The sun was shining on Sweet Apple Acres one fine Saturday morning as Apple Bloom trotted about the dirt road that bordered the vast farm, a bucket of whitewash and a large paint brush in her mouth.
The yellow filly dropped the bucket and brush and sized up the fence that stood before Sweet Apple Acres. As she surveyed the fence, all gladness that the sunny day had brought to her spirit quickly evaporated into a deep melancholy feeling.
After all, in the eyes of Apple Bloom, the fence seemed to run on for miles upon miles. A worn, wooden structure that stretched itself to cover the tons of acres that the Apple family owned. To top it off, the fence stood at a towering five feet, mocking the small Apple Bloom with its sheer size
Life, it seemed, suddenly was hollow to the little filly. A beautiful Saturday like today, one she could easily spend crusading with her best friends, was now to be wasted on whitewashing a fence.
What rotten luck, Apple Bloom thought to herself.
With a lowly sigh, the filly dipped the paintbrush into the can of whitewash, and began to drag it across the lowest plank of the fence. It was a start, she thought. She repeated the action, and then surveyed the short work she had done. With some satisfaction settling into her heart, she glanced at the rather nicely-streaked plank of the fence she had created. Then her heart sank when her glance crossed upon the unpainted, brown section of the fence and sat down with a scowl. Only a few seconds into her work, and she was already discouraged by the sight before her.
Of course, Apple Bloom thought, it was her fault that she was standing before this colossal feat. Then again, she could easily pin the blame on Applejack for squealing to Big Macintosh only the day before. Even at her age, Applejack could find ways to be just as immature as her sister at times. Apple Bloom found it funny one time or another, how even she could best her big sister at some qualities. But the fact remained; AJ wasn't the one who was currently faced with painting a 40-yard section of unpainted fence.
For some time Apple Bloom sat, considering in her mind the reasons she had been forced to this task. However, the familiar sight of the purple and green dragon Spike meandering down the road quickly sparked the filly's interest. While he was usually quickly scampering to wherever he needed to go, his demeanor seemed much calmer and more relaxed as he passed by, whistling a gleeful tune that sounded something primarily of the "A" note.
Of course, Apple Bloom wouldn't know this. After all, she wasn't all that into that fancy-pants music nonsense.
As Spike casually made his way by, Apple Bloom found herself feeling almost jealous of Spike's work. After all, he was spending this fine Saturday doing anything... anything other than whitewashing a huge fence. Working for Twilight Sparkle, the most bookish mare in Ponyville, always seemed to be troublesome work in the eyes of a young filly. However, Apple Bloom would gladly take that work any day over what she currently was faced with.
Finally, with Spike not noticing her one bit, Apple Bloom decided to risk it.
"Hey Spike! Think I can try ma hoof at whatever ya'll are doin' while you whitewash for me?" Apple Bloom tried desperately to make the work sound inviting. She even slapped a glorious grin on her face to bring the performance home. However, Spike's uninterested expression showed his lack of interest. As if salt to the wound, Spike shook his head in refusal.
"Sorry Apple Bloom, but Twilight sent me on some real important...uh...errands today," Spike lied, displaying his lack of talent for producing an adequate pokerface.
"Errands? Now what kinda pony would send a dragon like you on errands on a Saturday?" Apple Bloom questioned, not interrogatively, but with a hint of surprise in her voice. This was a relief to Spike, but his trail of lies was to end here. After all, Apple Bloom still unwittingly found herself following that same trail.
"Well, that's Twilight for ya! Now I really gotta get going!" Spike said with a hurried tone, obviously trying to rid himself from the conversation before Apple Bloom found out what he was really doing. For all Twilight Sparkle could assume, he was probably off to just ogle at Rarity some more. Typical Spike.
Once again, Apple Bloom was alone in front of the fence again. The task seemed impossible to such a filly like her. Painting a fence, stretching 40 yards or so, no less? It was a mighty task itself, but the lack of help, even the lack of another’s voice, just made it worse.
Perhaps the worst part was that Applejack was intending on watching her for the whole day as she whitewashed the fence. However, as Apple Bloom worked her streaks of whitewash along the fence for a few moments, Applejack found herself content already with the toll in work that her sister had to pay.
Slowly, the energy that Apple Bloom began to build after each stroke broke down, thanks to her own darn brain. Thoughts of the fun she could be having was what clouded her thoughts most, and soon her sorrows multiplied. Soon, some of the other girls like Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon would come along and make a world of fun out of the fate Apple Bloom had been condemned to for the day. They had a Saturday all to themselves, while she sat here paying for a simple crime within the house.
In these dark moments in a tiny pony's life, one would think like a darkened sky, their spirits would stay clouded. However, sudden inspiration struck the downed filly!
Without any other thoughts, Apple Bloom slowly and delicately went back to work on the fence. Soon, one or two planks turned into three, then four. It was certainly slow, but the ideas that frothed in Apple Bloom's head like good cider were ready to be fulfilled. Currently, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon suddenly hove in sight, the very fillies that Apple Bloom dreaded the ridicule of. Not even twenty feet from them, and Apple Bloom could already spot the rotten grin that began to form on Diamond's prissy face. It was enough to crack a mirror.
"Well, look who's spending her Saturday painting a fence!" Silver Spoon was the first to strike, the lesser of two evils in the eyes of Apple Bloom. The filly, however, stood her ground and continued whitewashing the fence. Diamond Tiara, feeling cocky, decided to toss another insult her way.
"Of course she is! I guess the 'Crusaders' ran out of ideas. Who ever heard of a fence-painting Cutie Mark?" Diamond Tiara said with a snicker, knowing her blows' weight and how they should've made an impact. However, Apple Bloom continued her whitewashing and paid no mind to the two bullies.
The annoyed expressions on both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were clear indications that they were ready to turn it up a notch, when Tiara decided to try and break the silence with honest conversation...as honest as Diamond Tiara could possibly be, mind you.
"Well, looks like somepony is up a stump today..." Diamond Tiara quipped, clearly annoyed by the ignorance of her 'genius' work of insults. It wasn't like she expected her to react, but she at least wanted some kind of acknowledgment. After all, every bully knows that they can't take pride in their work without some work to show.
Apple Bloom surveyed her last touch with the eye of a Canterlot artist; then gave her brush another gentle sweep and surveyed the result, as before. For some odd reason that Apple Bloom couldn't figure out, it seemed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were suddenly intrigued by the action. Apple Bloom could finally spot that the two both wore saddle bags, likely containing items to pet their own egos, that were likely as large and pet-able as a fat cat by now.
"So...you have to work today?" Silver Spoon suddenly asked, surprisingly sounding like she was trying to strike normal conversation for once.
"Oh, Silver Spoon! Diamond Tiara! I didn't notice ya!" Apple Bloom said with a perfectly-faked smile and surprised emotion. It hurt her to actually do so, but showing resilience to the strikes by Tiara and Silver was good enough as it was. At this point, it was time to test her luck.
"Of course you didn't. You're too busy working, while Silver Spoon and I were going to the Ponyville Spa. Daddy's treat." Diamond Tiara said with a snicker. She knew she was playing the right game with a pony like this. She'd done it too many times before to fail this time around.
"...but you'd rather work than have a day of relaxation, right?"
Apple Bloom contemplated her response, and then finally spouted out what came to her mind first.
"...and what exactly do you call work?"
"W-...well, isn't that work right there? I see a brush, paint and a fence. That's work, right?" Diamond Tiara stuttered, trying to maintain her smug and upper-class stature and expression. Being shown-up, however, wasn't what she intended to be right now. Especially not by Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom resumed her work, and then answered a tad carelessly:
"Well, maybe it's work and maybe it ain't. All I know is, it suits me."
"Oh COME ON! You can't actually let on that you enjoy working!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed, her composure rather lost at the thought that anypony lower than her could enjoy work like painting a fence. It was ludicrous, ridiculous, inconceivable. However, here was a filly, claiming work suited her. What kind of insanity was this?
The brush continued to move methodically, Apple Bloom not seeming to notice Tiara's outburst at all. She was beginning to impress even herself with the composure she seemed to keep better than Diamond...
"Enjoy it? Well, I don't really see why I shouldn't. Does anypony get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"
Now, this put the situation in a whole new light. Both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were taken aback by the sudden theory this seemed to present. Carelessly working away, Apple Bloom continued the suddenly-simple work. Occasionally, she stepped back to observe her work, noting different painting effects she implemented. Every time she did, the two posh ponies would simply watch with interest. It seemed they were suddenly entranced by the brush's movement.
Suddenly, a voice asked:
"Hey Apple Bloom, can I paint it a bit?"
Diamond Tiara's expression suddenly blew open into one of shock and complete disbelief. Her very friend Silver Spoon...was actually asking to work? Diamond Tiara's tiny little brain couldn't possibly comprehend such a thought. It was overwhelming, shocking, disorienting. However, Apple Bloom's little head just ran cleverly as it ever had. She pondered the idea for a few silent seconds, and even was about to give consent, when she quickly changed her mind with a masked grin.
''No...no...I reckon it wouldn't hardly do, girls. Granny Smith is awful particular about this here fence...this side, at least. I don't think she would mind the back side, but this here side is just far too important to her and us Apple family...'' Apple Bloom said with a false thoughtful expression. She was beginning to think she was getting good at this lying thing. Her sis certainly wasn't...
''Is that so? Hmph...'' Diamond Tiara pushed-in, feeling as if the farm filly was acting like they were inferior to her. As anypony in Ponyville would know, no pony should ever make a pony in the 'Rich' family feel lower...
''Oh, please Apple Bloom? You know that I would let you do it if I were you!'' Silver Spoon begged, now feeling even more desperate in trying to take part in the whitewashing. After all, Apple Bloom's stress of particularism and such made it sound like the job was...well, more than just a plain old job. Almost as if it was...fun.
''Silver, you know I would if I could, but-...Ya see, Sweetie Belle wanted to do it, but Applejack wouldn't let her; Scootaloo wanted to do it and she wouldn't let Scoot. Ya see how I'm in a fix here?'' Apple Bloom lied perfectly, her tone maintained throughout.
After all, the real reason she was painting this fence was far from her wanting to do it. The true reason she'd been confined to the fence-painting on a Saturday was because Applejack finally caught her sneaking a good deal of sugar out of the sugar bowl. Apple Bloom held to her claim that it was for some sort of "Cutie Mark Crusader Bakers", but Applejack was sure it had nothing to do with that after remembering the last time Apple Bloom tried baking. Pinkie Pie never did get that batch of cupcakes sold. The poor, moldy souls...if a cupcake had a soul, of course.
However, Silver Spoon wasn't going to give up that easily.
"Oh, c'mon, I'll be careful. Just let me try once...How about I give you the core of this pear I have?"
Meanwhile, a certain local Ponyville "doctor" would've screamed in agony at the mention of pears. However, this offer was quite tempting to Apple Bloom, as pears were certainly a rare and delicious treat in town. Only the best for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon...
"Well, here-. No, Silver, now don't. I'm afeard-" Apple Bloom began, toying with her expressions as well as an experienced poker player. It was clear the two rich ponies weren't catching on...and the next exclamation proved it.
"I'll give you all of it!"
Apple Bloom gave up the brush with reluctance in her expression but alacrity in her heart. While the formerly-respectable Silver Spoon worked and sweated in the sun, the filly simply sat on a barrel in the shade close by, like a retired artist that had done a job well-done. Apple Bloom, the normally-innocent, was now fully prepared to slaughter some more innocents that came by with inquiring interests.
Of course, there was no lack of material. Fillies and colts alike would happen along every once in a while, came to jeer, but stayed to whitewash. By the time Silver Spoon was completely spent, Apple Bloom had already traded the next spot to Pipsqueak for a kite, in good repair, and when Pip played out Featherweight bought into the act, offering up a golden compass from who knows where-and so on, and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of then afternoon came, from being a poverty-stricken filly in the morning with such horrible work to brave through, Apple Bloom was literally rolling in wealth.
She had obtained, besides the above mentioned, a treasure trove of items. From the simplest of things, like marbles of different varying colors, to the most complex such as firecrackers and even bottle glasses to look through. To a simpleton like you or I, these would seem like trivial things. However, to a young spirit like Apple Bloom, they were treasures to brag about.
And of course, she had a nice, good, idle time all the while-plenty of company-and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If she hadn't run out of whitewash, every filly and colt in Ponyville would've been bankrupt of every possession by the end of the day.
All of the sudden, Apple Bloom realized it was not a hollow world after all. She had discovered, on this very simple Saturday afternoon, that to make anypony covet, or desire something, is to make it difficult to obtain. The refusal of such objects makes it more desired, and that desire could only lead benefits to her in the aspect of wealth. If she had been a great and wise philosopher, such as the great authors from the past like Filly Trotman, she would've realized that work consisted of what filly, colt, mare or stallion alike is obliged to do, and that Play consisted of any action that the body wasn't required, or obliged, to do.
There are wealthy business ponies who reside in Canterlot that freely purchase delicacies like wine or rare berries or travel in carriages about twenty or thirty miles a day because those privileges cost considerable money; but if they were to be offered wages for the service, that would mean it would be more like work than a privilege, and they would be sooner to resign than to consider working.
Apple Bloom mused a while over the changes that had taken place in her formerly-small world, failing to realize the magnitude of what she had discovered. Soon, after a while of consideration, she left her perch from under the shaded tree to report to Applejack on her 'work'.
Unknown to Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle had been grounded for the day after being involved in an ordeal regarding Rarity's dresses, and Scootaloo had been discovered snooping about Fluttershy's chicken coop for one reason or another, rendering her unusable in the farm filly's plans.
It appeared that this very work she had been assigned was the best possible thing she could've done today. Anypony could've taught her that...but learning the lesson herself just made her feel that much bigger of a pony.
Perhaps, it was in best interest for all parties.
A/N:
As you may or may not be able to tell, I incorporated a good deal of elements of Mark Twain into this. After all, he happens to be one of my favorite authors of all time. That being the case, I wanted to pay tribute to Twain the best I could. After studying "Tom Sawyer" for a few weeks, I finally wrote this out. Of course, I tried my best in making this the most original as possible, while also paying respect in regards to his excellent novel.
Most of all, I hope YOU enjoyed this story! Believe me, I've been excited about seeing the reaction to this fic, and I can't wait to hear what you, the reader, thought of it! Toss a comment, pop a rate, a favorite...whatever you feel good with! I just hope you enjoyed!
