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Post by Applejack on May 29, 2012 19:54:26 GMT -5
Applejack was having such a good day too. She finished her applebucking for the day early, helped Granny Smith bake some pies, and still had time to hoof deliver a bushel of apples to the Clop Cafe. And then something went and messed that up. Kale, who she intended to visit with her delivery trip, wasn't there.
"Is he on a day off 'r somethin'?" She asked the pony who collected the delivery instead of him. He shook his head. "Nope, heard he was laid up in the hospital or something. Hurt himself flying or something like that. He's alright, from what I hear, just has to stay there for a while."
AJ sighed. Great, while she was having a great day, somepony else was having a horrible one laid up in the hospital. Seeing Rainbow Dash bored out of her mind was still fresh in her memory. Looks like she would be paying a visit to Kale after all.
"Just try not t'burn nothin'" she warned the kitchen pony, before trotting back to the farm for a quick stop.
------------------------Time Passes-------------------------------
A hoof gently knocked at the door to Kale's room, in the hospital. She peered her head into the room cautiously. "Kale? Y'all feelin' alright?" She trotted in with a concerned look on her face. A fresh apple pie was carefully balanced on her flank as she cautiously approached his bed.
"Ah heard y'all got yerself in a mess. How'd y'all manage t'do that?" Not that Applejack thought that Kale's job was less than any other. But short of hot stoves and sharp knives (things any foal could avoid hurting themselves with if they were careful, let alone a seasoned chef) she didn't exactly consider his job particularly "dangerous". Especially one that would get him laid up in the hosiptal.
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Post by Kale on Jun 1, 2012 3:25:13 GMT -5
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
After Snowdrop's visit (right up to the point where a nurse kindly, but firmly, pointed out that the filly could not be there without a guardian present), Kale's time in the hospital had taken a sharp turn from 'generally bearable' to 'kill me now.' As it turned out, sitting in a bed all day was exactly as dull as the pegasus had imagined it to be. Even he, without being the most outgoing of ponies, still needed some sort of activity to get by. He might have been able to get by with a good book, but by the time the library cart reached him, anything entertaining had been picked out by other patients--when his choices were narrowed down to a dictionary, a philosophy book, and a book of fairytales for foals, he decided he'd just pass.
By this point, though, he'd be thankful to have the dictionary.
"Kale? Y'all feelin' alright?"
Kale looked up sharply. It was nothing short of shocking to hear his name mentioned so suddenly; the nurses just tended to call him 'sir' (he had a sneaking suspicion they might not know his name), and he certainly wasn't expecting any more visitors. But the voice, as well as the face that came with it, were unmistakable, and he smiled, subconsciously straightening his posture a bit.
"Applejack! Hey! Um...yeah, I guess so," he chimed, glancing at his injured wing. At once, he became a bit uncomfortable; the swath of bandages was facing the door, and thus facing Applejack. If it was silly to wish she wouldn't notice his reason for being in the hospital, well...he hadn't thought of that. He just didn't like it being so prominently displayed.
"Ah heard y'all got yerself in a mess. How'd y'all manage t'do that?"
The stallion rubbed the back of his neck, furrowing his brow as he tried to come up with a way to word the explanation. "Well," he said after a moment, "I was giving Snowdrop--I've told you about her, right? The filly from Cloudsdale?--I was giving her a flying lesson just before that storm hit, and when the wind picked up, she got swept away. So I went after her and I was able to catch her, but..." He shrugged. "I guess I just wasn't as lucky on the landing."
Kale wasn't sure why he felt so awkward describing this. Really, there was no logical reason to; he was just stating the facts, and it wasn't like anypony had really done anything particularly embarrassing.
Perhaps he just hated talking about himself.
Whatever the reason, the pegasus was eager to change the subject, and so glanced at the pie perched on Applejack's back. "Is that...for me?" he asked, an odd mix of gratitude and desperation on his face. "I'd say you didn't have to, but I'm in no position to reject good food." Celestia knew that good food was certainly in short supply around here.
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Post by Applejack on Jun 2, 2012 21:02:38 GMT -5
Flying lessons? Maybe Applejack underestimated the stallion. She had certainly not expected something like that. She smiled a bit, thinking it was sweet of Kale to be giving a little filly flying lessons even though, from what she could tell, there were more than a few more-skilled fliers around town to teach her...
She shook that thought from her head, looking a little bit embarassed herself, but not for any reason that could be apparent to Kale. "Oh? This'ere thing? Bucked an' baked just this mornin'! Don' git much fresher than that." she happily set the pie down in front of him on the bed.
"Ah figured y'all would want somethin' better'n what they got here. Weren't too long ago that mah friend Rainbow Dash... ah think y'all met her... She hurt her wing too, an' she was loosin' her mind bein' stuck in'ere." She chuckled and gave the pegasus a tap on the forehead. "Figured ah'd come by an' try to make sure that don't happen"
The earth pony trotted over to a nearby chair and pushed it closer to his bed and sat down next to him. "So, what got this whole mess started with lil' Snowdrop?" she asked, deciding to try and strike up some kind of conversation.
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Post by Kale on Jun 18, 2012 2:12:18 GMT -5
"Oh? This'ere thing? Bucked an' baked just this mornin'! Don' git much fresher than that."
Kale didn't bother hiding a look of utter appreciation as the smell of the freshly-made pie wafted up from his lap. Despite his talent for cooking, baking was something he hadn't quite gotten the hang of--and in his attempts at experimenting and attaining ever greater culinary achievements, he often forgot how good something as simple as an apple pie could be. (He had to keep from rolling his eyes at the thought; it sounded like something out of a cheesy romance story.)
"Ah figured y'all would want somethin' better'n what they got here. Weren't too long ago that mah friend Rainbow Dash... ah think y'all met her... She hurt her wing too, an' she was losin' her mind bein' stuck in'ere."
Looking up at Applejack, the pegasus raised his brows at the mention of Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash? Yeah, we've run into each other before." Or to be specific, flew. Though she had been the only one flying at the time. It had been quite an unusual introduction to Ponyville for him--after all, the rainbow-maned pegasus had been the first pony Kale had met in the town. Her rapid-fire train of thought and lack of any real guilt over ramming him off his hooves had thrown the more mannered, diffident stallion off; he supposed he just didn't think quickly enough to keep up with her, let alone fly.
"Figured ah'd come by an' try to make sure that don't happen."
Letting out a small laugh, Kale smiled at Applejack. "Thanks. I was getting pretty close before you came." Glancing down at the gift she'd brought, the stallion briefly considered eating it immediately (after rejecting the slop they'd brought him for breakfast, he was rather hungry), but he could practically hear his parents telling him how rude that would be. And no matter how little he may have liked Manehattan, those manners had been rather effectively drilled into his brain.
He'd just have to try and ignore the delicious, delicious food right underneath his nose.
"So, what got this whole mess started with lil' Snowdrop?"
"Mess?" Kale asked, looking up at Applejack in surprise. "I wouldn't call it a mess, it's just...okay, yeah, it's sort of a mess," he admitted ruefully. "But...well, I don't know. She was trying to fly, and she seemed so embarrassed about it, which reminded me of me, so I guess I felt bad for her, so I wanted to help, and then it kinda turned into flying lessons." Becoming aware that he'd been babbling, the white pegasus offered Applejack a slightly apologetic look. "The end," he joked (a bit weakly).
A new thought popped into his head, and despite having already said what he considered to be 'a great deal,' he continued. "It just sorta seemed like Snowdrop needed a...I don't know, a big brother. I mean, you do a lot for your little sister, right?" Frowning, Kale looked down. "I'm not being weird about this, am I?"
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