//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: The World Has Turned And Left Me Here 
// Story: Just My Imagination 
// by Closer-To-The-Sun 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2: The World Has Turned And Left Me Here

As the day dragged on, Caramel was unable to completely focus on his tasks. This, unfortunately, caused problems for the tan stallion.

When taking the empty cart out into the grove of trees, Caramel managed to trip a number of times, causing him to get himself scrapped and roughed up. Later while bucking the trees, he would often miss the trees entirely and fall flat on his face. And in the evening, he fell into the mud puddles while feeding the pigs. These were normal occurrences for the earth pony and it didn't phase those who worked with him that much, but the increasing number did puzzle them.

Putting the pig feed away in the barn, Caramel was trying to shake off the mud before it began to stick to him.

"Every single time…." he mumbled to himself, struggling to shake of the muck off of his coat, "without fail, I always get tackled by those pigs into their mud…."

"It's 'cause they like it when you care fer them instead of the rest of us, Caramel," Applejack's voice joked. She trotted into the barn with a towel and offered it to the stallion, "Evenin' Caramel, how's mah unfortunate cousin doin'?"

Taking the towel from the mare, Caramel began to wipe himself down, "How do you think? I think I broke a record of how many times I messed up."

"Yeah, ah did notice that, what's got yer lasso in a knot?" Applejack asked as she sat down on a haybale.

Sighing, he replied, "Applejack, do you know you the name of that pegasus mare I was talking to earlier today?"

The orange pony tilted her head, "Who? My friend Fluttershy? What about her?"

Caramel sighed, "Is that her name? Fluttershy? That's such a wonderful name."

"Uh, Caramel? What's this all about?"

Taking a deep breath, he explained, "Well, to be honest Applejack, I think I like her."

Applejack gave a bewildered look to Caramel, "Are ya serious?"

"I can't help it. All I can really think about is the time I spent with her earlier today. It was just….enchanting," the stallion mused. He finished wiping the mud off of himself, and placed the towel aside on a bale of hay.

"An' lemme guess, ya can barely focus, right?" Applejack asked.

"How can you tell?" Caramel turned to his orange-coated cousin.

The mare smirked, "Well, it would explain why ya were more of a screw up than normal today." Applejack had a laugh, which caused the stallion to blush.

"You don't have to rub it in, Applejack…." Caramel was flustered at the laughter.

"Ah just find it adorable that ya have a small crush," the mare continued snickering.

The stallion tried to defend himself, "I-It's not a crush, Applejack…."

"Sure, keep tellin' yerself that, Caramel," the orange mare mocked as she began to trot out of the barn, "Supper should be ready in 'bout a half-hour. Just make sure ya clean yerself up completely before you get on in, ya know how Granny Smith can be."

The stallion sighed as he nodded, "I know, I'll be in there soon."

Watching his cousin leave the barn, Caramel took the towel and began to make his own way out of the barn and get ready for dinner. Going through his head, the stallion asked himself a few key questions. In particular, one that he asked bugged him, "Is Applejack right? About this just being a crush?"