//------------------------------//
// Iron Feelings 
// Story: My Little Pony: The Brothers of Discord 
// by mr.myxsiple 
//------------------------------//


CHAPTER 10
IRON FEELINGS


The next day...

Ironhead sighed and wiped some sweat from his brow before going back to work. He wasn't tired that much, but the hot afternoon sun made him sweat buckets. It didn't help at all that he and Applejack were busy weeding the corn fields. It was burning hot, and they weren't even half done yet.

The slightly irritated earth pony grabbed a gnarly looking weed with his teeth and yanked it out of the ground. He spat it out and turned to Applejack. "Can't the pegasi do anything about this damn heat?"

Panting a little, Applejack looked up at him. "I gotta weather pony friend down over at the town."

"Good. Ask them if we can get a cloud or something. I think I'm gonna melt." Ironhead said wishing he at least had something to drink.

Applejack looked to the side towards the trees. Spotting something there, she walked towards them. "No need for that; she's right over here. Hey Rainbow!" she shouted at the tree.

No reply came however. "Rainbow, I know yer there!" she called again. Ironhead approached her curious to whom she was calling. "Guess we gonna do this the hard way."

Applejack trotted over to the tree and gave it a good buck. There came a loud thud followed by a startled yelp as something blue fell from the tree. Ironhead realized that it was a rainbow maned pony who bolted up in surprise. She wasn't the only thing that fell out of the tree however as several apples came down, hitting her on the head and snapping her wide awake.

"Rise and shine Rainbow." Applejack said chuckling a little at her friend.

"Ow..." the blue pony groaned rubbing her head. "C'mon AJ, I was taking a nap..."

"Nap? How can ya take a nap in this here heat?"

"Like this." Rainbow leaned her head against the tree trunk and began snoring leading Applejack to roll her eyes and shake her head.

Intrigued by the mare's appearance, Ironhead approached her. "Wait. Rainbow? As in Rainbow Dash?" he asked.

Said pony opened her eyes and turned to him. "Oh hey. You're that other new guy right?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm Ironhead." he answered. "I think you met my brother Scar."

"Oh yeah, Scar." Rainbow said. "He's Ok, but can be a real goof ball some times."

"Yeah. He is isn't he. He talks a lot about you." A bad thought crossed his mind. "Hang on a sec, when was the last time you saw him?"

Rainbow did some thinking. "Uh yesterday. We hung out like...the whole morning."

It was a good thing Ironhead also had the ability to hide his own emotions. All Rainbow and Applejack saw was an innocent smile which concealed the fury boiling inside him; Scar was going to wonder why the apartment building was just a pile of rubble later. "That's cool. Hey, you think you can fetch us a cloud or something? It's like, a million degrees out here or something."

"Huh...Yeah."She yawned. "Just gimme a sec."

She flew of and returned not too long later with a bunch of clouds which she placed over the field, giving it some much-needed shade. "That's better " Applejack said looking at the field. "Thanks Rainbow. You can go back to yer nap now unless you wanna help-"

"Pass." She held up a hoof. "I gotta few tricks to work on. I'll see you guys around." She spread her wings, ready to take off.

"And Rainbow..." Ironhead said before she could leave. "If you see me brother today, tell him...tell him to keep looking. Trust me; he'll know what I mean."

"Is this about his job hunt thing? 'Cause he told me yesterday that he want to be a weather pony like me."

It was a good thing there wasn't anything to smash nearby because it'd probably be reduced to nothing by then. "Really? I gotta talk to him about that later. Thanks again for the cloud Rainbow."

The pegasus saluted before finally taking off. Applejack looked at the field and noticed just how much better it was now that it had some shade. "Hoo wee, that looks a lot better. Back to work Ironhead."

"Yeah yeah whatever." the colt said heading back to the field. He looked over in the direction Rainbow left. "Huh...so that's the girl Scar can't stop talking about..."

"No surprise there. Rainbow's got 'er own 'lil fan club in town. Scar should join up." Applejack joked.

"Uh...no." Ironhead looked around just in case anypony else was listening. "Don't tell anypony else but uh...Scar likes Rainbow. As in like like."

The farm pony blinked several times in surprise. "R-Really now? Is that why she called him a goof ball?"

"Maybe." He shrugged and pulled out a few more weeds. "I kinda get it though. I mean, she's like...his first crush."

"Seriously?" Applejack asked. "I'm pretty sure there were plenty of mares back there in Manehatten."

"Yeah, but we got to meet a lot of them. Scar and I went to an all boys school." Ironhead paused realizing that he had once again lied to her. He shook his head a bit. "The only girls I really knew were my mom and... Ironheart. So yeah, Scar's a real goof ball when it comes to girls. Good thing I'm not." he added with a chuckle.

"I mean, there we saw a lot of girls when we went around looking for jobs." He flinched again at the lie. "But I dunno...None if 'em really caught my eye." He sighed and shrugged. "Guess I haven't met the right one yet."

He was silent after that thinking about how he'd just lied to her twice like that. He didn't like it one bit. Back home before he came to Ponyville, he didn't lie that much. He knew that it was to cover up their mission, but still...He didn't like the fact that he was constantly lying to somepony like Applejack, somepony so honest, so open with him, so hard-working and devoted, so nice and caring, so-

He felt a poke to his side. "Ironhead, ya can't fall asleep now. Even with the shade, you'll get yerself roasted if ya stand still like that." Applejack said bringing him back to his senses.

"Huh? Y-yeah. Sorry about that..." Ironhead replied. He watched her return to her work and found himself staring at her for a few seconds. He shook his head and silently went back to work still wondering where all those thought about Applejack came from.

After finishing the weeding, Ironhead and Applejack headed back inside to cool off a bit. "OK. Take five Ironhead. Y'all deserve it. If ya need me, I'll be fetching eggs over at the chicken coop."

She made her way out of the room but was stopped by Ironhead. "Uh...actually Applejack, I think I'll handle the chicken coop thing. You can take that break of mine." he told her.

She raised an eye brow. "Ain't ya tired from all that weedin' we did?" she asked earning a shake of a head.

"Not really. I mean, I don't think I'm as tired as you are." he said truthfully. "Hell, why don't I do your chores for the rest of the day?"

That took her by surprise. "No. That's real kind of ya, but I can't ask ya to do all that."

"Trust me; it's all good." He gave her a reassuring smile. "You work more than I do; you need a break more than I do."

"Well..." Applejack considered it. "I suppose I could take the rest of the day off, but if ya ever need help-"

"I promise I'll get help if I need it. You go take it easy now 'k. I'll see you later."

He then left the room passing by Granny Smith as he did. "That's awf'ly nice of him." she noted to her granddaughter.

"Eh, he's a good guy that Ironhead." Applejack replied. "Don't know anypony else like him." she added with a smile. "Anyway, I'm a headin' into town Granny. I'll be back 'round suppertime."

On that note, she left the farm to enjoy some nice time off while Ironhead handled her chores. Granny watched Applejack leave before turning in the direction of the chicken coop where Ironhead worked. A knowing smile graced those aged lips as she made her way outside.



Is this how I make it up for lying to her all the time?...Ironhead thought as he worked. Doing all her chores for her seemed like a nice thing to do, but was it enough? He hoped it would.

"Great, another bath when I get home..." Ironhead muttered sniffing himself as he came out of the chicken coop and smelling like it as well. Carefully carrying an entire basket of eggs in his mouth, he made his way across the field careful not to break anything.

As he entered the kitchen, he thought about what to do next. He would sort out the eggs later after doing some of the other stuff. He had to get the pigs fed, fertilize the corn field, pick Applebloom up from her Crusading thing or whatever it was called...it was a lot to handle. Applejack needed this day off. She didn't-

"About time ya showed up!"

The shout took him by surprise. He yelped and sent the basket full of eggs flying into the air. Panicking, Ironhead jumped and dove at the last second, sliding across the floor and catching it in his hooves. Gulping, he looked up and saw not a single egg broken or damaged in any way much to his relief.

"Don't ya know how long I've been waitin' fer this?"

Ironhead rose and placed basket on the table before any more harm could come to it. He turned around and saw who it was that startled him. "M...Mrs. Smith?!"

"Just call me Granny sonny; everypony does." the aged mare replied. "Anyhow, you don't know how long I've been waiting fer somepony like you."

"H...Huh?" Ironhead asked confused. "What d'you mean Granny? Everything looked OK before I got here. I don't-"

"I ain't talking about workin' 'ere sonny." she told him. "I mean I finally found some feisty young stallion for Applejack; somepony has ta get 'er off the farm more and live outside."

The stallion in question blinked a few times as those words and their meaning sink in. When it finally did, he cried out and jumped back. "Wh-Wh-But-But-" he stammered.

"Ya seem like a nice boy." Granny continued ignoring Ironhead's reaction. He ruffled his mane a bit. "And I can tell Applejack's already taken a shine to ya."

"But...Really?" Ironhead asked. "But...but...me and...and Applejack? That's... that's just weird! She's like...my boss or something!"

That didn't deter Granny at all. "So what? The smile she had when she talked about you, she never smiled that way 'bout any other stallion in this 'ere town b'fore."

"But...But I don't even like her like that." Ironhead argued. "Not that she's not nice and kind and funny and cool or anything, but I don't like her like that."

Granny just smiled at him. "Listen to yerself say that kinda of stuff about her." She laughed and ruffled his mane. "Take care of her ya hear? I still got plenty o' life in here bones of mine; I wanna see some great-grankids b'fore I pass."

Cackling mischievously, Granny left the room and a completely stunned and embarrassed Ironhead behind. His face a shade of red almost similar to his brother's, he quickly left the room and headed for the pig sty, but the previous conversation didn't leave his head.

Me and Applejack together? he thought. He shook his head thinking that it would never happen; she didn't understand what Granny was thinking. Applejack really was kind and funny and all those things he said previously, but she was honest and open, and he was just a liar, a fraud, a deceiver. He couldn't even imagine how she'd react if she found out about the lies he had been telling her.

That thought...it scared him more than anything else. Applejack finding out that he had been lying to her...That was even more frightening than the incident he and his brothers were in when they were young. It was all for a good reason but still...he didn't want her to hate him, to lose her trust. C-Cause she's one of my only friends. he added to his trail of thought. Granny was wrong; he didn't have any feelings towards her.

Right?