//------------------------------// // Anna Peeling Apple In Cider // Story: Apple of My Eye // by musicalreader //------------------------------// Apple of My Eye- Ch. 13 Anna Peeling Apple In Cider (SFW) AKA- Try Saying That Title Out Loud ;-) Big Macintosh was a strong stallion. A lifetime of farm work and home cooked meals would do that to just about anypony… But being as big and strong as he was, had sometimes gotten him injured. Like the time he’d accidentally hit a young tree too hard and ended up felling it in such a way that it landed on himself. That little stunt had caused him to take a good two weeks sick leave from most of the chores. Then there was the incident with Hearts and Hooves Day… He’d accidentally moved a house about four blocks over while bouncing. Needless to say, Berry Punch still had issues with him over that. And to top it off, he’d strained himself to the point that the doctor told Granny Smith not to let him leave his bed for four whole days. But as bad as some of those injuries were, nothing in his long list of injuries included Getting thrown down a set of stairs by a mare half his size while asleep… As odd as it was, there was a certain, testosterone fueled part of his brain that was somewhat satisfied at having an injury based story that not many other stallions could compete with. Still, the majority of his brain, being practical and down to earth had only this to say on the subject… “Horse apples this hurts……” “Ughhh… Did anypony get the plate number on the carriage that just hit me?” he asked, starting to try and get back on his hooves after the rather abrupt wake up call. “Oh my, oh no no no… Big Mac, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked, flitting to his side and trying to help him sit up, also checking him for anything broken. “Son of a mule, that hurt… What the hay is this floor made out of? Oak?” Mac said, finally sitting up, though not very steadily. “I think it’s mahogany actually…” Fluttershy said, unsure if she was supposed to answer the question or not. “Now wait right here okay? I’ll be right back with some icepacks for whatever hurts.” “Right now Miss Fluttershy, that’d be just about everything… and some of that ain’t from the fall… I work all day on the farm remember?” Fluttershy didn’t say anything… she just worked in silence, taping various ice packs to any part of Big Mac she could get her hooves on and blushed, imagining the red stallion working up a sweat under the sun, his muscles rippling with each movement... Goddesses was that hot... By the time she was through though, he felt like a snowman, and was pretty sure that he could run into a wall and only have the wall touch the icepacks. Still, it was a nice gesture, even if he was a bit cold… “Are you feeling any better now?” Fluttershy asked, avoiding eye contact and leading him to the couch in the living room. “I’ll live… Sorry if I said something out of line… But last night really was something special…” Big Mac began, trying to gauge her feelings about what happened the night before. True, she’d had a bit to drink, but it was still the same Fluttershy, right? “I uh… I don’t remember a lot of what happened last night beyond us leaving the hall actually…” Fluttershy said quietly, shocking the red farm pony to his core. “You mean you don’t remember anything that went on between us?” Seems to be a recurring theme in this town…… oh well! She shook her head. “I don’t remember anything… I know we left the party, and the next thing I know, I’m lying on the floor and waking up…” Big Macintosh thought about this for a minute. If it was true that she at least remembered her leading him away, there was still a chance that this could change from an awkward ‘morning after’ and instead be something more… Besides, he hadn’t been lying when he said that he’d found last night to be special… It took a special kind of pony to get some of those responses and feelings from him… and from what he’d seen of her, Fluttershy knew exactly what she was doing. So why was she acting so timid now? “Miss Fluttershy, are you alright?” he asked, his voice low and soft. He inched closer to her slowly so as not to startle her. “I… I don’t know… I mean… I’ve only ever done that with one or two other ponies, and I don't remember what we all did, but I know how I found you this morning, and I'm freaking out, and I don’t want to scare you off because I really like you and now I’m worried that you’ll think I’m some kind of freak and you’ll never want to see me again and that’d be just awful!” she said, her emotions finally breaking the dam and spilling out in a torrent of words that could only be described as ‘Pinkie-esque’ As long as she stays out of Cupcake territory, I think we’re good. “I wouldn’t worry about scaring me off Miss Fluttershy…” Mac said slowly, reclining on the couch slowly and closing his eyes as he tried to stave off a throbbing headache. “W-why not?” she asked, looking at him oddly. “Well… if you want to know the reasons, I’d have to explain everything that happened last night…” he said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. “Would you be alright with that?” ……No… No, no, no… Don’t you do it Big Mac! Fluttershy just nodded slowly, mentally preparing herself for hearing about the part of her that was a monster. “Alright then… but I need you to promise to hear everything….I’m not going to stop until everything that happened is out in the open between us, alright? Think of the rating! Please don’t do it dude! She nodded again, this time making eye contact with Big Mac as he took a breath and began telling her everything… ……Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?! V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V They had walked to Fluttershy’s cottage in silence. Occasionally, Fluttershy would look back to make sure that he was still there, but that was about it. The first time they spoke outside of the party was when they arrived at the front door. “You know Big Mac…” Fluttershy said softly, “When we were back at the party, and Orion dared you to kiss me…… Why did you try and skip?” “Well… I guess it was because I didn’t want to take advantage of you…” he said, thinking quickly, “I mean, you’re always quiet around me… so I figured you didn’t like me that way, and I’m not one to push himself on a mare… I know what it’s like on the receiving end of that sort of thing, and I wouldn’t wish that on anypony.” “So you didn’t do it because you were uninterested?” She asked, “Because, well, I mean, that is, if you weren’t interested, that would be alright… well, not really alright… but I could understand it.” Big Mac chuckled softly in the dark, her forward attitude form earlier having given way to her much more common display of social anxiety. Even here, where it was just the two of them, she seemed to act like everypony had their eyes glued to her. “Well I wouldn’t say I’m not interested… I just haven’t really gotten the chance to know you aside from that one time you tried to jump me when I was staying at the library.” He said, smirking at the slightly painful memory of being tackled down a dark flight of stairs by a pink and yellow blur. “I have to say, if you really wanted to, you could have a pretty good future as a member of a pro hoofball player…” “Oh… I couldn’t do that to somepony else… I mean, there was the one time… but that was my first real experience with Heat… and you were just, there, you know? I’m normally in control of myself…” Fluttershy admitted, blushing and opening the door to her home, “Would you like to come in?” “Well, I believe that was the reason I came out here with you.” Big Mac said, smiling lazily, “Assuming that you aren’t gonna try and jump me again once that door is closed…” “Um… well… not if you don’t want me to…” she said, pawing the ground awkwardly, “We could just make some tea and talk… I mean, I know Applejack… but I haven’t really spent a lot of time getting to know you…” “Tea and a talk sounds wonderful Miss Fluttershy.” He agreed, walking in the front door. “We just have to be quiet… my little critter friends are all asleep.” Fluttershy cautioned, “Here, let’s go into the kitchen. That should be a good place to talk.” “Lead the way then.” Mic said, holding out a hoof and trying his best to lighten his hoof steps so as not to make any noise. They went into the kitchen and Fluttershy made a pot of sleepy time tea, while waiting for the water to boil, she sat down at the table and tried to think of something to break the silence. Luckily, she didn’t have to worry for too long, since Big Mac seemed to have an idea about what to talk to her about. “So Fluttershy… why don’t you tell me why you decided to kiss me back at the party.” He said, smiling kindly at her. “Well… it’s not that I especially WANTED you to… not that it would be a bad thing… but I didn’t want you to do it… because if you did, then it might just be because you were dared… and I wanted to know if you thought of me as more than just a friend that you kissed on a dare…” “So you thought it was a good idea to take the lead?” he replied, quirking an eyebrow up as the pot of water began to whistle, “And steal my drink on top of it all…” “Oh yeah… I’m sorry… it was kind of a spontaneous thing really…. I mean, not that I’ve never thought about kissing you… I mean… it’s kind of something I think about a lot… but I didn’t know if I could stop you any other way………” Fluttershy stammered out, taking the pot off the stove and pouring them both a nice cup of soothing tea. “You know Miss Fluttershy, you don’t need to be so nervous around me.” “Oh I know I don’t have to… It’s just that, well… I’ve never been good at talking to other ponies… especially the ones that I really like…” V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V “I really said those things?” Fluttershy asked, her face a mixture of horror and happiness. She wasn’t sure whether to feel scared about hearing Mac’s response to her little confession, or proud of herself for having gotten up the courage to finally tell him. “Eeyup. And don’t you worry about saying the wrong thing… If you’d offended me, or I hadn’t felt at least something, then I wouldn’t be here right now, would I?” He said, reassuring her by putting his foreleg around her and pulling her close. “Oh… I guess you wouldn’t… well, what happened next?” “Heh… well, now that you ask….” V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V “You know…” Big Mac said, breaking Fluttershy out of her stuttering streak, “If I’d wanted you to stop, I could have pushed you off at just about any time I wanted to…” Fluttershy gulped in shock. “You mean… you LET me kiss you like that?” He chuckled and scratched the back of his head with a hoof. “Well… it’s funny you mention that… You see, normally, I would have done something to stop you. I mean, let’s be honest, it’s not exactly a secret that a bunch of the single mares in this town have tried to jump me at one point or another. And I’m good at protecting myself, but still… something about the way you kissed me back there…… it felt right in a way… like, you were in complete control of yourself, so was I, and you just kind of forced me to see you a different way.” “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to force you into anything Big Mac… Really, I’m sorry…” “I didn’t say it was a bad thing… It’s just something that I need to think about. Shoot, did you know I’ve never been in a relationship before?” “What?! A nice, big strong stallion like you, and you’ve never had a special somepony?” Fluttershy asked, absolutely shocked. “Eeyup…” was all he said, looking into his tea. “Well…… I mean… if you wanted to… we could try and hang out again.” Fluttershy said, scooting her chair closer to him and hiding her face with her hair. “I think it’d be nice to get to know you better… I wouldn’t mind at all if you wanted to drop by the farm sometime actually.” He offered, smiling and draining his cup of tea. “But right now Miss Fluttershy, I should probably get some shut eye… I’m thinking that a bunch of ponies are gonna be pretty tired tomorrow, and I don’t plan on being one of them.” “OH! Of course!” Fluttershy said, springing out of her seat and putting the tea stuff away. “If you want, you could take my bed for the night… I can always sleep on the couch with my little critter friends.” “Now that just wouldn’t be right… me making you sleep on the couch like that. Tell you what. I’ll take the couch.” He said, frowning slightly. “Oh but if the animals wake up and see somepony strange, they’ll be so confused and upset… this is really the best option. Besides, I have a very comfy couch.” She said, defending her idea that he sleep in her bed. “I’m really not too keen on that idea still…” Mac protested, Fluttershy shooting him a look that said You will do what I say or else! “However, since you make such an excellent point about the critters, I’ll just go along with it...” he said quickly. He knew that look well… that was the look Granny Smith had given him when he was little and wouldn’t do his chores… It was never followed by anything good. “Good. Now, you go on ahead to the bedroom upstairs, and I’ll be up later to make sure you’re nice and comfortable.” Fluttershy said, pointing at the staircase and directing Big Mac to march himself on up the steps. He obeyed, shaking his head at having been outgunned by possibly the most timid mare in the whole of Equestria. But when he got to the top of the steps, he was a little confused… there was the bathroom on the right, sure, but here were two other doors too… “I guess I’ll just try this one…” he said, opening the door on the right. “Hmmm… darker than I’d think… and she’s got some interesting stuff in here too… Didn’t know she was into woodwork.” He said, noting the large black cross against one wall. He finally noticed the sectioned off corner in the back of the room and headed for it. “I remember AJ telling me about Miss Rarity’s bed… had some curtains around it… maybe Miss Fluttershy like that style too.” He commented to himself, opening the curtain and seeing the massage table. Now it should be noted right about now, that while Big Macintosh was familiar with a great deal more than simply farm work, he’d never visited a spa in his life, nor had he ever gotten a massage, beyond his little sister walking on his back from time to time. So seeing a long, thin, cushiony table with a sheet on it, his mind made a fairly logical leap… “Huh… must be one of them beds like they have in Prance.” He reclined on the table, pleasantly surprised to notice that it was indeed rather cushiony and soft, and just long enough for him to stretch out. Though it was on the thin side, he’d never been one to toss and turn in his sleep, so he didn’t worry. Instead, he simply let his weariness take him off to sleep, his mind full of pleasant images and memories from the evening. V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V “Are you alright Miss Fluttershy?” Big Mac asked, having finished his story, and seeing tears running down her face. “Did I say something that bothered you? “No… no… it’s not that Big Mac… I just… I’m sad…” Fluttershy said, tears welling in her eyes. “Why? What’s wrong?” “It’s just… I wanted to tell you for awhile now how I felt… and I did, and you didn’t push me away… which means there’s a chance that there might be something between us… but I can’t remember anything… I can’t remember actually getting the nerve up to tell you… It’s like, all the little things that make a moment special are missing from that for me… I’m glad you’re here, and I’m glad you want to see if there can be something between us… but I’m sad because it feels like we just suddenly arrived here… there was nothing in between for me… it’s confusing and sad and happy… I don’t know…” Fluttershy said, sniffling and trying to put words to an emotion that is difficult, even impossible to describe. “Well you know Miss Fluttershy… You might not remember it, but as long as one of us remembers it, then it’s real right?” Big Mac asked, trying to help calm her down and make her happy again. She sniffed and looked at him, “I guess…” “And I didn’t make any of that up. That was you whether you remember it or not. And that means that you always have the potential to live those experiences again, possibly better… After all, you already told me how you feel once. So a second time should be easy.” He said, tossing a small joke into his pep talk to hopefully cheer the mellow mare up a bit. “I… I guess you’re right…” Fluttershy admitted, smiling as her tears dried. “Though that all still doesn’t explain how I woke up on the floor or found you like I did…” She muttered to herself, just barely inaudible to her companion… but very audible to a certain white, fluffy tailed little hellion who had been listening from the staircase. He smiled maliciously as he remembered what HIS night entailed… V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V Meanwhile, downstairs the previous night… Angel was not a happy bunny. First he had to put up with the yellow pony always getting his food orders wrong. Then he had to console her when she’d start crying if he didn’t want to drown in her tears. That pony was ALWAYS crying it seemed… And now she’d brought back ANOTHER pony, and in the middle of the night no less! And does she have the common courtesy to go upstairs and just do whatever, like she did with the grey pony so at least they’re out of earshot? NO! She decides to make a pot of tea… AT 2 IN THE HOPPING MORNING!!! Does she realize how sensitive bunny ears are?! He couldn’t have slept through that tea pot going off if he tried! And then to top it off, she sends the other one upstairs, probably to get ready for that stuff… Oh no… Angel was getting his beauty sleep if it killed him… Step one, get out the bottle of tranquilizer. CHECK Step two, find the box of needles from the first aid box to administer the tranquilizer. CHECK Step three, wait for the yellow pony to leave the kitchen so he can sneak up on her. CHECK Step four, tranq the yellow pony. CHECK Now that she was taken care of, and sleeping peacefully on the floor, he had to make sure that the other pony wasn’t going to start moving around and making noise… Angel hopped up the steps, looked in all three rooms, and found the red pony in none of them. Or at least not in sight… As he was about to close the door to THAT room, the curtain in the back corner moved. Angel was no dumb bunny, and he knew that the only time something moved, was if it was made to move… and sure enough, when he looked back there, the red pony was lounged out on the weird table thingie the yellow pony liked to use every now and then with the loud blue pony… At least the red pony was already asleep… that saved Angel having to mess with the tranquilizer set again. Seriously, it’s hard to work a syringe when it’s almost as big as you are… Still… he wanted to be sure that the red pony wouldn’t be roaming around in the middle of the night… Ah HA! There was something… Angel took a length of rope out of a pile on the floor, trying his best not to imagine what it was used for, and quickly tied the red pony to the table as best he could. It was a good thing that he’d watched the orange pony that one time… otherwise he wouldn’t know what to do with the red pony. Still, at least now Angel could get a good night’s sleep. And since the yellow pony wasn’t going to be needing it tonight, might as well sleep in her bed! And so, Angel’s night ended fairly well. The yellow pony incapacitated until at least late morning, the red pony sorted out just as easily, and a nice big comfy bed to himself. It’s good to be the king… V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V Angel was startled out of his reverie by Fluttershy's stomach growling loudly. “Oh my… we missed breakfast, didn’t we?” she said, asking Big Macintosh, who was closer to the clock. He looked over and nodded emphatically. “Eeyup… Maybe we should go get some food form town?” he suggested, waving in the general direction of Ponyville. “We could talk some more, maybe learn a bit more about each other?” “I think I’d like that…” Fluttershy said, smiling and hiding her blushing face behind her hair. The two ponies got off the couch and began walking towards the door, opening it just as a dark blue unicorn was about to knock. Instead, her hoof collided with Big Macintosh’s head and making a sound like two blocks of wood colliding. "By my wings! I’m so sorry Macintosh! I was just trying to see if Fluttershy was here.” Luna said hurriedly, her eyes wide in shock. “Eeyup… she’s here…” he said, massaging his head with a hoof and trying to get his eyes to refocus. “What’s the problem Princess?” Fluttershy asked, stepping out of the cottage and closing the door behind herself and Big Mac. “I need your help…”