Chap 5

The sounds of birds chirping, told him he had to get up. It had been like that for when he was a little colt. Tiger sat up, and found a puppy curled up on the foot of his bed. “Hmm? Oh!” Tiger smiled at the familiar face. “You are Wiona?” he looked at the puppy who stirred a little and got up. “Woof” she panted. “Time to get to work huh?” Tiger asked as he got out of bed and quickly ran down the steps. The cold morning air greeted him as he opened the barn door. “Just like old times…” he started for the shed where the apple buckets were always kept. He then grabbed a saddle with 2 hooks on each side and placed a bucket on each hook. “The apples are callin,” he gave the Apple Jack accent a try, and grinned at Wiona who ran around with happy yips and barks. Tiger ran over to an apple tree and gave it a well aimed buck, as this happened the tree shook hard and the apples started to fall. “Hmm… I guess all that training did come in handy after all” he smiled, as he got all the apples into the buckets. “Though… I think I am gonna need more then just buckets now… hehe..”

---Later---

“Hmm Ah wonder if Tiger’s awake yet” Apple Jack rubbed her eyes as she tied her hair up into the usual pony tail. She grabbed her cowboy hat as she left the room and left the house. She came up to the barn and called out “hay, sleepy head wake up!” “Who’s the sleepy head now?” Tiger’s voice came from across the yard near the fences. “Huh?” Apple Jack’s eyes grew wide as she saw the large wagon filled with apples along with multiple buckets filled to the brim littered around him. “Hehe… I kinda forgot where they go after I pick em though…” Tiger gave a sheepish smile. “How in wide world of equestria did you get so many?” Apple Jack asked. “I just bucked the trees like I usually do…?” Tiger answered. Apple Jack then looked over at the area behind Tiger and saw that the apple trees were all empty. “You got them all.. down?” she asked in a small voice. “Yup” Tiger nodded. “Just how far did you go?” Apple Jack started walking over to him. “Mmm.. I did about a quarter of Apple Acres?” “What in the hay? How early did you wake up?” “Just 2 hrs ago..” “And you did all of that?” “Uh huh,” Tiger tilted his head a little confused at Apple Jack’s reaction. “No pony around here can buck that hard to get apples clean off a tree in one go..” Apple Jack stared at Tiger Dusk’s flank. It was the first time she had noticed his cutie mark, a small black paw. “Well here, grab that empty bucket over there and I’ll show ya,” Tiger motioned for her to follow him. Wiona came out from the mass of trees with an apple in her mouth. “Hmm I see ya found one that went astray” Tiger laughed, “good girl~” Wiona dropped the apple by Tiger’s front hooves and panted. “You sure have a way with dogs huh?” Apple Jack came over to Wiona and nuzzled the puppy. “She’s really cute, and really smart,” Tiger nodded. “Well anyways show me this so called amazing method of knocking them apples down from the tree with a single buck,” Apple Jack turned her head to Tiger who walked over to another apple tree that was filled with ripe apples. “All I do is…” Tiger turned around so that his hind legs were facing the tree.  The tree shook and the apples started raining. “….” Apple Jack stood there dumbfounded. “Umm maybe it’s cause I ran with the Ferrari brothers,” Tiger laughed a little. “The Ferrari brothers?” Apple Jack looked at Tiger with a lifted eye brow. “Yeah, when I was in Stallioni, I was really pushed around by a lot of the bigger ponies over there… I was determined to out run them all someday, so I practiced every morning building up the muscles in my legs” Tiger smiled, “and eventually I was able to out run a lot of them.. cept the Ferrari brothers hehe… I guess you could say they are the equivalent of the umm what were they called in Cloudsdale again? Oh umm the Wonder Bolts! Yeah the Ferrari brothers are the fastest on land! They always wear these cool red and yellow uniforms, and they are pure black ponies. We’d race and race, but I could never keep up with them, but we did become good friends,” Tiger explained. “Jus how far did you travel across Equestria?” Apple Jack asked a little amazed, Stallioni was on the farthest parts of Equestria. “Hmm.. not sure,” Tiger tilted his head, “like I said last night, I wanted to run away as far as I could…” “sorry, Ah won’t dig into it too much Tiger” Apple Jack apologized. “Nah.. just give it some time, I’ll tell you some time,” Tiger blushed a little at how close that she was standing so close to him. “Well.. Ah guess since you took care of ALL the apple buckin chores for the both of us this mornin we could go about with the other jobs earlier after breakfast then,” Apple Jack said. “Yeah, sounds like a plan,” Tiger said as he started to pick up the fallen apples and put them into the bucket that Apple Jack had brought. “Hay, let me do that you silly colt,” Apple Jack pushed him playfully. “What the?” Tiger let out a laugh as he fell over. “Ya did most of the work, common, Ah’ll show ya where the apples go,” Apple Jack picked up a few of the buckets and motioned for Tiger to follow.

---Twilight’s Library---

“Oh yeah! I remember him now Spike!” Twilight looked at the sleepy baby dragon who had just woken up. “He was one of those Knight’s of Equestria! He met the quota for the Elements of Harmony. I remember the Princess telling me about the Knights once. All the Knights were chosen for the strengths in friendship, it was the only way to “fight” the Darkness. I didn’t believe the Elements of Harmony existed at the time so I shook it off as another tale. I thought they were just Knights who went out to help protect other ponies around the world…” Twilight said trying to remember more. “He had a friend, but after they went on their first assignment I don’t think either of them came back to Canterlot with the other Knights..” Twilight slowed down. “He never came back? Why?” Spike asked. “I’m not sure…” Twilight yawned a little, she hadn’t realized it till now, but she had stayed up the entire night again.

---Sweet Apple Acres---

“Ah hope Ah can get my cutie mark today!” Apple Bloom said excitedly as she put on her backpack saddle. “How many times have Ah gotta tell you Apple Bloom? It’ll come when it comes,” Apple Jack smiled at her little sister. “But … but we’ll find it! Just you wait! The Cutie mark Crusaders will never surrender to defeat!” Apple Bloom pumped a hoof into the air. “The Cutie mark Crusaders huh?” Tiger grinned thoughtfully. “Yup! Me and a few other ponies who don’t have our cutie marks made a group, and we are gonna find our cutie marks together,” Apple Bloom smiled. “It’s an awesome name I’ll give ya that,” Tiger pumped his hoof in the air too, “I’m sure you can find your cutie mark if ya think of the stuff that you really enjoy doing”. “Aww.. that’s what sis says too…” Apple Bloom frowned. “Hmm, tell you what, after school how about I tell you how I got my cutie mark?” Tiger looked back to his cutie mark. “YAH! That would be so terrific!” Apple Bloom skipped around Tiger who laughed. “We’d better mosey on then Apple Bloom” Apple Jack opened the door, “ya gonna be alright with the chores till I come back Tig?” “Tig?” Tiger laughed again, but blushed a little at the same time, was it a pet name? “Err Tiger,” Apple Jack blushed, “I’ll be ok,” Tiger brushed the back of his mane. “Kay, Ah’ll see ya later then, got a lot of apples to sell this morning Ah reckon,” Apple Jack laughed.