The Applejack of My Eye

Applebloom glanced over at her older sister once again as they made their way back to Sweet Apple Acres while Applejack looked excited but upset at the same time. It really worried Applebloom and she couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong with her. Right now Applejack was leading Applebloom through the trees for her surprise AJ had called it. That was all that the young crusader knew so she could safely assume that it was an early birthday present for her. Many different ideas had popped into her head of what the surprise could be. Maybe it’s a football, or the new Haylo 4 game, or another really nice picnic for just the two of us. Looking at her sister again she saw that she had the same conflicting look in her eyes.

“Are you okay sis?” Applebloom asked concerned.

“I’m fine it’s just,” Applejack let out a sigh as she hesitated in telling Applebloom what had happened with the others. “I told the others about us.”

“What did they say? Do they hate us?”

“Well Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were fine with it but Twilight and Rainbow Dash weren’t so keen on us being together,” Applejack explained causing the little filly to look at the ground.

“Oh”

Applejack put a hoof around her little sister in comfort, “Hey don’t worry sugar, I’m sure they’ll come around eventually. Rainbow might be really stubborn but she is the element of loyalty after all.”

This seemed to at least cheer her up a little bit as she looked back at Applejack and asked, “So what’s the surprise you’re showing me?”

Applejack let out a chuckle at the change in subject. “Sorry sis but you’ll have to wait until we get there to find out. It wouldn’t be a surprise if you knew.”

“Aw come on please. Can’t I at least have a hint?” She asked giving her best puppy dog face much like the one that she had given Twilight when she had come to Ponyville for the first time.

It was the one thing about Applebloom that she dreaded, she could never say no to her with that face. She turned her head away in an attempt to avoid it, “Sorry sis but no means no.”

“Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease,” Applebloom said now in front of her sister forcing her to look at her begging expression.

Applejack let out a sigh of defeat, “Fine, your hint is that to get the surprise you’ll have to do something.”

This got Applebloom excited as she started thinking of multiple possibilities. “Will I have to buck down some apples to get it? Or maybe get rid of any rotten apples? Whatever it is I can do it.”

Applebloom was now sitting and staring slack jawed and buggy eyed looking at the remains of what used to be the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse. "But, how, I, but, wha?" What had happened to the clubhouse?

Applejack let out a small chuckle as she put a hoof on Applebloom's shoulder. “To get your surprise all you have to do is fix this here clubhouse and make it better than ever.” She pushed a small toolbox towards her little sister.

Applebloom looked at her sister in shock and a bit of betrayal, “You destroyed the clubhouse?! How could you?”

“Don’t worry you’re cute little head about it, you’ll understand once it’s finished now get to work cutie,” Applejack said as she lay down under an apple tree where beside her there was lots of wood and paint.

Applebloom looked back at the destroyed clubhouse. What am I supposed to do? When I fixed it up the first time at least it was standing up and in one piece. But now I have to rebuild the entire thing from scratch without any kind of blueprint or schematic to help me? Ugh, this is gonna be a really long day.

Applebloom immediately got to work starting on making some stairs so that she could get back to where the clubhouse would be, then using a hammer and some nails from the toolbox she began reconstructing the floor and afterwards the walls but left a few small openings to use as windows along with a narrow place to put a door, then she started working on the roof by making the design similar to a pyramid, and then finally she began working on the lookout post that she had made a while ago. After painting the clubhouse she walked over to her sister exhausted from all of the work.

“I’m… done…” She said between breathes as she laid down herself.

“Hm… I don’t know; it doesn’t seem to have the same pizazz as the old clubhouse.” Although she did think it was really good, but it hadn’t accomplished what she had hoped but what could she do? Taking a glimpse at the toolbox gave her an idea; Applebloom had only used paint, a hammer, and nails in order to build the clubhouse and looking back at it, it seemed that some of the wood wasn’t leveled correctly. “Why don’t you try using more of these tools to get it done better?”

Applebloom opened up the toolbox looking unsure, “But I don’t even know what these kinds of tools are. How am I supposed to use them?”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure that you’ll figure it out,” AJ said. “But remember that you can’t get that surprise unless you fix the clubhouse just right.”

Applebloom sighed as she grabbed the handle of the toolbox with her teeth and headed back over to the clubhouse. As she set it down she examined the work that she had done so far and was actually a bit disappointed with herself. She had missed several cracks in the walls, she hadn’t painted it properly, and the roof wasn’t aligned correctly. She looked back into the toolbox to see what tools were inside and pulled out what looked like some kind of ruler so she assumed that it was for measuring better. She pulled out a few more tools and was surprised to find that she was figuring out what each of them did quite quickly. After what seemed to be hours, she was able to fix the rest of the clubhouse though it left her exhausted.

Applejack looked up to see the progress and her jaw was now agape for two different reasons. The first was from seeing the amazing clubhouse that Applebloom had just finished which looked amazing. The second reason was because looking at Applebloom her idea had worked although the filly was extremely tired from working so much so she got up and walked over to the filly that was now lying down on her back breathing heavily.

“Are you alright sugar?” AJ asked.

“I’m… fine… I’m… just… tired” Applebloom managed to say between her breaths while she noticed her sister smiling down at her. “What? Do I have some paint on me?”

“Applebloom, look at your flank”

For a moment she was confused about her sister’s request until she sat up and looked at her flank where she couldn’t believe what her eyes were seeing. On her flank was what appeared to be an apple with a hammer imprinted in front of it. “My cutie mark! I have my cutie mark?!” Applebloom began hoping around overjoyed and hugged her sister tightly. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you.”

“You’re welcome sugar, now could you please let go? You’re squeezing me pretty hard right now." Once Applebloom softened her grip, AJ gave her a small kiss. “You really like your surprise don’t you?”

“Like it? It’s the best thing anypony has ever gotten me. I finally have my cutie mark,” Applebloom said still happy until a thought crossed her mind. “But what about Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo? We can’t be the Cutie Mark Crusaders if I have my cutie mark.”

“Of course you can. Isn’t the CMC’s goal to get each of you your cutie marks? As far as I can see only one of the three of you have your cutie marks.”

“I guess so”

“Well with that attitude maybe I shouldn’t give you your other present early," AJ said pretending to scold her.

“Another present? What is it?!” Applebloom asked curious but still ecstatic.

“Well while I was at the Boutique, I got Rarity to make something just for you but you have to close your eyes”

Applebloom didn’t say anything as she closed her eyes excited to get something else from Applejack, hopefully another kiss. Applejack pulled out the box from her saddle and started to take out the bow that was already in Applebloom’s mane. “What are you doing?”

“Just trust me okay.” After she took it out, she placed the new bow carefully into the filly’s mane. “Alright now open your eyes.”

Applebloom opened her eyes looking in a mirror that Applejack had borrowed from Rarity. In her hair was a new bright blue bow that had beautiful floral stitching along the sides, and was encrusted with a few rubies. “This is amazing, thank you sis.”

“You’re welcome sugar, now why don’t we go show the family your brand new cutie mark and your new bow?” Applejack offered making Applebloom excited.

“Yeah I want to see the look on their faces when they see them," Applebloom said starting to run off to the house before calling out behind her. "Come on sis."

Applejack immediately began chasing after the filly while thinking of what had happened with the others earlier that day. Why didn't Rainbow Dash and Twilight support me about this? I thought that they of all ponies would be there for me considering that they're two of my best friends and Rainbow being the element of loyalty for pete's sake. How could both of them say that what I feel is wrong? How can something that feels so wonderful and perfect possibly be wrong?

Applejack looked beside her as she caught up to Applebloom who had the most cutest expression of happiness and eagerness that she had ever seen. It filled her heart with joy seeing Applebloom so happy especially when she was the one to provide that happiness. Don't think about that stuff now. The only thing that matters right now is keeping Applebloom safe and happy. As long as she's happy then I don't care if Celestia herself doesn't approve of us.

"Come on slowpoke," AJ said as she picked up the filly by her mane and put her on her back. "You need to rest a bit after all of that hard work."

"Okay sis and thanks. I love you." Applebloom said as she hugged her sister from behind causing her to blush.

"I love you too sugar"

Applejack had now abandoned all of her bad thoughts. She would change Twilight and Rainbow's minds someday but right now she was ready to show off her little sister's brand new cutie mark to her family and make them as proud of Applebloom as she was. But little did she know that this was the calm before the storm.

AN: Sorry for the wait, I've been a bit lazy lately but the wait for chapter four will not be as long for it will be up by tomorrow or the next day. I would have added more detail to Applebloom building the clubhouse but I don't know anything about that kind of stuff.