I was The Wanderer: Brothers of The Wastes

9:06 A.M

After walking through town and seeing some friendly faces, me and Scootaloo finally arrived at the farm. Once there, we were greeted by Mac, he lost an arm wrestling match, causing him to lose his title as the strongest stallion in town, plus he wasn't tall to begin with so calling him Big Mac was out and it was also the fact that his nickname is from The McDonald's fast food.

Anyway, he gave us the baskets and asked me why was Scoots with me and not in School. I answered with the one thing I could come up with.

“Because I can.” I answered him. He looked at and then at Scoots, then back to me and then Scoots again, fortunately she wasn't me and I'm not her, that would've caused some problems.

“Fine, but if my lil’ Sis asks me to do the same, I'm blaming you.” Mac said as he walked off towards his side of the field.

I shook my head as me and Scoots grabbed the baskets and went towards our side of the field, seeing Applejack along the way and receiving the same question.

Finally arriving at the far side, I dropped the baskets and climbed up the tree while Scoots flew up to a branch.

“Why can't you kick the trees like AppleJack, again?” Scootaloo asked as she started picking apples.

“On my first day on the job, I tried kicking a tree and it ended up making the tree embed itself on the barn. I paid for the damage and helped but they didn't want it to happen again, so I'm playing it safe.” I answered as I took hold of the trunk with my right arm and grabbed a branch with my left, then proceeded to shake the branch, causing the apples to fall.

Scootaloo saw this and flew down, then started picking up the fallen apples.

I smiled as I looked down at her. To think that she was an abused filly breaks my heart but seeing her smile fixes it back up. The first few weeks since her parents trial, she was scared, sadden and heartbroken by the revelation of what her father would've done if she hadn't ran away.

I postponed my date with Twilight, any meetings with the local newspaper and spent the entirety of those weeks with Scootaloo. Of course at one point I had to leave for important matters, like signing an adoption form. She needed a family and I'm determined to be a real fatherly figure to her.

Which bring us back to now, ever since I told her of the adoption papers I signed she had started calling me dad from time to time. When I had asked her why, she had answered that it right.

I heard the sound of wood snapping and looked to my left to see that the branch was falling off. I maybe sort of panicked a bit and let the branch go, causing me to lose my balance and fall down.

I felt my right leg get in between two branches and it managed to stop my fall, leaving me upside down with wide eyes.

I could hear the sound of laughter and saw that it was Scootaloo laughing at my clumsiness.

“Alright, alright, it's funny. Now please help me down.” I said to her. She stopped her laugh riot, leaving her giggling every second as she flew up and snapped one of the branches off.

Landing face first into the dirt wasn't what I had in mind but it'll do.

I placed my hands on the ground and pushed myself off the dirt, allowing me to spit out some grass that landed in my mouth. I sat on the dirt and dusted my face and a bit of my arms, chitin and dirt aren't a great match.

“Graaaassss, tastes bad!” I stated with grass in my hand.

“Pfft, you should know.” I heard Scootaloo say as she flew down to me. I quickly took hold of her, surprising her and started tickling her. It's very unfortunate for her that she is very ticklish.

“Hahahahaha, Stahp hahaha.” She said between laughs.

“You must face your punishment, now feel my wrath.” I said with a fake evil tone and earned another round of laughter from the filly in my arms.

After a minute of laughing, I stopped and held her in my arms as she returned the embrace.

“I love you, dad.” I heard her whisper. My lips formed a small smile.

“I love you too, Scoots and don't forget it, ever.” I said to her as I stroked her mane. I stood up after letting her go and started picking up the apples from the floor while Scoots did the same.

Once all the apples were in the basket, we moved onto the next tree and repeated the process for the next hour and a half.

10:42 A.M

“Done!” I heard Scoots shout out as I placed the last Apple in the basket.

“Good, now all we need to do now is put the baskets in the barn.” I explained to her as I picked up four baskets while she picked up two.

“Last-one there-is-a-filthy-Mole-Rat!” I shouted with incredible speed as I broke into a full sprint towards the barn. I looked back and saw that Scootaloo wasn't there and I was soon passed by an orange blur.

“No fair! You know I can't fly!” I shouted as I continued to run.

I arrived at the barn doors, panting like a dog in the middle of a heat wave and saw that Scootaloo placed her baskets inside.

“I win.” She declared. I weakly patted her shoulder as I was out of breath.

“You look like you're getting old~.” She said to me with a grin.

“Child, I'm older than you think.” I said between ragged breaths. It took a few seconds to get my breathing under control but that didn't stop Scootaloo from calling me old.

I walked inside the barn and saw Gob checking the apples near two buckets. Seeing as some of the townsfolk wouldn't hire him on account of what he is, I managed to get him a job here, in fact The apples were kind enough to let him stay in the guest room until he gets the bits to get a house. He wore a brand new white shirt with jean like overalls.

“Hey Gob.” I greeted the Ghoul.

“If it isn't my good ol’ Friend. How's it been, smoothskin?” He greeted as he tossed a rotten apple in the basket full of rotten apples.

“It was good, until Salvador decided to show his face. I can't look at him as long as he takes chems or drinks, so I'm hoping that Fluttershy could help him out of his addiction.” I said to him as I placed the baskets beside him.

“Why not use a Fixer on him?” Gob asked as he looked at a clean red apple and tossed it with the rest.

“He needs to prove himself that he can and will come out of this, if not, I'll leave to the Deathclaws.” I told him.

“I thought you took care of them a few weeks ago.” He said.

“Naw, just caved them in their nest.” I said as I looked outside and saw Scootaloo waiting on me.

“Listen, we'll catch up later. I have to go.” I told him as I walked towards Scoots, earning a wave from Gob.

I walked out with Scoots and caught up with both Mac and AppleJack.

“Sup, boss. You'll be happy to hear that I'm done.” I said to AppleJack. She chuckled as she walked into her home and a minute later she came out with a bag of bits and threw them at me.

I caught the bag and thanked her for the pay before heading back to town.

On the way, I counted the bits up to fifty and took out fifteen bits. I then gave those bits to Scootaloo.

“Here, this is for helping me out today.” I said to her as she took the bits and put them in her pocket.

“Thanks but you didn't need to give any bits, being with you is rewarding enough.” She said. I smiled at this as I picked her up with ease.

“And being with you is the most fun I've had in a really long time, the game of tag comes in a close second.” I said to her, giving her a peck on the cheek.

All of a sudden I heard somepony call out my name. I looked back and saw that it was Twilight and Fluttershy running towards me.

“Steel, you need to come quick. Salvador did something and now there's a vortex in Fluttershy’s home.” Twilight said to me. I looked over to Fluttershy.

“He didn't mean it, he found this and asked if it might be worth something.” Fluttershy said as she held out a familiar item.

“Alright, let's go.” I said to them as I started running to Fluttershy’s cottage.

When we made it to Shy’s cottage, I saw a strange woman holding Salvador down with his arm on his back.

“Well, there goes my normality out the freaking window.” I said to myself as I saw Harry laughing his fur covered ass off at the scene.