you were interested."

Applejack snorted at me. She stomped one of her hooves impatiently. It was almost cute to see her throwing a fit. Of course she could most likely kick me into next week. Not to mention Big Mac. I did have a huge advantage with my height and hands, but still. Besides I don't think I could beat up a pony and feel good about myself.

"Y'all could say Ah'm interested in why y'all are stealing mah food."

I resisted the urge to comment on her accent and said, "I'm awfully sorry. I did not realize that this was your farm. I just wanted to rest my bad leg for awhile. If there is something I could do to make up for this intrusion, then please tell me."

I gave her a charming smile to go along with this. At the mention of a bad leg she seemed to calm down a bit. Always mention an injured body part if your caught snatching some food. People like to help others who are down on their luck. If you think that's taking advantage of them, then think about this. People only help others so they can feel good and be reassured about their own morality. So in one way, I'm actually helping them out.

Applejack was giving me a very scrutinizing look. After a few seconds during which I held my breath. Finally she spoke,

"Well Ah suppose Ah could let it go this time. Just don't be gittin yerself in more trouble ya hear?"

I shakily bowed to Applejack and said, "Thank you kind stranger. I will remember your forgiving nature."

Applejack just bowed her head and said, "Well why don't Ah show you the way to town? Ah can show y'all where to get that leg of yours checked out."

Well that was unwanted, but I decided to go along with it. However as I took my first step towards her I tripped over the staff. At first I just cursed under my breath and stood back up. I brushed off my toga and made sure it was still secure. I looked up to see Applejack giving me a very angry look. I looked back at the ground to see the staff still laying there. If I didn't know better, I would say the staff did that on purpose. I looked back up at Applejack and smiled cheekily then said,

"I don't suppose it's too late to say just kidding?"

Applejack stomped her hooves again, "Y'all got three seconds before Ah put the hurt on ya."

I gulped, guess not huh? I decided to take her up on her kind offer. I reached down and picked up the staff as I turned around. I took off before I was even fully upright. I did say I wasn't the most athletic person right? I mean I do my runs and stuff, but I don't do sprints. I also don't dodge trees while I run. Nor do I wear a toga while I do it. Although to be honest, it didn't get in the way as much as you think it would. The lack of shoes did make it rather painful though. I've built up calluses on my feet from various activities, but it wasn't enough.

Applejack kept to her word and counted to three. If I had the time I would've poked fun at the fact that she said apple after each number. As I sprinted through the forest of apple trees I could hear her galloping behind me. The staff was starting to make this really difficult. It kept hitting trees and nearly knocking me over. I knew I wasn't going to be able to out run Applejack, much less any pony.

I reached the top of a hill and sighed when all that was past it was more apple trees. Instead of getting incredibly lost and tired down there, I decided to hide. I climbed up one of the nearby trees that was relatively low to the ground. I climbed into the thicket of leaves and waited. I stuck another apple in the folds of my toga. All this running around was going to make me hungry again.

Applejack reached the top of the hill not long after I got in the tree. She stopped at the top. She wasn't even panting! She looked out over the forest below her. She was smarter than I gave her credit. She walked around inspecting the trees. Thankfully she was going in the other direction. The staff almost fell out of my hands, but I caught it quickly.

"Not this time." I muttered under my breath.

However, when I moved to catch it the apple in my toga was dislodged. It fell to the ground and made a louder than necessary thump. Applejack turned around and set her eyes on the apple. She looked at the tree I was in, and then straight at me.

"Well fuck."

Applejack raced towards my tree. I knew that she would just buck the thing and I would fall out just like one her apples. I don't think she was planning on catching me though. Well only one thing to do then. I looked at the tree closest to me and spotted a thick branch. With one hand I held on tightly to my staff and I jumped. I managed to land on the branch with both feet and grabbed the trunk with my free hand.

When I realized I had made it I wanted to jump for joy. I had bigger problems though. Applejack was still following me. I looked for the next branch I could leap to. I spotted one to my left and jumped. Both feet once again landed safely.

"I'm like a freaking monkey. I'm not so sure this isn't the monkey staff."

I leapt between three more trees. I was feeling incredibly confident. I wasn't one for parkour, but this was awesome.

"Scratch that, I'm a freaking Ninja--- Oof!"

I had slammed into the branch I had been aiming for. It caught me right in the stomach. I fell to the ground clutching at my stomach. I dropped my staff and laid there. That really hurt more than it should have. My stomach felt like it was on fire or something. Then almost as suddenly as it had came, the pain was gone. There was just a dull ache. I still couldn't get up though. The wind had been thoroughly knocked out of me.

Applejack trotted up to me laughing. When she was done laughing she said, "Thought y'all could get away from me? Maybe next time partner."

Applejack walked around me and tied a rope around my chest. It caught on my arms and she began to drag me back to the barn. I was kind of surprised she was able to pull me, then again she is a hard worker. I grabbed my staff as I passed by it. I even managed to grab an apple on the way back, well maybe two. What? I was hungry. My body may have been defeated, but my wit was sharper than ever.

"Ya well you talk funny."
That may have been a lie.
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Applejack dragged me all the way back to the farm without much trouble. I suppose near the end I could've gotten up and run away again, but I wasn't particularly feeling like it. Besides who am I to refuse a free ride and snack?

When she put me down in front of the farm I finally was able to get up. Well halfway anyways. I leaned back against the farm and hung my head. Not because I was feeling shameful, but because that little trip had made me tired. You try getting dragged around for awhile, it gets boring.

Applejack just looked at me for awhile. When she still didn't say anything after a few minutes I butted in,

"If you're trying to figure out what to do with me, I can offer some helpful advice."

Applejack just shushed me with a look. As we sat there in silence Big Mac came up to Applejack. Big Mac looked between me tied up against the farm, and AJ who was standing over me. He then shrugged and went into the barn. He came back out with a plow attached to him.

AJ went to speak to him, but I interrupted her,

"Hail stranger. As you can see I'm a bit tied up at the moment, but greetings all the same. My name is Silver if you were interested."

Big Mac just shrugged again and ignored me. He would probably keep a cooler head that way.

"Ah hush it you. Big Mac Ah found this fella stealing some of our apples. What do you reckon I should do with him?"
I interrupted once again to offer my opinion, "To be fair I only stole a total of 5 apples. You have hundreds if not thousands here."

AJ looked at me, "Ah only saw you take three."

I shrugged, "I got hungry on the ride back here."

AJ shook her head at me and turned back to her brother. They talked in low tones so I couldn't hear what they were saying. When they were finished AJ walked back to me and looked down at me.

"Well we've decided that since y'all are new around here we would let you off easy. Ah just need you to deliver something for me. Ah need ya to take a crate of apples down to the bakery store in town. It's called Sugar Cube Corner. It's in the first ring, and it shouldn't be too hard to miss."

I held up my hand, "Hold up. I steal apples, so you punish me by giving me a whole bunch of apples to take to town unsupervised?"

AJ looked back at Big Mac and then back at me, and then nodded.

I shrugged, "Alright I can do that."

I slipped out of the knot easily and waited for them to give me the crate. Once again, their nonexistent reactions to me being human was unnerving. I suppose if you live with enough different species, you get used to it. Either that or Martin really has been out and about all week. They pointed inside the barn at a pile of crated. I picked one up, glad to know that I could do so without much effort.

I started heading back towards town and waved goodbye to them. Not how I would've dealt with a thief, but I'm glad it happened that way. I didn't see anyone on the tail as I headed back to town. It was most likely nearing 4 or 5 p.m.. I couldn't really be sure though. Every once in a while I would hear something behind me and turn around. Of course there was nothing there when I did so. I just assumed one of the Apples was following to make sure I did what I was told.

If I had to guess I would say it would be Applebloom. Since I didn't see her anywhere, and Big Mac definitely didn't seem like the sneaky type. I reached the town's first ring when I ran into some trouble. There was a group of stallions hanging out behind the condo's. When they saw me pass them with the crate they stepped in front of me.

"Hey there freak. Where did you get them apples?"

Freak? Have they seen themselves lately? One was a big earth pony whose coat was brown and mane was yellow. A horrible combination in my opinion. Another was a pegasus that had a grey coat and white mane. The third was a unicorn who had a pink coat and a red mane. I have no comment on that one.

"I got the apples from the orchard, imagine that."

I didn't make any sudden moves, I had already made the first error by stopping.

The pegasus spoke up, "Don't get clever with us Martin. We all know that you're in too deep. What I want to know is if you've been getting in deep with that slag of yours."

Woah woah woah. Talk about hostile environment. Not exactly what I expected from ponies.

"Okay first of all I'm not Martin. If you can't tell I have a beard and am much older. The name is Silver if you were interested. Secondly this isn't how you should be acting. You're citizens of Equestria, stand proud because of it. You don't need to be bad to look cool. You're already as cool as they come. And thirdly I hadn't realized that Martin was doing that kind of stuff."

I misjudged them for teenage punks around the age of 14-17. In reality they were probably between 19-21.

The pegasus seemed to be the leader as he was the only one talking, "Shut it freak. Who cares about your name. I think it's time you handed over that crate. Nice and easy now."

I wanted to back up, but that would further aggravate them. So instead I tried getting them to talk more, "You guys are horrible at this hold up thing. First of all its not even dark out yet. Your first error was simply talking to me instead of grabbing the box and running. I can forgive that since I look like a repeatable target who is more likely to be intimidated. After you realized you were wrong you should've either just backed off or charged me. You guys really need to learn how to do a proper hold up. How are you ever going to move up to the bigger stuff?"

They all looked at each other confused. Which was good for me. A confused target is better than a pissed off target. Either way I wanted to avoid a fight. I had hoped someone would come and the presence would scare these guys away. However, no such luck.

The pegasus seemed to have enough of me, "Whatever you had your chance, get him boys."

I wish I could say I awesomely and heroically beat the crap out of the three, but I don't think that would be accurate. The unicorn launched a spell at me which moved somewhat slowly so I was able to move out of the way. The earth pony took me by complete surprise. I thought he would have struck at me with his hoof or something. Kind of like a punch, but more of a kick.

Instead he wrapped his mouth around my leg and bit down, hard. I yelped in pain as he crunched on my leg. In the heat of the moment I brought the crate smashing down on his head. The sturdy box broke over his head and he let me go. Apples scattered out of the ground, and most of them rolled out of sight. He fell to the ground either knocked out or thoroughly dazed. I felt the pain in my leg, but oddly I felt pain in my stomach too. Luckily it was more of a shock wound then an actual bad one.

Before the fight could escalate any further a voice shouted out.

"What's going on back there?!"

The pegasus and unicorn looked at each other and split. They left their friend on the ground knocked out cold. There was trotting from the direction of the voice, and my savior popped into view. I nearly fell when I saw her,

"A-Applebloom?"

"Are you alright Mr. Silver? Mah sis said I should follow you just in case. Ah didn't know that this would happen. Wait… how did y'all know my name?"

I shook my head chuckling inside my head, "Martin mentioned you. I think I'm fine though, might have a bit of trouble walking though."

After I said that I felt something smack the back of my head. I reached behind me and grabbed the staff. I had forgotten I put it back there to carry the crate.

I just grumbled at it, "This doesn't mean I forgive you."

I propped myself up with it and looked back down at Applebloom. She was so tiny it hurt. Or maybe it was the blood loss. Regardless I just wanted to pick her up and squeeze her. I didn't think she would appreciate it though.

"Well now Sugar Cube Corner won't get their apples. Guess I'll have to go back and tell your sister about what happened."

Applebloom bounced up and down, "Don't worry Mr. Silver, Ah can tell her. You should probably get some help with that there leg."

Oh you think? I was just going to let it bleed for awhile. I didn't say that and I don't think I would even if I was in a horrible mood. Instead I said,

"I know where to go, you just get home before it gets late and those guys decide to come back."

Applebloom looked as if she wanted to stay, but I shooed her off. I moved as quickly as I could to the inner rings, which I assumed was safer than the back of the outer ring. I limped all the way back to the library and busted through the door. Twilight was in the main room, but I didn't see Martin anywhere.

Twilight did a double take when she saw me. When she noticed my leg she gasped,

"Socrates what happened? Are you alright? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

I mentally face palmed. I was going to regret using that name at some point I just knew it.

"First of all my name isn't actually Socrates. I just made that up. My name is actually Silver if you were interested. I don't think I need to go the hospital, but I should probably clean and wrap this before it gets infected. You wouldn't happen to have the stuff for that would you?"

Thankfully she did have a first aid kit. Considering that it was a pony that bit me I was lucky the wound wasn't so deep. Then again the face was a bit different, maybe the jaw was less powerful. Once my wound was cleaned and wrapped I laid back on the couch.

Twilight sat (laid?) down on the couch with me and said, "So where were you today? I thought I was going to show you around."

"Well when I woke up I decided that I probably needed new clothes. Oh which reminds me, Rarity has some for me."
Twilight looked at me questioningly, "Where did you get the money?"

I said, "Let's just say she owed me a favor. Anyways after that she gave me this cloth for temporary clothing. After that I met a mare by the name of Roseluck."

Twilight interrupted my story saying, "Is that the mare who runs the flower stand?"

I nodded, "Yep, she was pretty chill."

Twilight interrupted me again, "Chill?"

I shrugged, "Means relaxed. It used to be a popular slang term, I think its fallen out of use. I'm bad at keeping up with the times. I just use it because I like it. Any--"

Twilight interrupted me for a third time, "I'm the same. I mean with keeping up with what's considered cool."

I gave her my best disapproving glare, "Do you want to hear my story or not?"

Twilight just blushed and nodded. I spent some time telling her about the rest of my exploits of the day. When I got to the part with Applejack she couldn't help, but laugh. I patiently waited for her fit to end before continuing. When I finished telling my story she got off the couch.

"Well sounds like you had an interesting day. You need to stay off of that leg for a little bit though."

I protested that it wasn't that bad, but Twilight just held up a hoof.

"Do I need to tie you down?"

I just mumbled, "Kinky… Always the clever ones."

Twilight's ear twitched, "Did you say something?"

I put my hands behind my head and laid back, "Nothing, nothing at all."

Twilight nodded, "I thought so. Well I guess you can stay another night. Tomorrow though I want you here in the morning. I can't just let an alien wander around."

"To be fair, none of the ponies really seemed freaked by me."

"They already dealt with Martin, so you shouldn't be much of a problem. I'm going to bed now. If you want you can pick out something to read. I'll send a letter to Pinkie about what happened to the apples."

Sleep? I looked at the clock and it wasn't even past 9 p.m.. She trotted upstairs and I made sure no to watch her go. I looked around the library for a good book to read. There wasn't much that looked interesting to me. Lots of the books were about history or some sort of science. I definitely didn't want to read about math. I did find something that did catch my eye though.

"Grizzle's beginner guide to the unicorn foal. Huh. A guide book to magic? Why not."

I opened the book and began to read. It was actually pretty interesting. It definitely wasn't beyond beginner though. Grizzle never described magic as more than a deep energy. Something that you pull from inside. It did interest me to know that all creatures of Equestria used magic in some way. Obviously unicorns could use magic much more freely than other beasts though.

Pegasi used magic in their wings to control the air around them. It was also how they moved the clouds around. Apparently they were able to collect air under their wings and then launch it. Earth ponies were pretty obvious. They didn't use magic actively, but passively. It was more like a muscle stimulant that made muscle growth nearly 3 times faster. It also acted like a second shot of adrenaline, giving them an extreme boost of energy and strength in danger. That was on top of regular adrenaline too.

Dragons were also pretty standard. The magic protected their bodies from their own fire breath. It didn't actually create the fire though. Sadly this book didn't mention how the fire was made. Apparently dragons also had the ability to freeze other living creatures with their eyes. I wasn't too sure about that one.

Griffons were very interesting. They used magic in several different ways. They didn't have magic in their wings, as their wings could support their bodies. They could use magic to change how much their body weighed though. Making for some very interesting results. They also empowered their roars with magic, instilling fear in anything in hearing distance.

I was moving on to Diamond Dogs when I felt my eyes droop. I set the book down on an end table by the couch and laid down. I was kind of disappointed not to have a blanket, but eventually exhaustion put that thought out of my mind.

At some point Twilight or Martin came down and draped a blanket over me and put a pillow under my head. However I was too tired to realize who was there. The footsteps seemed a bit on the light side though. After they left through the front door I drifted back asleep.

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I literally can't bring myself to stop writing. I've stopped everything else in favor of it. My laptop has managed to literally burn me I've been using it so long. I need to get away from this for a little while. I'm going to watch something. Maybe actually get something to eat.