Trial and Error: Second Edition

Chapter the Fourteenth: Honesty

The following day, after he had done the chores, Kai made his way to Sweet Apple Acres. He had not read Fluttershy's letter, but he was going to deliver it. He had decided to place some trust in her. If he was wrong to do so, he carried a blade, concealed beneath his cloak. He hoped that it would stay in its scabbard.

When he arrived, he saw only one mare. An elderly earth pony was snoozing in a rocking chair in front of the barn. He thought about waking her, but thought better of it when he saw a rather large red stallion. He looked for a pair of wings, and was relieved to find none. He felt silly for worrying when he realized that this stallion and Stain did not share their mane colour.

"Excuse me, sir," said Kai. "I'm looking for Miss Applejack. Is she around?"

"Eyup." The stallion pointed to a large orchard to the south.

"Thank you."

Kai started to sweat. If this letter was as informative as he feared, he would not only have to silence this Applejack, but he may have to contend with that stallion, as well. He shivered. Why, after such a life of solitude, did he suddenly encounter so many situations where he needed to fight other ponies?

When he finally found another mare, she was kicking at the trunk of a tree, causing apples to fall out of it. She was a bright orange earth pony, and despite the chill wind, she was glistening with sweat. Baskets were scattered all around. Some full of the literal fruits of her labor, others empty.

"Miss Applejack?"

"One sec, Sugarcube." With a loud grunt, she kicked at another tree, filling up her basket. "Now, what can I do ya for?"

While put off by her manner of speaking, Kai tried to keep his tone civil. "I've come to you with a message from Miss Fluttershy." He held out the letter in his hoof, which he somehow kept from trembling.

"From Fluttershy, huh? Heard she was off on some important project." Applejack took the letter and opened it.

"Yes, that's correct." Kai swallowed hard as Applejack quickly scanned through the letter. As his fear turned to panic, his breathing became labored, and his hoof inched toward the hilt of his knife.

When she finished, Applejack looked up and examined him. "You ever do farm work before, stranger?"

"No," answered Kai, pulling his hoof away from his blade. "I had wanted to, at one point, but the chance never really arose. At best, I've grown mushrooms."

"Well, we ain't got no fungi 'round here. I only ask 'cause Fluttershy wants me to have you help out with some odd jobs just for today. Normally I wouldn't, but it's harvest season, and Fluttershy promises that you'll be a big help, so welcome to the team. You know anythin' 'bout apple buckin'?"

"Not really, no." Kai had never in his life even heard of apple bucking.

"It's an easy concept, it just requires some strength. All ya gotta do is line yourself up and give the tree a good, solid kick. Like so." She demonstrated. "Now, these here are some strong apples, and the ground's pretty soft, so don't worry too much about bruisin' 'em. Ya don't necessarily hafta get 'em in the basket, neither, so long as ya pick 'em all up, but it's easier if'n ya get 'em all in the basket anyway, as that way ya don't hafta pick 'em all up."

"So, just kick the tree really hard?" Kai could do that. He positioned himself in front of a tree that was full of apples, and gave the tree a good, hard kick. To his amazement, the baskets filled up, and the tree was emptied. "Like that?"

"Almost," answered Applejack, a sour expression on her face. "Next time, don't kick so hard as to damage the tree."

Kai turned around and bowed his head. Sure enough, there was an imprint of his hooves denting the trunk of the tree. "Sorry about that. Like I said, I've never done this before."

"Well, ya got all afternoon to get good. Fluttershy said your name was Kay?"

"Kai."

The two started working their way through the orchard. Between trees, they would talk.

"So what's this project Fluttershy's workin' on?"

"It's a secret. I'm not allowed to talk about it."

"Well, what can ya tell me about it?"

"I can tell you that it's potentially going to create a breakthrough in the medical field."

"She's not being subjected to any dangerous medical tests, is she? That pony's very afraid of needles."

"I can assure you, she's not being subjected to any needles. I can also tell you that she's perfectly safe, she's uninjured and all of the plans that involve her are non-invasive. There is absolutely no reason why she should come to any harm, except by measures beyond control."

"What do you mean, 'Measures beyond control?'"

"Just that. If something happens that can't be controlled, then there's little we can do to prevent it. We can try to foresee some events, but not all of them. For example, if there's a really big storm, we can try to prevent any damages to her by keeping her in a bunker underground. We can't stop the storm from raging, but we can foresee damage likely to be caused, and take measures to prevent that. However, if she trips and hits her head on the floor, there's naught we can do to prevent it. At that point, we'd give her a cold compress to sooth her wound and try to prevent a bruise."

"Ah s'pose that's good 'nuff for me. So How'd y'all get roped into takin' care of Fluttershy's place while she was out?"

"Just a matter of circumstance, really. She had to leave right away, so she didn't really have time to ask anypony. So I stepped up."

"Mighty kind a y'all, especially considerin' you're not close."

"Yes, we met that night. I am to expedite her assistance wherever possible. Within reason, of course."

"Alright, I think that's enough for now." The two had cleared out quite a large number of trees, and the baskets were almost completely full. Applejack began lifting the baskets into the back of a cart. "Go ahead and hitch yourself up to this here cart. You're gonna pull it back to the barn, unload it, then bring it on back here."

Kai nodded. He stepped in front of the cart and wrapped the straps around his shoulders. He was fairly certain that this was correct, but it felt very uncomfortable.

"You ain't never pulled a cart before, have ya?"

"This would be my first time, yes."

"I figured." Applejack reached around him, securing the straps to his midsection for balance and chest for mobility. "That's how you do that. You're all loaded up, now just pull."

This was much more comfortable. Kai pulled the cart down to the barn with ease, unloaded the baskets via magic where the stallion from earlier directed, and was back in the orchard in no time. The next few hours passed in much the same manner, and the barn was full by evening.

"Thank ya kindly for your help, Kai. You're a natural at this. Here." She reached into the barn and pulled out a small pouch of coins. "Fluttershy told me to send a response to her letter with you when you left. This should answer her question."

Kai took the pouch. "Is the message also in here?"

"That is the message. If ya need words, too, tell her you did a good job, and that you were given this for services rendered. "

"I see. Thank you. I'll deliver it posthaste."

"Make sure Ya come back for cider season. For now, though, you'd best be on your way. Storm's comin' tonight."