//------------------------------// // Chapter X // Story: Apple of My Eye // by musicalreader //------------------------------// Apple Of My Eye- Chapter X AKA: The Morning After Chronicles: part 1- Applejack The sunbeam crawled its way across the floor. It had traveled for many millions of miles to this place in order to spread its warmth and happiness. True, the sun may have been controlled by one of the creatures that lived on this planet, but the light itself was free of such restrictions. It loved nothing more than to spread its happiness to all it came across. Finally, after several minutes of zooming across the inky void of space, it had arrived at its destination. Come, creature… embrace me as I brighten your life with my gifts! It called out in the language all members of the visible light spectrum shared. And so, having offered up its good will, the light shot straight into Applejack’s eye and burned her retinas into an unrecognizable pool of nerves and pain. And all this after just waking up from a long night of hard drinking and partying. “Son of a floppy dicked, backstabbing mule! Why the fuck did I open my damn eyes to this shit?! Buck whoever thought alcohol was a good fuckin’ idea, with a ten foot dong, up the ass, and no lube! FUCK!” She swore, instantly closing her eyes again and pressing the pillow to her face, waiting for the parasprite buzzing in her… well, everywhere really… to calm down, and for the tiny gnome sitting on top of her head to stop pounding away at her skull with a hammer and chisel. After another few minutes of total darkness and muffled swearing, our orange heroine decided there was nothing left to do but face the day head on… though it couldn’t hurt to close the blinds first, right? After fumbling with the draw string on the shades, Applejack felt safe enough to open her eyes again. “Ssss…” Applejack hissed, drawing in a breath sharply as the room came into stark contrast, if still a bit wobbly… Oh wait… that was her doing the wobbling… “Shit… What the hay happened last night?” she asked herself, staring into a small mirror on the wall near her dresser, “Ah can’t remember shit………” As the orange apple farmer continued massaging her temples, trying to remember what had happened to her, she noticed a piece of parchment pinned to the headboard of her bed. “The hay?” she asked, squinting and focusing on the pointed horn writing… after all, only Unicorns and authors had this kind of precision when they wrote Equuian. To whom it may concern, Her majesty Princess Luna, Regent of the Moon and Diarch of the great land of Equestria, wishes you a good morning, and wishes to reassure you that due to the extravagance of the festivities last night, you were seen safely home by no less than two members of the Lunar Guard. This courtesy has been extended to all party goers, and everypony who was still conscious enough to give directions back to their homes was seen safely back. Those who were already unconscious by the time the Guard escorted everypony home, which may or may not include members of your family, and they can be found in the Town Hall, where cots and blankets were provided. Please ensure that all of your personal belongings made it back with you safely, and if you have any questions regarding the events of last night, please contact: Private Hang Over, Delta Company, Unicorn Division, for a quick memory spell. He will be stationed at the Town Hall for the remainder of the day, tending to any and all who were in attendance last night. Regards, Captain Obvious, Commanding officer for the private guard of Princess Luna, And Colonel O’Corn, Second in command of the private guard of Princess Luna. Well... there was one thing explained… Apparently she’d at least been conscious when Luna had her guards play cleanup, or else Luna just happened to know where she lived... That was always possible too... And now she could at least stop straining to remember everything now that she knew there was a unicorn whose whole job was helping blackout partiers like her. Still… something was nagging at the back of her mind… what was it though? She made her way downstairs to check the time and make some food. Big Mac had probably already started on the chores. She’d yet to see him lose his head when he drank, and Applejack was pretty confident he hadn’t broken that record last night. Luckily, the clock only read eleven in the morning, so she hadn’t gotten a full night’s sleep, but she’d at least woken up before it was the afternoon. As Applejack reached for the coffeepot to pour herself a cup, an ear splitting shriek tore through the house, and a clatter of hooves resounded through the wooden structure… “What the hay?!” Applejack yelled, looking up at the ceiling, her heart rate skyrocketing from the sudden sound. Before she could even move to try and figure out where the noise was coming from though, there was a thudding crash from the stairs, and the front door was opened and slammed shut in a split second. She made it out of the kitchen in time to see a trail of dust settling back to the floor. “Ah swear… if Big Mac brought home a mare and that was her tearing through my house just now… Ah’m gonna get the shears and make sure he can’t go around gettin’ in that kind of trouble ever again…” Having drained a couple cups of coffee, Applejack left to head into town and see about getting that memory spell. As she got closer though, it was beginning to look like she wasn’t the only pony with some amnesia after the party ended… There was a line out the door for Celestia’s sake! “Uhhh… s’cuse me,” She said, tapping a green mare already in line, “Is this to see that Unicorn from the royal guard?” “Uh huh… I just woke up like, ten minutes ago and found that note, so I came over here… everything’s a blur after I took that shot of Moon Shine that blue unicorn conjured up. I think her name was Loony… but whatever, I just hope I didn’t do anything stupid last night.” The mare replied, looking back at AJ tiredly. “From the looks of things, Ah don’t think anypony remembers what happened, so Ah’m not worried about makin’ a fool uh mahself.” Applejack answered, taking her place in line behind her fellow partygoers. Interestingly, the line seemed to move rather quickly. It wasn’t even five minutes before Applejack was in the next group up for the spell. Granted, those five minutes had been funny to watch. As each group came out of the Town Hall, there was usually at least one pony that had a look of horror on their face as their friends teased them about something from the night before. The most entertaining was when she saw the flower sisters congratulating Lily about making out with no less than three separate stallions. “I’m telling you Lily, if you have a chance with any of them, you’d better pounce on them soon. I hear that grey pegasus one is still single.” Daisy said, nudging her friend. “But I don’t know if he was actually into me, or if he was drunk too!” Lily complained. “Well you don’t see him around here do you? So he was probably sober enough to know what he was doing. Besides, I don’t know why you’re complaining, at least the male you’re after was at the party. Big Mac didn’t even bother showing up last night!” Roseluck complained. “Well, I guess so… still… I don’t remember seeing him after he kissed me. It’s like he just vanished…” “He probably just went home with somepony else sweetie. But he still kissed you, so you’ve probably got a shot if you jump him soon.” Daisy said, continuing to fill her friend’s head with horrible advice. “Besides, if I wasn’t already working on Mac, I’d jump that new stallion in a heartbeat. You all saw what he was doing in the market the other day, showing off those wings of his… if he’s not looking for some company, then my mane isn’t red.” Rose said, nudging her friend. “Yeah… I’ll find him and I’ll make him mine!” Lily said, with frightening resolve. “That a mare!” Daisy said, hoof bumping her friend as the trio of unashamed stalkers walked off to their homes. Applejack just sighed and shook her head. Great… another group I gotta warn Orion about… she thought to herself. Seriously, why are they all attracted to him? I mean sure, he’s a sweet stallion, and he ain’t too bad looking… but it seems like everypony wants him without getting to know him… As Applejack continued contemplating what it was about her new friend that seemed to warrant so much attention, another ear splitting shriek tore across the sky. A trail of cloud vapor followed the mare flying overhead as she raced across the sky and headed for the Everfree Forest… Funny… most girls screamed as they were going AWAY from that place… Oh well, probably a one night stand of Rainbow’s that had woken up and remembered that she had a coltfriend. Wouldn’t be the first time really… There was that time with Raindrops…and that noble pony’s wife… and more than once with Ditzy Doo when she’d first moved to town, before Dinky came along. “Next!” the guard at the door hollered, counting out the next ten ponies in line, Applejack barely getting into the group as number 9. “Okay everypony. My name is Private Hang Over. I’ll just be doing a simple memory recall spell with all of you, so if you could please step inside the circle on the floor… thank you… now, close your eyes and focus on the earliest memory you have of the party last night, from there, the magic will rebuild the synaptic pathways and you’ll slowly begin to remember everything.” Hang Over instructed, oddly friendly for a Lunar Guard. “The more prominent the memory, the quicker it will return to you, so don’t be surprised if the first thing you remember is embarrassing as all Tartarus.” Applejack focused on the earliest memory she had of the party… She was talking with Twilight as they looked for a table. It had been just a few minutes before Orion arrived, and she had just finished setting up the barrels of Sweet Apple cider. She felt a comforting warmth pass over her as the unicorn guard activated his spell, and she could not only feel the effects of her hangover lessen, but she also could feel her head get a little less foggy. Like somepony had reached inside her head and dusted it all out. She opened her eyes and looked around, her eyes locking on the table where the group had played truth or dare… That’s right… She and Orion had kissed there! Pinkie Pie had a bit of payback coming her way now… On the other hand, she also could remember how warm he’d been, and even though he was fairly tipsy at the time, he’d seemed to enjoy it… and Applejack had to admit, he wasn’t the worst by a long shot when it came to kissing… “Ahhh buck…” she said, “That stallion’s more trouble than he’s worth… now he’s got ME thinkin’ about him… shit… Okay AJ, think now, what else happened?” She sat at one of the chairs still set up along the walls of the Town Hall and thought hard. It didn’t matter what the Unicorn had told them about things coming back slowly, she needed to know as soon as possible if she’d done anything to possibly damage her business… “Alright girl… think… Ya’ll played Truth or Dare, things were awkward sure, but nothing too bad… Heh, gonna tease the hay outta Big Mac fer what Fluttershy did though. And then there was that stuff with the poem, damn nice poem too… Then after that, Ah started getting’ friendly with him… Ah shit, that’s right… Ah freaked him out a bit and he grabbed Luna’s drink… Then he kinda passed out… What was after that?” Applejack asked herself, tapping a hoof to her forehead. “Oh fuck… I remember now…” V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V Orion had kind of slumped over the table for a while. Luna had told them not to worry about it too much. It turned out, the Princess had gotten tired of wine and cider, so she’d magic’d her drink into her own drink called Moonshine. She’d offered a much smaller sample of the drink to the ponies at the table, and Applejack had to admit, it was strong, but it went down smooth… All of a sudden, Orion sort of twitched in his seat, and the next thing AJ and the rest knew, he had climbed up on top of the table and started lolling his head around at the group, a wild look in his eyes not unlike the one he’d had after those glasses of wine, but this was a step further up the ‘crazy scale’. “Heeeyyy guys…” he said, somehow able to speak without slurring his words. Not bad… “Orion…” Luna said, reaching up with her hoof to try and coax him down from the table. “Little one, please come down from there…” “Nnnope!” he replied, prancing off to the side, getting dangerously close to the edge of the table before extending his wings and stabilizing himself. He stopped for a moment, looking around the table. Octavia and Lyra looked like they had never seen a drunk pony like him before. Vinyl and Bon Bon however, were whistling and egging him on. They were soon joined by Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Spike. Big Mac, Twilight, and Luna however, seemed concerned for him, and tried to corner him on the table top. Seriously, how the hay was he dodging them so easily when he was this drunk?! After avoiding the edge, and Big Mac’s outstretched hooves for the third time, Orion looked at the cheering mares and waggled his eyebrows. “You like this girls? Guys?” he asked, his speech starting to slur slightly, “Hmm? I remember now… doing… this…” he said, spreading his wings wide and striking a pose that Applejack had to admit was pretty damn hot, “This is sexy right? You girls think I’m a sexy thing, don’t you?” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie whistled and hollered cat calls, Bon Bon and Vinyl were rolling around in hysterics. Applejack and Fluttershy meanwhile were both simply watching this impromptu show with a deep rose colored blush covering their faces. He noticed Applejack first, and leaned in closer to her, his flank wriggling in the air as he got muzzle to muzzle with her. “You know AJ… you’re pretty cute… I don’t say this, like ever… seriously, I don’t know what is considered sexy in Equestria… but I know you’ve got it girl… Why don’t you get up here with me?” he said hoarsely, wrapping a wing around her and ushering her to join him on the table top. “Vinyl!” Orion said, leaning his head back and looking at the DJ upside down, “Can you put on some sexy music for a sexy show with two sexy ponies?” “On it boss dude!” Vinyl cried, running off to her set and getting everypony’s attention on the mic. “Hey Everypony! We got a special treat for ya’ll tonight! For one night only, the guest of honor is gonna give us a show!” As the crowd hollered and hooted, Vinyl switched out the music for a better beat, and turned the music up to max. As A QUICK, HEAVY BEAT blared over the speakers, Orion pulled Applejack close, Big Mac and Luna’s protests drowned out by the music, and he started rocking in place, hypnotizing Applejack and causing her to mirror his movements. As the music hit the first chorus, Orion spun away, his wing tip traveling down the front of his vest and flicking a couple of the buttons open. He winked at her seductively, and all she could do was continue the dance, wriggling her body and cantering backwards and forwards, her tail and mane coming undone from their hair bands, and creating a wave of gold as her head started thrashing around to the beat of the music. But even this extreme movement stopped as Orion did the unthinkable, peeling off his vest and jumping into the air. He flipped backwards over her head, twisting in the air to glide out over the crowd before landing back on the table, his vest now completely off and hanging from his mouth as he stood on his hind legs, his wings stretched out fully and falling backwards into the crowd. The crowd at least had enough ponies who were paying attention, that he was caught and he crowd surfed his way back to the table to wrap a wing around Applejack, pulling her up on her hind legs. He pulled her close and did the strangest thing she’d ever seen. He started moving on his back two legs while holding her and leading her in a quick series of steps. After sashaying back and forth on their hind legs, he opened his wings again, spinning her in place and letting her fall backwards, only to catch her at the last moment and plant a quick kiss in her throat. As the song ended, the party goers erupted into cheers and applause, and he hopped down to mingle. That was about the last Applejack saw of him for the next hour. As he continued to walk about and flirt and talk and just generally become the life of the party, Applejack couldn’t help but notice that Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were looking at her funny. “What is it girls? Ya’ll ain’t ever seen a mare dance before?” “Not like that we haven’t…” Dash said, smirking, “I gotta say Applejack, you either have a hay of a lot of self control, or you’re just not into stallions.” “What the buck is that supposed to mean?” She shot back, glaring at the polychromatic pegasus. “That was probably the hottest thing I’ve ever seen a stallion do. Seriously AJ, if he’d pulled me up there, I’d have jumped him right there on the table.” “I have to go with Dashie on this AJ.” Pinkie Pie said, nodding sagely, “He got up there and was all, whoosh! I am a sexy beast, and I will have you! Look at my awesome body. Nopony doesn’t want what I can do to them!” “Now come on girls… sure, it was pretty impressive, but Ah mean, he’s had a few drinks, that’s nothin’ but liquid courage.” AJ said, rebuffing her friends. “Say what you want, but I bet you’d be pretty buckin’ jealous if he was making out with another mare.” “No way… He’s mah friend, and that’s it.” “Good. Because right now he’s making out with Lily over by the punch bowl!” Pinkie said, grinning and blushing, “And he’s gooood……” “What?!” Applejack hollered, spinning to face the punch bowl, seeing only Lily standing there by herself in a daze. “Ah don’t see him there you liar!” “You just missed him!” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing off into the crowd. “Hahahahah! AJ, I’ll give you fair warning since we’re friends… That stallion’s open game right now and I aim to win!” Rainbow said, zooming off over the crowd. “Consarnit you two!” Applejack yelled, chasing after them. For the rest of the night, Applejack tried to track down Orion. You’d think it was easy after that little stunt on the table, but he was a freaking ghost! She searched in the crowd for what felt like hours, only stopping every now and then to grab a cup of punch. By the third time she went to the drink table, she noticed a purple and black tail trailing out from underneath the table cloth. She knelt down and lifted the cloth with a hoof only to find herself nose to nose with Orion. But right now, he had tears in his eyes… “Applejack…” he blubbered, “I don’t feel good…” “Awww… come on Sugarcube… let’s getcha to Luna, she probably has a spell to help ya feel a bit better… then we’ll get you back to the farm and off to bed… That sound good?” Applejack said, wrapping a hoof around him and helping him stand up and walk back to the table. He was absolutely pathetic at that moment… and it was just so bizarre to see him acting so down after the show he’d put on. Finally, they’d reached the table again, and saw Twilight nursing a cider mug, bobbing her head slightly to the music, and Luna surrounded by a veritable mountain of used cups, some of them still dripping the clear liquid Applejack now knew was Moonshine. Had she drunk those all by herself? “Uhhh… Luna?” Applejack said, getting the Princess’s attention by tapping her with a hoof. Luna jumped slightly and blinked away a glazed look in her eyes. “Huh? Oh… Yes Applejack, what is it?” “Orion here ain’t feeling too good… do you know anything that could help him out?” AJ asked. Luna rolled her eyes and gestured for Applejack to follow her outside. “Alright, do me a favor Applejack, set him down over there.” Luna instructed, gesturing to a spot on the grass outside, the light spilling out from the windows and illuminating the usually dark street outside. “Alright…” AJ agreed, helping Orion settle down on the ground. “And yer sure this’ll help him feel better?” “Pretty sure…” Luna said, her horn lighting up. “I’ve had a bit to drink, even by my standards, but I should be able to get this right… By the way Applejack, what did you think of his little show? I believe he drafted you without really asking.” “It was alright…” Applejack admitted, “Gotta say, he sure knows how to put on a show… and he was pretty darn attractive… especially when he nipped my neck at the end…” “WHAT?!” Luna cried, her horn firing off at the prone stallion, a field of dark blue energy growing out form the center of him until he couldn’t be seen for the magical field. When it had settled, what Applejack saw shocked her so much that she fainted right on the spot… V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V “FUCK! Orion!” Applejack shouted, her memory having completely returned. She took off like a fruit bat out of Tartarus, tearing across the town in search of the grey pegasus that had been here less than a week, and was already at the center of a HUGE storm of trouble…