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// 14 - Interlude - Apple Business 
// Story: Roll for Initiative 
// by David Silver 
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Big Mac crept up to his house, hoping against hope that he could get past the dangerous hurdles that could be in his way. He slipped along the wall of the house, trying to be flat and silent as his bulk allowed. His hoof came down in a watering can, sending him and it flying as he stumbled to the ground and the can bounced away. Had anyone noticed? He hoped not.

He got himself back to his hooves but remained low to the ground, inching up to the door before he even dared to properly stand. He glanced left and right before letting out a little breath. Maybe he was being ridiculous. Maybe there was nothing to worry about at all.

He reached forward and opened the door as quickly as he could. The inside was dark, entirely dark. He took a step forward and the floor creaked beneath his heavy hoof. He wrenched the hoof back and swallowed before he tried again, stretching out to reach another, hopefully more secure, board. It did not oblige him.

"You kin stop that." A lantern flared into life, casting shadows across his sister, looking at him sternly. "Close the door behind you."

He swallowed audibly. "Ah kin--"

"Close the door." She gestured at a small cushion. "Sit."

He nodded slowly and turned to the door, properly latching it shut. With all the somberness due a pony marching to their execution, he stepped up to the cusion and sank his to his haunches on it, looking to his sister quietly.

Applejack tapped her hooves together a moment, saying nothing before she sat up. "It's mah fault, ain't it?"

"What is?"

She waved towards Ponyville. "Ya see me gallavantin' around with the element of magic, the prettiest mare in town, and the most sharply dressed. Ah shouldn't be so surprised none that you might just forget what makes earth ponies so great."

Big Mac shrank back. "It ain't that," he mumbled under his  breath.

Applejack pointed at herself. "What about me, huh? Ah'm just as much a hero as the rest of them. If yer lookin' fer a hero to copy, why ain't ah one of 'em?" She leaned forward in her chair. "We were raised to be proud Apples." She thumped her chest. "Apples to the core! You remember how the song goes."

"Ayup..." He had a thousand thoughts, and no words. He shuffled faintly, hoping the storm would pass.

She slid from the chair, approaching Big Mac in slow steps. "You do realize yer a fine slab of stallion, right?"

Big Mac's ears shot up as he glanced around. How did they arrive at that?

"It's true. Ya don't see it none, but ah can see the mares lookin' after you when ya pass." She sat down in front of him. "Yer blind to how amazin' ya are. Other ponies ain't. Whatever happened ta Cheerilee? Ya two made a right cute couple."

Big Mac felt an intense blush coming on. "She was nice..." Nice did not mean it worked. He shuffled on his cushion.

"Nice?" She circled around him slowly. "Fer a while ya seemed like a mighty fine pair indeed. Ah thought we'd be invitin' her ta family functions." She leaned in suddenly. "Did she do wrong by ya? Ya afraid to tell me? Well don't be! Ah'm yer sister. Ah'll straighten this out."

Big Mac raised a forehoof behind his head. "Nope."

She cocked a brow. She was especially good at the motion. "Nope she didn't do nothin' or nope ya ain't tellin'?"

"Look... It just..." He lowered his hoof back down. "She didn't do anythin' wrong. She's a good mare, just not... my mare."

Applejack sank to her haunches heavily. "Yer gonna find some pretty unicorn and hook up wit' her, ain't ya...?" She heaved a sigh, deep and long. 

Big Mac's eyes opened wide. "Ah ain't done nothin' like that, not that it's any of yer business."

"Fine, that's... yer business ah suppose, but you. Yer an Apple." She prodded him in the center of his chest. "Ya got it all through and through. We're tough, strong, and hardworkin'. Ya should be proud of that!"

He rose up, towering over his sister even if he felt cowed by her presence. "Ah'm proud."

"Easy t' say." She shook her head slowly. "What would Apple Bloom think? She's already got a unicorn for a mentor! Now her brother's busy puttin' on fake horns!" She reached with a hoof to touch one of his. "Ya got big hooves. Big, powerful hooves. They're from yer pa, ya know."

Big Mac shrank back at that, falling to his haunches. "Ah... ain't forgot..."

"And what would he say?" She had him fixed in a deadly glare.

"I... don't know." He shrank before her withering look. "It's jus' a game... Ah..."

"What kinda game was that anyway? Ya were jumpin' around like a bunch of ninnies with Discord! How is that a good idea any day of any week?"

He looked away from Applejack, not wanting to feel the burn of her stern expression. "He jus' joined today... We been playin' long before he got there..."

"Uh huh..." She circled even as he kept looking away. "Big Mac... You know ah care about ya, right?"

"Yup..."

She set her hooves on his shoulders. "We're siblings, and mighty tight ones, ah hope. Ah want the best fer ya. Ya know that, right?"

"Yup..."

"So why're ya so eager to run away from what ya are?" She sank to her haunches, her arms stretched upwards as she looked at his cheek, his eyes still turned away. "We ain't broken, Big Mac. There ain't a dang thing wrong with being what we are."

Big mac met her eyes. "What would ya say if, fer 'xample, a unicorn wanted wings?"

"I'd say that unicorn was crazy." She rolled her eyes at the notion. "Why?"

He poked her in the chest as she had done. "Ya didn't make no fun of Rarity when she tried it."

Applejack's jaw tensed. "That was... different... She was tryin' to support a friend."

Big Mac pointed a big hoof at himself. "And ah'm bein' a friend t' Spike. He likes the game, and ah'm havin' fun too. Ain't no one bein' hurt by playing pretend."

She turned away. "Ah saw a very real horn on yer head. How's that pretend? So, ya like magic?" She looked over her shoulder. "Ya like grabbin' things without yer hooves? Wish ya could just--" She turned back around and reared up, wobbling her hooves like a wizard casting a spell. "--cast a spell and make the apples harvest themselves without workin' fer it!?"

"Ah ain't doin' that!" He stomped a hoof down, clopping it against the hardwood floor. "An' you know it!"

Applejack's withers rose in a powerful bristle. "Jus' cause you can't, not because you don't want to!"

Small hoofsteps had both their eyes turning to see a drowsy Apple Bloom coming down the stairs. Applejack closer her mouth and sat down, waiting.

Apple Bloom walked right between them towards the sink and poured herself a glass of water. She drank it slowly right there, her hooves holding up the glass as she interrupted the argument dead without much effort.

Big Mac looked between his little sister and his older one, fidgeting in place but unsure what else he could do.

Apple Bloom set the glass down and turned for the stairs. "Ya two can go back t' fussin' if ya want," she said as she began climbing. "Me n' Granny can hear ya, just so ya know."

Applejack's cheeks darkened. "Ah ain't sayin' nothing ah'm afraid of ya hearing!"

Apple Bloom turned around to meet Applejack's defensive stance. "If Twilight bothers ya teachin' me, ah wonder  how much Zecora gets under yer pelt." She didn't wait for an answer, turning right back around to ascend the stairs.

Applejack sank to her haunches, the wind in her sails blown out for a moment. "Consarnit... Ah ain't even mad at her." She looked back to Big Mac. "Look, enough. Ponies in this house need their sleep."

"Ayup." He rose and strode past her for the same stairs Apple Bloom had just ascended.

Applejack dashed in front of him. "Don't you disrespect me! Look, ah'm the breadwinner of this here house and all ah ask is to be..." She trailed off, seeing Big Mac was looking elsewhere. "Ah'll make this simple then. Ah don't want to see you hangin' around Spike no more." She clopped a hoof on the ground and turned away, going up the stairs first.

Big Mac watched her go before he shook his head. "Ya ain't the boss." As if he would be countermanded by his little sister. Grumbling, he went to his room and crashed onto his bed. Why was she getting in the way of his good time? He wasn't hurting anyone! Sleep was slow coming, but he eventually surrendered to its siren call. He had work to do in the morning, and he didn't plan to skip on it, no matter how much his sister implied he wanted to.

He was an Apple. An Apple to the core.