Applejack stared out at Sweet Apple Acres, the rolling fields of the orchard full of ripe and ready trees. She felt sweat on her brow was the midsummer heat radiated from Celestia's sun. She adjusted the brim of her brown hat over her eyes and sighed. She had to get all the apples out of the field before the weather turned cold and with Big Mac being with that new marefriend of his, she was down one dependable worker.
She had done the harvest by herself before, but it had been years. And anyway, she didn't want to have an emotional breakdown over apples. She grimaced as she could swear she heard in her mind Dash's voice- laughing about that particular time when she had stumbled around town barely awake and trying, and failing, to fulfill every obligation she had.
The farm pony had tried to ask Applebloom for help. but the newly minted mare was busy with her other Crusaders with some hoohah about cutie marks. Sure, it was nice to have Bloom be independent and able to have an actual purpose, what with Applejack remembering all the times she had tried to steer the young mare out of trouble, but she grimaced as she tried to think of ways to get an orchard of apples out of the trees without workers.
She facehoofed as she was mentally stuck without an actual solution. "Darn." With a huff, she pulled the days apple harvest down the hill, ready to finish sorting apples into barrels. Some apples were better for baking, some for preserving, and the absolute best were the cider apples- the profits for that season alone usually gave the Acres a nice windfall to survive the cold winters and early spring planting season. And if Dash was here, she would talk the farm pony's ear off about the benefits of cider. Applejack smirked. There were benefits, sure, but Dash didn't know the first half of it- deciding to indulge a bit too much in the amber liquid, and having to be carried home every single year. Fluttershy was getting better at cutting the mare off from cider, and Dash wasn't getting younger so her tolerance of the yearly beverage was actually lowering, but it was kind of an open secret that Dash was a tad bit of an alcoholic.
She shook her head. While it was nice to let separate concerns fill her mind, the reality was that it still reminded her of the trees loaded and straining with apples. She had no clue how to get them out.
She heard the dinner bell ring slowly. Granny Smith, still mobile and active in her twilight years, was slowing down and one of these days she wouldn't be here. Last harvest was particularly bad for her since it was the first one where she wasn't the main hoof doing the Zap Apple Jam canning process- the myriad jars and doodads that AJ couldn't name were run by Applebloom now, delineated into a system that rivaled Granny's but was its own mess of weird rituals adapted from the past. It would have made the orange mare proud of her sister, seeing the young mare standing over the rainbow jars of jam. But it just made her sad.
She rolled the apples into the barn and let the harness slide off her shoulders, her back popping and creaking itself with the weight. She didn't like thinking that she was getting old, but it was true. Her friends were still around- Twilight and the girls still met every two weeks to a month to just catch up and discuss things, figure out what to do about Equestria, have a nice lunch and all. But Dash was now a Wonderbolt Captain and married to Shy who was still doing animal care. And Pinkie was married to that one odd stallion, and Rarity was a huge fashion designer- even if she was starting to get a touch of grey in her mane, and Twilight was just the ruler of Equestria.
Applejack blinked. She had been polishing an apple, its bruised and battered skin not good for anything but a small batch of cheap cider. She stared at it, taking in the bumps and bruises. She wondered why she had forgotten to leave this particular apple- it was fine, but the quality was a little suspect. If it was a few years ago she would have left it on the ground and picked a different one.
Maybe she was losing her touch. She placed it back and sighed, quickly deciding that it would be better to continue this after she had supper, since maybe she was just famished or something. She slowly got up, her back straightening with a slow creak of exhaustion and she headed off to the house, the quiet muttering of Granny Smith slightly comforting.
***
Troubleshoes fidgeted slightly in the small seat on this here Ponyville Express, the train a nice welcome difference to the small train cars of rodeo trains and the odd sky rodeo that he was actually completely terrified of. The thought of the last one of those crossed his mind and he felt the temperature of the room lower a few degrees as he remembered staring down at the distant ground as pegasi wrangled clouds and the like. It was good money, but he didn't want to do one of those for quite a while.
He felt the rolling of the train tracks as the train clattered along. He honestly didn't know where he was going or doing since his last contract of rodeo clowning was done. He had wavered about signing back up- he felt fulfilled about doing what his cutie mark told him to do now thanks to those three fillies a few years back, and he had loved seeing the rest of Equestria without fearing the long forehooves of the law over staying in abandoned hovels and hollowed out trunks of trees- but he felt something like a longing for a new thing.
He had jumped on the train from Manehattan once they finished their Rustic Days, but he hadn't decided where to get off yet, just being content in seeing the rolling wonder of Equestria, each and every small village a twinkling mass of lights. He smiled ever so slightly at the thought of that. He was waxing poetic for once and it felt rather odd. He laughed softly, the low bass rumble tying in nicely with the sound of the train's wheels.
He heard the conductor's voice come on as the train slid slowly into the station. He heard "Ponyville" and decided to get off here for some reason, maybe he had heard the name of the smallish town somewhere in his travels, maybe not, but it was a nice little town from what he could see in the bright lights twinkling out like stars. And the train had to stop for the night anyway. Something about repairs and the like.
"Guess this stop is as good as any," he drawled. "better than the desert." He inched out of the seat, his large stallion frame too oversized for most normal seats. It was just his luck- while he had grown used to the world being comically small, the world had not grown used to him. He pulled his trunk of clown supplies and knickknacks, clothes, and bits out of the overhead compartment with only a small bit of discomfort as he bumped his head as he did so, lightly grumbling as he stepped off the train into the little town for a bite or two to eat.
He cautiously stepped through Ponyville, used to the stares of ponies that weren't too used to staring up at something. He sighed, too used to being oversized thanks to what he suspected was some horse genes or something. He angled towards the first place he could find still open at this hour, early evening, and pushed open the door. He almost wished he hadn't due to the fact that where he was had so many different smells to focus on- from chocolate to some citrus thing his nose wasn't used to, to candy like sugars that seemed slightly artificial. He glanced up and was blinded for a moment as the candy like business blinked back in lights that he was here.
A pink mare, who looked familiar somehow smiled as he carefully dodged a few tables, his eyes still used to the coming darkness outside.
"Wow, I mean wow. I thought Big Mac was huge, but here you are being bigger than him and I don't know how, and its like so impressive in a not threatening way, and like I wonder why you are here but then I realize that we run the best place for sweets in the local area. . ." the mare pointed at a small series of trophies that said that exact thing. "-and then I knew you were going to be here anyway cause I felt one of my senses in my back be all like 'new pony, he's special.' and I was like 'but why' and then you walked in and, hello. Oh, sorry, you were just so impressive I forgot how talking works and so my name is Pinkie Pie and its nice to meet you." The mare, or more aptly, Pinkie Pie smiled with a wide grin, waiting patiently as Troubleshoes tried to figure out what she said in one breath.
"Name's Troubleshoes. I was just in town cause the train stopped and I need a bite to eat. Y'all don't have to worry none about my ability to pay cause I got bits." He fished out a sack of bits and smiled, the mare making him slightly uncomfortable with her total stare into what felt like his soul. "So, uhm, what's good on the menu?"
Pinkie blinked and tapped a hoof. "Hmm, well, all of it really cause I spend so much time trying to make it all so yummy, but let's see. . .too sweet, too savory, too chocolately, but really its more of the time instead of that being fact cause you can never have too much chocolate. But I think I have a batch of banana muffins that Derpy didn't eat recently cause she wasn't in the mood for bananas."
Troubleshoes nodded. "Sounds fine. I could-"
Pinkie shook her head violently, carefully stretching a hoof over the larger stallion's mouth in a flash. "Oh no no no no no. I can't deal with money right now. It doesn't feel right. I mean you have never been in Ponyville before and all since I would remember you cause you are super huge and all and I think that being rather nice to first timers can be good. But also its like day old muffins so they aren't really good enough for me to sell comfortably. I mean I taste test all my stuff, but it's just courtesy, as Twilight would say. Well, she'd say a few other words too, but then I got bored and I forgot them." Pinkie grinned, her ear lightly twitching as she hummed softly.
Troubleshoes stared at the decidedly odd mare and nodded. He carefully stepped back and grabbed the muffins, wishing for a brief moment that he hadn't stepped off the train and met this mare. He had grown used to seeing ponies that unnerved him slightly on the rodeo clown circuit and the Canterlot Ponyacci School of Clowning, but she took the whole pie and tossed another whole pie on top of it. "Thanks." He walked slowly out of the shop as he stared at the mare, not really caring that he bumped into tables and chairs, just keeping an eye on Pinkie.
Troubleshoes stared at the banana muffins, their fluffy texture nice and all, but after whatever happened in that bakery he just didn't feel comfortable eating them. He placed them aside on the bench and stared at the rising moon. "Wonder if I should've gotten off the train if I can't even eat a muffin." He sat in silence just letting the town's ambiance wash over him, far away music that he didn't like all that much thumping away and a few ponies out for walks in the early night. He would have not cared if not for three voices that sounded rather familiar.
"I'm tellin ya girls, Zap Apple Jam isn't weird to make."
"Says you. I saw you in that bunny suit that first time. It was weird."
"Scootaloo, be nice, and anyway, I liked the bunny suit. It made your mane look nice."
Troubleshoes stopped and looked up to see three fillies that he hadn't seen in a few years. He stared at them, the feeling of weird acknowledgement that the girls had mentioned Ponyville all those years ago in passing. He sighed, it was just his luck that he would be in the one town with ponies that would know him. He was hoping to fade into the background, as much as he could, and here he was staring at fillies that he had 'foalnapped' in a weird and rather wacky misunderstanding of events.
The three looked up and stared at him for a while. Troubleshoes wondered if he had been staring at them too long and he felt slightly worried that soon the law would come and he'd spend a few days dealing with some kind of legal mishap like he had so many times before.
"Troubleshoes? What are ya doing here? I mean last time I, I mean we, saw ya was in Appleloosa and that was like a few years ago. Did something happen with your rodeo clowning?"
Troubleshoes shook his head no at the small yellow filly. "Nah, just in the area in between jobs. Felt like seeing Equestria on my own time for once." He wasn't technically lying since he was truly here on his own volition, he just didn't know why. Well, besides stepping off a train in a station because of some normal mishap. But sometimes his luck was rather bad, though with the rodeo accepting him, it was on a slight upturn as of late. "Just eating some muffins."
The three shared a look. Words didn't pass between them, but Troubleshoes could feel the unspoken words there. They looked between each other and the stallion and hatched a probably devious plan of attack that would make any strategist balk at its simplicity. The little pegasus shook her head and the three broke off.
"So we know how good Pinkie's sweets are-" the young earth pony, Apple something or other said, "but like we can't just have a honorary Cutie Mark Crusader go and sit on a park bench when there's perfectly good food at my house. And I know you'd fit right in. I mean I already have told Granny about you, though it has been a few years and like you have met Applejack. . ." The little earth pony clapped her hooves. "And well, Scootaloo can't cause she's busy with Dash and Shy already and Rarity is a bit of a diva." The other two nodded, haphazardly, almost like they were only partially telling the truth.
Troubleshoes felt like he was going to regret this, but it wasn't like he had better things to do. And maybe sleeping somewhere with some space might be nice, though he doubted that there was a stallion sized bed for somepony such as him. He quickly stared at the day out banana muffins and decided that anything was better than that, even if the muffins were at least decent. "Fine, but if you got any weird ideas, I'm getting out that door."
The three smiled and the tiny Apple spoke up, the leader of the three and used to speaking. "Wouldn't dream on it."
***
"Now where's that Applebloom?" Granny Smith walked slowly over to the dooeway of the farmhouse and stared out at the black landscape. "I told her ta be back 'fore nightfall but the food's getting cold and there's no 'Bloom."
Applejack shrugged and piled on a helping of apple fritters and jam. "I could go look for her if you want. Knowing her, she can't have gotten that far."
Granny Smith nodded slowly. "It'd be nice-"
The backdoor of the farmhouse creaked open and the two mares glanced at each other. It was particularly odd for Applebloom to used the back door for anything and with the darkness of the hour, it was rather worrying even if this was Ponyville and not Manehattan. Applejack carefully got up from her chair and shushed her grandmare, carefully grabbing her trusty lasso with a practiced grip and inching towards the quiet doorway.
"Surprise!"
Applejack jumped at the noise and tossed her lasso with a yell and a leap into the back room, letting her body work overtime as she tried to wrangle this beast of a creature. Whatever monstrosity that Bloom had let in was ridiculously sized and rather wiggly and yelling bloody murder. Applejack blinked as she realized that there were actual words being spoken and she felt her adrenaline rush out of her as she stared into the big eyes of Troubleshoes. "What in tarnation is going on?"
It took ten minutes, and a rather apologetic Applebloom for Applejack to really get what was happening. She breathed out, sighing in exasperation as she stared at the young mare that had let in somepony she had met all of one time- in particularly regrettable circumstances- and decided that holding a surprise for an old mare and her sister was a fantastic idea. "Bloom, this is a bad idea."
"AJ, come on, look at him, he's stuck here in a place he doesn't know and we have a bed cause Big Mac's with Sugar Belle."
AJ rolled her eyes, too used to Applebloom's puppy dog exterior to not know something was being planned. She had been as sweet and wonderful when the three little hellions had done that love potion fiasco. So she wasn't particularly excited for whatever wonderful escapade she had planned. "Would you like it if I had one of my friends sleep in your bed? Plus we have stuff to do, the harvest for example, and I doubt having one of your buddies, no matter their age I guess, over would be rather productive."
Applebloom's eyes lit up. "I forgot about- I mean Troubleshoes is like a replacement Big Mac. I bet he would be fantastic at harvesting."'
Troubleshoes tapped his hooves together, not exactly knowing what he had stumbled into. He silently cursed his luck since he had just thought that he would be here because of, he guessed, Applebloom meeting him again. But here he was in a rather cozy and nice place getting roped into working on a farm. He'd been near farms, sure, since ranching and all that was super important in Appleloosa, but he had no experience with growing crops or harvesting. "Uh, I don't-"
Applebloom nodded. "I mean he's like already here. And willing to do all the stuff Big Mac does, and you don't even have to have multiple ponies try and do the work cause he's like the same size as-"
Applejack groaned and looked at the stalllion, he was like half a foot taller than Big Mac easily. Sure he might fit into the halter okay, but it was going to be rather hard to have him wheel things around. Everything was built for the Apple Family and having somepony outside the norm, while nice compared to getting a pony like Caramel to help, it was going to be a little hard for him to work. Plus she sized him up with a quick glance, seeing the size but knowing from experience that he was a clumsy mess of a stallion, almost too uncoordinated to be useful. Plus, she could see in his eyes the confusion and almost laughable worry that he probably didn't even know what was going on. "Not a chance."
Applebloom rolled her eyes, completely set in her idea that this would be a great way to get Applejack out of her noticeable funk. "Sis, I mean you did tie him up and tackle him for no reason. It's almost like he fell in your lap."
Applejack squinted at her sister and bent down to stare at the younger mare. "That's because you went in through the back and almost made Granny panic that we were having some thieves break in. Which we seemingly got off of with this talk of roping him into working for us. Almost like you tried to make me forget about that."
The young yellow earth pony laughed nervously. "What gave you that idea?"
Applejack sighed. "Whatever, just go eat supper and I'll try and figure out what to do with our guest here." Applejack felt a headache coming on as she stared at Troubleshoes, the stallion living up to his name by no fault of his own. "We have to talk first before I just give in ta my sister." Applejack walked out of the farmhouse and beckoned the tall earth pony with a small swish of her tail.
***
Troubleshoes stared out at the dark farm, the shapes of trees semi noticeable in the moonlight. The scent of apples was evident on the breeze, crisp and clear as he tried to sit down on a small box, angling his weight so he wouldn't break or damage whatever was in it. He fiddled with his hooves, staring at the smaller mare and waiting for her to speak.
"So what do you want to do? Cause I get what my sister wants, and that includes some weird plotting of hers once she saw you- cause she's not usually so. . .pushy on an idea." Applejack took off her hat and brushed her mane as she spoke. "But I think I'd rather have the stallion we were talking about in there to have an actual voice about it."
Troubleshoes thought slowly, trying to get his words and thoughts together, the moment of silence centering him in the barn. He hadn't truly thought of where he was going or what he was doing just hopping on the train and coming here- honestly he almost skipped this town and went to the next one. He had no real need to stop here, and yet seeing ponies that knew him- even if the three young mares were rather extra with their own excitement about seeing him- he had realized that maybe in that moment, he had been following the rail to somewhere that seemed like a nice place. The crisp, cool air and the sort of quiet town was almost relaxing to him. He hadn't actually found a place like that ever really. From the time he had gained his cutie mark, he had been on the run from the law, and when he finally figured it out, he had thrown himself into rodeo clowning, spending a few years just going from town to town having shows and seeing the smiling and laughing faces of the crowd for each performance, then packing up and moving onto the next town. Repeating the motions over and over didn't get old- not really, but there was only so much joy you could bring a crowd before having to ask that about yourself. "I mean its not the worst idea. Can use some relaxin'."
Applejack raised an eyebrow at that short and pithy statement. "Then yeah you've barely been on a farm before if you think I'm gonna let you just relax. Cause I'd rather eat my own hat than lose out on all these apples." Applejack stared out at the dark trees, her body used to the spacing of the rows, her mind running through the short list of names of the orchard's best trees, their pedigrees in how they became the best apples and the money that figuratively glistened on those trees.
Troubleshoes tried to rephrase his statement. It wasn't that he was averse to working. Far from it. It was just that he was not used to being asked his opinion on things. "I mean, I can work. Just like its going to be different cause I know how ranching works but not fruiting. . .or harvesting, I guess. Not like I have rodeo clown things to worry about cause the season's mostly over." It was just his luck that his own thoughts and words betrayed him. "And while I did say relaxing would be nice, I meant like, uh, relaxing by doing something different. Like farming, I suppose."
Applejack looked up at the huge stallion, sizing him up. He was an odd one. The nerves that echoed on his voice as he truly spoke for more than a few words made him seem a lot less threatening than his huge size made him seem. It almost reminded her of Big Mac, but quieter if that was truly possible since he rarely talked. She rolled her eyes and tried to come up with reasons not to allow whatever diabolical plan Applebloom had tossed him- and her, in effect- into and she couldn't come up with many other options. "Fine. But whatever I tell you to do, you do it, not a lot of questions, mind you. Can't be spending all harvest time trying to field every single odd question you get in your noggin."
Troubleshoes nodded, used to following some rather odd clowns and, in particular, one rather interesting one when he was Canterlot. He would have actually tried to contemplate exactly what to say to the smaller mare, her green orbs staring into his own eyes with a quiet fire that he wondered about. Maybe it was the night, or the dim light, but she was rather. . .something, not cause she was a mare, no, but that she wasn't intimidated by him in the slightest. He had grown used to ponies just seeing him in a room and shying away from him, his size being too much for them to handle. And yet here she was telling him what to do, and with a kind of directness that he appreciated.
"Good then, now let's get y'all to bed cause these apples ain't harvesting themselves and that means you are getting up early. Now with Big Mac gone away for a bit, we can shack you up there without much of a problem, but don't go riflin' through his stuff. Last time I did, I had to explain to Princess Twilight how an old stuffed toy o' hers got in his room." Applejack shook her head and sighed. "Was a real fun talk."
Troubleshoes raised an eyebrow at that. He wondered for a moment how somepony as normal as her might know a Princess, even the current Princess. He shook his head and sighed, knowing full well that would just be a short stint here, nothing too special so he would just let that question linger and die. He yawned and stretched, wondering how fun the next few days would be. At least it would be interesting.
