Elements of Foregiveness part 1: Honesty

The rest of the day hadn’t been as eventful. He still got the occasional glare, though most of the time Applejack simply seemed to be trying to figure out what he was trying to hide. As soon as he had moved away from the situation, and started to simply move through his day, he was able to get his composure back. The tears were gone, he was able to talk in full sentences, and he could actually look in other pony’s eyes. Hokey Smokes had been told that he should get ready for the next day, which involved looking at the orchard to see where it was that he needed to be to be able to help. Applejack had followed him around, obviously still not completely trusting him. Trust was something that was earned, not given, so he knew that it might take a while for her to do more than simply want him to leave. And I’m not going to have to put in that time. It won’t be long before I’m able to leave here and go to the next town. Maybe a second performance at Manehattan will be enough to get some bits together to get myself some food for a longer journey. Canterlot seems to be a good place, there seems to be enough ponies there to feed me for a while. They’re also quite easily amused.

The day ended with a nice meal, which he was given a small portion of, and then he was told exactly where he would be staying for the remainder of the job. It might have seemed rude to a lot of ponies, to stay on the floor, but it was something more than simply staying outdoors. There was a lack of a threat, a lack of cold, and a lack of the rain that started in the middle of that very night. Whoever designed the first roof gets my thanks. This is definitely better than getting rained on, even laying under a tree isn’t this good. Eyes had opened a few times, mostly when the rain started to get louder. This would be when he would normally try to find a cave, so it was just a bit of habit that he knew he wouldn’t need to break. I’ll have to go back to getting used to that after I leave here. I can’t possibly rely on the kindness of other ponies; they can’t all randomly invite strangers into their home. Most of them would have likely done something about the theft, too. These ponies are just… nicer.

Logically, he was right. The village of Ponyville didn’t seem to run on logic, though. This was a lesson that Hokey Smokes would likely have difficulty learning.

-The next morning-

Aside from the few times when he was awoken by the rain, which hadn’t affected him much, the entire night was peaceful. It was a change to get up at sunrise, a terrible change by his opinion, but it happened. Applebloom had been sent in, she seemed to be the one who was the kindest speaking of the ponies that he had met there. Actually, none of them seem so bad. At least I know that I’m not going to get maimed by any of them. Big Mac doesn’t seem violent, and Applejack seems to be putting aside her own dislike for the time being. The elderly mare, whose name I still don’t know, might as well be a grandmother. She’s nice enough to be. I wish she was. That might be nice. Aside from the time, it wasn’t particularly pleasant to be awoken by having the same apple core being thrown at his head. That might have been some sort of joke, at his expense no doubt, because of the events of the prior day. If it was intention, and if that really was the apple of yesterday as it seemed, then it was probably a good sign. That was what he was going to tell himself, anyway.

It made him feel better about himself, anyway.

Breakfast came and went; it was filled with the delicious apples. Hokey Smokes didn’t even pay attention to any of the conversation; his focus was on the apples. They tasted so good; he didn’t need to partake in any conversation that might ruin it. The only other explanation was that everypony was talking between themselves, as none of them actually tried to get his attention until breakfast was over. At that point, Applejack walked up to him and tapped his shoulder with her right hoof. He had just started to think about what the day would entail, how he would have to work hard to keep up with the ponies that did this on a normal basis. A shake of his head, and then he turned to look at the mare that had tried to get his attention. He put a smile on his face, this time not having to put as much effort into forcing it on there. The prior day had left a lot of room for improvement, though, so it hadn’t taken much to make him happy. There was the lodging that had solid walls, the good apple meal, and even the company of some nice ponies.

“Ah reckon Ahm gonna be the one that see how much work ya can do.”

“I hope I meet expectations.”

“Hmmm.” A hoof was put on her chin; obviously she was going to say something. “Ah don’t know about that. Twilight showed some awesome magic when she helped.”

There was that name again. Hokey Smokes felt worse with each passing day, yet he couldn’t bring himself to track her down to apologize. He couldn’t even bring himself to talk about her, not yet. Was this what horrible guilt was like? I really wish I could just move on. Maybe I should go find her. As she had said it, there was a flinch and a turn. It was obvious that he was going to be compared to Twilight, but that was actually the lesser of the evils that had to do with the purple pony. Regardless, another few moments passed because he could plaster the smile on his face and look back at Applejack. “I’ll do my best, Ma’am.” With those words, it was obvious that he was trying to lower expectations from Twilight. He would try his best, but there seemed to be a gap that he couldn’t possibly traverse. How could he be expected to do something like that? How could he be expected to be as good as a unicorn that seemed to have no problem performing all sorts of spells effortlessly?

“We’ll see.”

That seemed ominous, but Hokey Smokes didn’t quite know how to respond. He gave a nod, and then he started to follow behind her. It didn’t take a genius to realize that there was a certain order to do things. If this was an organized effort, such as would be expected from the name Applebuck Season, they would likely start at one place and move to the other side. That was the only thing that made sense in his mind, after all. When they stopped in the middle of one section, though, it became obvious that he was wrong. Well, alright, so it’s a good thing that I’m not working full-time for any orchard. If this is the way they do things, I’d have gotten it horribly wrong on my own. And that doesn’t take into account the fact that I’m likely not as quick as they are. The hoof to his side got his attention, and Applejack rolled her eyes as she noticed that he had actually jumped at the soft touch. If things were going to get any worse, Hokey Smokes had no idea how.

“Alright, ahm gonna be takin down the apples near yours. Ah need to see just how good ya can do.”

That makes perfect sense. “Alright. I’ll do my best to not slow you down too much.” Only a fool would think that they could keep up with one of the people who worked there normally. Hokey Smokes was going to be trying this with magic, of course, so it might be something that could be the big equalizer. If my horn wants to cooperate with me today, it might mean something. If it is anything like yesterday, I’m going to be passed out before lunch. Oh well, let’s hope it doesn’t end with me passing out. “Let’s see how this goes.” He knew that he was being watched, but that only made him more determined. Yesterday, he might have tried to simply move the whole trees worth of apples. That wasn’t the right way, he knew it. Roughly half of the apples soon had a glow around them, and then they were pulled down to the basket. That should have been something that was simple, yet it wasn’t. Hokey Smokes was putting his all into it, yet he was still only able to move those with considerable effort.

“Magic just ain’t yet strong suit is it?” Applejack might have been trying to make a clever joke, break the ice, but it only made him push himself harder. Any hint of conversation was gone for the next few hours, with Hokey Smokes doing his best to focus on the task at hand. He wasn’t as fast as Applejack, who stopped keeping up with him after a while and just continued. The hours that passed were enough to make sure that he thought about how he had gotten here. The only thing that stopped him from continuing past the afternoon was his own need for something to drink. It turned out that he wasn’t the only one who thought that was, as Applejack brought him an apple juice to help him keep going. “I should be able to do more. I know I used to be able to do a lot more.” The words slipped out without him thinking about it, but it wasn’t the end of what was being said. “Imagine what would happen if you woke up one day, and suddenly your legs were just plain weaker… for no reason.”

After that, he went back to work. Hokey Smokes hadn’t intended to make it sound bad, but the thing she had said earlier was still resonating with him. His mark was one of magic; his skill had been the craft that he could now barely do. By the end of the day, he felt like he needed to pass out. His skill with magic wasn’t going to cut it tomorrow, not if he wanted to keep up with anyone else. There was no chance that he was going to be able to buck them with his hind legs, though, which meant that he was really without any choice. Hard work would reward him with apples that were really the only thing that kept him going. The day was just about over when Applejack came walking up beside him. “I ain’t gonna bug ya about the story yet, but I wanna know what ya meant. What do ya mean that ya used to be able to do a lot more than ya can now?”

That wasn’t a subject that he liked to talk about. I was the one that brought it up, though. It would be terribly rude of me if I didn’t say anything. And she hasn’t exactly been all that rude today. A breath was taken, the words were collected in his head, and then he looked right into her eyes. “I was almost hornless, you know. It started when I got attacked by that Ursa Minor. I was able to do only so much, but… it swiped at my head. Before it took my horn off, I was powerful. Have you heard of Trixie Lulamoon?” A smile covered his face as he remembered when he ran into her, it was one of her stage shows. He didn’t even notice the glare when he brought up the name Trixie, nor would it have mattered. “She tried to embarrass me, and she failed.” The smile faded almost as quickly, the dawning that such a thing wouldn’t happen came to mind. “I doubt that would ever happen again, though. All because of that Ursa.” It wasn’t a happy story, and it led into what he was going to tell her later, but it was something that had to be told. “That happened before… well, before the things that led me here.

I’ll tell you about that later.”

That wasn’t the type of thing that brought about a smile to her face, but it was obvious that he wasn’t budging. A grumble was heard, Applejack started to walk back to the house. It would have been a good idea for him to do the same, but there was something that needed to be done. Hokey Smokes focused all of his strength into his horn, and he tried to lift a whole trees worth of apples to put them in the buckets. They started to move, though slowly, and then they all fell as he collapsed on the ground. Another day, another time where Hokey Smokes finds a way to make sure that he passes out onto the ground. He knew that he should have been able to do that, but something was wrong. Why couldn’t he do this? Perhaps all he needed was time, he seemed to be gaining back a small portion of his strength each and every day.