Finding Freedom

I woke up as soon as the sun rose. Last night had reminded me that I currently did not have a bit to my name. I didn't really want to spend all day bucking apples, but hey it was better than McDonalds. I would rather work out in nature any day then back at that place. So I reluctantly got up and walked out the door.

The sun greeted me, shining in my face as I walked towards Sweet Apple Acres. I wasn't used to getting up this early. A foul smell hit me as I walked. It didn't help when I realized that the foul smell was me. I hadn't bathed or anything since Rarity had me model. Well to late to do anything about it now. Besides I was about to get all sweaty. The road took was longer then I had first thought, but eventually I reached a gate that had the words, Sweet Apple Acres, written across it.

I walked through it and soon I could see a large red barn. Applejack was standing outside it talking to Big Mac as he hitched himself to a plow. I walked towards them ready to begin the day. Now that I got a look at him, Big Mac was huge. He was only a few inches taller than me, but his legs were almost pure muscle. I made a mental note never to mess with any of the Apple family. I did not ever want to get into a fight with him.

AJ spotted me first, "Oh hey there Silver! Why don't ya come over here. I'll intorduce you to ma brother Big Macintosh. He's the eldest on this here farm. Applebloom is 'round here somewhere. She's the youngest. Big Mac this here is Silver, He's gonna help me buck apples."

Knowing what would come next I couldn't help but think it as well, "Eeyup."

He held out a hoof to me. I didn't really want to shake it, lest I fall on my face. So I knocked my hoof against his, a real brohoof. He didn't even give me a second glance as he walked off with his plow.

AJ nudged me and I followed her, baskets were already set out under trees. Apparently that was Applebloom's job. AJ led me to a tree that was prepped for bucking.

"Now let's see what y'all got."

In response I turned and hit the tree with my hind legs. I barely even hit the tree, much less knock apples down. AJ stifled a laugh and told me to try again. In response I pulled the trick that I had yesterday and used my wings to push air up at the apples. I smiled with satisfaction when all the apples flew upwards. I then frowned when I realized what was going to happen.

All the apples started to fall and smashed against the baskets. Most split open, and those that didn't probably got bruised real bad.

"Now look what y'all did."

"Um… Oops?"

"Darn right oops, maybe next time y'all think before acting. This is the same reason I kicked Rainbow off ma farm."

I walked up to a different prepped tree and tried a different tactic. Instead of throwing air up at the apples, I just pushed some as hard as I could against the trunk of the tree. It had the desired effect as most of the apples fell into the baskets. I looked back at AJ who nodded,

"Well it ain't perfect, but it'll do. Now you can just work as long as you like, when your done you can go to Granny Smith and She'll pay you for the apples you bring in. You’re the only worker today so you can just put your baskets in front of the barn door."

"Wait, then were not bucking together?"

She either missed the double entendre, or choose to ignore it, "Nah, I'll be in the market today."

With that she walked away and left me alone. Right now would have been a great time for my ipod to have come with me. The work was tiring, apparently throwing around powerful burst of air took a lot out of a pony. I continued at it for a good hour straight. Getting the apples down wasn't really the hard part. It was bringing the baskets back to the barn that really hurt. I had to grab each basket separately with my mouth and carry it. It wasn't that bad, but after a few hours my neck was killing me.

Applejack was right, the pay wasn't very good, but it was honest work. For every basket I brought back I got one bit. I don't know the exact conversion rate, but here's how I figured it out. A muffin that would probably cost about 2 dollars cost 5 bits. Every tree I 'bucked' gave about 5-6 baskets. It only took me a total of 5 seconds to rid a tree of its apples, but taking the baskets back to the barn took me a good 15 minutes, depending on where in the farm I was. So I made about 20 bits per hour, or about 8 dollars per hour. That was about what I made working at McDonalds, but I didn't have to pay taxes here.

I worked for a good 5 hours that day, from about 7 to 12. I got my pay from Granny Smith, and she just complained about unorthodox methods of bucking. Laughing at the double entendre, I carried my little pouch of bits back to the library. Twilight was sitting in the main room with Rarity chatting away. I walked in and Twilight turned around to see if I was actually someone going to the library.

"Oh hello Silver, I'm surprised your awake already. What's that?" She pointed to the pouch that was around my neck clinking with my necklace.

"That's the money I got from working on the farm. Here." I tossed the pouch on the table.

"What's this for?"

"Well you told me I had to carry my own weight."

"I didn't mean for you to give me all your money."

"Well I don't really need it. What would I buy with it?"

"Well I don't know, a nice suit? Or maybe some food?"

I gave her a blank stare, "I'm a pony, I don't wear clothes and I can eat grass." I had discovered that useful bit on my way to Morkar's tower. It didn't taste great, but hey it's free food.

Rarity spoke up, "I quite agree, we shouldn't cover something so delicious up." Saying this she gave me a once over.

When she saw the look I gave her she laughed, "I'm joking darling."

Twilight looked thoughtful, "Well you could always take Fluttershy out."

I sighed, "Were just friends, that's all."

"It didn't seem like that yesterday."

"Just give it time, she'll eventually realize that I'm not right for her."

"You are the weirdest pony I have ever met. It's like you don't want yourself to be happy. Besides can't a friend take out a friend?"

"I suppose, but not today. It's still about 12:30 and I'm going to nap for awhile. Wake me up in a few hours. I need to go to Fluttershy's place later."

With that I walked up the stairs. I walked out onto the balcony and for a little bit I just laid down. As I drifted off I realized I hadn't seen Lunar in awhile.

I was woken up by Twilight shaking me lightly, I'm surprised she didn't just yell at me.

"I was just dreaming about you…"

"Ugh… Can't you just be normal for a little while?"

"Now that is a word that isn't in my vocabulary. Well it is if referring to the difficulty of something."

"Right, well its around 3. I figured that by a few hours you meant 2."

"Oh yeah thanks. Well I'll just be on my way."

"I packed you a little something to eat…"

As if it knew that food had been mentioned my stomach choose that time to rumble.

"For when you get to Fluttershy's house. "

"Well it's nice to know you care so much about me."

"Well I was trying to be nice! Although you probably wouldn't understand that."

I gave her a sideways glance, "Seriously though, thanks. It really is nice to know that you care."

She blushed, "I just wanted to help."

"Still, thanks."

"Before you go you may want to uh... freshen up. You don't exactly smell great."

Uh oh, "Well i don't really know how to use the wash room."

"Oh that's easy, follow me."

She led me into the washroom, and i looked around. There was a a raised up area that had drains on the floor. Two shower heads poked out of the wall. There was a mirror with a sink under it. next to it two taps were right next to each other pointing outwards.

"Right, now first is the shower. These two knobs here control the two heads on the wall. This one will activate the top head and that will shoot out a stream of water. This other knob will activate the bottom head, and that will shoot out a stream of soap. Once your done with that you come over here."

She led me to the large sink and the two odd spouts.

"These spouts are for cleaning out your mouth. This one here will shoot a type of soap that cleans your mouth, and erodes any food in your teeth. This one will just shoot out water. You can use the sink to spit out the soap and water. That's about it, well for a guy anyway."

I did the weird shower thing, and brushed my teeth without actually brushing them. I felt much better, and clean. I shook myself as dry as i could and headed out.

I walked into the main room, and sure enough there was a basket covered with a blanket on the table. My sack of coins had vanished, but I didn't worry about it. I never cared about money, why start now. Reluctantly I grabbed the basket in my mouth and I set off to Fluttershy's house.

Once again I found myself walking down the familiar road. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something I had forgotten. Something important that I had wanted to do. Oh well, if it really was important it would come back to bite me later. I once again approached the hobbit house that Fluttershy called home.

Before I could knock on her door, I heard Fluttershy in the back. I walked around the house to get a better look. She was hovering slightly above the ground with her back to me. A small bird was flying in front of her. Fluttershy was singing to the bird in a lovely voice. When she stopped the bird would repeat the verse.

I put the basket down and leaned against the house. I listened to her voice as she sung to the bird, and I couldn't bring myself to interrupt her. She kept this up for awhile, until the sad moment came when she stopped.

She cooed at the bird, "Very good Mr. Humming Bird. I'm sure by the next event, you'll be one of the top singers."

Now that she had stopped I was able to speak up, "That was beautiful." I couldn't think of anything witty to say, so I simply stated what I felt.

Fluttershy squeaked when she realized I was there.

"You should sing more often, I know I would like to hear you do so."

"Oh… um… thanks…"

"You're welcome. Before we start… Are you hungry?"

I think that in Equestria stomachs know when food is mentioned. Hers responded for her and she blushed.

"Well Twilight happened to pack me a late lunch. Would you care to join me?"

"Oh if Twilight made it for you then I couldn't possibly…"

"Nonsense! Besides I think she made it for the both of us. She seems to fancy herself as a matchmaker."

Fluttershy said nothing, but flew over and landed next to me. With an unnecessary flourish I lifted the blanket from the basket. I spread it across her lawn and motioned for her to sit down. As she did so I began pulling out things from the basket. Twilight had definitely packed for two. All kinds of things were in the basket. First I pulled out a few flower sandwiches. I was pretty sure these were different than the ones I had before, but to me a sandwich with any kind of flower in it will be a flower sandwich. We ate in silence. I was just enjoying her presence, and didn't really feel like doing anything.

There were some other things in the basket, but I didn't feel like getting them. One was what may have been a bottle of wine, but I wasn't sure. There was also a book inside, I laughed at that. Of course Twilight would pack me a book. I just laid down on the blanket and let my eyes close. After a little while Fluttershy laid down next to me and drifted off to sleep. In a moment of inspiration I lifted my wing and placed it over her. She smiled in her sleep and moved closer to me.

As I laid there I couldn't help but have that feeling again. I was forgetting something very important. It was like a very far away light. I could barely see it, not enough to make out what it was, but I knew it was important somehow. I pushed these thoughts to the back of my head and just enjoyed the moment. I was still tired from working on the farm, and eventually I fell asleep.
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AN; Writing this story has made me realize something. If I could I would just write things like this my entire life. Sadly I don't think I'm good enough to become an author and support myself with that. Hopefully when I get out of the force I'll still be as creative as I am now.