Herbal was just luckily in time for his shift, he dismissed the dream he had the previous night, he nearly never had nightmares anyway. "Alright, time to try this new apple picking technique!" Herbal puts on a pair of flight goggles, "I hope this works." He starts running in circles as fast as he can around all of the trees in a running of the leaves fashion, as he picks up speed, the apples get yanked off the branch. Within ten minutes about thirty trees were bare of their apples, and a few rotten leaves to boot. "Guhh...I'm only doing that once a day, for certain" He grabs one of the bins of apples, and starts carrying them to the barn, the walk itself is pleasant, even if he has fifty pound of apples on his back. He's rather happy with his job, he always did appreciate local business to national ones.

"Mister Dust!" A certain three mischievous fillies jump up and surprise him on his third trek to the barn, causing him to drop his current load of apples. "Sorry..." They groaned with sincerity,

"Didja get that mint we asked for mister Dust? We even got some bits to give you!" Applebloom stated as she gathered several bits each from her friends.

"Of course I did girls, here." Herbal presents them with a small sprig of mint leaves "five... Seven... Ten bits!? Where did you girls get this kind of cheese? Wait, let me guess, you all whined at your sisters until you got it, right?" He falsely blames. They all seem to deflate at the discovery of their seemingly flawless plan, only for dust to start laughing. "You girls are always so silly."

That can't possibly blow up in their faces. He wonders sarcastically as they canter off Herbal collects the spilled apples, it's just a little before lunch time, maybe he could help granny make a pie before heading out for his lunch break

As Herbal enters the little farmhouse, that SOMEHOW accommodate two sisters, a brother, and a senior "Oh hello there Dust, ah was just wonderin' where you were, hopin' you could help me make some apple cinnamon pie" Granny Smith greets, while she is preparing the ingredients.

For it Herbal responded, "I'm glad I could help Granny" and they set in the short process of, mix, set, cut, mix, fill, cover, bake, remove, mix, set, cut, mix, fill, cover, bake, remove, mix, set, cut, mix, fill, cover, bake, remove. After about ten minutes they had about three pies ready, "Hey, Granny, do you mind if I ask you about something?"

Granny gave him a gentle look "Go ahead deary, Ah reckon I could answer just about anything you wanna know"

"How do you think ponyville has changed since you were younger?" Herbal felt almost uncomfortable asking, but still hoped she answered his question.

"Well, ah reckon you get paid a whole lot better than ya get these days, why back in my day we used to get a stale loaf of bread and half an apple, and we were glad for it" She goes to the living room to sit down "ah'd also say it was more fun te be outside, the sun seems a lot brighter these day, hehe, that might just be ma old eyes gettin' sensitive" She rubs eyes and puts on a set of shades, making her look crazy cool. "Ah'd also have to admit, society is a lot more tolerant of them homosexuals and what not, back in my day, Bein' like that gotcha run outta town...

Sigh
...still does in the towns further away from canterlot accordin' to my writin' buddies. It's a real shame, ya still dare not be open about it here though, ah never had anything against it but ya'll still get beat up about it."

"Yea, it's a real shame," Herbal stated, "I'm not like that, I just feel bad for all those ponies that have to hide it."

"Oh would you look at the time, I've got to go eat!" Granny and Herbal said their goodbyes and went about their days. On his way out Herbal walked past three disappointed looking fillies, all covered in black stuff and smelled of singed fur.

"What's wrong girls? Cutie mark crusaders teleportation potion makers didn't work out?" The nod silently as they walk past. "I can't believe it actually blew up in their faces!" he almost said aloud, which most certainly would have not only hurt them, but gotten him fired.

Herbal sat at a small table in sugar cube corner, the one he usually sits at, the waiter and co-owner of the store comes to greet him. "Hello and welcome to sugarcube corner-" he stops and looks at Herbal "you're the one that saved me at the bar last night! What are you having, lunch? It's free today, I owe it to you for helping me." States the now familiar looking yellow stallion. He marks down Herbals order and trot off to the kitchen.

Moments later a the stallion comes back with Herbals order, a hay and cucumber sandwich, some chai tea and a cupcake. "Thank you, I'm starved, hehe" he slowly starts to eat his food, he passes a glance at the window once and again, absentmindedly watching passing ponies go about their day to day business, a donkey with a totally fresh hair-do, the mayor doing mayoral stuff and few school kids following who he assumed was a school teacher. he was nearly finished with his lunch when he noticed a bit on the floor, "Ha, money in the bank..." He stands up, before he leaves the waiter comes up to him,

"Hey, my name is Carrot Cake, me and my wife own Sugarcube sorner, if you ever need a favour, just call on me and I'll help out"

"Thanks, I doubt I'll ever need that favour though," Herbal had an extra five minutes to get back to the farm, He always did.

With his spare time he would walk near the edge of the everfree forest, he never did see what everyone was afraid of. The creatures inside rarely came out and when the did it was because they need the assistance of the town veterinarian, Fluttershy. Whenever Herbal could he would wave to Fluttershy on his way to the farm. She wasn't around for the little ritual, so he continued onward.

"Hmm... 'Bout time I got back" Herbal begins his job again, buck the tree, collect the apples, carry the bin to the barn, simple as that. He usually lets his mind wander while he works, his mind dotted from point to point, what he would eat for dinner, how much extra he might get paid if he took on another ten trees for the family, or even what would happen if he started to rant about nonsensical things in the town square, like the planet going around the sun instead of the correct way around. "Ha, no way that one could be trueñ" He mumbles. On his way to the barn, he realizes, he's been thinking and working for the last six hours.

"Looks like my day is done, maybe I'll grab myself a cool refreshing glass of circletine when I go to the bar..." Herbal goes to the same tavern almost everyday, ever since the five drink limit, he is able to pay for it. He knows he could just go to one of the other more grungy places, like The Waterhole, that place was a dump, watered down cider for twice the price, a brawl every ten minutes, and asshole staff. At his usual hangout,'The hoedowning Humanl' the place is almost spotless, the fight last night was the first in weeks, and the bartender who owned the place was a pleasant fellow.

For now it was time to celebrate his end of the day routine. "It's about time I left, I've been working all day" Herbal orients himself in the general direction if the tavern, not noticing a shadowy figure step out from an alley way to his left.

Tap Tap Herbal turnes around to see a very familiar looking stallion, he very rudely gets all up in Herbals grill, like, he's flippin' veggie burgers on His face that's how close he was, and shouts, "You owe me twenty bits jackass!"

"Listen bud, I don't know what the hell you were thinking, but betting isn't a smart thing to do if you're dru-" Herbal is suddenly interrupted by seeing the stallions rear legs, "shit" was all he could say before getting bucked directly in the face.

Author's Note

Lol cliffhanger

Also I legitimately have no idea how to make pie,

the second chapter is finished
don't be too mean