//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Hooves On The Ground // Story: Love Isn't Easy // by Writer12577 //------------------------------// Applejack looked at the distant horizon that was splitting the landscape in two, creating a beautiful scenery between the borders of the parts. The light of sun was giving its own little boost to the view, making it even more worth watching. She should have been working. The apples weren’t going to come down by themselves any time soon, and when they would, it would be too late to start selling them. The fact that Big Mac was busy planting the new seeds and keeping the traditional Apple Family market stall up wasn’t sure making her job easier. But still there she was, not paying a single though towards the almost-perfectly red apples in the trees. She had way more important things rolling around in her mind right now. For some reason she had not been able to concentrate almost at all lately. She had started getting late from meetings and things like that and she even was late from the schedule with the apple-bucking of this year. In addition to this, she had not been able to get her thoughts off a certain mare. What was it in that certain mare that was so interesting? Sure she was cool, beautiful and a great friend, but Applejack just wasn’t capable of understanding the feelings that she felt towards the certain rainbow-maned pegasus. Yes, she had fallen for the athlete. But she had nothing to complain about. Rainbow was a great friend and seemed to understand her a bit better than the others. But there was a single thing bothering Applejack, trying to push the nice things back and make her worry. What if Rainbow didn’t like her? What if Applejack screwed everything up with her silly feelings and they would not be friends anymore? That would be a tough blow for her. But no matter how much she wanted to, no matter how hard she told herself that she would have to do it, she just couldn’t go there, face the unavoidable and say the three simple words. It was just too hard. She let out a little sigh, adjusting her hat for a bit so it blocked all of the beams of the light, causing a pleasant darkness to fall over her eyes. She needed time to sort things out. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander. But whenever one needs time, something tends to happen and disturb you. And not long after Applejack had shut her eyes, a smaller pony appeared in front of her, looking curiously at her bigger sister. “Applejack, you okay? Shouldn’t ya be doing the work?” Apple Bloom asked, getting a bit closer to her sister, trying to see under the large brown hat. After a quick peek she could easily see that Applejack was well asleep. That wasn’t acceptable. There were still apples left in the trees and the sun had only just started to set. Apple Bloom noticed her chance. “Applejack, wake up! Ya got work to do!” she shouted as loud as she could, causing the orange mare to rapidly wake from her slumber and actually jump up in the air. The sight was hilarious and soon enough Apple Bloom was lying on the ground, laughing loudly, causing her sister to blush a little. “Apple Bloom, what in tarnation was that all about?” she asked, desperately trying to save the situation. “Well, sis, as you always tend to say, no sleeping on the work. Just remindin’ ya!” Apple Bloom answered, causing Applejack to realize that she was just digging her own pit. “Well, as ah been working so hard all day long, ah decided to give myself a little break,” Applejack desperately tried, but being the element of honesty and all, she was bad at lying. Apple Bloom would pick up on her lie any second. “Ah think ah should go and see how Big Mac’s doing around at the marketplace. See ya!” she said to Apple Bloom before running off, leaving her confused little sister behind. She hated lying to somepony, but seeing that there was no other way around, she decided to let it slip this time. She didn’t have time for Apple Bloom trying to prove something right now. She had way more important things rolling around in her head. She stopped running only when she had reached the path that led to the town. She might actually even go and see how Big Mac was doing now that she was here. And maybe she could get some help to her little problem, as well. Her friends would surely be eager to help her with it. But which one of them? Rainbow was no option, of course. Applejack would just completely freeze and make herself look like an idiot in front of the mare. Rarity could have been an option, but Applejack had heard some rumors that she was working on a big order and she surely didn’t want to end up as a model or a critic. She knew nothing about fashion, nor did she like trying on series of fancy clothes. Fluttershy would have loved to discuss about it and she would never slip out a secret, but she was training her birdies for the big picnic Twilight was arranging and it was taking up all of her time. Applejack would just be in her way. That left her to two options. Pinkie and Twilight. Pinkie would have been a great company and definitely somepony who would keep a secret, but Applejack was kinda trying to avoid entering the café. Not because of Pinkie or anything, but rather because of the twins. She had made the mistake of bringing them some apple treats a couple of weeks back and now they thought that she was hiding them somewhere. It wasn’t a nice feeling when they were always trying to turn your coat upside down in hopes of finding something sugary to chew on with their sharp baby teeth. Therefore, Twilight was her best option. She would definitely listen to her and knowing Twilight and her books, she would be able to help Applejack as well. Plus, Spike had gotten past the age of trying to look for hidden treats, so the library would be a safe place as well. By the time she had come up with the solution she had reached the borders of the town. The marketplace was not far away, so she decided to go and see Big Mac before going to the library. After a couple of minutes of walking she could see the marketplace and the familiar-looking stall with the familiar-looking red stallion behind the table. “Hey there, big brother,” she said to Big Mac when she had reached the table. Judging by the amount of the apples left on the table, Big Mac had managed to sell quite a few. Her brother just nodded to her, concentrating on counting the income. Bit after bit dropped into the large bag designated for coins as he was performing some fancy mathematics, and with a mighty amount of speed, as well. Big Mac had always been the genius of the family. “Business going well, huh?” Applejack asked, trying to get her brother to say something. “Eeyup,” was the simple answer. He sure wasn’t much of a speaker. “Well, ah’ll be heading off to the library. Got some things to discuss with Twilight. See ya at the farm later on!” she said before starting to walk towards the library, leaving Big Mac to deal with the line of customers that had formed after her. Her big brother just nodded and started dealing with the apparently-annoyed customers that didn’t like waiting. The library was pretty close to the marketplace. It was only a couple minutes of walking. On the other hoof, everything was close to everything in Ponyville. It was a small town after all and everypony knew each other. They had a great spirit in the small community. But the couple of minutes sure weren’t too easy. Anything could happen even in such small amount of time. After those couple of minutes, and a close call with a falling flower pot- and a falling box full of bubble wrap- Applejack finally managed to reach the door of the library. How could a single pegasus almost drop two items into her head in only a couple of minutes? Applejack knocked on the door after hearing a distant “sorry Applejack” from the skies above her. Soon enough the door opened and Spike welcomed her in. “Hi Applejack, what brings you here?” the little dragon asked. “Just here to see Twilight. Ah have something to ask,” Applejack answered. “Well, I think she’s upstairs. She said something about scheduling, so it should not be too important,” the dragon said, pointing a claw towards the stairs that led up to the second floor. Applejack simply thanked him and left him to do the chores he had. Must be really useful to have such a great little assistant helping you with all the things. Apple Bloom was quite helpful sometimes, but she had these days when she just didn’t want to do a thing. Applejack walked up the wooden stairs. As soon as she had reached the wooden door that led to Twilight’s bedroom, she knew that there was no going back now. She knocked on the door, hoping that Twilight would be busy so she wouldn’t have to go through all the awkwardness of telling about her feelings to somepony else. She was starting to regret even planning to do this. But as she heard Twilight call her in, she knew that she had to do it. Otherwise she would have to figure things out by herself. She opened the door, revealing the large bedroom, decorated with all things necessary for late night studying. A clever pony needs no sleep. “Hi Applejack, what brings you here?” Twilight asked. It took Applejack some time to locate the source of the voice, but soon enough she saw Twilight in the very corner of the room, possibly putting some of her books in order. “Twi, ah need help,” was all Applejack could say. This would end up being pretty hard. “Uhh, yeah, I kinda understood that. What do you need help with, exactly?” Twilight asked with a bit of a puzzled look. “Uhh… You happen to know anything about romance?” Applejack tried, hoping that Twilight would get the clue. “Ooh! In fact, I think I just read a book about it. Hold on…” Twilight rocketed off towards the bookshelf next to her bed and started furiously looking for the one certain book. Applejack had no idea how Twilight could find anything in this house. But after a couple of seconds Twilight returned, carrying a small brown book in her magical aura. “100 ways to confess your love, written by multiple authors. Here we go,” she said excitedly. “Uhh… If you think a book will surely help, then let’s give it a shot. What’s the first way?” Applejack asked, eager to sort out her troubles. “Well, this is an interesting book. You see, all the ways are the same…” Twilight said nervously. “Well, what’s that way? It must be pretty darn good if it has been printed for a whole hundred times,” Applejack said. She had high expectations. “Just tell him or her,” Twilight said with a small voice, hoping for the best. Applejack just stood there. There was no other way? She’d have to go and confess her love without knowing a thing about the emotions of Rainbow? Twilight saw the expression on her friend’s face. She decided that she had to help Applejack. “Although, I think there is an alternate way, if you don’t want to tell it directly…” she started, hoping to catch Applejack’s attention. “What is it?” Applejack immediately asked, perking her ears up. “You could send him or her a card, a bouquet, a box of chocolates in the shape of a heart or something like that. Arrange a meeting to some place and surprise him or her,” Twilight said, hoping that she could help Applejack even a little. “That’s it! Twi, you’re a genius! Ah’ll send her a card!” Applejack shouted excitedly, literally jumping up in the air. “Oh, but one little thing. Could you deliver it? Ah’m kinda trying to avoid using the post office for a while…” she said as an excuse. She wanted to stay hidden until she could be sure that Rainbow felt the same things for her. “Sure thing. But for that to happen I’m going to need to know what to say and who do I say it to,” Twilight answered with a teasing look. “Okay. It’s Rainbow Dash. And could you decide the place? Ah can't think of anything too romantic right now... And don’t tell that ah sent it,” Applejack said. “Okay. You have my word,” Twilight replied with a smile. “Thanks, Twi,” Applejack said, relieved by the fact that she had managed to find a way to sort everything out. “Ah think ah should start heading back home. Chores to do and apples to pick and all…” she added, slowly shifting towards the door. Every minute would make the risk of getting caught off work again a bit more likely. “Go ahead. I have some work to do, as well. See ya!” Twilight called after the orange mare that had dashed out of the door as soon as Twilight had said the first sentence. Twilight just let out a little sigh, let a wide smile take over and went back to do the chores she still had to do. ----»«---- Applejack was trotting down the main street of Ponyville at full pace, trying to get back to the farm before anypony would notice. She had left her chores undone and the family needed some income. The farm was not in the top condition and it was always a good idea to have something in the case of the worst case scenario. She swiftly made her way through the thick crowd that was having a look around at the stalls containing various supplies from foods and goods to woodcraft. No matter how tempting it would have been, she had no time to have even a quick look at the contents of the tables. She just shifted her gaze back to the road, keeping up the pace and hurrying towards the distant farm. After a good five minutes of running she reached the first trees of the orchard. Judging by the position of the sun she still had some time before Big Mac would return from the marketplace. After catching her breath a little she took a good look at the apple trees she was supposed to buck. But for her huge surprise, most of them were already empty of apples. But as apples didn’t fall by themselves, at least not this early, Applejack decided to investigate this sudden relief from her task. The best clue she had was the line of apples that was heading towards the barn. It didn’t take a genius to guess that the mysterious helper was hiding there. She silently snuck close to the barn door, trying to hear who this mysterious pony was. But after failing at this, she just simply walked in. And the first thing she saw was the three playful fillies, also known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, throwing the apples into the barrels that were meant as a storage for the apples. Even if it first did look like playing around, every accurately-thrown apple made Applejack even more convinced about the fact that the three were actually helping. She decided to simply go and ask. A thing she was not capable of doing with Rainbow, but could easily do here and now. “Apple Bloom, what the hay is going on in here?” she asked, causing the fillies to wince a little. “Oh, hey sis. We were just helping you with your chores. You know, as a surprise,” her sister answered, the other two boosting the answer with nods. “Well, that’s really sweet of y’all,” Applejack said with a little blush. Her sister had pretty much saved her flank. “Ah see you are pretty much done, so how ‘bout we all go inside and eat something? At least I am starving,” she suggested, gaining approving answers from the three who immediately ran inside, presumably towards the kitchen. Applejack soon followed after them, still unable to think of anything else than the cyan mare of her dreams. ----»«---- When the sun was ending its cycle and the moon was rising, the whole Apple family was sitting in the nice and cozy living room, having the final discussions of the day. Soon enough the tiredness would take the best of them and force them to start getting to bed. Not that the topic of the discussion would have been interesting; It was basically just Granny Smith talking about the times before the siblings and the others pretending to listen. The evening had been mostly slow and boring. The only notable thing that had happened was the little prank of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Painting Granny Smith pink might not seem like such a funny thing, but due to the lack of humorous events today, the whole family had had a mighty good time looking at Granny Smith who was trying to find the reason why she all of a sudden was pink. And because the pranksters had been Rainbow and Pinkie, the color got off with a simple five minutes in a warm bath. No permanent effects, no nasty rashes, just some quality fun if you happened to have a sense of humor. As Granny Smith ended her infamous story of her first time meeting the princess of the day, the whole family got up from their seats and started slowly heading towards their own rooms. After making sure that Granny Smith found her own room and her own bed, Applejack wandered off to her own room that was in close proximity of the rooms of the others. Immediately after entering the little private space of hers, she walked over to the bed and just fell on it, letting the hay-filled mattress do the catching. She made a couple of adjustment to the position she was on and shut her eyes. And pretty much immediately when she let her mind relax the slumber took over, still keeping her thoughts in the cyan pegasus.