A couple of days later, Shade's bruise was completely healed. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for his gash, which still needed some time to heal. However, this didn't stop him from convincing Fluttershy to take him around the town multiple times. Soon enough, he was going around Ponyville on his own, and he was helping everyone that he could. In fact, his helpfulness rivaled that of Applejack's, and maybe the only reason he WASN'T more helpful was because of his injury. In any case, Shade was helping Twilight move some books around and helping to trim the library tree. While he was working, he was searching for any signs of weakness in the tree. He noticed a branch right above the entrance to the library that had many hoof marks on it.
"Hey, Twi, what's with this branch?" he asked.
"Oh, whenever Rainbow Dash comes here, she usually takes off from that branch. It's getting really weak, and I think it's going to collapse soon. I just hope I'm not under it when it does!" said Twilight.
"Imagine that," said Shade, with a smile on his face. He continued to help Twilight for the rest of the day, and he returned to Fluttershy's cottage afterwards. Throughout the week, he continued to help other ponies, continuing to make observations.
"Pinkie, you just leave the cupcakes here when they're baking?"
"Of course! It's not like anything bad'll happen to them, right?"
"No, of course not..."
"Rarity, this table is really old. It seems like it'll collapse at any moment!"
"Yes, yes, I've been meaning to replace it, but I just don't have the time!"
"And, you do your work by candlelight?"
"Only late at night. Opalescence simply cannot sleep when the lights are on."
"Huh...interesting..."
He also gained the trust of everypony in Ponyville. That is, all except for one orange earth pony.
It had been one month after Shade was found by Fluttershy. He was completely nursed back to health, and he had even found a job to buy his own house in Ponyville. It was in this house that he was currently pacing.
"Hm..." he said to himself. "It seems that everypony considers me their friend and has their complete trust in me...well, everypony except Applejack. I need to find a way to befriend her...then I can start the next part of my plan...but how...?" It was at this moment that he saw Applejack walking past the window. She appeared to be very worn out.
"Hm...this could be my chance..."
As Applejack walked by Shade's house, she began thinking about him.
-Well, it's been a whole month, so Ah'm used ta Shade bein' around here, but....Ah don't know why Ah still don't trust 'im... Applejack sighed and continued on her way to Sweet Apple Acres. She took her apple cart to the nearest tree and placed the buckets around said tree. "Well, it's time ta get buckin'," she said to herself tiredly. She reared up her hind legs and slammed them against the tree. Less than half of the apples fell into the buckets.
"Ah guess Ah've been workin' too hard these past couple o' days..." she said to herself. She bucked the tree again, more resiliently. The rest of the apples poured seamlessly into the buckets. "That's better," she smiled to herself.
"I'll say," said a voice from behind her. Applejack jumped four feet straight up in the air, and when she landed, she realized who was speaking and relaxed. "Oh, hey Shade," she said. Shade had a worried look on his face.
"Hi...um, are you okay, Applejack? You seem to be really tired," he said.
"Oh, yeah, o' course Ah'm fine, Ah've just been workin' nonstop for the past couple of days, that's all..." said Applejack as she completely missed the next tree, faceplanting into the ground.
"That doesn't sound very healthy," replied Shade.
"It helps keep ma mind off o' things, okay?" said Applejack, her voice muffled by the dirt. She picked herself back up.
"In any case, you look like you need some help," said Shade casually.
"Help? Help? Ah don't need any help," replied Applejack sternly. Shade raised an eyebrow.
"I seem to recall Twilight telling me that the last time you refused your friends' help, you collapsed out of sheer exhaustion," remarked Shade dryly. Applejack smiled at the memory and sighed.
"Alright then, Ah guess ya can help. Ah don't know if ya have what it takes, though. Apple buckin' is serious work," she said.
"Oh, if Twilight and everpony else could do it, I'm sure that I can," said Shade, waving a hoof at the suggestion. "What do I need to do?" he asked.
"Ya just lift your hind legs and kick a tree," said Applejack. "Now that Ah think about it, it's a lot harder than it sounds..." she said.
"Oh, come on, how hard could it be?" asked Shade.
As it turns out, apple bucking was much harder than it seemed. Applejack was still trying to teach Shade how to apple buck later that day. He was not very good at it. His best count was a single apple that took several tries to get down. The tree apparently did not like this and dropped the apple straight onto Shade's eye.
"Um, Shade? Maybe ya should just watch me," said Applejack, stifling her laughter.
"Sure thing, AJ," said Shade, rubbing his eye. Applejack walked over to another tree, and making sure that he was watching, bucked it. Shade walked over to the tree next to hers, and attempted to buck it. It worked better than the previous tries. About half of the apples rained down onto Shade.
"Hey, I think I've got it!" he said in genuine happiness.
"Good for you, Shade!" replied Applejack. As she wandered over to another tree, she started thinking.
-Ya know, Shade is actually a really nice pony! It seems dumb of me not ta trust 'im. She wasn't paying attention, and didn't realize how hard she bucked her next tree. There was a large crack at the site of the kick.
"Um, Applejack? You kinda...cracked your tree..." said Shade, pointing to the tree.
"What? Oh! Whoops," said Applejack, chuckling nervously as she inspected the damage.
"Is that how strong you can buck? That's amazing!" said Shade in wonder, also looking at the crack.
"Pfft!" sputtered Applejack, falling onto the ground in laughter, leaving Shade bewildered. "That's not the hardest Ah can buck! Ah can buck a lot harder than that! Ah've just never had a reason to," said Applejack, wiping her eyes.
"Well, I really would like to see your hardest buck, Applejack," said Shade.
"Oh, I'll show it to ya later. Right now, we've got some work ta do."
This process continued throughout the entire day. They soon harvested twice the daily quota of apples, allowing Applejack to get some much needed rest.
"Aw, thanks, Shade!" said Applejack, beaming. "Now Ah can rest tomorrow instead of work!" She was clearly overjoyed.
"It's no trouble at all, really. I'm just glad that I could help a little," replied Shade. "You know, I never did see that buck you promised to show me.
"Well, Ah did say later. Ah never said when exactly "later" was goin' ta be, did I?" responded Applejack with a smile on her face.
"No, I suppose you didn't. Well, I'll see you later, AJ!" said Shade as he turned around to walk back to his house. Applejack waved as he left.
-Ah guess Ah seriously misjudged that Shade. He's a really nice pony! Ah just never got ta know him better. Ah guess Ah should go and apologize ta Fluttershy for thinkin' he was suspicious. Ah guess Ah can do that tomorrow. Right now, Ah really need some sleep... Applejack went inside and Shade smiled.
"This is working out perfectly! I've earned Applejack's trust. Now, all of them trust me. They don't seem to be forgetting about Fluttershy, which they need to in order for my plan to work. That's the only way to ensure that she'll be mine forever. It seems that it's time to seriously think about how to enact my plan." Shade smiled. "Soon, my Fluttershy...soon...just you and me...we'll be together..."
Yeah, this is the very belated fourth chapter of this story. Almost to the halfway point, which is where things'll hopefully get a little more interesting. Fun fact: Shade wasn't acting when he couldn't apple buck. He really couldn't. Also, keep in mind what Applejack said about the bucking. Now, I promise you all that I will try to update this story as much as possible, to the best of my ability. Hope you enjoyed it, I hope I'll be back with some more soon.