Part Eight - Unnamed

> "Aw, don' beatcha self up about it none. Tain't all that bad."
> You look at the hole in the roof of the barn.
> Your eyes track downwards through smashed rafters, a hole in the hayloft, the scattered hay and finally resting upon the smashed hole in the back of the barn.
> A small trench lay just outside it. It's path charts through a small carrot patch and at the end of that a crater with a smashed luggage case and a single, folorn sock resting upon suviving carrot.
> "Ah've seen lot's worse. Ah'll have this here mess fixed up, lickety-split" The orange coated mare rests a reassuring hoof on your elbow.
> You watch a pair of opportunistic rabbits fleeing with a bounty of plundered carrots, pursued by an enthusiasticly barking Winona.
"All the same, I'm sorry. You have to let me help."
> Note to self: Stitch apology into t-shirt form. Save time in conversations.
> "Pshaw, 'course ah'll letya help. More's the merrier." She gives you a playful elbow in the side and a friendly smile.
> You've been at Sweet Apple Acres for no more than twenty minutes and already it feels like home.
> Not your home, of course, that you're still trying to pick from the detritus of memories beaching the shores of your subconcious.
> It's the kind of place that you believe a home should feel like.
> Welcoming, friendly and loving.
> The four p0nies that make their home here positively radiate those qualities.

> "Let's go git the rest of y'clothes first"
> The two of you leave the damaged barn and look out across one part of the extensive orchard.
> Rainbow is perched on a low flying cloud, scanning the treetops with an almost predatory grin on her face.
> Upon spotting an errant item of clothing, she swoops down, snatches the item in a rainbow blur and flies low over a small, yellow coated filly with a basket on her head.
> Little AppleBloom intercepts the dropped item of clothing and Dash returns the cloud with a whoop, to begin the process again.
> Evidently she's enjoying the activity.
> You accompany AppleJack towards the treeline and past her sister who gives an exited laugh upon catching another recovered item.
> "Hey mistah! We've near filled a basket!" She shouts, excitement bubbling over.
> For some reason she keeps glancing at her flank.
> "Keep at it sugarcube!" AppleJack hollers back.
> You look up at Dash for a moment, then down again at the dense foliage of the apple trees.
"She's not going to be able to see everything from up there. I'll take a walk through the trees, see what else fell through."
> "Ah'll come too. Need t'check the crop anyways." She chews an ear of corn and tips up the front of her hat slightly as she surveys the orchard.
> You offer a nod and grateful smile at the blonde mare.

> Both of you walk down two seperate rows of trees to cover more ground.
> You're within sight of each other mostly and close enough to talk.
> While team Dash has had further success, so far team Applejack has had none.
> The team names were shouted down to you by a swooping blue pegasus, who seems to have decided that any job worth doing is one worth competing over.
> "How comes y'got so many clothes?" Asks AppleJack after a while.
"Not my choice AJ."
> Seems like a natural nickname for her.
> She doesn't object.
"The place I came from seemed to need a new suit for every occasion. Then, there were gifts."
> At the start, there were gifts.
> P0nies eager to earn royal favor and face the challenge of designing for a relatively new species.
"Not everything I was given is really all that appropriate, but we packed in a hurry."
> "I was gonna say, hun, 'cause this? this just ain't you." Applejack is holding at hoof length a furred loincloth with studded belt.
> You laugh, remembering the amount of Minotaur items you were provided at first.
> Apparently, some designers thought all bipedial creatures liked to dress up as Conan.
"You got me there. I'm not sure I'll find too much I want to keep. This is more about cleaning up than anything else."
> You'd probably have left most of the clothing, but it was packed with haste on your behalf.
> Additionally, you weren't really thinking about the contents of the cases, but the journey ahead.
> "Hey there sis!" Applebloom again, joyful as ever and trotting up from behind.
> "Rainbow say's I gotta start lookin' round here too, but I ain't ta help ya."
> Looks like Dash doesn't want you getting a lead.

> "Oh, now this here looks a mite tricky." AJ has stopped and is staring up a tree to a trapped pair of leggings.
> As you approach you steel yourself for the coming climb.
"I'll-"
> "Hold you horses, Anon, I got this." She's rubbing her chin with a hoof as she looks up, squinting with one eye.
> "Yup, this here's a job for ol' Bucky McGillacuddy"
> Who?
> She turns away from the tree, cracks her neck, adopts an expression of extreme focus and then lashes out with a swift, short, single legged kick.
> Nothing happens.
> She turns and looks at the tree with a smile.
"Shall I-"
> "tsk, have some faith, pard. I'm a darn fine applebucker, even if ah do say so mahself." She crosses her front legs and leans against the tree positively oozing confidence.
> She's right though.
> Something is happening.
> You can see a vibration in the branch which currently holds your leggings hostage.
> The vibration increases in magnitude and then, slowly but surely, your leggings slip then fall from the tree onto the back of the waiting Applejack.
"Damn. You weren't kidding. Colour me impressed."
> "Aw, tweren't nuthin. Ah've been bucking apples since ah was a filly." She gives a little smile and the slightest of blushes.
> It still puzzles you how the coat of these p0nies can change colour like that.
> Mind you, it's not the strangest thing you've seen them do by a longshot.
> "C'mon Anon, if we let Dash get too much of a lead, she'll never let it go." She trots onwards.
> Looks like she has a competative streak of her own.
> You hasten to catch up.

"Oh god, I'd forgotten about that one."
> "Ah-*Snrk*... Ah ain't eve-*giggle* seen anythin' so- *snort* bahahah!" She's on the floor, one forehoof pounding the dirt, her stetson over her face and the other holding her sides.
> It's not that bad.
> Ok, it is.
> The item in question is a tunic.
> Dot's, zebra print, tassles and an open V neck split to the waist.
> Yellow and purple.
> It's on the end of a branch so even the tree seems to be holding it a length out of disgust.
> On MachoMan Randy Savage?
> It's a fashion statement.
> On you?
> It was a fashion plea-for-help.
"I'll get this one."
> She's still sniggering under her hat. "Maybe y'can model it fer us when ya-ah-hahahaha!"
> Nearly kept it together there, AJ.
> No way that branch is going to take your weight.
"Time to give this applebucking thing a try."
> You adjust your poncho, crack your fingers and ready yourself.
> AJ has begun to peer above the rim of her hat.
> You give as hard a kick as you can.
> The flat of you soft soled shoe strikes the tree harder than you expected.
" Aghh! goddamit!"
> As you hop backwards holding onto your hurting foot you notice a shake of the tree and look upwards in anticipation of your reward.
> An apple bigger than your fist strikes you right between the eyes, knocking you to the floor.
> You're sprawled on the floor, limbs splayed about you as Dash swoops in, snatching the garish item of clothing and zooming off with a quick salute in your direction.
"*groan*You know what? She can have it."
> AppleJack has yet to stop, her muffled laughs can be heard echoing around the depths of her stetson.

> It's been twenty minutes since your first attempt at applebucking.
> "Psst."... "Pssst"..."PSSST! dangit"
> A nearby bush with a red bow sticking out of the top is hissing at you.
> "I ain't meant ta be helpin' you none, mistah, but I done found somthin' and ah can't get it on mah own."
> AppleBloom pokes her head out of the bush, holding a hoof up to cover her mouth and glancing nervously in the direction of team leader Dash.
> Applejack and Dash have been getting into the spirit of the game and are currently chasing down a hankerchief caught by a wind.
> You can hear their good natured squabble as they vie to be the first to reach it and keep a grip.
" Well, missy, I didn't hear anything in the rules that said I can't help you... what do you say?"
> She grins, nods and sets off at an exited trot in the direction of her find, her bow bouncing fluidly as she does so.
> It's hard not to smile at such excessive, almost weaponised, cuteness.
> You find yourself stopping at the base of a tree which leans over the bank of a small river bordering the orchard edge and an altogether wilder looking forest.
> Of course, your tunic is not only one of the ones you actually hoped to find, but is hanging from a branch right over the river.
> "There it is mistah." She smiles, looking up at you with those big, cute eyes.
> Unsure as you are of your coordination while climbing, you just can't let that little filly down.
> You pat her on the head and, with no small amount of trepidation, begin to scrabble at the tree in an attempt to re-learn how to climb.
> After a lot of grunting and clawing the bark for purchase, you find yourself at the crook of the first branch and look back towards Applebloom.
> She's looking up at you now with a slightly askew expression of bemusement.
> Not too far up though, you have only made it 10feet off the ground.
> "Umn, mistah? d'ya want me ta go fetch mah sister?" Innocent and genuine concern.
"Hey, it's ok Applebloom. S'just been a while since I've done this. It's all coming back to me."
> "Uhuh." a deadpan response as she sits her hindlegs down on a log to watch your continued efforts.
> After a moments rest, you begin to work your way through the tree branches.
> Eventually you find youself sitting astride the branch on which your tunic rests, you shuffle forward and begin to stretch your arm out to grab it.
> It's just...out... of... reac-got it!
"Hah!"
> You brandish the tunic above your head, waving it like a bronco riding cowboy would their hat.
> On reflection, it's kinda appropriate, seeing as with a loud *snap!* the branch promptly breaks and you ride it down into the river.
*Splash*

"Aglububglub"
> Not the best way to say "I can't swim", but you think it gets the point across.
> It's like a universal smoke signal.
> ...But with bubbles.
> It's not strictly true though, you can remember how to swim.
> Infact, you can remember at least five distinct ways to swim.
> Unfortunately, two points are causing issues.
> A) this is the first shot at a practical you've had since arriving here,
> B) you're pretty sure doing all five of them at once is less a method of staying afloat and more a protracted seizure.
> On the positive side of things, the river isn't very fast flowing, so your new friends wont have far to go to find your waterlogged corpse.
> Oh, and you've lost your tunic.
> Whoopee.
> Through your water blurred vision, you see a rainbow tailed blur shoots overhead.
> It arcs upwards in an effortless climb and then loops back down to dive into the water straight towards you.
> You struggle upwards, flailing your arms wildly in an effort to reach the surface and your rescuer.
> A splash from above obscures your vision as the blue pegasus somehow entagles your poncho in her hooves and begins, with determined flapping, to pull your sodden form upwards.
> You can see the river beneath you and are ascending from it slowly.
> looking upwards you see the straining face of your companion, Rainbow Dash.
> She's beating her wings as fast as she can, and looking upwards, her forhooves bunched up near her chest.
> The poncho slips with a lurch and you react swiftly, grabbing upwards to hold on to her hooves.
*Squeal!*
> At your touch she flails her hooves, losing grip on the poncho and knocking your grabbing hands away.
> You leave her looking down with panic and taking a pose similar to a woman hiding on a chair from a mouse in an old cartoon.
*Splash*
> Again.
*Klunk*
> Your head bounces of something hard in the water, leaving you first seeing stars and multiple flapping pegasi, then blackness.

> It's dark.
> You're cold.
> You don't know where you are.
> Your mouth is warm though.
> You can feel a pressure upon your chest.
> The pressure receeds and returns with a steady rythm.
> You blearily open on eye and can see an orange shape straddling your torse rythmically bouncing up and down.
> It gets dark again.
> Your mouth is warm again too, so that's a plus.
> Something you remember is happening.
> It's not alltogether unpleasant either.
> Why can you taste apples?
> That's it!
> Kissing, you remember this.
> You work your mouth and acting on sudden inspiration, introduce a little of the french resistance to enemy territory.
> "Blech!" *ptoo*
> *giggle* was that AppleBloom.
> "Dawwww, it's true love!" Dash, definately Dash.
> You open one eye.
> You're laying near a tree, AJ astride your body with a look of revulsion on her face and her tongue sticking out.
> AppleBloom is peering around the tree giggling and attempting to stay hidden.
> Dash is in the air, snorting with laughter while she pulls an exaggerated 'it's soooo cute' face.
> You are still working your mouth like a landed fish with your tongue sticking out a little.
*cough*
*Splutter*
"d-damn... a-a-AppleJ-*hack*-ack, I didn't know what..."
> Your voice is too weak to be heard and AppleJack is already off you and chasing after a retreating Rainbow Dash.
> Little AppleBloom, smiling innocently, has tried to help you to your feet.
> Not much luck, but at least your sitting.
> "GolDarnit Dash, Ah t'wasnt kissing him!" You hear her yell in the distance and see Applejack pursuing Dash along a lane of trees, swatting the air ineffectually with her hat.
> "No arguement here... that was more like eating!" Dash answers with another snort of laughter.
> "You git back here! Ah tol' you! That wus cardio p0ny reee-sper-ashun!"
> "Bwahaha, It looked Prance style to me! The old trotterdam tongue!"
> With AppleBloom's help, you make your way back towards the house.

> "...an' y'hit yer head on that branch! then sis dived in and dragged you up outta the water... and.. erm. then?" Applebloom blushes a little, her miming of the tale broken by a sudden onrush of embaressment.
> You may just be blushing too.
> Especially as you can still taste apples.
"Yeah, I know what happened from then. Thanks for getting me up to speed."
> You are sitting on the porch of the main farm house watching events unfold in the distance.
> Granny Smith had brought you a towel and a blanket and was currently muttering about horseplay while warming what seems to be milk back in the kitchen.
> Currently, Applejack is chasing Rainbow Dash along the edge of the orchard, while Dash continues to taunt her friend about her "quick work".
> You have no idea where your poncho has gone.
> At least the chase is bringing the p0nies close enough to hear.
> AJ has her lasso now and is trying to catch an evasive Dash, who is having too much fun to simply fly away.
> "Anon and AJ, hiding near a tree B.U.C.K.I.N-"
> "Consarnit, Dash, when I git you ahm gonna hog tie ya, hoist ya from a tree an tell Pinkie yer a pinata!"
> It's hard not to laugh.
> Though you probably shoudn't have.
> The largest p0ny you've seen to date rounds the corner of the farm house, calmly put's down the pail he was carrying in his mouth and stares at you.
"You heard all that, right?"
> "Eeyup."
"Just thought I'd check first."
> You can remember how to sprint and hurdle fences.
> Today is a good day after all.