Apple of my Eye

The Next Morning...6:30 AM

You woke up uncerimoniously and reluctantly to banging at your door. It was your dad, telling you to hop right to it. With no other logical course of action presenting itself, you obey. As you shower, the conversation from last night still rings in your head. Her gorgeous green eyes tearing up like that....you wish you had just kept your mouth shut. Maybe none of that would've happened. When cleaning yourself, you take extra care cleaning your wounds. You had to take the bandages off, so they wouldn't be ruined. The scratches still hurt, but the pain was greatly reduced.

Your parents fussed over them of course, but you assured them it was just a mistake you made while getting firewood. Your parents went with it and had you apply ointment to them last night. But you digress. You finished showering and dried yourself off. Today, you wore brown cargo shorts and a 'Legend of Zelda' shirt.

You re-applied the bandages to your wounds and headed downstairs where your mom greeted you with a look of sympathy in her eyes. She gave you bacon again, still your favorite despite the pig incident. You supposed that she felt bad about your wounds and so wanted to make you feel better. Your father was swamped with work, so he didn't say hi to you. After your bacon breakfast (with a side of eggs) you headed on out the door.

As you walked on over to the barn, you thought about yesterday evening again. You thought again about how torn up Applejack looked after you told her she had no integrity. Honestly, you think now she deserved to rub it in your face. If you were alone then that bobcat would've done more than a number on you. You figured that you would apologize to her today...if you saw her today. There was a high chance you would, seeing as how you both worked together the last two days. Still though, there was a chance things may change...

As usual, you approached the gate where Granny Smith was. She was just as bright an cheery as ever, but seemed to notice your sadness and asked what was wrong. You didn't feel like telling her, so you told her not to worry about it. She seemed satisfied with your answer and told you to go meet Big Macintosh in the Apple Cellar. You nodded and headed off at a slow pace...

Big Macintosh beckoned you over to the Apple cellar and had you take a seat. Afterwards, he briefed you that you will be making cider today. He'll show you the ropes, then later Applejack would join in to help you.

Upon hearing her name, your heart did back flips in your chest. You were both stressed and relieved to hear you will be working with her today. Stressed because you're afraid of how she will react to you, and relieved that you get to see her today. when he shows you to the apple squeezer and shows you how to work it, he leaves and Applebloom is there to keep an eye on you. Upon him leaving, your brain rings in for a conversation with yourself...

You love Applejack...

I think we've already established that fact.

No, I mean you LOOO~OOOVE her ~

What!? NO!

Oh come on. If you remember back to one night derping about the internets, there was a page you stumbled across...what was it called...?

...How to tell if you're in love?

Yeah! That's the one! It said that one of the signs that you're in love is that you-

I know, I know. One of the signs is if you feel genuine concern for her well being and if she's on your mind a lot.

Exactly~

So you're accusing me of falling head over heels for her!?

Nope, I'm IMPLYING that you're falling head over heels for her.

Well....I haven't! I'll have you know that I plan to stay single!

With a girl like her next door to you? I won't let you.

...You suck brain...

You're welcome. Now go tell her you're sorry today and hope you can make ammends. Do it for her!

Okay...but you still suck.

And you blow.

Well...you SWALLOW!

Geez, this brings 'self abuse' to a whole new level....

You're right, I'm gonna get back to work, I'm creeping myself out.

And now with that ugly conversation out of the way, you do as Big Macintosh demonstrated. You took about 20 apples, loaded them into the pressing machine. Pulled the lever, watched as a cascade of applejuice collected into a barrel, and repeated until the barrel was full. Then, you sealed off the barrel and put it with the rest so you could scrape the pulp off of the machine and prepared the next barrel. It was an easy task, a bit boring though. Applebloom was watching you the whole time. She just kinda sat there with an innocent grin...

Eventually, she decided to strike a conversation with you.

"So...my sister was talkin' 'bout you all last night."

Your heart started to thud. "Ohhh ummm....did she now?"

"Eeyup, she kept blabbin' on about how much she didn't like what you told her....just what did you tell her anyway? I think yer nice, so I'm sure you at least had a good reason, right?"

You let out a sigh, and told Applebloom the truth. You told her about what she went out to tell you and about how it seemed you two were about to become friends. Then you told her how you single-handedly screwed it up by saying she had 'lack of integrity' for asking for a thanks and about how much you truly regretted it to see her so sad...

When you were done, Applebloom clasped her hands together and said, "Awwww that's so cute! I think someone's in love!"

"I am NOT in love with your sister." You narrow your eyes.

"Yes, ya are! If ya care about her and if ya want to comfort her when she's sad, then it's a sign yer in love! Do ya like her at least?"

"Yes....I MEAN NO! I mean..." Dammit.

"AWWWWWWWHHH That's so sweet! Don't worry, my friends are coming over later today and so you'll have plenty of help with gettin' my sister's heart! Oh! One of my friends has an older sister that's coming over too, so you'll meet her as well! She likes to play match-maker, so there's no way yer NOT gonna get with my sister. I think y'all will make a great couple!" She has the most excited look in her eyes.

Oh FUCK ME!

You knew there was no stopping a young girl like her at this point. She was going to have her friends and perhaps one of APPLEJACK'S friends helping you get with her. This may not seem like such a bad Idea...except...you didn't want help. You wanted to handle your feeling on your own...at your own pace.

"Look, can you please please not? I'm pretty sure she doesn't even like me. Especially since I said...what I said last night."

"Actually, I think she might..."

Your head perks up upon hearing this. "And why would that be?"

"Because she was very upset with what you said. If she spent THAT much time worrying about it...she's gotta care about what ya say, right?"

"...I guess so..." Your mood was slowly being lifted.

"And if she cares about what ya say, then that mean she cares about YOU, right?"

"...I suppose..."

"And if she cares about you, but doesn't wanna show it, then she most likely has a crush on ya back!" She smiles triumphantly.

Well, you didn't expect such wisdom to come from Applebloom, but you weren't complaining. This was the best news you'd heard in forever.

"Really? That'd be pretty awesome if she did!" You didn't bother hiding the excitement in your voice.

"Yeah! And with me, my friends, and Rarity, how can we possibly fail?"

"Yeah! How could w...wait. Who's Rarity?"

"She's the friend of Applejack's."

"Oh...odd name."

"She's very generous and nice, but a bit intrusive."

"Good to know..."

"Well, It was nice talkin' to ya, but I gotta go meet them! I expect them to be here any minute! Don't worry, You've made more than enough barrels for Big Mac. Why don't you come meet them!" She grabs your arm and drags you out of the cellar.

"Woah wait wait wait already!?"

"Yeah let's go!" She tugs on your arm harder and leads you out faster.

You know better than to speak against a young girl who clearly has her mind made up, and so you go out of the cellar and wait around for these friends...

You spot Applejack feeding livestock over to the left of where you stand. She looks as gorgeous as ever and you feel butterflies in your stomach upon seeing her. She looks at you, gives a small smile, then shakes her head quickly and shoots you a death glare before returning to work.

I am so fucked... You muse to yourself.

Authors note: This is all I was able to get done on my busy day today :'( But I will get the next part to this chapter done in due time, so please bear with me here. I didn't expect to be this busy. I love you all, and thank you for being such wonderful readers! :D

Peace out!

-Jex