A work horse's beating heart

"Ah know I'm old, but even I can see you like her"

Big Macintosh froze as he walked into the house. Granny chuckled as she prepared Breakfast.

"Even if you hadn't stayed out there for a few minutes, any pony can see"

Mac could barely make words, then finally stuttered

"H-how?"

Gran, chuckling, replied

"the way ya act round her. Even you, with yer normally emotionless face. Yer eyes dilate, and she even gets you to talk more!"

At that moment, the door creeped open and applejack came out, yawning. She saw Macintosh,

and looked surprised.

"What are you doin up so early, Mac?" Applejack asked.

Mac didn't know what to say, then granny said

"He just woke up early, that's all" as she winked at Mac. Applejack just shrugged, and sat down at the dinner table.

She looked up,

"Just because you woke up early, don't mean you shouldn't eat"

To tell the truth, Mac's stomach was grumbling, so he sauntered over to the table and sat down. Granny soon joined them with a variety of Apple foods. Before he ate it all, Mac left a plate of Apple pie out for AppleBloom and finished his serving.

"You ready yet?"

Mac asked over his shoulder to his sister as he got up and moved towards the door that lead to the apple orchard.

"Sure am, brother!" Applejack energetically answered.

The two farm ponies set out, walking towards the west apple field carrying various apple storage items. While slower and harder, it was a way to kill two birds with one stone. Eventfully, they arrived at the west field and started bucking apples. Soon, AppleBloom joined them, setting buckets

up next to the tree's so applejack and Mac didn't have too. While the red stallion would be as quiet as mouse during Apple-bucking, AJ and Applebloom would chatter on about diffrent things. Every once in a while they would ask him a question that he would reply to with "eeyup" or "nope", but that otherwise he did the rest of the job in complete silence.

"Whew, that was hard! And we haven't even taken the apples to the market stall yet!" Applejack exclaimed.

The two farming siblings had finally clean-bucked all the tree's in the west field. Their younger sister, Applebloom, had gotten tired (like usual) and had left a few hours earlier and had left the two pony's to do their work. By now, both farm ponies would be equally tired and (most ponies don't expect this) their minds racing. Albeit tired, bucking/farming was at most time very boring work and they had to entertain themselves somehow. Applejack just thought about her family and friends, while Mac would just (basically) think about philosophical things. But this time, only one thing was on his mind as they set out to the market stalls.     and the thought was the only thing on his mind.

Ditzy Doo!

That was all he did for the entire trip, think about that MailMare. He mentally laughed and pinched himself too, scolding himself for acting like a hoof-crossed colt. It didn't matter what he did though, he knew he was love struck by Ditzy. Mac even inwardly giggled, Ha, i really am acting like a co-!

CRASH!

Mac suddenly went face-first into the dirt, painfully rubbing his face raw and nearly breaking his nose. In addition to that, he managed to accidentally kick the cart he was pulling behind him any flood the market with apples. With a rather red face, Applejack waved all the pony's crowding around away muttering "sorry". Mac pulled himself up, realizing he just made the biggest foal of himself, and with the help of applejack quickly started putting the dropped harvest back into the cart. When the two ponies were done, Applejack turned towards Big Mac

"Now, what was all that about?".

Normally, you think of this situation as "why is that strange? Everypony trips once and awhile." If you thought that, you haven't been around Mac a day in your life. Applejack, or anypony, had ever seen Mac trip. Infact, he was one of the most balanced ponies in town.

"Hello?"

Mac jumped back to reality when AJ spoke up.

"Did you here me? What's on your mind?" She said, seeing the full face her brother was wearing. Mac, rubbing his burned face said

"I tripped"

As convincingly as he could. AJ raised an eyebrow at this.

"Brother, I have never seen you trip or looked so troubled"

At this, Mac resisted the urge to look down at his hooves. Showing she was right was something he shouldn't do if he was going to hide Ditzy from her.

"A'm tired, sis. Can we please just get to market?"

Applejack still seemed a bit mad, but nodded her head and they continued towards the apple stall.

Hours after Mac had arrived back home from the supply drop to the market, he was sitting in bed, His back hooves tapping against each other regularly. Mac didn't feel good. Mostly because he was keeping a secret - a big one - from his family. He hated keeping secrets from other ponies, especially from other apples. So you could see why he would be at conflict. Speaking of which, Mac's mind was in major conflict, do I really like Ditzy? Should I tell my    family? Macintosh shifted sideways in his bed. He never liked to be full-out confused. So, he did what any pony that really didn't want to face their problems immediately did...

... He tried to sleep.

Not that it did much. Mac still had a tiny work of doubt in his mind as he pulled the covers over himself. No, Ill just do what is said before he closed his eyes, sleep drawing nearer deal with it in the morning. And with that, the bulky red stallion managed to get himself into a calm sleep.