A Fizzling Hope

Chapter 3: Forgive and Forget

Fizzle was just about to buck his apple tree when the loud, angry, and rather twangy voice sounded out of nowhere. Surprised to hear another pony’s voice after such a long period of isolation, Fizzle hastily scanned his surroundings in an attempt to discern who had addressed him. There was a rustling in a small bush nearby, and out jumped a cream-colored grey-mustached male earth pony. He was wearing a straw hat on his head and carried a pitchfork in his front hooves. There was a pipe clenched between his teeth, which were drawn back in an angry snarl.

Fizzle didn’t register that though. He was just so surprised to see somepony else that all he could do was stare at the newcomer. His hind legs were still suspended in mid-air even! “Well?? What do ya have ta say fer yerself ya scalawag??” the new pony questioned angrily, leveling the pitchfork in Fizzle’s face.

The farmer’s eyes traced Fizzle’s hindquarters as they slowly sank through the air and touched down with a soft sound. When his eyes returned to Fizzle’s face they widened in surprise to see the green pony’s facial expression creased with a huge grin. “What in tarnation are y’all findin’ so…” he started before being abruptly cut off by Fizzle’s outburst.

“Well, HI THERE!! Oh boy, oh boy is it good to see you! You have no IDEA how long it’s been since I last laid eyes on another pony! Oh man, I thought I was big-time lost for sure, but now you’re here and can tell me where to go and I can get back on the road!! Yay!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I’m Fizzle by the way, great to meet you!” he concluded, holding out a hoof in greeting.

There was a soft clatter as the farmer’s pipe fell to the ground. The farmer couldn’t believe what he had just heard, and as such was now demonstrating the fairly apt response of staring at the thief in slack-jawed disbelief. Why on earth would a thief be so friendly? What did he mean lost? Is he not aware of what he’s done? And why in the hay would he introduce himself?? Everypony has a right to remain silent, and Fizzle had just bucked his to Canterlot and back.

For his part, Fizzle’s grin began to shrink in confusion. What did he do wrong? Why wasn’t this pony answering him? And why was he looking at him like he was the spawn of Discord or something absurd like that? “Uhm, perhaps you didn’t quite hear me. My name is Fizzle,” he said, enunciating his name very clearly. “What is your name??”

The farmer finally reacted by spluttering in anger and indignation. “Of course ah heard yer name ya ruffian! What AH want ta know is what yer doin’ on MAH property stealin’ MAH APPLES!!” The farmer’s voice rose in volume significantly and his face flushed red in anger as Fizzle scooped a decent-looking apple off the ground and crunched into it, giving him that same look of innocent confusion.

“Your apples?? No, no, no silly, I found this one, so it’s mine! But just look around at how many more there are!! You can have plenty! I’ll help you pick some, if you wa-…”

“THAT FRUIT Y’ALL BE EATIN’ RIGHT NOW IS ONE O’ MAH APPLES!!!” the farmer roared in utter frustration. How dense could a pony be?? Fizzle flinched away from the sudden outburst and looked hurt. But before he could open his mouth to protest the farmer interjected, intending to immediately bring this matter to finality. Forcing himself to calm down a bit, he started talking in a more level, albeit still angry, tone:

“Now lookee here, sonny boy. Ah’m gonna lay it out real simple-like for y’all. This here field y’all be standin’ in is part o’ MAH property, and it’s called ‘Acres o’ Apples’ cuz that’s what mah darlin’ wife an’ ah named it when we inherited this here land. It’s a tradition in mah family to rename the field when ya take over. Been like that fer generations! AH rightfully received it, so AH own this land, and mah daddy owned this land afore me, and his daddy afore him, and his daddy afore him, and his…” Fizzle started to doze off and drool from the boring repetition. Oh god, make it stooop…

“Ah think he gets the picture, darlin’,” another voice spoke up, this one a female. Fizzle thanked Celestia as a lavender-colored mare stepped into view, looking slightly out of sorts. Considering the hour, she had probably just roused herself from bed.

“Oh, erm… yes… o’ course he does…” The male looked slightly embarrassed and ran a hoof through his mane, mumbling under his breath.

“Land’s sake Greenie pie! Here ah am, woken up at this unreasonable hour o’ the morn by yer confounded shoutin’ and ‘pon comin’ ta investergate, ah find ya runnin’ yer mouth about our family yet again!” Her husband flushed a deep shade of red at her words, wringing his hat between his hooves. The mare merely chuckled and added “some ponies never change…”

“Look, ah’m terribly sorry ah woke ya from yer slumber, Lilly, but darn it all if ah warn’t right as rain!! Mah ‘confangled plan’ caught our apple thief red-hoofed! Look, e’s right here!!”

Lilly turned a concerned gaze on Fizzle. “Oh dear, ah were really hopin’ it warn’t nopony stealin’ our apples but if ya caught him in the act, ah s’pose we have no choice but ta turn ‘im in…”

“T’aint no need ta involve the sheriff an’ his folks dearest. We’ll just have our feller Fizzle here hand over the money he owes us an’ we’ll call it square.”

At the mention of money, Fizzle finally spoke up. Or rather, rolled his eyes and groaned. “Oh no, back to that whole money thing again? Alright, alright I get it. You just want some gemstones in exchange for the apples, I understand. I’ll just head out to my…”

“Gemstones??” the mare interrupted, giving Fizzle a confused look.

“Yeah, gemstones. You know, shiny rocks? That’s what I called them when I first found them but those Flim-Flam guys called them gemstones and I thought that sounded a lot better so now I always call them…”

“We know what they are young feller,” the farmer spoke up. “We ain’t dull as a rusty plow, y’know. But our apples t’aint nearly that pricy! Ah reckon fifty bits or so would cover yer debt quite nicely.”

Lilly gaped at her husband. “Fifty bits?? Greenie have ya lost yer wits? It’s jest a hooffull o’ apples!”

“Lilly, see here! This feller’s been takin’ our apples for more ‘n a week, and considering that e’s holed up over yonder in Bramble Brush, ah doubt e’s had much more ta eat. Ah mean jest look! E’s even got a couple o’ baskets with ‘im! Y’all were plannin’ on loadin’ up, warn’cha? Just load up ‘n walk off like the thievin’ varmint that y’all are!!” the farmer accused, becoming angry yet again.

But Fizzle wasn’t paying attention to the angry outburst, he was puzzling over another problem he was having. Fizzle’s face wore that very familiar confused expression yet again as he spoke up. “Bits? What are those? Are they a type of rock? Can I find them around here?”

The farmer’s anger faded and he exchanged a confused glance with his wife before Lilly cautiously spoke up. “Sonny, y’all sound a might confused. Where exactly are ya from again?”

Fizzle hurriedly gushed out his response. “Oh, I’m from the forest right over there! I built myself a little house in a clearing because I got lost while trying to find Las Pegasus and I think I’ve been there about a week or so but I can’t believe nopony else is trying to get to Las Pegasus right now I mean come ON!! It sounds like such a cool place!! But yeah anyways, nopony else is trying to get there right now so I haven’t been able to ask anyone which way it is and then I was getting really hungry and tried to find ANYTHING I could eat in that forest but all I could find was this HUGE field of apple trees and truth be told I’m really starting to get sick of apples do you have anything else to eat? Maybe we could-”

The farmer and his wife stared at Fizzle in shock as he monologued before the farmer finally managed to regain his composure enough to interrupt his incessant ranting. “Woah, woah, woah there boy!! We asked ya where ya came from, not yer life story! So come on now, where are ya from?? Y’know, where y’all were born, where yer parents live, where ya grew up?”

Fizzle pondered the question honestly, rubbing his chin with his hoof as he thought. After a short while, Fizzle looked up at them sadly and answered, “I…I can’t remember…”

Lilly was by his side in an instant, hugging him tightly and crying slightly. “OHHHH you poor, poor dear!! ‘E cain’t even remember ‘is own family ‘n home! Land’s sake, Greenie, ‘e must have amnesia the poor thing! We simply MUST do somethin’ ta help the dear! Y’all remember Cousin Juniper don’cha?”

“O’ course ah do! Ah also remember how much time it took ter finally git her ta come ‘round and remember us all at the reunion. She was in a bad spot, tha’s fer sure. Listen, Fizzle, ah’m awfully sorry about yer accident ‘n all, an’ ah s’pose it gives yer a might good reason ta not understand how the world works too well. So, we’re gonna let ya off a li’l easy and not turn ya in or nothin’. But ya has ta understand that takin’ our apples without payin’ fer ‘em is stealin’, and ah expect ya ter find a way ter make it up ta us cuz tha’s what any decent ponyfolk would do.”

“Stealing??” Fizzle’s eyes went wide as some latent part of his brain recognized the word as one of evil. “What’s that??”

“Stealin’ is when one pony takes goods or services from another pony without givin’ ‘em any money or whatnot. It’s how dishonest folks take advantage of the good-Samaritan, hard-workin’ ponies like us,” the farmer explained proudly, swelling with pride and hugging his wife close. “We here on Acres o’ Apples get up early every morn ta take care o’ our trees, and when the time is right we come out an’ buck all them apples down afore takin’ ‘em into town ta sell.”

Lilly spoke up. “Tha’s right, dear. We been working our flanks off fer ‘bout thirty years now but we don’ ever complain or nuttin’. Tha’s why we get our tails in a real knot ‘pon seein’ somepony else tryin’ ta take advantage of others by stealin’ an’ whatnot. If ponies like us don’ get the money we need from our hard work, why, we wouldn’t even be able ta buy our own food!”

What happened next was quite unexpected. Bursting suddenly into tears, Fizzle threw himself onto the ground before the older couple and sobbed uncontrollably. “I’M SOOO S-S-SORRY!!! How could I have been so p-pea-brained as to not think that these fields b-belonged to somepony else?? It was all too p-perfect! And here I’ve b-been, stealing YOUR apples for more than a week, p-potentially RUINING your lives just because I’m too S-STUPID to see the TRUTH!! I’m so s-sorry, please f-forgive me!! I promise never to s-steal again!! Please tell me that there’s something, ANYTHING, I can do to make it up to you!!”

At Fizzle’s distress, Lilly hurried forward and pulled him into another warm embrace. “There, there, sweetheart, it’s alright…y’all didn’t mean nopony no harm…” The farmer stepped up as well and laid a comforting hoof on Fizzle’s shoulder. The elderly couple stayed silent for a few moments while Fizzle calmed down before they finally stepped back and the farmer spoke up.

“Now son, listen here. Y’all ain’t a bad pony, both of us kin see that clear as crystal. Ya jest made a mistake. We all do it. Mah wife an’ ah ain’t mad at ya.”

Fizzle looked up at the farmer, disbelief showing through his teary eyes. “You...y-you’re not?? But how…”

The farmer cut him off. “Because yer sorry, tha’s how!! When a truly bad pony does something, well, BAD, he don’ feel sorry for nopony else! But here y’all are, apologizing fer yer mistake, askin’ us fer forgiveness and tryin’ ta make it up ta us. Tha’s the real sign of a good pony, Fizzle. Me ‘n Lilly here are more than willing ta forgive an’ forget.”

Fizzle looked hopeful. “Y-you really mean it? You’re not mad at me?”

“O’ course not, dear,” Lilly answered. “We kin tell ya really feel bad about what y’all have done, and tha’s enough fer us.”

“Well, that ‘n a li’l somethin’ ta make it up ter us,” the farmer interjected. Seeing the slightly crestfallen look on Fizzle’s face he chuckled and continued. “Oh ho, yes young Fizzle, don’ think y’all can just go gallivantin’ off now, y’all said ya was gonna make it up ta us, now din’cha?”

Pushing away his thoughts of leaving without helping, Fizzle nodded. “You betcha! I said I was willing to make it up to you and that’s a promise I intend to keep! So what’ll it be, huh?”

The farmer nodded sagely. “Good on ya, boy. Ah’m actually quite grateful yer willin’ ta help. Applebuck season’s jest around yonder corner an’ me ‘n Lilly ain’t quite as spry as we used ta be. We could really use an extra pair of hooves ‘round the farm fer a week or two, ‘specially a pair as young ‘n strong as yers. So why don’cha head on into the forest over yonder, grab yer things, and git back here so we can move y’all inta the farmhouse proper.”

Fizzle nodded happily, his bubbly energy starting to return to him. “Ok! Sounds good to me, I’ll be right back!” Fizzle turned and started to head off to the forest before he suddenly stopped and looked back, a puzzled look on his face. “Um, sir? How long did you say it was going to take to pay off my debt?”

The farmer looked thoughtful for a moment as he considered the situation. “Well, ah s’pose ah di’nt rightly say, now did ah? Tell ya what, Fizzle. Fer every good day’s work y’all put in fer us, ah’ll pay ya five bits. Now, ah won’t fork over yer money at first cuz that will have ta go towards payin’ yer debt, but once tha’s gone if yer still here ah’ll let ya keep yer earnins. How’s that sound?”

Fizzle brightened at the thought of making some actual money. “That sounds great mister, uh…farmer, sir.” Fizzle saluted clumsily, stumbling a bit over his botched speech, a confused look on his face.

The farmer and his wife chuckled at this. “Hehehe. Well now that ya’ve gone from thief ta farmhand, ah s’pose a proper introduction is in order. M’name’s Greene Apple, but most folks ‘round these parts call me Farmer Greene.” A firm hoofshake.

“An’ mah name’s Lilac Orchards, dear, but y’all can call me Lilly or Auntie as ya please.” Another hoofshake.

“I can’t thank you two enough for your kindness and understanding. I look forward to starting on the farm tomorrow!” Fizzle called as he started towards the woods. But he stopped as he noticed the mischievous glint in the elderly couple’s eyes.

“Oh ho ho! Who said anythin’ ‘bout tomorrow?? Celestia’s sweet sun is hardly up! If ah were you, ah’d hurry up and git yer stuff over here lickity-split, young Fizzle, unless y’all wanna be finishin’ yer chores in the dark!!”