I may not like doing it, but I clamber out of bed early. I'm not sure how well my idea will work, so I want as many chances as I can get.
After I feed Tank and eat my own breakfast, I head out to Sweet Apple Acres. Soon enough, I find Applejack, already hard at work in the orchard. I swear I'll never understand where she get the energy to go applebucking at the crack of dawn. I kinda admire her for it, though.
I swoop down and land smoothly, striking a cool pose. "Hey, AJ."
She looks a bit surprised to see me, and says, "Howdy, Rainbow. How come you're awake already?"
"Eh, just woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep," I lie. Well, I guess it's technically not a lie. "Wanna chat a little?" I ask her, trying to sound as unsuspicious as possible.
"Well, I was needin' a break anyway," she says, wiping a little sweat off her brow. "Anything in particular on your mind?"
"Well, there is one thing…" I say.
AJ nods slowly, signalling me to continue.
"I… I want you to know…" I take a deep breath and steel myself, "…that I really, really love you." I do my best to pay attention to Applejack's expression in the short time I have. Then, quickly, I activate Second Chance.
…Okay, good, looks like I rewound far enough. Once time goes back to normal, I say, "–love your apple pies!"
"Aw, shucks, Rainbow, thanks!" AJ says, oblivious to my real confession. "That's mighty nice of you to say." Then her eyes narrow in a slightly exaggerated way, and she adds in a mock-serious tone, "Unless you're just sayin' that to try and get some for free."
I dramatically put one hoof on my chest and gasp. "Me? Try to get free desserts by flattering you? Well, I never!" I declare in my best Rarity impression. "How could you accuse me of such a thing?"
We both hold our poker faces for a moment before we burst into laughter.
After we catch our breaths, we chat for a little longer, and then I fly off again. It's too bad I didn't manage to get a read on AJ's reaction before I needed to rewind, but oh well. I'll just have to try again later, once the spell has recharged again.
An hour later, I intentionally let my flight practice take me closer to the Acres. I "happen" to spot Applejack, and so I swoop down to her again. "Oh, hi again, AJ."
"Hey there." She looks to me with her beautiful green eyes, and asks, "What brings ya here again?"
"Well, there's something else I forgot to say earlier," I claim.
"Go on."
"It's just that I have…" my nerves catch up to me again, but it's a little easier to ignore them this time. "…I have a huge crush on you."
This time, I try to wait a little bit longer so I have a better chance to gauge AJ's reaction, but I still can't make out anything beyond surprise — neither good nor bad. I rewind, getting ready to say that I have a great knock-knock joke I forgot to tell her. I prepare to try and make the change flow as smoothly as possible, and… oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, nononononono. I waited too long. I didn't get far back enough. I can't take my words back anymore, and now I'm stuck at the end of the word crush.
Think, Rainbow, think! And quickly! How do I fix this? How do I fix this, how do I fix this, howdoIfixthishowdoIfixthi–
"–sssshhhhhhing need to have some of your apple cider!" I feebly try to recover.
Applejack tilts her head at the way I stretched out the word crushing, but luckily, she doesn't question it (thank Celestia!). Instead, she looks a little amused and says, "Rainbow, you know we completely sold out last cider season."
I flounder a little to come up with a response, but then I narrow my eyes. "What about your secret stash?"
"Wha–" AJ chuckles a little. "Rainbow, we don't have a 'secret stash'. If we had any more cider, we'd'a sold it already. 'Sides, you know I can't give you special treatment even though you're a friend."
I keep my eyes narrowed for a moment longer, but then I drop the act. "Alright, alright. It was worth a shot."
Smirking, AJ playfully jabs, "Ya know, if you've got any other ways to try and mooch treats from us, ya might as well try 'em now and get done with it."
I snort. "I… I think I'm fresh out for now. But I can let you know if I come up with any more," I say matter-of-factually.
Applejack poorly tries to conceal another chuckle, then shoos me with a hoof. "Alright, git! Scram! Off with ya, you danged varmint!" she says, clearly trying to stop herself from laughing again.
I comply, flying away again.
Now I'm out of her eyesight and earshot, I allow myself a breath of relief. That was way too close. I'll need to be more careful with my timing on future attempts. Granted, that means I'll have less time to get a reaction, but that's better than AJ catching me blabbing out the way I feel about her. Besides, according to Twilight, Second Chance should last until tomorrow evening. That gives me plenty more opportunities — with that many chances, I'm bound to figure out whether or not I have a chance with her, right?
"I want you to date me!"
Rewind!
"–date this apple for me — is it still fresh?"
"You're pretty!"
Rewind!
"–pretty good at hay bale toss, but I've been training, and I want a rematch!"
"I'm attracted to you!"
Rewind!
"–tracting some attention from a bunch of stunt flying groups, and I just really needed to share my excitement with somepony!"
Okay, I'll admit it, I'm starting to get a little nervous. It's already evening, and I still haven't gotten any info out of Applejack — she looks surprised or shocked every time, but apart from that, I haven't a clue how she feels. Besides, I've only got two more lines prepared. Once I run out, I might have to focus on thinking up some more. That, or just improvise and hope I come up with something convincing to "correct" myself with after I reverse time.
Well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I'll just have to go try my second-to-last line.
It takes me a while to find Applejack, but I eventually spot her in the park, seemingly going home from the town. I dive down silently, landing behind some nearby houses. I trot into the park, coming from the opposite direction as Applejack, doing my best to make it look like we bumped into each other by pure coincidence.
Applejack waves to me, but for some reason, she almost looks… worried? Maybe that's just my imagination, though, because she still seems perfectly chipper when she says, "Howdy again, Rainbow! We sure are running into each other a lot today, huh?"
"Yeah, we are," I respond. Shoot! I've been doing this too much, she may be getting suspicious! I might have to ease off. But no time to think about that now; I gotta use my chance while I can. "Oh, actually, I've got a question."
"…Yeah?" I really hope I'm imagining that awkward moment of hesitation before her reply.
"Do you wanna go out with me?"
Still no luck. Before I can make out any positive or negative emotions in AJ's face, I have to use Second Chance again. I'm honestly getting a little tired of failure after failure.
"…go play basketball with me next Monday?"
Applejack shakes her head. "Sorry, Rainbow, I've got a full workday then. Maybe some other day that week?"
"Well, I'm not sure how my schedule is, but I'll get back to you, yeah?"
"Sounds good to me," AJ says.
Well, if nothing else, at least I'll have that to look forward to. Playing sports with AJ is always fun. I turn to trot awa–
"Rainbow, wait."
I freeze in place. Applejack sounds uncomfortably… serious. Is she on to me?
"Rainbow, I'm starting to feel like it's not completely by chance that we keep having these talks. Like there's something you're not telling me."
Oh crud. She is. I brace myself for the worst…
…But when I turn to face her, she's not looking upset or accusing. Instead, she's concerned. "What is it, Rainbow? You… you know you can trust me with whatever's botherin' you, don't ya?"
I'm so thrown off I don't know how to respond — I just stand there, mouth half-open.
"…I'm sorry, Rainbow. I shouldn't pry into your personal business. But just remember that you can come talk to me anytime if there's anything weighin' on your mind, okay, Sugarcube?"
"I… Y-Yeah, I will," I manage to stammer out.
She looks like she wants to add something, but she only says, "Alright. See ya!"
And with that, she's off, and I'm left to mull over what just happened.
I'm not really sure how I feel about doing this anymore. In fact, for a while, I considered not even trying it again, but I eventually decided to go through with it. I've still got one line left, after all, and it's one I'm fairly confident in, too. If I still get nothing out of this, I'll just go home for the night. I'll figure out my emotions in the morning.
I touch down on the porch of the Apples' home and knock on the door.
I hear some scuffling from inside, then hoofsteps. The door opens to reveal Big McIntosh, who acknowledges me with a wordless nod of his head.
"Hey, sorry I'm disturbing you so late, but can I come in?" I ask.
"Eeyup," Big Mac says, and stands aside.
I trot in, and find the rest of the Apples around the kitchen table, getting ready to eat.
"Hey, AJ," I call, "can I talk to you in private for a moment?"
"Uh, sure."
Applejack gets up and leads me upstairs to her room.
I start by saying, "Okay, I'm sorry to bother to you again, but I swear this is the last time today."
"That's fine," AJ replies. "I meant it when I said you could come talk to me anytime."
"Okay." I open mouth to get into my final line, but then I see her face.
She looks serious, like she's preparing to talk about some heavy stuff. She looks reassuring, like she's ready to comfort me with whatever problems I may have. And she looks concerned again, like she's worried I'm dealing with something big, something I'm struggling to handle, something I desperately need her help with.
I… I…
…What am I doing?
Here Applejack is, always friendly and helpful, offering me her aid no matter what, and what do I do?
I trick her.
I dupe her.
I try to swindle information out of her for my own selfish needs.
All because I want to know if she'd date me.
…Oh, Celestia, I'm a horrible friend.
I lose my composure. Immediately, Applejack approaches me and hugs me tight. "There, there, Sugarcube. It's okay. Tell me what's wrong." Even now, when I'm just realizing how badly I've treated her, she's still in the dark. Still trying to support me as best she can.
That does it. I break into tears. "No, it's… it's not," I sob as I try to pull myself away from her. Despite my distress, I can't help but notice how comfortable Applejack's embrace is, how gentle her hooves are, how smooth her coat is. I… I don't deserve this. I don't deserve her.
I gently push Applejack away from me. She starts to say something, but I cut her off. "Wait." I take a few gulping breaths. "Before you say anything else… you deserve… need to know the truth."
I steady myself to the best of my current ability, and start talking.
It's hard at first, and I stammer a lot, but once I get started, the words almost flow out of my mouth by themselves. I tell Applejack everything. I tell her about Second Chance, what it does, and how I figured out different uses for it. I tell her how I thought to take advantage of it — of her — and how every time I've talked to her today, including this one, has been an attempt to spy into her head.
Throughout it all, I can't bear to look directly at her. Only once I'm done telling her everything that happened over the past two days do I finally tilt my head up to look at her face.
Applejack's friendliness and compassion are gone from eyes, and replaced by a stoic, stern stare. I quickly turn my gaze back to the floorboards.
"I… I'm sorry, Applejack," I say. "I… I never should've treated you like that. I know you're probably mad at me, and I don't blame you. It's just…" I fumble for words under her glare, feeling like I owe her an explanation. "It's just, I… when I was younger, I had this friend, Ocean Winds, that I had a crush on. When I confessed to her and she didn't return my feelings, things got really awkward between us. Then, eventually, we just… drifted apart. Then the opposite happened with Gilda, and for a while, I thought we managed to get past that, but… well, you saw what happened with her. I just… couldn't stand it if the same happened with you too, so I tried to make sure I knew how you'd respond before I said anything." I don't know what else to say, so I say nothing.
Applejack stays silent for a long while. In fact, she hasn't said a thing since I started my confession. I wonder if I should just… leave. Just fly away right now, and not have to hear her reaction.
"You said the spell lasts 'till tomorrow evening?" Applejack suddenly asks, her voice steady. Level. Controlled.
"I… y-yeah. You can check with Twilight if you wanna," I offer. I hate how fragile I sound.
"Then get out, and don't talk to me again until then," she says.
My heart plummets. "But AJ–"
"Just get out, Rainbow. Please."
"But I–"
"Darn it, Rainbow!" Applejack suddenly shouts, throwing her hat on the floor. "How can we talk honestly with this blasted spell hanging over us? How I can even trust you when you can just–"
I wince. Hard.
Applejack grimaces, then sighs. "No, sorry, that was too harsh." She puts a hoof on her forehead, a frustrated expression on her face. "Just… please leave, Rainbow. Please."
I hesitate for a moment–
"Just go!"
I stop dawdling. The window's the closest exit, so I open it and fly out. I don't have the guts to look back. I fly straight home, tears of guilt blown down my face by the air resistance. By the time I'm inside, they've dried into damp tracks on my cheeks.
I go check that Tank's still got enough food and water in his enclosure. I know I should make supper for myself, but right now, I'm too lethargic to care. Instead, I go straight to bed.
It takes me a long time to get a hold of sleep, and I toss and turn all night.