Horseapples.
Applejack let her eyes bore into the old, stripy wall-paper across from her, before scrunching them shut and dropping them into her hooves. Short, sharp breaths scratched and whistled through her teeth, which became more and more bared by the second.
How in the hay had she let this happen? She let out a groan, dropping her hooves to the end of her snout. Hadn’t Twilight said making a list’d stop them getting all disorganised and shambolic and all them other fancy words that even Rarity wouldn’t use to talk about her farm.
Another groan rattled through her throat. And she just had to get suckered in by it all, all Twilight’s promises of how much time they’d save and how much they’d streamline their production costs, or whatever it was she’d told Big Mac when Applejack had raised an eyebrow at her. She twisted her muzzle. It was Twilight’s fault for not using normal words!
It was Twilight’s fault for talking her into this.
It was—
Her eyes shot wide. For the first time in a little while, she heard the sound of her own breath rustle across her hooves. Something clenched in her gut that definitely weren’t from the smell of tonight’s cobbler, and she bit her lip. Had she really just—
She shook her head.
No.
It weren’t right to blame Twilight for this, or anypony for that matter. Applejack blinked away the sudden heat in her eyes. Twilight was just being a good friend. Hay, she was just being Twilight. And Big Mac had every right to say eeyup to something that’d save the farm money, what with him being the one sorting through that mountain of papers upstairs…
Applejack pushed her bottom lip out a little, shaking her head again.
Still, none of that really helped her at the moment, did it?
She put her hoof to her chin. And kept it there, tapping away, despite the little itch running across the back of her neck.
Nah, she couldn’t think like that. This was Sweet Apple Acres. She let out a little chuckle; there had been a reason why they’d needed those lists in the first place…
Now…
The barn? Didn’t that need repainting?
Suddenly, all she could see was Pinkie Pie at the top of a very tall ladder, adding the last little touches to a giant picture of herself on the side of the barn. Far below, Applejack stared up at it all, her eyebrows furrowing for a second. Granny’d probably not take too kind to this… but on the other hoof, it was mighty kind of Pinkie to finish the job for her. She let out a grin, and Pinkie sent back her own, twice the size.
Her taps got just a little quicker. The fence?
Applejack felt something slap against her back, wet and slimy and trickling over her cutie mark. She span around, and found Apple Bloom staring back at her with those big, soft eyes and that wide, innocent smile that only a little filly like her sister could pull off. Only this time, her teeth were wrapped around one of their paintbrushes, drops of white slicking off the end of it.
AJ turned back to the fence, saw that it was all white, and looked back as her sister with narrowed eyes. She grinned, and moved a hoof towards her own brush…
Her teeth stood on end, and she finally rubbed the back of her neck. The pigs?
Apple Bloom stood in front of her, and all of a sudden AJ felt her smile split and her jaw hang open. AB just stared up at her, blinking and wincing as little trails of gunk wandered near her eyes, with apple cores and cabbage leaves and little bits of old pastry and that green stuff nopony wanted to know about coating her fur.
Applejack put on her warmest smile. Bending down, she told AB that a nice, hot shower was waiting for her…
Her eyes darted from the crinkly-but-still-holding-together wallpaper to the floor that not even Granny’s eyes had spotted so much as a speck of dust on.
Applejack sighed. Horseapples.
“… Hmm-mmm-mmm Cutie Mark Crusaders…”
Applejack’s ears perked up, a grin stretching through her cheeks.
“… do-do-do who we are!”
She almost slapped herself. Why didn’t she think of that before!
Applejack got to her hooves, practically skipping down the hall to where that sweet little voice was wafting out of.
Of course Apple Bloom’d have something they could do together. Applejack smiled. She could help her little sis out with that essay she’d heard AB grumbling about a couple of days ago, or go through some of them math problems she was always being set—the simple ones, anyway—or they could just go through the inventory, as Twi called it, and make positively sure that they’d done everything!
AJ stopped. If there were a mirror nearby, she’d have given herself a good, long, hard stare.
Was she going crazy, or something? Was she trying to work that filly until she couldn’t stand anymore?
She shook her head.
Apple Bloom was a smart little cookie. She should’ve remembered that, what with all the times Ms Cheerilee’d had the pair of them walking away from those parent-teacher evenings with big, wide grins and springs in their steps, and with her looking to make sure AB got an extra-big slice of desert and a couple of chores taken off her list.
“… na-na-nah-na-na-na cutie marks!”
She let out a silly little chuckle, and set back off after the voice. Maybe they could just toss around that old hoof-ball? That’d still be something, right?
Applejack trotted through the door to the living room, and didn’t have to look hard to find Apple Bloom. She lay spread out on the rug by the hearth, her scrubbed coat practically shining with the fire behind her, muzzle buried in that little colouring book her friend Sweetie Belle’d gotten her last week.
Applejack looked up, and brought one of her hooves down a little harder than she really had too, and smiled as AB looked up.
“Howdy, Apple Bloom.”
She was sure she spotted her little sis’ eyes light up for a second or two. “Applejack!” AB leant down and grabbed her book in her teeth, turning it around as she trotted closer. “’ike i’?”
Applejack looked away from AB’s smiling eyes, and down onto the picture. She’d heard Rarity gabble on about that Blueballs feller, or whatever his name was, enough times last year to know a fairytale wedding when she saw it. Apple Bloom’d done a real good job with it, though. Everypony’d been coloured in, right up to the lines but not even a whisker too far, and she’d made sure that no two ponies next to each other shared the same colours. She’d even made Princess Celestia’s mane look like it was moving.
And in the middle, she’d given the prince a deep red coat, and big green eyes that looked down all soft and happy at his princess, who AB’d given a light yellow colour, except for the pink on her mane. And her cheeks.
Aww…
Her smile wobbled for just a moment. AJ let out a little chuckle. “Yep, and I know two other ponies who’d like this very much,” she said, running a hoof through her sister’s mane.
If anything, Apple Bloom grinned even wider, and AJ was sure she was going to have to shield her eyes, before it disappeared again. “Wait…” AB carefully placed her book on the floor, and she looked at AJ with an eyebrow wandering upward. “What’re you doin’ here, big sis? I thought you said you’d be out all afternoon?”
With those big eyes staring at her, AJ had to really fight to not itch her neck. “Well… that’s the thing, Apple Bloom.” She took a moment to look out the window. “I think I’ve finished all my work for today.”
Now those eyes sparkled and shone like some sort of gemstone. She got a real good look to decide that, too, as AB leapt right up to her. “Really?!”
“Yep.” Applejack smiled as her sister landed. “And I was wonderin’ if there’s anythin’ you wanted us to do together…”
Applejack couldn’t help but smile a little wider as her sister scrunched up her muzzle, rubbing a hoof along her chin. And then again as Apple Bloom’s hoof sprang free, and she raised it high above her head.
“I’ve got an idea!” AB beamed at her big sister, and it only shrank a little as she let out a tiny chuckle. “But it’s gonna’ have to wait ‘til after dinner. S’that gonna’ be—”
“COME AND GET IT, WHIPPERSNAPPERS!”
Applejack glanced down at her plate, eyes widening at her prize. It was bigger than it normally was, come to think of it, and not that that was a bad thing. All right, maybe it was when Mac had already ploughed his way through three of the dang things, and she could see him inching a hoof back to the spatula, but she wasn’t about to stop him.
Hay, she was having a hard enough time stopping herself from drooling all over own her slab of pastry. Nah, that wasn’t right. It was more than a slab; it was practically a patchwork quilt of puffy goodness, with an even finer treasure lying beneath its flaky surface.
Licking her lips, AJ took in a deep, long whiff, almost drinking down the sweet scent, warmth filling her insides.
She looked away from her plate, and over to the pony whose hooves had put it there moments before. Yes ma’am. She smiled. Granny might not remember much, anymore, but she’d sooner forget the sky was blue than misplace an old Apple Family recipe. And that was something the whole town’s taste buds’d appreciate come the harvest festival next month.
Her smile faltered, leaving behind a scowl. How had they already got enough cider for that?
“Soo, Macintosh?”
From staring at the table, Applejack’s eyes flew over to Granny, who had a hoof pointed at Mac. But it was only just lifted off the surface, and her eyes glowed softly.
“Eeyup?”
Granny’s cheeks bunched up even more. “I was jus’ wonderin’ if y’had any plans with that filly-friend o’yours for the evening’.”
Mac smiled and gulped down one last mouthful. “Eeyup. ‘Shy needs help findin’ firewood.”
AJ snorted. Big Mac, the romantic. Her smirk ran free.
“An’ what ‘bout you, Applejack?”
AJ looked up to find Granny’s warm, soft eyes beneath a high eyebrow, a smirk of her own just below them.
“I don’t rightly know, Granny,” she said, shaking her head just a little before looking across the table to the littlest Apple. “AB’s surprisin’ me with somethin’, though, aren’t you?”
Her sister smiled back.
But hers ran off, scared.
She blinked, an awful something starting to gnaw away at her insides. Her sister’s smiles came in three types.
There was the big wide one, with maybe a glimpse of teeth, which usually brought along a spring in her step and happy little twinkles in her eyes. Applejack had seen that a lot more, lately, and it normally meant a big hug and a nice, long half-hour by the fire, listening to that squeaky voice of hers talk about the next amazing adventure her filly sister had been on. That, or they were on their way to making one of them stories…
Then there was the even wider one, where she’d show off how much she listened to that nice dentist. It’d usually be from right down by Applejack’s forelegs, with eyes big and dark and wet and daring her to say that that little darling was not getting another filly-fighter comic this week…
And there was also that one. The one where she’d maybe curl her lip a little. The one that she now knew had just one proper response, and it wasn’t gonna’ make her sister cry…
But this one…
“Yup!”
AJ stared. At that little curl, each end running into a tiny dimple. At those eyes, glowing softly like fireflies in an old jam jar.
And at those tingles running down her neck again.
Just what was that filly planning?
Author's Note
As before: if something appears wrong, RIP APART IN THE COMMENTS!
And, also, this time I doplan to have So What'll It Be, Dashie? completed by the end of the week. Yes.
“Ya’ll go have fun now, you two,” warbled Granny, waving a hoof at Applejack from the back door. Suddenly, those crinkled eyes shot wide. “But remember your sister’s bed-time, Applejack. She’s only a li’l young’un.”
AJ chuckled, checking out the corner of her eye to see the sun still high above the orchard. “I won’t, Granny.”
That smile was back quicker than varmints after Winona went to sleep, and Granny disappeared back into the house, closing the door behind her.
Not that that could stop Granny’s shout. “Macintosh! If you wanna’ spend t’night curled up around that mare o’yours, y’can help clear up these’re plates!”
“Eeyup.”
Applejack just couldn’t help herself. Tilting her head back, she let out another belt of laughs, shaking her head once it was all over.
And then all of a sudden she was squeezing her lip between her teeth. Shoot. Why hadn’t she asked to help clean up—
Nah. She shook her head, harder this time, and her hoof clattered against the pebbles. She had found something to do… whatever it was going to be. Well, she hadn’t. Smirking, she turned around. The little honour of finding something to fill the evening with went to one little filly right…
AJ stared for just a second, before flicking her eyes every which way around the courtyard, her brows inching closer and closer as the only flashes of yellow and red turned out to be hay and apples.
“Apple Bloom?”
“Comin’, Sis!”
That squeaky little voice echoed. AJ immediately looked over at the barn. Her shoulders shifted, all loose again, as she spotted her sister, beaming like the noon sun and… lolloping like a cart-pony with a bad back?
Applejack smirked, her eyes focusing on the jug peeking out over the rim of her sister’s tiny saddlebags, following it as it bounced all the way to right in front of her.
“Sorry, Applejack,” AB took a couple of deep breaths. “Was jus’ gettin’ somethin’ for when we get there. You ready?” she chirped, back to that big, cheery grin.
“Sure, Apple Bloom.” That little thing gnawed away at her belly again. “But, uh…” She tapped at jug with a hoof. “Min’ tellin’ me what you’ve got this for?”
Apple Bloom tensed up, and an even worse something pulsed through AJ’s middle. AB gave a little chuckle. “Uh…” she looked at the floor. Another pulse. “I-I wanted it to be a surprise, Applejack.” A smile struggled to hold strong on that adorable little face of hers. “If you don’t mind, that is…”
Land sakes. What was with her, today?
Applejack bent down and nuzzled her sister. Somewhere inside her, she made sure that little gnawing thing got a fate worse than Tartarus.
“’Course not, sugar-cube.” She pulled away, only letting herself smile when AB’s had grown back. “Go on, lead the way.”
With a quick flash of teeth, AB scampered off toward the trees.
AJ sighed. She was getting a long, hard look at herself when she got back.
One more shake of the head, and she followed that bouncing tail and head bobbing from side to side into the orchard.
Author's Note
Final chapter to follow tomorrow morning.
