As we leave the forest, we all start to head towards the farm. I figure it's about time I went to work anyway. When we get to the farm, Applejack takes Applebloom inside while Big Mac and I head out the northern fields. Once we get far enough out there we split up, Big Mac going east and me going west. I go to my first tree and start kicking, only to knock it over in my first kick. Dammit. I really need to get some shoes. I go over and pick all of the apples I can from the top and go to the next tree. I hesitate a little and try my best to restrain myself, but when I kick it I only get a few apples. Fucking piece of shit. I kick again in anger and completely obliterate the trunk of the tree, sending shrapnel everywhere as the tree drops to the ground.

"Fucking asshole!"

"Miles, what’s the matter?" I turn around to see Applejack walking up to me, looking at all of the tree's.

"Applejack. Sorry about the tree's..."

"Don't sweat it. Just tell me what's got ya so bothered."

"Nothing has me bothered. I just need shoes." I say as I approach the next tree.

"Miles, ah can tell your lying, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just need shoes..."

"Ah spoke with Rainbow earlier.... she told me about yer problem." Of fucking course she did.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it right now. Just let me get back to work..."

"Yeah, that's not happening." I stop and look back to her in confusion.

"Does this mean I'm fired?"

"No, it means until you can buck trees without knocking them over, ah'm gonna have ya do other work around the farm."

"What kind of work?"

"Jus follow me." I grab the almost empty cart and follow her all the way back to the barn where we leave the cart out front and head inside. The inside is basically a giant open room. To the left and right are rows of stalls, each of which are filled with some cows. Each stall goes up a story then has a flat roof that doubles as the floor for the next floor. The second floor serves as a walkway that goes around the entire room. Some hay bales have been stored here, but other than that it's completely empty. Strands of hay cover the ground and the walkway above, giving the room a distinct odor. "Well ya gonna gawk all day or ya comin up?" Applejack asks from the second floor. I climb up the ladder and join her in the middle of the walkway.

"Alright, what do you want me to do?"

"Ya see these boards?" She asks as she points to the wall beside up. The walls are made of rectangular panels that are starting to come off. "These panels are gettin old. So I want you ta go through an remove all the bad ones and replace them with new ones."

"Sounds easy enough."

"Here, let me show ya how it's done" she says as she picks up a hammer in her mouth and pulls out a few nails, making the panel drop to the ground. "Real easy. After ya collect a good amount jus toss the old ones. Ah'll bring in the new ones as you get started, any questions?"

"What do you mean by just toss them?"

"Uhh... throw them away."

"You're not going to reuse them?"

"Ah can't. There's nothin ah could use em on."

"In that case can I keep them? I could use them for Storm's training."

"Hmm... ah don't see why not. Ah'll go grab a cart fer them as well." I thank her and get to work removing all of the old boards. There are a lot that need to be replaced, almost this entire wall. How exactly does it get this bad without them working on it before hand? As I work I can hear the cows talking to each other, since when did they talk? After getting a couple of boards off Applejack returns with an empty cart, so I toss the few boards I have off into it. I get back to removing the old boards as Applejack goes to get the new boards, keeping the old nails in my pocket. After removing some rather reluctant boards she comes back with a flatbed of new boards. I stop to try to levitate some up, but can't because I don't know what they are.

"Hey Applejack, what is wood made of?" I ask her as she comes up the ladder with a can of new nails...

"It comes from tree's. Ya chop down a tree, remove the cork an bark, an cut the inners to yer liking."

"OK... what makes up a tree?"

"Well, ya got yer outer and inner bark makin the outside, then ya got yer cambium, that's the area of growth fer the tree, after that is the phloem and xylem, and then in the center is the pith. Yer xylem transports yer water an minerals from the roots while yer phloem transports water and food from the leaves..."

"Applejack!" I say, stopping her on her little lecture on plant physiology. "Glad to see you know your tree's but I meant a more literal depiction. Is it carbon? I heard water, so I know that must be in the live parts, but water is the literal make up of a tree."

"Oh... uh... yeah, ah'd say carbon, seeing how they breath in carbon dioxide and turn it ta oxygen. Plus, when..."

"Carbon, got it! Let's give it a try!" I say as I go to the edge and try to levitate a few boards. I takes a few tries, but I eventually get them to come up. With a smug smile I get back to work on removing the boards from the first section. As I work, I notice Applejack waiting beside me, shuffling her hooves and trying to hold her mouth shut. "*sigh* what's on your mind?" Depressing talk, here we come.

"Well... ah was jus wonderin... what are ya doing later?"

"Well, I've got to take this stuff home and get it ready for the training, why?"

"Well... ah've got this rodeo comin up... and was wonderin if you'd help me train up a bit. There's this one course that can't seem to do as well as ah usually do and would like some help." OK, not what I was expecting.

"I don't see why not, when?"

"Later this afternoon. But if ya got ta work on..."

"Sure, why don't we get started after work?"

"Well, alright then, thank ya kindly Miles!" She says as she grabs a hammer and joins me in fixing up the wall. We spend the next few hours fixing up the wall. All the while talking about things she'll have to do in this rodeo. Most of it is just a physical strength test or a speed challenge. Easy enough. When we run out of boards we leave the barn and take our carts to their perspective areas, mine being home. I drop it of in the backyard and dump all of the nails in the cart before heading back to the farm. I find Applejack behind the house in the area where Big Mac and I played those games earlier. She has a bunch of barrels lined up and is stretching at one end.

"What's this?"

"It's the barrel run. Ah've got ta get from one end ta the other as quickly as possible while weaving through the barrels. If I touch one of them, ah get a penalty of five seconds added."

"Sounds simple enough, why don't you show me what you can do and give it a try." She gives me a nod and get ready. I pull out my phone and go to the stop watch on it. "On your mark, get set, GO!" She takes off and starts running tough the barrels. She's fairly nimble on her feet, but at the end she hits two barrels in a row. Other than that she did good, I stop the timer and see that see was able to do it in twenty seconds. I'm not sure if that's good or not.

"How was that?" She asks as she trots back.

"Pretty good. You did it in twenty seconds, plus two hits makes it thirty."

"Thirty! Carnsawnit! That's almost double my time from last year." She says as she kicks the ground.

"Hey, that's why we practice, to get better."

"Yeah yeah, practice makes perfect ah know..."

"Heh, that's weird, we had a saying similar to that. Ours goes practice like you perform and preform like you practice."

"Whatta ya tryin ta say, ah'm gonna do bad tamorrow."

"Kind of. It supposed to make you want to practice harder to really do the best you can do. If you practice with everything you've got, then actually doing it will be easier on you. Now why don't you go ahead and try again, but this time treat it as if you're actually in the contest." She gives me a nod and goes over to the line again. She takes a few breaths and gets ready, looking intensely focused. "On your mark... get set... GO!" She takes off again and weaves through the barrels with much more finesse, seamlessly making her way through the barrels without a single one. When she makes it to the end I stop the timer and check the time. "Seventeen seconds flat."

"Yeehaw! That's more like it!" We do the exercise a couple more times with similar results. Her best was fifteen seconds where her worst was the first time through. She really good at focusing at the task at hand, so I decide to up the ante. She sets up again and waits for my signal.

"On your mark... get set................................................ GO!" She almost tripped up on that, but waited and took off at the right time. When she gets halfway through I yell out "What in the world is that!" Making her look up and crash into a barrel. I run over to her and help her up, laughing a little to myself. "Well, let's hope you don't do that at the contest."

"Shud up Miles. Why did ya yell out like that?"

"To distract you. Now do it again, but this time focus at the task at hand." She gives me a nod and walks back to the starting line. I set the barrel back in place and go to the line, where Applejack is waiting in her stance again. "Alright, on your mark... get set.... GO!" She takes off and runs with the same focus again. I wait till she's three fourths of the way down before I yell out "Applebloom, what are you doing!" Making her crash again. With a sigh I go over and help up again. "Well..."

"Don't say a word, let's jus do it again" she says as she runs back to the starting line. We go through the course several times before she can finally ignore my comments. Once she does, she returns to her usual times. After her last run through she walks up to me, sweating and panting. "Ah, think that should do fer today.... want ta come over fer dinner?" I check my phone to see that it's already eighteen hundred hours.

"Thanks but I really need to get going. I need to get started on getting everything ready for Storm's training. Maybe another time."

"Well, thank fer the help.... an if ya every do want ta talk about... yer problem... feel free ta come ta me."

"I'll be sure to do that... thanks." I say before I turn and start walking home. Applejack walks with me to the front where we run into Big Mac and Applebloom.

"Hiya Miles, ya stayin fer dinner?" Applebloom asks.

"Sorry, but I have to get going to get to work on something. Maybe another time." GAW! She's pouting! I have to leave before her cuteness changes my mind.

"Hmm... what if I helped ya with this project of yers after dinner?" Big Mac asks.

"Well..."

"It's settled then. Miles will stay fer dinner and then you two will head over ta his place to work on Storm's training thing" Applejack says as she trots inside. I don't remember agreeing to this...

"Yay! Can I help make dinner?" Applebloom asks as she hops around in joy. Fuck... now I have to go... oh well. I follow them in where Applejack and Applebloom head to the kitchen, leaving me and Big Mac in the living room. We sit there in silence for a while until Big Mac breaks the silence.

"So... what's this training ah'm hearing about?"

"Oh, I'm putting Storm through Spartan training. It's the same level of training I went through back home."

"Hmm.... why are ya doing this?"

"Well, he's been getting his ass kicked a lot lately. I figure he could use some good training."

"Is there a way..."

"SOUPS UP EVERYPONY!" Applejack yells, getting us both to go to the kitchen and take our seats.

"Evening Granny Smith, how are you today?" I ask her as I take a seat next to her.

"What!? I don't need any shoes... er.... Meters."

"Glad to hear it" I say as Applejack set a few bowls filled with hot liquid out. As everyone starts to eat I take a moment to look over the new food, much to Granny Smiths displeasure.

"What's the matter... kilometers... big city boy don't like apple soup?" Granny Smith says as she shakes a spoon at me.

"Let's find out" I says as I try a spoonful. It's like eating hot liquid apples... I like it. We eat awhile giving idle talk about the rodeo and carnival tomorrow. Everyone seems to believe that Applejack will do great, while she stays modest about her abilities. I think she'll do just fine. Once we finish up Big Mac and I head out for my place.

"Miles... there's something ah wanted ta ask ya." Big Mac says as we walk down the path.

"If Rainbow told you to I swear..."

"Ah want ta go through the training as well." I stop walking and look over to him.

"You what?"

"Ah want to go through Spartan training" he says levelly to me.

"Big Mac, you realize that this isn't some exercise regiment, this will turn you into a soldier. A killer. This is some really intense training; you will get fucked up from this. You will bleed, break bones, and live on the brink of death. Do you honestly believe you can take that?"

"Miles, when ya told me Applebloom went missin, ah didn't know what ta do. An when we went into the forest an found those tracks, ah knew there wasn't anything as could do. We lucked out that she was at Zecora's, if she was with those snakes.... ah want ta be able ta protect mah kin, and ah'll do anything ta be able ta do that." I stare into his eye's for a while, trying to see his resolve.

"*sigh*, you're lucky you and your sister are friends of mine, otherwise I'd say no."

"So ah'm in?"

"Go home, prepare your house to not have you for a month, and prepare for a living shit storm."

"Dontcha want help with settin up?"

"Not from someone that will be going through the course. Go home. I'll be sure to get things ready for the both of you." He smiles as he nods his head and walks back home. I turn and walk home, thinking to myself as I stare up at the moon. Two now... this actually may work out better... two...

Next Chapter: Chapter 60 Pinkies Carnival Estimated time remaining: 75 Hours, 28 Minutes