Apple of my Eye

6:22 am

It was so early, the morning dew on the lush green grass outside was still glistening from the very gentle light cast upon from the rising sun. The majority of the sky was still visibly purple, and it went from red to orange to progressively more yellow as it went east. The first few rays of sun hit your window and by chance, a ray landed on your eye, waking you up. You rubbed your eyes and looked at the clock.

Aw hell no! Not getting up at Ass O' Clock... You think to yourself, then go back to bed, putting your pillow snugly over your head.

6:30 am

"GOOD MORNING! RISE AND SHINE, FARM BOY!" An all too cheery voice called from the other side of your door.

It was your mother, the same woman who was used to getting up at 5am every day for her job. Of course, you're a teenager, so getting up early wasn't your cup of tea at all. Using your early morning rationality, you thought that maybe...just maybe...if you didn't answer, then she'd go away.

45 seconds later...

BANG BANG BANG

"COME ON, FIRST DAY OF SLAVE LABOR! FIRST DAY OF SLAVE LABOR!" Your mother continued, speaking notably louder this time.

Whelp, that didn't work. You tried to muster the will to get out of bed.

Okay man, get out of bed on three. One...Two... THREE!

You didn't move.

Okay, this time I'll move. No, really I'll move this time. One... Two... THREE!

Again, no dice.

Come on, man! You can do this! You've done it before...OK! This time for sure... Get ready...ONE...TWO...THR-

You are cut off by a loud banging at the door.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

"OPEN UP, LEST YOU WANT TO GET UP EARLIER TOMORROW!" Your dad bellows from the outside of your door.

That did it, you sprang out of bed squawking "I'M UP, I'M UP, NO NEED FOR THAT I'M UP!!!"

"Good." Your dad responds. "Be downstairs in 20 minutes. I want a 10 minute shower from you then it's off to work, slave."

"Ohohoho...You're funny dad." You retort, getting ready to shower. He doesn't respond, but you hear his footsteps heading away from your door. If there's one thing you learned about your parents...it's that they don't kid around. You headed into your nice marble and linoleum tile bathroom and turned the hot water on. Then, your clothes off of your body, you check yourself out in the mirror. You looked pathetic. There were crease marks made by your sheets from you sleeping with your covers tightly wrapped around you and they showed up pink in contrast to your pale skin. Your hair was long and greasy, giving you that familiar feeling of being dirty when you just woke up. The sand in your eyes was clumped up and made you feel even more tired. You brushed it away and didn't feel any better. The water was hot now, and you felt it with your fingers...too hot. You turned the cold knob a quarter and waited for a bit. After feeling the temperature again, you decided it was perfect for showering and stepped in. The hot water rushed down your filthy oily skin and a feeling of rejuvenation washed over you. The hot water felt like it was starting to loosen up all the gunk in your hair and you began to relax.

You were going to enjoy this shower...

Afterwards, you stepped out of the shower, steam billowing from either side of you as you grabbed the towel on the rack and began to furiously dry yourself off. You were thoroughly awake now, and you smelled just fine now thanks to your favorite 'Men's body wash.' You had washed all the grease in your hair out and so needless to say, you felt fresh. You gave your mouth a quick rinse with mouthwash and spat it in the sink. Then, you entered your room and threw on an outfit. It was a black '1-up' shirt with a green mushroom on it and you paired it with some camouflage shorts. It wasn't your best outfit, but hey, it was there and it fit you. Nothing else really mattered to you at that point. You ran a comb through your hair to at least look mildly presentable and headed downstairs.

Your dad was there to greet you when you reached the bottom. "Hey there not-so-hired hand." He joked.

"Again dad, you're funny." You reply.

"Since it's nearly time for your shift to start, you're not going to have time for breakfast. But don't worry, I'm sure the Apple family will be so nice as to provide you with some breakfast once you get there."

You wince upon the mention of the accursed family. Sure, they've done nothing wrong, but your imagination made you fear them to no end last night. All the possible tasks you were bound to fail at...It clouded your mind.

"I can see that you're barely able to contain your enthusiasm." Your father says sarcastically. "But it's time for you to head on out, so off you go, kid." He opens the door and gestures you out. You obey reluctantly.

As you're heading towards the barn, another little monologue runs through your head.

Whelp, it's off to your doom, soldier. This here's a battlefield. A battlefield you can't hope of navigating through safely. You're gonna sweat, you're gonna work, you may even cry, but it's all your fault, lazy ass. The best thing you can do is to take it in stride. Motivated by your little speech in your head, you started to march with more of a spring to your step.

When you finally do reach the farm after walking down the winding path leading to the gate, you're greeted by Granny Smith. She's knitting by the front door and she gives you a gentle wave.

"Well looky here, it looks like our help for the day has arrived, eheeheehee. Big Mac's waiting for you near the tool shed. Just head over there, ya can't miss it, sonny boy." She chuckles then points to your left. You walk in a mild haze, feeling tired again and wishing you were still in bed. That shower helped, but now it's 'awake power' was failing. You were gonna have to muscle through this if you were to keep yourself from falling asleep in a bag of feed or whatever.

When you reach the shed, you see Big Mac carrying some bushels of apples of various colors such as golden delicious and gala apples into a barn that was next to the shed. He saw you and gave you a nod signifying that he acknowledged your presence. He set the bushels in the barn and beckoned you over. You complied and he spoke to you in that deep, strong voice.

"It looks like we got plenty 'a apples harvested so far, so you and AJ are going to carry those there bales of hay to the livestock barn then feed all th' livestock. Simple enough?" He kept a perfectly calm expression the entire time.

I get to try and carry heavy things under the supervision of AJ? Perfect. Fucking perfect. "Perfect, where do I begin?" You say with faked enthusiasm.

Big Mac picked up on your sarcasm and responded with, "Jus' head on inside the barn and you'll see AJ. She'll tell ya what to do." He then went off to carry more bushels in the barn.

You walked into the barn and saw Applejack. She was leaning against the barn wall and sitting on top of a bale of hay. She had both of her feet crossed and in front of her, her hands resting behind her stetson hat; which was pulled down so that it covered her eyes. In her mouth, she chewed on a piece of straw. Even you had to admit, she looked really hot in that pose. However, your guy sense told you to just ignore that and ask her for briefing on your assignment.

You approached Applejack, your heart pounding in your chest as you did due to your nerves. She obviously heard you approaching and looked up, locking eyes with you in an intimidating gaze. She spoke to your in her rich southern accent.

"You lost, sugarcube?" She asked, cracking a half grin.

"Actually, yes. I am lost. Could you show me the way back to my house? Pretty please?" You joke, giving her a wry smile.

The half grin disappeared. "Har har, very funny. Look, Big Mac is assigning us to bring these here bales of hay to the barn where all the livestock are kept. Now, I know you and yer type, so I'll be keepin' a close eye on you the whole time, we clear?" She hopped down the bale of hay and jabbed your chest to punctuate her statement. Her emerald green eyes were staring directly into yours.

Suddenly, you were pretty intimidated by this girl. "Ehehe...Crystal." You respond meekly.

"Good, now git to it." She then picks up a bale of hay, which is about as big as a laundry basket, slings it over her shoulder, and walks out of the barn.

You decide to follow her example and wrap your hands around the twine that held the hay together. You lifted with all your might, determined to show her your worth. Alas, you could not lift the bale very high before you had to put it down since the twine dug into your skin and hurt your hands. Man, this was embarrassing. You then try again, this time shuffling your hands under the bale and attempting to lift it up like a cafeteria tray. You strained and strained...but you only ended up hurting your back. If only you had breakfast...maybe you'd be able to do this...maybe.

Meanwhile, Applejack just re-entered the barn, having put the first bale where it had to go. She saw you still trying to lift that one bale and burst out lauging. "BWAHAHAHAHA! Partner, are you still havin' trouble lifting that one bale!?" She approached you and gave your rear end a little kick with her boot by bending her knee back as she walked past you.

That action didn't sit well with you at all... "HEY! If you do that again, I'll..."

"What? Yer gonna beat me in a game of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3?" She gave a wry smile and lowered her eyes.

"...You know what? I might just do that." You narrowed your eyes at her, countering her sarcasm with some sarcasm of your own.

"Yer worse than I imagined, city slicker." She then proceeded to pick up the bale you had been having so much trouble lifting over her head and placed it over her shoulder, then she handed it to you so you could have a better grip of it. You held out your arms and she let go of the bale.

WHUMPH!

The bale fell to the floor and you hit your head against the bale going down with it.

Again, Applejack started laughing. "BAHAHAHA! This is just too funny. Ya can't even lift a bale of hay." She laughed so hard she snorted at the end. Although you found that laugh pretty cute, you were thoroughly pissed right now. Nobody gets to shit on your pride like that! You puff your chest out and walk in real close to her.

"So what if I can't, huh? At least I'm in the advanced placement courses at my school!" You bragged.

"Well you must not be doin' a very good job from what Big Mac told me." She smirked at you.

You groaned. "That was only my math grade, math is hard." You say, defending yourself.

She lets out a sigh. "Well I'll have you know, I'm pretty good at math m'self." She boasts, adjusting the stetson hat on her head.

"No ya ain't sis, ya barely passed math remember?" Applebloom chimed in, she was hauling a bag of feed to what looked like the chicken coup. Applejack began to blush...

"AHA! Caught in the lie, miss AJ. Looks like we're both in the same boat then." You attempt to poke her nose but she grabs your forearm and constricts it, surprising you.

"Look, city boy. Nobody calls me AJ Except my family an' friends. You don't fit in neither category. And another thing, I may not be as smart as you, city boy, but I sure as sugar am a might stronger than you I reckon, so I suggests that ya not get too cocky with me." She has surprising strength since you are not able to pull your arm away.

You start to get flustered as you try to save the circulation in your arm. "Ahhhh okay Applejack, you win..." You start tugging your arm away from her death-grip. "Just...let...go...of...my...arm...now..."

She lets go with a smirk and you fall on your back from her sudden release. "Glad that's taken care of, now since ya can't even do the simple task of movin' bales of hay...I want ya to feed the pigs over there. We got their slop over in that there tub, the one with the bucket next to it. Your job is to take the slop in that bucket, carry it over to the trough in their pen, and jus' dump it in. Got it, partner?" She grabs your hand and pulls it up, yanking you off the ground.

You rub your arm and back away from her. "Yeah, got it..." You then power walk to the tub and retch. It smells absolutely awful. How can pigs eat this stuff? Aren't these things turned to bacon? If bacon ate these things, you were going to seriously reconsider your favorite breakfast food.

You fill up the bucket with the slop and carry it in your right arm. It's still pretty heavy, but it beats trying to carry those bales of hay any day. You see Applejack pick up another bale and sling it over her shoulder and walk out. As she walks out, you can't help but notice how nice her ass is...

...I know I shouldn't be thinking this but...dat ass... You muse to yourself.

You start to check it out for a little, then you catch yourself staring perhaps a little too long and shake your head vigorously. Applebloom notices this as she just exited the chicken coup and asks you, "Hey mister, are you tired or somethin? Yer head was shakin' there...I do that when I'm tired and tryina wake up."

"Uhhh...yeah, that's it! I'm just... tired." You lie. Then you see Big Macintosh looking at you and your heart rate increases drastically. Did he see you checking out AJ? Oh dear lord, what would he do? He could easily pound you into a pulp...

Your fears are put to rest when he chuckles lightly and shakes his head. Then, he goes back to his task at hand.

...Whew...disaster averted. You sigh in relief. You were going to have to be more careful...

Finally, you reached the pig pen and you opened the gate slowly, taking great care to undo the latch on the gate first. The pigs looked like they were trying to escape, but you managed to keep their efforts at bay. Once inside, you trudged your way through the mud and made all kinds of groans and various other sounds of despair as you saw your shoes get all muddy and wet.

"Wha? Aw come on! These are my favorite shoes! Oh man, awww ssshhhhhhhitake mushrooms." You say quickly when you notice Applebloom watching you.

"It's not that bad, ya just gotta get used to the smell is all." She says with an innocent smile. You though Applebloom was a sweet girl, but she wasn't at all helpful.

The moment finally arrives and you reach the slop trough in the middle of the pen. (God dammit, why did it have to be the middle!?) You dump the slop in and the pigs all start to dig in. You wince at how much gusto they have in eating the horrid mixture. You trudge towards the exit and shut the pen door, then immediately try and wipe off your shoes in the mud. You were sweating now, and the sun was beating down mercilessly on your black shirt, conducting heat and making you even more uncomfortable. That shower felt useless now. You get off what mud you can and make your way back to the barn and rest on a simple wooden chair in there. You start to relax, enjoying the shade when Applebloom runs up to you holding a glass of ice cold lemonade. She hands it to you and smiles.

"Come on, Granny Smith just made a batch of her special lemonade and mini apple tarts! Come try some!"

You thanked Applebloom and downed the lemonade in one swig. You then followed Applebloom to underneath a tree where Granny Smith had a large pitcher of lemonade and small tarts sitting beside the pitcher. Your mouth watered at the food before you, you were so hungry right now, you could eat a horse. Maybe even one of the horses on this farm...

Granny Smith beckons you over. "Well now sonny boy, Big Mac here has been tellin' me how hard you've worked, and so I must insist that you try some of these apple tarts. It's the special family recipe, and you deserve it plus some lemonade for all the hard work you've been doin'."

You look at Big Mac who only grins and says "Eeyup."

You didn't do diddly-squat! (save for feed the pigs) And yet Big Mac told Granny Smith that you had been working hard. You liked Big Mac all the sudden, you figured that he understood your situation and so he gave you a break. You smile at him and mouth 'thank you.' He nods and gestures towards the tray of tarts. You excitedly pick one up and give it a taste. Your taste buds are assaulted with the sweetness of the apples mingled with the flaky buttery-ness of the rest of the dessert. It has hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, and various other spices. It's perfect, and your appetite is satiated once you finish the tasty tart. You then have another glass of lemonade and Applejack enters your field of vision, causing you to almost choke on your lemonade.

"What have we got here? Lemonade and tarts..." She notices. "Looks like our not-so-hired hand here is enjoyin' them, ain't he?" She then slaps your back, and you almost choke on your lemonade again.

You hastily finish the lemonade and speak. "*GASP* If you slap my back one more time, I swear to god I'll-"

"Kick my butt at Mario Kart?" She finishes with a smirk.

"..." You are at a loss for words. Everyone except you shares a laugh.

"Now don't tease him too much, AJ." Granny Smith said to Applejack.

"Whatever you say, Granny." Applejack responded whilst folding her arms.

"THE PIGS ARE LOOSE! THE PIGS ARE LOOSE!" Applebloom squealed.

Everyone's gaze was directed at you...