The Blessing: A Second Chance

John walked through the orchard, keeping his senses alert. He had a very important mission to complete...

He had to find a stream to wash his shirt in. Two days of work and sweat hadn't done anything to help with it's fragrance. He would've washed it inside, but the Apple family didn't have a washer. He also doubted that his host would have appreciated a Marine's sweaty T-shirt in her sink.

After a few moments of walking through the orchard, John stopped and closed his eyes, listening for the telltale trickle of water. He took a deep breath, and focused. The early morning sounds started to invade his mindset. The singing of the early birds, the chirping of the crickets, the rustling of the trees as a breeze blew it's way through the waking countryside. All of this was something that John hadn't been able to experience in a very long time.

It was peaceful.

He let the sounds wash over him, the early morning symphony of nature made him almost drunk with a sense of peace that he hadn't been able to enjoy since his last break from duty.

After some time admiring the music of nature, John set to work. Putting his mind in gear, he began to filter through all the sounds, looking for that one noise.

There, to his front right. It was faint, but it didn't seem to be that far off. Turning himself in the proper direction, John began walking to the prospect of smelling less like a gym locker and more like a human being. He turned his head to the right, his good ear, every once and a while to make sure he wasn't getting off course. A few minutes later, John was standing by a crystal clear stream.

'Thank goodness, maybe I can get this shirt to stop smelling like a trash can.'

John walked to the waters edge and squatted down. Taking a bar of soap from one of his cargo pockets, he dipped his shirt into the water and began to scrub. He engrossed himself in this task, focusing on getting the entire shirt soaped up and rinsed off. He was just finishing when he suddenly felt himself being watched. He had to suppress his usual fight or flight response.

'Easy there, you can probably guess who it is.'

John kept his bare back to his observer.

'Hmm, if she's close enough, I may be able to have some fun with this.'

John decided to go through with his plan. Taking a hand-full of water, he began to pour it over his back. After a few times of this, he reached both hands into the water.

And quickly flung quite a bit of it at AJ.

“AAAHHH!!” she yelled in surprise.

John began to laugh extremely hard. So hard, in fact, that he didn't see AJ come close enough to push him into the stream, but he did notice the playful shove, followed by the shockingly cold embrace of the water. Almost instinctively, when he first began to fall back he reached out to grab onto something. It was just blind luck that he grabbed Applejack's foreleg.

Gravity is a heartless mistress, and both beings fell prey to the laws of physics.

When John hit the water, all he could feel at first was the cool liquid. But as he lay in the water laughing, he began to feel a warm and fuzzy weight on his chest. When he opened his eyes, he found a pair of emerald green pools staring back at him.

The two beings sat in silence, their faces mere inches apart. John's mind began to spin.

'Well, this is an awkward position...'

He was suddenly entranced by Applejack's eyes.

'They're so beautiful...'

John took in the rest of her face. Her smile made his heart skip several beats. All he could do was lay there, under her, and smile back.

Another moment stretched out into eternity. Suddenly, AJ's smile became mischiveous.

'What do you suppose she's about to do...?' John thought worriedly.

Just as the thought popped into his mind, his suspicions were confirmed...

AJ rolled off of his chest and splashed into the stream. The resulting wave managed to soak what little cloth of his pants that had managed to stay dry. When Applejack's head resurfaced, she splashed John again using her hooves.

“Oh,” John laughed, “So that's how you want to play it, huh?”

“Well, ya'll started it!” AJ said with a smirk.

What ensued was probably the biggest splash fight in the history of Sweet Apple Acres. Both sides scored many hits, and suffered no casualties. After what seemed like hours, but was only a few minutes, the two made their way out of the stream and collapsed onto the grass, panting.

John turned his head and looked at AJ, her eyes were closed. Her chest was steadily rising and falling with each breath. The mid morning sun reflected off of her wet fur with each motion, giving her body a sheen.

She was smiling, but something about it made John feel warm inside. There was something behind it that made him start thinking.

'What are you getting yourself into here man?'

'Does it matter? I haven't been this happy in three years. It's time for me to move on. They would have wanted me to. Becky, Katelynn, Sherryl, they would have wanted me to move on ages ago. But I didn't. Instead, I have been trying for the last three years to stack the odds against myself. Hoping against hope that finally my luck would run out and I would die at the end of a foe's knife, or on the other end of an enemies rifle, or go out on a ball of fire with nothing left of me to be recovered. I've been trying to kill myself for the last three years by tempting fate, by goading my enemy. But time and time again, I've survived. I've run gauntlet after gauntlet, and all I have are the scars of those encounters.'

The more critical, skeptic part of his mind wouldn't quit.

'Do you even realize what your proposing, what your saying?'

His mental track paused in contemplation.

'I've been given a second chance. I've been spared so many times before for a reason.'

He didn't realize that he had closed his eyes while he had been thinking. When he opened them again, Applejack's greeted his. She was still smiling.

'I think I finally know what that reason is.'

John smiled back at her. Applejack's voice reached his mind.

“What were ya doin' out here in the first place?”

“Hmm?” John started, “Oh, uh, well, I was washing my shirt.”

His mind kicked itself back into gear..

“Speaking of which, I think it was knocked back into the stream.”

Getting back to his feet, John waded into the stream to search for his shirt. The current wasn't very strong, thankfully, and he found it a few yards downstream. Surprisingly, he found it with another item of clothing. Grabbing both items, a smirk crossed his face. As he returned to Applejack, he put on his best poker face. Which he soon replaced with a mock look of concern.

“Hey Applejack, where's your hat?”

Applejack looked at him. Suddenly, her eyes went wide and her hoof shot to the top of her head, feeling around for her beloved stetson which was now hidden behind John's back.

“Oh no, It musta' fallen in the stream while we were messing around. Ya gotta help me find it!”

“Okay.”

Applejack waded back into the stream and went in the direction John had just returned from. While her back was turned, John placed the hat on his head. He grinned and followed after her.

“See any sign of it?” He asked.

“No, you?” she replied.

“Nope.” John made it a point to put a bit of something in the way he said it.

Applejack turned around. Upon seeing her favorite headgear on somebody elses dome, she gave John the most unimpressed of looks.

“Hmmm...” John placed his hands on his waist, “I wonder where in the world that sucker could have gotten off to?”

He avoided her gaze, putting on a thinking face, as if deep in thought. His eyes eventually made their way towards her, and he couldn't help but grin when he saw her expression. Taking the hat off of his head, he handed it back to her. She took it and placed it on her head, her gaze never faltering and keeping the same expression squarely on him. Eventually though, her expression cracked and an amused smile made it's way across her face.

“Why thank ya' for finding this for me.” sarcasm dripped from every part of that sentence.

“You are most welcome, my dear.” John said with as much sincerity as he could muster.

Applejack giggled a bit.

“Ya know, ya could have washed that in the house. We have sinks you know.”

“Trust me,” John snorted, “You wouldn't have wanted me to wash THAT, in one of your sinks. You'll thank me later.”

“Don't ya have anymore that you could use?”

John shook his head.

“Nope, this is my only one.”

Applejack's head cocked to the side.

“Why do you wear clothes all the time anyways? Doesn't it get hot?”

“Sometimes, but humans don't have any fur. So, we make clothing to protect us or keep us warm. I know that it may sound stupid to you, but it's a trade off. Either go around naked getting hurt, or suffer through it and avoid injuries.”

Applejack seemed to think about it for a bit, then she shrugged.

“Makes sense to me.” She said. “And if that's the case, and that's your only set of clothes, then why don't you come into town with me today? We'll take you to Raritie's and get you fitted for some more duds.”

“Oh no, I couldn't burden you like that.” John started.

“Horseapples. It ain't no burden. Plus, I can't have you walkin' around the house smelling like you've worked out all day.” She smiled at him.

John just chuckled.

“Alright, since you put it that way.”

John got up to get his shirt. He turned his back to Applejack.

“Ah thought that you said that humans didn't get cutie marks?”, applejack asked.

“They don't.” John said.

“Then what's that on your shoulder?”

John smiled. He knew what she was talking about.

“That's just my tatoo. It's not a cutie mark, but it does kind of symbolize my special talent.”

“What is it?”

He turned and smiled.

“It's an eagle, globe, and anchor. It's the Marine Corps symbol.”