//------------------------------// // Well, Apple Buck. // Story: My Little Heartbreak: Meanwhile, Back at the Farm // by Jet_Black1980 //------------------------------// Chapter 16 Well, Apple Buck. Applejack looked at Heartbreak. Either Twilight was grossly misrepresenting this pony, or Heartbreak was trying some sort of funny business. Either way, the joke was running off of her like water on a duck’s back. “Right. Look, Heartbreak,” Applejack began. “H.B. Please.” Heartbreak said. “An’ until we’re friends, it’s Heartbreak.” Applejack watched the pony’s expression slip. She sighed. “It’s nice an all that you’re attempting to make a wisecrack, Ah’m sure that’s a good thing. However, and ah mean this in the best way ah can mean it, you’ve pushed Twilight to a rather dark place. And if there is one thing ah don’t take kindly to, it’s others, be they pony, otherwise, or even ‘pinocchio pony’, pushing ma friends.” She looked at Heartbreak with a warning glance. “Or family ta the point where they feel like they feel they need ta resort ta unload an apple cart on somepony else. Ya get ma drift?” Heartbreak’s head drooped. “Yes, ma’am,” she said quietly. “Look, Ah’m not saying that ya can’t make a few jokes here and there, but if ya want ta be ma friend, then ya got ta start picking up the pace and stop pushing other ponies buttons. In particular, Twilight’s,” Applejack explained. Heartbreak kicked a bit of dirt. “She started some of it...” “An’ yer guna act like a bratty filly just ta finish it? Come on. Ya can be better than that,” Applejack replied. Heartbreak sighed. “I understand, I’ll be good.” Applejack frowned and looked like she was about to say something. “I’m not trying to be a victim here, Applejack. I guess I’m just a little...thrilled to be out of the library is all. Please, can we just get to what we’re going to get to?” She asked. “All right, we got plenty of room here at the farm, but seeing that family is coming over, ah’ll show ya where the guest bedroom is,” Applejack replied, opening the door to the house. ============================================================== Well, fuck. Make another mental marker in your head, H.B. Another one of the Mane Six is sure that you are Gilda in pony form. Activate slow clap processor - clap, clap - oh good that made it here. Still, what gives? This morning was just horribly unstable. And now I am making jokes, cracking wise, and even making portal two references. Depressed, angry, fear, laughter? Come on! I need an island of stability here brain! You’re not making things any better! Walking into the kitchen, it’s exactly what I expect to see. A small kitchen with blue and green wallpaper. The cupboards are decorated with green apples, and there are pots and pans hanging above the stove. A small wooden table with seating for five is off to the left of me. The whole thing screams ‘rustic’ at me. “If ya can’t tell,” Applejack starts out, “This here is the kitchen!” I glare at her and roll my eyes while sighing. “I know what a kitchen is, Applejack.” “Well, ah was just making sure!” she replies. “Ah don’t know if they have kitchens where yer from. Fer all ah know, they could have fancy conveyer belts that bring food right to ya.” I fight the urge to say something sarcastic. Geez, have I given the impression that I’m from some far off future of 1999 where we have hover cars and everything is about space?! “Applejack, the place I am from is almost the same as your world. Almost. It’s just different.” “How different?” she asks me. “Not very different but different enough. We don’t have magic.” I reply. “But that doesn’t mean that we rely on machines for everything.” She blinks at me and shakes her head. “Ah still am having trouble wrapping ma head around this ‘from another world’ thing. Ah mean, ah get that they turned ya inta something yer not, but how can ya be from another world?” “This would be a lot easier to explain if we were in the orchard, Applejack,” I respond walking towards what I can only assume is the doorway to the living room. “Why’s that?” Applejack asks. “Visuals. I would have something to compare it all to.” I reply. “Plus, I don’t want any of your family members coming in unannounced while I am in the middle of explaining things to you. I’m not so much worried about your Granny Smith or Big Mac hearing things in passing, but your sister Applebloom?” Applejack again is giving me that look. I sigh again. “Please stop looking at me like that. I’m sure it’s weird enough having a stranger in your house. And I’m sure it’s weirder still having a stranger that knows a great deal about you. But have you ever thought about it from my side? I’m a stranger that knows a great deal about you. Everything I say is looked at like I shouldn’t know any of it.” I look around the living room. There’s Granny Smith in her rocker sound asleep. I think I would like her to remain that way. “It makes me feel very uncomfortable,” I say in a hushed tone. “Why in the sam-” Applejack starts. I turn to her and put a hoof up to my lips. She lowers her tone. “Why would you be the uncomfortable one?” “I’m uncomfortable because it’s making you uncomfortable. And I don’t like making any of you uncomfortable,” I explain. Geez. I can’t get any more clear than that right? I creep up the stairs. Fuck. I just realized that I am going to have to go back down the stairs. Applejack isn’t far behind me once we get to the top. She’s frowning and looking confused. “What, Applejack?” “It’s just...ah’m having an even harder time figuring ya out now than ah did before,” she replies. “Why’s that?” I ask, looking around the hallway. On the walls there are pictures of the different members of the Apple family. Some colour pictures, some old looking black and white photos and a few decorative things. Horseshoes, old cast iron decorative pots, and some frames with various ribbons. “It’s just that ya don’t seem like the kinda pony ta break another pony’s heart is all,” Applejack begins. “Ah mean, ya’re really muddled up from this whole mess, but with ta way ya had it painted, ah would have thought that ya did something awful ta-” I feel a pain that starts from my chest and proceeds to spill out into the rest of my being. “Applejack. Let’s not talk about that. Ever.” The emotion is lingering in my arms. “Please?” I sniff hard. Fuck, stop tearing up. Come on. Just stop it. “Well...alright,” she replies. I think Applejack has more respect for boundaries than Twilight does. The idea that probing too deeply into things might cause more harm than good. She leads me past a set of doorways. “Ya gona be Okay?” I want to answer that question with a, ‘I’ll never be okay,’ but I don’t want to depress her any more than I have right now. Knowing Twilight, not only is this a chance for the two of us to stop taking blows at one another; but it is also a test. She wants to see if I can do better with another pony and grow and learn something under some actual tutoring. Instead of: Step one, set goal of the day. Step two, random things happen. Step three, ???. Step four, letter! “I’ll be fine, Applejack. I just need a moment,” I reply. “All right, if you say so.” she points out the two rooms. “This here is ma room and across the way is Applebloom’s room.” “Speaking of Applebloom,” I peer into Applebloom’s room. She’s nowhere to be seen. “Where is she?” “Well, luck would have it that she’s having a sleepover with her friends,” Applejack replies. I bite my lip and resist the urge to ask about her friends. Applejack frowns at my expression. “What...?” “Nothing,” I reply, hoping she doesn’t push the issue. “Nothin’? Yer not gonna play that, ‘nothin’somethin,’ game that Twilight told me about are ya?” Applejack asks me. I sigh. “No...” “Then out with it!” Applejack retorts. “Out with what?” I reply, trying to dodge the question. “Out with what you were gonna ask or tell me!” Applejack commands. I want to keep biting my lip on this matter. She rubs her face a bit. “Or are ya wanting to sleep in the barn on yer first night?” I pause and raise a hoof. I open my mouth, but then stop myself. “Uhm...how bad are the sleeping conditions in the barn?” Applejack gives me the, ‘I’m serious,’ look. Better fess up. “Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell, I presume?” Applejack’s look is pretty much what I feared it would be. She is shocked, scared and confused. “Seriously? Is there anythin’ ya don’t know about us?” She asks me. “I don’t know what room I’m going to be sleeping in tonight,” I reply sarcastically. Applejack sighs. Not a good sign. “Right, yer gonna be sleeping in this room right here,” she finally replies showing me to the room at the end of the hallway. It is a minimally furnished room. There’s a simple bed with a ‘hand stitched’ quilt on it, a dresser with a mirror, and one or two chairs. Overall, it’s nice. And like everything that is in this house, well everything on this farm, it’s decorated with little apple decals. Good gods. By the time this is all over, I am going to be sick of seeing apples. I attempt to pull my saddlebags off. I still haven’t had that much practice, and I am sure it is something that I should be doing more of, but still. “Ya need any help with that there?” Applejack asks me. “Nope! Almost...” There! Ha! Got it. “A little easier than I thought.” However this victory is short lived as they start to slide off my back. Reaching back, I quickly catch them in my mouth. I don’t want to drop anything. I haven’t a clue where Twilight put my pencil. Or the other pencils. I carefully set the bags next to the bed. “Right then!” Applejack says after. “Now that we have ya all settled! Let me show ya around the farm!” ============================================================== Heartbreak was just plain confusing. Horribly emotional, difficult to pin down, and worst of all, her knowledge of the Apple family was just plain creepy. “It’s like she was watching our lives without us knowing it,” Applejack thought to herself. Heartbreak rolled her eyes and sighed. “I guess, after all you have work that needs to be done. But I haven’t a f-f-ffeting clue what use I am going to be,” she said looking fearfully at the stairs. “Ah’m sure ah can find something ya can do,” Applejack replied, quietly creeping her way down. “After all-” She paused and looked behind her. Heartbreak was looking a bit fidgety about something. But then turned around and started back tracking down the stairs. As the two passed, she gave her an unnerved look. “What?” Heartbreak asked. “I am terrified of heights. And from this vantage point, stairs scare me to death.” “Oh.” Applejack replied. This was something understandable. “She did fall from Cloudsdale after all. Anypony would be terrified of heights after a fall like that.” The two ponies quietly snuck past the snoozing Granny Smith and out into the farmyard. “Well then, here’s the farm!” AJ exclaimed, once they were outside.