Secrets and Lies Chapter 1

A/N: I know I promised I wouldn't work on other stories until Winding Roads was finished... But since it's only about a chapter away from the finish line... I CAN TOTALLY START THIS ONE

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It belongs to The Hub, Hasbro, Studio B, and Lauren Faust. I do not own any of these characters in any way or how, nor do I claim ownership to the pony franchise. These characters are simply my toys.

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"What's your story, mate?"
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Secrets and Lies
Chapter 1: Apple Pickings

Caramel could taste the parchment between his teeth as he lifted up a golden coated hoof and began to gently pound of the wooden door in front of him.  The scent of pine entered his nose, and he wrinkled it a few times, not sure what to make of the place as of yet.  The gentle drizzle of the sky's clouds began to effect his mane and coat, but he didn't let him bother him, he was used to it by now.  "Hello?" He called, jumping as the parchment of paper fell from his mouth.  He jumped and snagged it in mid air with his hoof before glancing up once more "Anypony home?"

He shifted his body slightly, his cutie mark of three horseshoes shone on his flank.  He furrowed his brow when no response came.  "This is the right place... right?" He mumbled aloud, unravling the pachemnt with both hooves as he re-read the address once more.  

Now Hiring!
Any earth pony willing to travel through the mountains to move my home supplies, both food and water will be supplied free of charge, along with equipment to sleep.
Come to 396 Mane Rd. for information.
600 Bit Reward.


Caramel glanced around him, seeing nothing but the path that had been worn down by the likely hundreds of ponies passing through each and every day.  There was nothing else around here besides the woods in the distance.  It was just an open field.  There couldn't have been another house out here he had mistaken the address with.  It crossed his mind a couple of times to forget it and just go home... but the reward of 600 bits was enough to keep anypony staying where they were.  He could eat for a month if he got his hooves on that kind of money.  He gulped loudly before taking another quick glance around.

"Hello?" The golden pony called "Is anypony hom-"

"Come on in, ya' damn loudmouth.  Ya' act as if all of Equestria depended on me waking up..." The voice that came surprised the golden body as he jumped.  Caramel glanced around quickly and found himself blushing as his hoof gingerly rose and slowly pushed the door open.  The place was small, almost empty aside from a few personal belongings.  He glanced around a few times, wondering where the voice had come from.

He opened his mouth to call once more, but found himself interrupted as the creaking of the old, wooden floorboards hit his eardrums.  His ears perked up, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a figure in the hallway of the house.  He turned to see a dark green pegasus with a wrinkly face.  He seemed to have lived a long life, his mane was gone aside from a few strands of royal blue here and there.  A cowpony hat covered his scalp and a vest covered his body.  Caramel took a good look at him.

Caramel would have opened his mouth to say something, if the other had not beaten him to it.  "You here for the job?" He mumbled, cocking up a brow in question.  The golden pony glanced down to his hoof holding the parchment of paper.  He nodded, watching the older stallion examine him.  His wings fluttered a few times as he glanced up and down the golden coated body "I guess you'll have ta do." He grumbled, rolling his eyes.  "C'mon, follow me son."

The earth pony opened his mouth, but found it going dry "Um... thanks?" He asked as his hooves trotted to catch up to the aging stallion.  He seemed sort of like the bitter kind of old man, one Caramel would try his darn best to stay away from if he had too.

"Names Forest Leaves, So you think you can handle this job?" The older colt asked him as he turned suddenly and walked into a small room that seemed to be an office.  It held a desk and a few pillows in the front.  The older stallion walked up behind the desk and sat down, letting out a sigh of relief.  He glanced at the other "Well go on, sit down." He grumbled.

Caramel jumped and blushed "Y-Yes, Sir." He said as he quickly galloped up and planted his rump down on one of the cushions.  He was silent for several moments, before feeling stupid and realizing the older was waiting for him to answer the previous question.  "I... Yes." He stated "Yes, I am able to handle this job, it's just moving a bunch of belongings of your's, correct?" He asked.

"Ain't as stupid as you look." Forest mumbled.  "But no, these items are very personal to me, some of them are worth more than my tired old ass."

Caramel resisted the urge to let his emotions of annoyance show.  If the items were so precious, why let them be handed off to complete strangers so easily?  Then again, the stallion likely had no other choice at such an old age.  The golden pony blinked several times and nodded "Got it." He mumbled.

"Now I called earth ponies because they are generally much stronger than unicorns or pegasi, and they tend not to get exhausted as easily." Forest mumbled. "I'm moving you see, some place closer to other ponies and to what little family I have left, I still have enough energy in these old wings to fly there myself, but I ain't got the energy to fly back and forth a hundred times to get everything, and that's where you come in.  I expect the journey to take about two weeks for you on your own, can you handle that?"

"Where... exactly am I headed?" Caramel asked.  Two weeks wasn't a very long time through the mountains.

"Los Pegasus." Forest grumbled "I'll be waiting around in a hotel room on the north side of town called Feather Beds, now I don't want ya to go and get lost, I only have so much money to spare."

Caramel felt like he was being talked down too.  He didn't like that feeling very much.  The colt still nodded "Alright." He mumbled "So... can we discuss payments?" He asked.  Before talking about anything else, he wanted to know out front just how much he was being paid and when.  One pony would have learned his lesson after being hustled job after job.

"Awfully greedy, now aren't w-" Forest found himself being cut off as the sound of knocking entered the household.  A long silence filled the air afterwards, until another bout of knocking occurred.  Caramel felt his heart sink slightly into the caverns of his chest.  Forest Leaves glanced at the golden pony.

"Hold on a sec, will ya?" He asked as he got to his hooves and began to walk away out the door.  Caramel could just sense his job was on the line.  He should have been smarter and just accepted faster!  The golden pony got to his hooves and quickly trotted to the wooden frame of the door, glancing his head around the corner down the hallway.  He could see a piece of paper being help by a hoof in front of Forest.  "Lookin' for work?" The old stallion asked.

There was a pause.  Caramel began to gnaw on his lip.  "Eeyup." The voice finally came.  It was a deep voice, and sounded like it wasn't used very often.  Forest grew a huge grin on his wrinkly old face "Come on in boy." He said.  Just as he said this, a red hoof stepped in the doorway.  The stallion that entered was likely at least twice the size of himself, his red coat covered his body, and his mane was orange, with a short tail.  Caramel bit his lip.  There was no way he could compete with sompony that big in a contest of strength.

He needed this job...

Caramel jumped as green eyes flashed to him.  They didn't seem angry, or even holding a fighting spirit as he would expect from any sign of competition on a job.    He quickly jumped back several feet and back to the cushion.  His cheeks blushed brightly as the trotting of hooves entered his ears.  He tried not to glance behind him.  "Go ahead, have a seat next to this one." Forest said.

The other didn't say anything, just got down next to Caramel.  It was at this point that the smaller pony dared to look over at his competition.  He was much bigger than him, there was no way he could beat him in brawn's.  There was a piece of hay in his mouth that he quietly chewed on.  There were a pair of saddle bags around his sides, as if he had traveled a long ways.  He didn't look at Caramel.  He acted as if the other pony didn't exist.

"Well boy's, it seems we have reached a problem." Forest said, a sly grin on his old face, as if he were going to enjoy.  "Son, it seems this other pony... what was your name again?" He asked, looking at the red stallion.

"Big Macintosh Apple, Sir." He mumbled, his eyes looking a tad bored.  There was something deep inside of those green, emerald eyes.  If Caramel had to put a hoof on it, it would have to be Melancholy.  The other didn't say anything else, just continued to nibble on his hay.

"Big Macintosh here seems to want your job." The old stallion said, as if he were enjoying this moment "I seem to be given the sad displeasure, of telling you..."

"He was 'ere first." Big Macintosh mumbled, glancing over at the golden coated pony next to him.  Caramel found himself jumping.  Was the competitor for his job really defending him at this moment from this cranky old man.  "Doesn't seem fair that I get the job just because I'm bigger than he is..."

Forest looked annoyed, he half closed his eyes and then proceeded to roll them.  "Yes, I understand your concerns, but you see this tiny earth pony just won't be ready for the long journey alone, you seem much more equipped for it."  The old pegasus mumbled.

Big Macintosh studied Caramel for the first time "Then why don't both of us go?" He asked.  Caramel found himself jumping a little in shock.  Was this stranger willing to give up 600 bits just so he wouldn't feel like he cheated the golden pony out of a job?  Nopony was that kind, not if they were smart at least.

"You do realize that I'm going to split the pay to each of you, correct?" Forest said, seeming disappointed for not being able to give the bad news to the smaller earth pony.  Big Macintosh nodded, and didn't say anything else.  Caramel jumped up.

"I-I'm fine with that!" He said.  Half of 600 bits was better than none.  It would only occur to him later that Big Macintosh might have only done this because he knew there was no other way Caramel would have gotten paid, and he was just trying to be nice and do his part, but at the moment he was overly grateful, that was all that mattered.  His eyes locked on the older pegasus for a few moments.

Forest sighed "So... do we have a deal then?"

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh said, keeping his eyes shut as he gently nibbled on the stem of hay.

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Caramel grunted as the pounds of fruit and water were placed over his back.  He glanced over at the older stallion who had placed them there.  He didn't show any emotion on his red face.  He just looked straight forward, looking as if he were ready to travel at any moment.  He had the wagon filled with random items of junk that somehow were treasure to their employer attached to his back.  The golden stallion did as well, although his job was more to carry the food than to pull, since he wasn't the muscle in the group.

"Alright boy's," Forest grumbled.  "I want you to be in Los Pegasus in under two weeks, you hear me?" He asked, holding up a hoof "I ain't waiting forever just for your slow asses." The pegasus grumbled out "Now it's going to be a long journey through those mountains, so just stick to the path, you hear me?"

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh said, his usual tone of voice.

Caramel just nodded.  He felt like a third wheel for some reason, like the only reason he was here was because he had gotten a lucky break for once.  Not that he was complaining, in fact he was grateful for it.  He just felt like this journey was going to last longer than two weeks in his mind.

With his mind so caught up in all of his own thoughts and feelings about this entire job in general, he squeaked a little as he felt himself be yanked forward at once as Big Macintosh started moving.  He blushed gently.  He must have missed old Forest give the O.K for them to go ahead and start off.

The red pony turned onto the path and began walking at a speed to which he wasn't pulling too roughly on the smaller pony.  He was still chewing on that stem of hay, and was more or less glancing forward, his mind set solely on the journey.  Caramel found his own gaze drifting forward and saw the pair of mountains in the distance.  It would take them and hour at least to reach them, and days to trek over.  Caramel began groaning inside of his mind, yet kept silent on the outside.  He turned to look at the other once more.

"You don't look like you're from around these parts... are you?" He asked.  The question was innocent enough.  With the saddle bags he still carried, it was obvious he had come form somewhere far away.

Big Macintosh nodded.  Caramel took it was he was from out of town.  "Yeah, me too." He mumbled.  At least they had one thing in common so far "I just needed this job, I really have no idea what I want to do with my life right now to be honest... I'm just traveling... where are you from?"

The red stallion glanced down at him, a brow cocked up "Ponyville." He grumbled out.  It wasn't a rough or mean kind of grumble, more like a natural sounding one.

Caramel found himself nodding "Can't say I've been there, you lived there your whole life?  Is it a nice place to settle down in you think?"

"Eeyup."

Caramel was silent for several moments "Is there a reason you traveled this far away from Ponyville?" He asked, a slight annoyance in his voice.  He was greeted with a shrug.  Caramel didn't know whether to feel annoyed or simply not care.  "So... what brought you here?"

Another shrug.  At this point, Caramel was getting annoyed.  He could somehow feel the other was shy, or just not talkative in general, and it wasn't just to him, but he could at least try and answer some of the questions, couldn't he?

The emerald eyes of the other gave away no emotion, it had been the single greatest poker face Caramel had seen in all of his existence, he couldn't break through it no matter how much he tried.  His eyes scanned the other closely, studying him intently.  He wasn't sure how long he would hold up on this journey in silence.

"What do you do over in Ponyville then, tell me about it." Caramel said, attempting once more to spark up the beginnings of a conversation.  It was worth a shot at the very least.

"Farm." Big Macintosh mumbled.  Caramel rolled his eyes this time.  There was no getting through to the other, was there?

He glanced toward the mountains, somehow knowing it would be a long journey.

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"Eeyup."

"Nope."

"Eeyup."

"Nope."

These were the only responses Caramel received whenever attempting to talk to Big Macintosh.  The other stayed silent unless spoken too directly, and never attempted to say anything.  The golden pony remembered reading somewhere that it was physically impossible to stop talking unless you had your vocal cords damaged.  Unless you promised yourself to stop talking from some traumatic experience, you honestly had to talk, it was just the way ponies worked.  But not Big Macintosh... he didn't seem to have any deep dark secrets either...

The fire crackled, causing the only sounds to appear in the air.  They had managed to hike around five miles up the mountain before they decided it would be wise to start up camp.  They had agreed to take shifts in staying awake in order to protect the wagon from anything that might attack it like a stray timber wolf or bandit ponies, however neither was really ready to attempt to go to bed.

The sounds of the night were slightly comforting.  Caramel never really did have anypony to talk to, so it wasn't so bad.  But at least when he was alone, he could sing or talk to himself without feeling self conscious.  With Big Mac here however, he found it impossible to even talk to himself in his mind, as if the other was a mind reader.  He blinked several times across the fire at the red stallion.

Big Macintosh didn't meet his gaze, just stared intently into the fire.  The golden pony grumbled lightly to himself.  He didn't know what he would do if he went crazy during these two weeks, the red pony made it seem like something was wrong with him, and that was why he was given little response when asking a direct question.

It was a good ten minutes later when Caramel finally got up from the uncomfortable ground "I think I'm going to the tent... mind taking first watch?" He grumbled.  Big Mac shook his head.

"Nope."

As Caramel began to walk away, he heard his own name be called.  "Caramel." It was the first time Big Macintosh has spoken to him directly.  "If ya get cold... don't be afraid to come out here, I'll keep the fire goin' till ya'll come on out."  Big Macintosh picked up a stick with his hoof and jabbed at the fire "Need my spare blanket now?"

"N-No thanks..." Caramel mumbled.  He felt confused, Big Macintosh seemed to have a good heart, yet was incredibly shy and non-talkative in the slightest.  The colt couldn't figure the other out, it was harder than it sounded.

As Caramel began to walk to the tent, he began to think of a whole two weeks in silence with nothing but walking and sleeping day after day.  He wouldn't hold up long if only that continued.

So he made a promise to himself.  He was going to get Big Macintosh to open up to him.

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Introduction chapters are boring, yaaayz... my wrist is feeling better if you are following me btw, so don't get pissed at me for writing this...