"Dad? Daaad? Dad?!"

"...*sigh*....out back!" I could hear her running out the back door, "Hey there you are!" She ran over to me, "What ya doing?"

I rubbed my face and gave a quick pull on my beard, "Chopping firewood...."

"Can I help?" She asked with a toothy grin.

"...no, aint safe,"

Her face scrunched up, "Come on, I can do it!"

"...you cant even pick up a book, how you gonna lift an axe?" I reached over and gave her horn a quick flick, "Gotta keep practicing,"

She looked flustered, "Oh come on, please?"

"....no, but you can stay if you want," I reached over and found a pair of safety glasses, "Here, put these on," She tried to levitate the glasses only managing to pull them from my hand and onto the floor, she looked disappointed while she scooped them off the ground "Don't worry kid, you'll get it down,"

"Maybe..."

"No, you will," I hoisted my axe up and poised it to split the log, "Practice makes perfect," I brought the axe down and the log split in two, "Just keep at it and you'll get better and better," I got ready for another swing.

"But dad....."

I brought my axe down again making quarters, "No buts...you wanna be good at something it takes practice," I brought the axe up and unbound the bundle, four equal splits fell apart, "Alright...go get ready, gonna take you down to Fluttershy's" I retied the wood and dragged it to the front of my cabin.

"But dad...when are you gonna take me to school?"

"I want to....but those kids out in the wood's are gonna get themselves killed without me," I tossed the bundle onto the path, "Now hurry up, don't want to be late," She scurried into the cabin and got ready, ".....come on kid,"

She took about ten minutes to get ready, jumping off the landing and almost slipping on the muddy ground, "Whoa!"

"Truffle! Christ! You're gonna get to school all muddy...."

"It'll wash off!"

I just shook my head, "Come on then...let's get going," I hoisted the firewood onto my shoulder and we started down the path into town.

*knock knock knock* "-called me a foal!"

"Ok kid....ok," I could hear a soft patter breaking the silence. The door creeped open, "Fluttershy?"

"Oh....Duncan....hi," She pushed the door open, "Hello Truffle,"

"HI!" She ran up to hug her, a bit of mud getting stuck to he back of her mane.

"....so here's the firewood," I set it down next to her door, "And thanks again for takin her to school,"

She noticed the mud on her and gave a quick frown, "...it's no problem," She trotted out and closed her door, "Just be careful out there...I mean...I don't want you to get hurt..."

"I don't plan on being anything but careful, alright kid see you later,"

"Bye Dad!" We went our own ways and I finally had some peace and quite.

Gloves....helmet....coat....better hurry up, I hurried back out of my cabin and into the forest, "Damn cold out here,"

Yet again I was greeted by the sound of a chainsaw, "Duncan hey!" I looked up to see a young man named Lucas hanging off the top of a tree.

"Lucas get the hell down before you hurt yourself!" I hurried to the tree and stared him down.

"It's fine!"

"Lucas get the fuck down!" He looked around and slowly lowered himself down the tree, "You fuckin idiot...takin a chainsaw up there with you!" He got to the floor, "Oh you gotta be shitting me, you don't even have it secured to your belt!?"

He walked over to me, "What's the big-"

"Get! Go home, come back when you can make some right fuckin decisions!" He looked utterly confused.

"Just cause I-"

"You took an unsecured chainsaw up a tree, what woulda happened if you dropped that fuckin thing!?" I grabbed the chainsaw from him, "You damn fool, come back tomorrow,"

"But I-"

"Why you still here!? Get!" I kicked at him and he started off back towards town, "Damn idiot," I looked behind me, A small crowd of ponies and men had formed, "Why y'all standin around!? We got work to do!" The crowd quickly dispersed and everyone got back to work, "Ventulan, Birch, get over here!" An older man and a stallion ran over, "Ventulan start some ties and clear some space, were taking this mother down," he nodded and started shouting at the other workers, "Birch get some ponies harnessed up to a sled, we're takin this thing to the mill"

"Right!" He hurried off to get his people ready. A few others started tying ropes to the top and middle of the tree.

"Alright boss! We're ready!" Alright showtime, I looked at the imposing height. Lucas had started limbing the thing sloppily before felling it, idiot...

"Clear out and get ready!" I cut the hinge into the base, "Everybody clear!?" Our safety advisory gave a quick nod, "Alright..." I cut the bored through the center, "Wedge!" A younger stallion ran up and shoved a wedge into the newly formed gap, "Alright...here we go," I found a sledge and got ready to bring it down, "CLEAR OUT!" I brought the sledge to bear against the wedge and the tree started to tip, "THERE IT GOES!" I backed up and watched at the tree slid away and slammed into the ground, "BAM! Ventulan get some boys limbing this thing, Birch that skidder ready!?"

"Ready to go!" He popped up next to me as the skidder was set into position.

"Great work," I left him to help with the limbing, it was quick concidering how many of us there were, "Alright...looks good, LOAD IT UP!" Everyone that wasnt busy ran over to help us get it under the skidder. Once it was beneath it it was chained up and hoisted a few inches up, "Alright Birch, yours now!"

"Right, COME ON BOYS!" He hurried and got his stallions pulling the log down the crude path to the mill.

"First cut of the day....Alright boys we got work to do!" I hurried to our next cut while another group started working on the stump. By law we had to remove the entire tree and plant one in it's place once it was no longer in danger of being crushed.

The next tree was as routine as the last, "Load it up!" Another team was set up and started off towards the mill, "Alright good work lets keep up the momentum!"

"Alright everyone! Let's wrap this one up and get back to the mill!" There was a quick cheer before the last log was tied to a skidder and we all started off to the mill, "If you're not on mill duty you're free to leave!" About a third of the group dissipated, the rest kept on the path towards the mill.

"Alright boys good haul for the day!" The last of the logs was set in the yard while my crew worked on bucking, debarking, and seasoning the wood, "Birch you're in charge until the shift is over, here," I gave him a bag of bits, "The Skidding crew drinks on me tonight!" A quick cheer rang out, "Before y'all complain, you boys aint the ones pulling these things half a mile!" There was a few grumbles from the non skidding crews, "Same time tomorrow, eat a good breakfast, we're pulling ten or so down tomorrow!" I started out of the mill, "...kid's gonna get out soon...better hurry,"

Where is she? "Hey kid...you seen a cream colored filly with a brown mane?" I asked a passing student.

"Truffle? She's still inside..."

"Ah...thanks kid," I started towards the schoolhouse. I could hear someone on the inside talking, I pushed inside.

"-ents think!?" The teacher was scolding Truffle.

"Dad!?" She turned to me looking utterly shocked.

"....what happened?" I walked over next to her.

"Mr. Harper, it's good to see yo again," Cheerilee smile rather kindly before turning back to Truffle, "Truffle said something rather rude to one of her classmates,"

"She started it!"

"What did ya say?" I asked crossing my arms and looking down at her, "How bad was it,"

"....I-"

"She called another student a bitch..." She obviously felt uncomfortable saying that, "I was going to send her home with a letter, but this is even better,"

"Why would you say that to someone?" I said with a scolding tone.

"She made fun of me....called me floppy horned...."

I looked up at the teacher, "It refers to low magical ability...."

I looked back down at her, "Kid I never thought you'd let that get to you, come on....ma'am" I waved to the teacher and walked out with Truffle, "Ha....who'd you call a bitch?"

"Some stupid filly....no one likes her anyways..."

"Hey, I told you be nice to everyone....if she's a bully tell the teacher, don't call her a bitch...."

"I know...it...it just kinda slipped out,"

I gave a deep sigh, "You do realize you're not watching a movie tonight,"

"What!? Of come on!"

"Oh quite....gotta punish you somehow..."

"...fine...." The walk home got real quiet.

"Be mad if you want...but if I didn't you'd never take me serious,"

"....it still sucks...."

"Yeah....let's just get home, I'll make something nice,"

"...hayfries?"

"....fine,"

"Thanks dad...sorry I got in trouble,"

"Don't bother me....just try not to let others get to ya," I looked down at her, "You need a bath....wait down in the mud room, I aint letting you step on the carpet like that....should apologize to Fluttershy too,"

"It's not my fault! There's slush on the paths and it's all muddy!"

"Where are your boots?!"

"....oh yeah....I guess I forgot em,"

"Jesus kid....aint just your horn that doesn't work....maybe I should get you checked,"

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding....come on, I really need to get you cleaned up," We hurried down the path into town, it was nice even if we didn't talk much. I wish I could do this more often... Next Chapter: Tuesday Estimated time remaining: 20 Minutes