Reinventing the Iron Will

Iron Will sat uncomfortably in a chair that was far too small for him. To make matters worse, the ceilings in the hospital where too low. He had accidently put his horns through the lobby’s ceiling earlier when he had gotten up to get some water. The repair bills just kept stacking up in his mind. Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep in another chair and was snoring softly. Fluttershy was still awake and nervously tapping her hooves together. She wondered what had become of Vinyl. The doctors seemed very concerned and they had not heard anything about the DJ’s condition for what seemed like hours.

Fluttershy’s mind returned to something that had been troubling her earlier. She turned to Iron Will, who had just broken the arm off his chair by leaning on it the wrong way. “Um, Iron Will, why was Applejack so angry after you talked to her?” She quickly regretted asking this, when she considered how badly things were already going for the minotaur. She did not want to bring up any more unpleasantness.

Iron Will’s face darkened. He had taken the destruction of his home in stride. He was concerned about the fate of the DJ, but he suspected she would recover. However, his abysmal failure to impress Applejack was the one thing that had really stung. He immediately decided not to tell Fluttershy about it and settled for instead sitting perfectly still with a very sour look on his face.

“I’m really, really sorry I asked,” Fluttershy squeaked. Her heart sank upon seeing how angry she had made her friend.

The minotaur sat in seething silence for a few minutes, but he found it exceedingly difficult to give such a loving and gentle little creature the cold shoulder like this. He began wondering if she might be able to help him figure out where he had gone wrong with Applejack. After another minute or so, he mustered up the courage to speak about his brief but devastating talk with Applejack. “I don’t know exactly, it seemed to be going well. I was showing her the view from the roof. I was telling her my plans to buy the rundown farm next-door and turn it into a set of hedge mazes.”

Fluttershy gasped. “Oh no, that’s Sweet Apple Acres. It’s Applejack’s home. You can’t turn it into a maze.”

The realization of his mistake hit Iron Will like a bolt of lightning. Now he knew why the beautiful pony had suddenly become so incensed with him. “How could I have been so carelessly stupid? You had told me beforehoof that Applejack was an apple farmer. I should have connected the dots and realized that Sweet Apple Acres might have been her home. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” he bellowed, punching himself in the face with each “stupid.”

“Oh, you don’t have to beat yourself up about it,” Fluttershy said, panicking as she wondered how much he was hurting himself with each punch.

Much to her relief, he stopped punching himself and looked down at her. He looked desperately miserable. “No, you don’t understand. I called the barn and the house ‘ugly’ and referred to the owner of Sweet Apple Acres as a ‘hick.’ I’ve ruined my chances at love forever.”

Rainbow Dash woke up with a painful crick in her neck. She glared at Iron Will. “Geesh! Stop being so melodramatic. Why don’t you just go and apologize to Applejack? She’s reasonable; she’ll understand.”

Iron Will hesitated and thought for a moment. “Apologizing would violate my ‘Never apologize, when you can criticize’ rule.”

“Well, you already criticized her, now you can apologize to her for it,” said Rainbow Dash.

“It would be the right thing to do. I think you’d both feel a lot better if you tell her you’re sorry,” Fluttershy encouraged him.

“They say it takes a big man to apologize,” Rainbow Dash added. “You’re not scared of apologizing are you?”

“Alright, alright, you’ve made your case. I’ll do it,” Iron Will said, getting up but again bashing his head on the ceiling. His horns tore out more of the drywall, covering his head in dust.

Doctor Whooves trotted into the room with a clipboard. “Your friend is going to be fine. She’s now in stable condition, but she will probably been here for a week or more. If you hadn’t gotten here when you did, she probably would not have made it.”

Everypony breathed a sigh of relief at this. Iron Will wiped the drywall off his face. “Alright, it’s great to know that my party didn’t end in a fatality.”

***

Applejack sawed off another wind damaged branch in the orchard and placed it in a bucket overflowing with similar sticks. Apple Bloom picked up the bucket to carry it to the chopping block. However, it was slightly too heavy for her and she buckled over, sending branches in every direction.

“Gosh darn it,” Apple Bloom said in a defeated tone. “How do you balance these things, Sis?”

“Just takes practice is all. Don’t beat yourself up ‘bout it. Everypony’s bad at things when they first try.”

Apple Bloom picked up the sticks and put them back in bucket. “I wish I could be more help with everpony workin’ so hard ‘round here.”

“Just keep tryin’, Apple Bloom. Even if it doesn’t go right the first time, don’t give up.”

Apple Bloom smiled to herself as she carried the bucket of sticks over to the chopping block and began splitting the branches into kindling. She was glad her sister believed in her, even if the other ponies at school mocked her for being a later bloomer. It was getting ever more embarrassing having not earned her cutie mark yet.

Big Mac dumped a large bundle of sticks next to the chopping block. As he looked up, his an expression of panic flitted across his face. There in the distance strode Iron Will. Big Mac wondered if the creature had come to demand repayment for the damage done to his house.

“Oh for Pete’s sake, it’s William. What does that brute want now?” Applejack asked, as she too spotted the minotaur approaching.

Iron Will walked up to the three siblings and stopped. “Hello Applejack, hello Mac,” he said, making sure to make eye contact and nod to each of them. “And who is this here? I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”

“I’m Apple Bloom,” the filly said as she set down her hatchet. This creature was nothing like she had ever seen before. He looked scary, but at the same time seemed friendly.

“An honor to meet you, Apple Bloom, I’m the one and only Iron Will,” he said, bending down and shaking her hoof.

“Ahem, what exactly do ya want?” Applejack asked curtly.

Iron Will got to his feet and focused his attention on the stunningly beautiful mare. He remembered some of the advice Fluttershy had given him to help prepare for this. Don’t shout. Smile instead of looking angry. Don’t brag. Don’t insult others. This was going to be difficult. He would have to practically reinvent himself if he was to pull this off.

“I came here today, because I wanted to apologize about what I said last night. I don’t think your home is ugly and I don’t have any plans to destroy it. I’d also like to apologize for calling you a hick.”

Applejack was surprised by this turnabout. He didn’t strike her as the type to apologize. “Aw, shucks, William. I’ve been called worse things than a hick. I’ve been called a rube, a hill-filly, and a bumpkin too.”

“So, um, I hope you don’t hate me or anything… Because nopony hates Iron Will and lives to tell the tale!” He checked himself, realizing he was slipping back into his natural bombastic persona. “Uh, yeah, I just don’t want any hard feelings between us.”

Since his sister and Iron Will were making amends, Big Mac also took the opportunity to attempt to clear things up between himself and the minotaur. “I think I might have accidently broken some of your things last night, but I can help fix your house if you’d like, sir.”

Iron Will smiled at the stallion’s generosity, but declined the offer. “No thank you, Iron Will takes care of himself.”

Apple Bloom’s face brightened as an idea came to her. “Maybe I could help you fix your house, Mr. Iron William, sir.”

He strongly doubted this little filly could be of any help repairing his home, but perhaps she could tell him more about Applejack and thereby help him discover how he might win her heart. “Well, I guess I could give you a chance.”

“Apple Bloom, I don’t think this is a very good idea,” Applejack chided her.

“Please can I help him, Sis? I promise I’ll try to do more good than harm.”

Applejack looked at how little progress Apple Bloom had made at chopping the branches into kindling and wondered if she and her brother might get more done if the little filly was off their hooves for the afternoon. “Well, alright, but feel free to send her right home if she does any more damage to your home,” she said to William.

“I’m sure she’ll be no trouble at all. I’ll see you around, neighbor,” he winked at Applejack as he left.

“Alright, this is gonna be great!” Apple Bloom jumped up and down as she followed the minotaur over to his mansion. “Maybe I can get my cutie mark in repairing damages caused by parties!”

Iron Will chuckled at this. Ponies were far more upbeat and playful than the goats and other minotaurs he generally hung out with. As they walked into the main room, he surveyed the damages to his home. “Wow, where to start?”