The Sun of My Heart 2: Love's Flames

by BlueSun52


Chapter 9

Shipping the Apple - Part 2

Applejack was driving her pickup truck as she drove away from the cafe, having to deal with Sonata’s ridiculous attempt to go out with her. Countless times of explaining in full detail why she didn’t wanted to go out with a girl never seemed to convince her. Sure, Applejack admits that Sonata would be attractive if she herself was a boy, but she was born the way the good lord wanted her to and would prefer to be with a boy. Of course, she wasn’t interested in finding one right now. She still has school work to take care of for her senior year, and there was the farm that always needs tending to. She knows in the bottom of her heart that she will meet a nice guy someday, and hopefully he would be willing to help her and her family out with the farm. She just needed to be patient about it.

Applejack continued to drive until she heard her phone ring. She pressed the talk button and raised it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Heya, Applejack!” greeted the voice of Pinkie Pie. “Are you busy?”

“Well, after trying to get away from Sonata, no, Ah’m not. Did ya need something?”

“I thought we could go hang out at the mall and do some shopping or something,” Pinkie suggested. “I wanted to ask you that when you got to the cafe, but I guess Sonata ran you out though.”

“Ah'm sorry about that. Sonata’s been getting on my nerves about that,” Applejack said. “Ah’m beginning to think she’s doing it on purpose now…. or she really doesn’t understand Ah’m not that type of girl.”

Pinkie giggled. “It’s okay. So do you wanna do it?” she asked.

“Sure, Ah’ll tag along,” Applejack said. “Who’s coming along?”

“It’s just going to be us girls!” Pinkie answered. “I thought since it's been awhile since we’ve all hanged together without the guys, this would be a great chance to do so.”

“Ya don’t think the guys would be sore about that, do ya?” Applejack asked.

“Of course not. They know we have to have some girl time every now and again,” Pinkie said. “So how about it?”

“Well shoot, Ah’m down for it,” Applejack replied. “Ah’ll meet you girls at the mall.”

“Great! Sounds good! See you soon!” Pinkie said before she hung up her phone and turned to the others. “She said that she’ll come!”

“Perfect! Now we just need to get the idea of her going out with Thunderlane underway,” Rarity said. “I hope Swift can convinced Thunderlane to go out with Applejack before she gets too bored at the mall. She never really likes to stay there too long.”

“Swifty can do it,” Pinkie said. “He’s already meeting up with Thunderlane as we speak. I’m sure he can get him to go out with Applejack.”


“I don’t know, Swift. I’ll admit that I’m still up for going out with any girl, but isn’t Applejack out of my league here?” Thunderlane asked. Just moments ago, Swift called Thunderlane and came over to his house. The two were just catching up with all they have been doing over the summer when Swift asked if Thunderlane would be interested in dating Applejack.

“No man, she’s exactly in the same league as you with only a few differences,” Swift countered.

“How are we in the same league?”

“Well, she’s honest like you,” Swift said. “And you two are tough, loyal, dependable…. um, you guys like apples.”

“Everyone likes apples, Swift,” Thunderlane pointed out.

“Oh, and you two like country music,’ Swift added.

“Yes, and I made you swear not to tell anyone about that,” Thunderlane said. “What’s with the sudden interest in me getting together with Applejack?”

“Well um…. *Sigh* Alright, since we’ve been friends for years, I might as well tell you,” Swift said. “Rarity thinks it's about time for Applejack to get a boyfriend, and some of the others and I agree. She was going to handle it herself, but apparently Applejack is the one person she can’t seem to get any good matches with. So she came to us and we went over who would be willing to go out with her and you were the only person we could think of that had everything we need in a boyfriend for Applejack.”

“...... I was the only person?” Thunderlane asked.

“Well, there was Bulk and Caramel, but we think it wasn’t going to work out with them since one has a girlfriend and the other would cave. We thought about Soarin too, but, you know, he’s going out with Spitfire.”

“Damn. I’m not too sure about this. I think I need some time to think about it,” Thunderlane said.

“That’s cool, bro. You got all the time in the world to answer that,” Swift said. “But make it quick because we’re putting the plan in motion, eeeeeeeehhh, right now,” he said as he looked at the time on his phone.

“What!? You couldn’t wait until I gave an answer!?”

“Rarity is very antsy about these things,” Swift answered. “Are you down for it? And if you are, we need to head over to the mall right away. But if you don’t want to, we're still heading for the mall anyway because you’re going to tell Rarity that. I do not want to be at the receiving end of her wrath.”

Thunderlane let out a sigh. “Fine, how about this: I’ll give it a try and see where it goes,” he said. “If she’s okay with it, I’ll go out with her. If not, then I’m not going to bother her about it again.”

“Deal. Oh and don’t tell her what we’re doing,” Swift said. “We want to keep this whole thing under wraps for a while.”

“Alright, but if we do somehow go out, I’m telling on the first date,” Thunderlane said. “I’m not going to leave her in the dark like that.”

“Fair enough.”

Over by the mall, all of the girls were hanging out at the food court and were chatting or eating some of the food from the restaurants. Applejack was just minding her own business as she just listened in on the conversations that were going around her. Her friends were mostly talking about their boyfriends and the love life they have, unaware that this was part of Rarity’s plan to get Applejack to feel the need to try out dating. Rarity watched Applejack carefully while she talked with Pinkie and saw Applejack look puzzled. Seeing that this could be her chance, Rarity made her move.

“Applejack, is something wrong?” she asked. “You’ve barely been talking the whole time we’ve been here.”

Applejack let out a sigh. “Oh, it’s nothing, Rarity,” she said. “Ah guess Ah don’t really have much to contribute to the conversations here.”

“What, about us talking about our men?”

“Pretty much,” Applejack replied.

“So what if you don’t have a boyfriend? You can still talk about guys you know,” Rainbow Dash said. “Isn’t there any guy that you could be interested in?”

“Ah’ll admit Ah did have a thing for Soarin at the last Fall Formal, but he already has a girl,” Applejack replied. “But besides him, Ah can’t think of anyone else Ah could be interested in. Besides, Ah need to get prepared for school anyway. We only have about two weeks left before summer ends.”

“Isn’t that a better reason to get a boyfriend before then?” Pinkie asked.

“Pinkie, we can get boyfriends whenever we want,” Applejack pointed out. “You can just as easily get them during school time or the weekends.”

“..... We can?”

Applejack pinched the bridge of her nose.

“So if you could get a boyfriend anytime you want, then why do you never seem to want to?” Rarity asked, trying to put Applejack on the defense.

“Ah keep telling y’all that Ah think it’s a big waste of time right now. Ah have school to finish, getting ready for college, and there’s always the farm that need attending to,” Applejack explained.

“You mean the farm that your family hires workers to do in order to maintain the fields and the animals? Which you may have forgotten is the reason why the Apple family is one of the richest merchants that sells healthy fruits and other assortment of items to the surrounding states?” Rarity asked with a raised brow.

“Don’t start with me,” Applejack said as she pointed her finger at Rarity. “I already get enough lip from Soul and Rainbow Dash.”

“I’m just saying that you can do school and have a boyfriend at the same time,” Rarity said. “Clyde and I go out all the time and my grades have never faltered once.”

“Ah’d rather not take the chance,” Applejack said. “Plus, you two have been goin’ out for so long, Ah can actually imagine you two doing homework while making out.”

“T-That has never happened!” Rarity said.

-Flashback-

It was a couple of weeks before finals during their junior year and Clyde and Rarity were getting ready for them. While they were writing down notes and studying from the books, the young couple was making out and reciting what they’d learned every time they parted lips.

“Mmmmm~ What year did George Washington first become president?” Rarity asked as she parted from Clyde’s lips.

“Seventeen eighty-eight,” Clyde answered before he went back and kissed Rarity on the lips again. He then parted from them. “What’s three times eight equals to X times five?”

“X equals negative twenty,” Rarity answered. She pulled Clyde in and the two continued making out. “What is the Radon chemical?”

“It is a radioactive noble gas that does not have colors, taste and odor that comes naturally as an indirect decay product from uranium and thorium.”

“Oooh, Clyde~”

-End of Flashback-

Rarity blinked a few times before shaking her head and looking back at Applejack.

“Well, um, anyways, my point is that love could come at any time,” Rarity said. “But it could also fleet away. And high school is a guaranteed chance at finding someone that would love you forever.”

Applejack raised a brow.

“Um, Rarity? I think I wouldn’t go that far to-”

“For. E. Ver,” Rarity said slowly at Rainbow Dash while glaring. “So what do you say Applejack? How about giving it a go?”

Applejack rubbed her chin for a moment before looking back Rarity with a smile.

“Nope,” she replied.

‘Blast. I thought that would work,’ Rarity thought. She had to rethink the conversation to give herself the advantage. After a moment, an idea popped in her mind and she looked at Applejack. “What if a boy was willing to ask you out? Would you consider going out with one then?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Ah doubt any boy would be interested in me,” she said. “Why, Ah can even bet on it.”

“Really?” Rarity asked with a mischievous smile. “Then we have a wager.”

“Wait, what? Ah didn’t really mean-”

“If a boy asks you out before school starts, you must go out with him,” Rarity said. “But if not a single boy asks you, then me and the girls will stop talking about our boyfriends while you are in our presence.”

Pinkie let out a gasp. “B-But Rarity, that’s all that we ever talk about!” she said. “If we do that, what would we talk about!?”

“I don’t know, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said. “Maybe our hobbies, what we do, how our day went-”

“All of that is boring, Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie snapped. “If I don’t talk about my Swifty wifty, I’ll go insane!”

“Kinda too late on that,” Rainbow Dash commented to herself.

“Ya know what? Ah’ll take that bet,” Applejack said. “If a boy asks me, Ah’ll go, but if not a single boy does, Ah don’t want to hear anything about any of your boyfriends if Ah don’t want to. Especially whatever you and Soul do.”

“All I said was that he’s a good kisser!” Sunset defended. “You can’t blame me for telling you girls that. It’s like one of the highlights of our relationship.”

“Good, may the best lady win,” Rarity said. In the corners of her eyes, Rarity saw both Swift and Thunderlane walking towards them. Swift was giving her a thumbs up and she simply nodded.

While Swift and Thunderlane were making their way to the table, over by a nearby bush, Twilight, Soul and Sonata were keeping an eye out for the others in case the plan didn’t go so well. Twilight had an advanced sonar disc as she was listening on the conversation while Soul was looking out from the bush with his binoculars. And Sonata was…. well, she wanted to be there and watched the whole event come together. She held a tub of popcorn while she watched everything that was transpiring.

“It looks like we won’t be needing your plan after all, Soul,” Twilight commented. “Which is a good thing because your plan had so many flaws in it.”

“Hey, my idea was full-”

“Fool.”

“Whatever! All I had to do was make a call to Apple Bloom and ask her to invite her friends over to her home to hang out or something, and since Granny Smith is in her twilight years and wouldn’t keep up with them, she would have to ask Applejack to babysit them. Big Mac wouldn’t be able to come because he would be gone to do some fake errands I made up and Applejack would make up an excuse to get out of that nightmare,” Soul explained. “This was in case she had refused to go out with Thunderlane but she would have to make an excuse so she would actually go along with it and the two would be dating in no time.”

“..... Soul, that plan has so many flaws, I think I just had a stroke,” Twilight commented. “First, would Apple Bloom even have gone along with that plan? Wouldn’t she have thought that it would be weird for one of her cousins to just suddenly call her and ask her to invite her friends over? Then why would she even need a babysitter? She’s fifteen years old. She could look after herself. And Applejack would love to babysit her anyway. Didn’t you tell me she was so worried about Apple Bloom she overreacted and ended up looking after her even after Granny Smith said that it was okay that she would be at the farm by herself and got in trouble for not delivering the orders Applejack was supposed to deliver?”

“Massive lots of trouble,” Soul answered. “And shut up.”

“Don’t worry, Soul. I thought your plan was perfect,” Sonata commented. “By the way, where are the rest of the guys?”

“Clyde went to hang out with Tyrone, Rivet said he had better things to do than get involved in this, and Night told Rarity that he was against it and was going to tell Applejack about it,” Soul replied. “Rarity has him tied up at the cafe closet.”

“Oh, okay,” Sonata said as she reached into her popcorn and stuffed it into her mouth.

“Wait, she left Night inside a closet!?” Twilight asked in shock. “Don’t you think we should get him free or something?”

“And suffer Rarity’s wrath? No way,” Soul said. “Night and I are pals, but I don’t want to be at the receiving end of that. Call me a coward all you want, but I’m not taking any chances.”

Twilight let out a sigh. “I have to agree with you on that,” she said. “Let’s focus on getting Applejack that date.”

“Oh! Oh! I think Thunderlane is about to ask Applejack out now!” Sonata chimed.

Back over to the others, Applejack was feeling confident that she was going to win the bet. The chances of a random boy asking her out would be next to nothing, and she wouldn’t have to put up with any more of her friends’ talk of their boyfriends for as long as she lives. The first two minutes were the best she could as for, but that all crumbled to pieces when Swift and Thunderlane came over.

“Hey girls, what’s up?” Swift asked.

“Oh hey, my Swifty wifty. What are two doing here at this exact moment of which no one expected that you both were coming?” Pinkie asked nonchalantly. “.... Because I didn’t know you guys were coming.”

“Pinkie shush!” Rainbow Dash whispered.

Applejack furrowed her brow in confusion.

“Oh nothing much. Thunderlane and I decided that since we haven’t hanging out lately, what better place to hang out than the mall?” Swift explained. “By the way, Thunderlane, wasn’t there something you wanted to ask Applejack? I remember you saying that you were going to ask her something? Since she is conveniently here, you can definitely ask her now.”

Thunderlane looked at Swift with half-lid eyes and a raised brow while Applejack was getting even more confused. Thunderlane let out a sigh and looked at Applejack.

“So, um, Applejack? I wanted to ask you something that my friend Swift was saying with so much detail,” Thunderlane said before giving him a glare for a moment. Swift only shrugged, so Thunderlane looked back at Applejack. “Do you wanna go out sometime?”

Applejack’s eyes widened and her heart stopped. She was shocked to hear a boy asking her out, and it was Thunderlane himself asking her. A million things were running through her head, but only one question rang the loudest: Why did this have to happen to her? She was in the clear with never having to hear any more boy talk, then Thunderlane just came along and ruined it. She didn’t show it, but her anger was through the roof as she cursed mentally to God. Of all the times in the world, this had to happen to her? Applejack looked over to Rarity hoping that she would change her mind about all this, but her hope was destroyed when she saw Rarity giving her a sly smile in anticipation of Applejack’s reply to Thunderlane. She let out an irritated sigh and looked back to Thunderlane with a suspicious look.

“And why all of a sudden are ya asking me out, Thunderlane?” Applejack asked.

“Well, if I have to be honest, it’s because-” Before Thunderlane could answer, Rarity shot him a cold glare that said “if you tell her about what we have planned, I’ll hunt you down and make you suffer.” Thunderlane gulped and was frozen with fear for a moment before looking back at Applejack. “-It’s because I think you’re a sweet girl to hang out with and thought you would be interested in a date. Of course, you can decline if you want.”

Applejack was about to reject him, but Rarity stepped in.

“Of course Applejack would go out with you,” Rarity said. “As you said, she is a sweet girl who isn’t type of person to go back on her word and turn out to be a big liar. After all, honesty is what makes her into the lady she is today.”

Applejack let out a low growl and gritted her teeth in defeat. Swallowing her pride, she looked up at Thunderlane. “Yes, Ah would…. like to go out with ya on…. a date,” she said as she struggled with her words. “Ah hope that Ah won’t regret it…. Ah really really really hope that Ah don’t regret.”

“Don’t worry about it, I promise that it’ll be worth your time,” Thunderlane reassured. “Would this Friday work for you?”

Applejack’s left eye twitched as she put on a fake smile. “Sure, that’ll work for me,” she replied. “Ah just can’t wait.”

“Eh, cool,” Thunderlane said nervously as he saw Applejack was trying to keep herself under control. “Swift, I think we should leave the girls alone…. Swift?”

Everyone stopped for a moment and looked over to see both Pinkie and Swift making out. The two were kissing as they ignored everyone around them and only kept their focus on each other. Over by the bushes, Twilight and Soul looked at what was happening before smacking themselves in the faces.

Thunderlane rolled his eyes. “Okay, I think I’m just going to head off by myself,” he said. “I’ll see you later, Applejack.”

Applejack let out a sigh. “Yeah, see ya later,” she said.

Thunderlane walked away, leaving the girls to themselves while Swift and Pinkie made out. Applejack moved her tray out of the way and laid her face down on the table while covering the back of her head with her hands. Rarity placed a hand on her shoulder and patted it.

“Oh don’t fret about it, dear. I’m sure you’ll have a good time with Thunderlane,” Rarity assured. “He’s well mannered, honest, loyal, and from what I heard from some of the girls he dated, he’s a really great kisser.”

Applejack lifted her head up and glared at Rarity. “Ah know this was all a setup,” she said.

“W-What?” Rarity asked nervously.

“And Ah know who’s the varmint behind all this,” Applejack said. She got up from her seat and walked off. The other girls were confused at first until they realized that she was heading straight towards the bush that the other three were hiding behind. When Applejack was close enough, she moved a large portion of the bush to see Twilight, Soul and Sonata looking back at her nervously.

“Ah oh.”

“Soul, this was your doing wasn’t it?” Applejack accused angrily.

“What? No! No, it wasn’t me, it was-”

“Is this payback for beating you in Mortal Kombat again, or did ya really think Ah couldn’t get a date on my own?” Applejack asked she cracked her knuckles.

“How did you even know we were here?” Soul asked.

“Ah can hear someone eating popcorn,” Applejack replied.

Twilight and Soul then glared at Sonata.

“What? I was hungry,” Sonata countered.

“Applejack, please! Let’s talk about this like reasonable adu- GHAAA!”

Applejack grabbed Soul by the throat in a heartbeat. She then used her other hand to grab Soul’s belt and throw him over her head and into a nearby round garbage bin. Soul’s legs were wiggling around while he was trying to get of the bin. Applejack titled the bin on the side and kicked it. The bin was rolling fast as Soul let out a terrified scream down the mall. Applejack patted her hands together with satisfaction and went back over to the girls and Swift for a moment.

“Ah’m going to head back home now,” Applejack said. “Ah’ll see y’all later.”

All of a sudden, there was a loud banging sound that came off in the distance which let Applejack know that Soul had stopped rolling around in the bin. With that, Applejack made her way towards the exit of the building. Just as Applejack left the building, Sunset got out of her chair and went to see if Soul was okay. There was a moment of silence between the girls as Sonata walked over to them while Twilight decided to go with Sunset to help.

“Well, that was…. more than I expected would happen,” Rarity commented. “But nevertheless, Applejack has her date and hopefully she will want to go on more afterwards. Now we just have to make sure that everything goes well on their date.”

“You want me to get details on how Thunderlane should go out with Applejack?” Swift asked.

“That would be most helpful, Swift,” Rarity said. “Alright, I need all of you to be ready this Saturday. Everything must go great!”

Far from the others, Soul was moaning in pain as he laid inside the bin with his legs stuck out. A few people stood around as they were wondering what was going on while others simply ignored it and moved on with their business. Sunset and Twilight ran over to Soul and carefully pulled him out of the trash bin. The two kneeled on one side of Soul as they held him up.

“Soul, are you okay?” Sunset asked concernedly. “How many fingers am I holding up?” she asked as she only held up three fingers.

Soul looked at the fingers for a moment as his eyes twirled around before replying. “One cheeseburger, a large fry and a large coke,” he said.

Sunset looked up at Twilight with an arched brow.

“......Close enough,” Twilight commented. “Come on, let’s get you back over by the table and we’ll get that cheeseburger.”

“And a large coke,” Soul added.

“Yes, and the large fries,” Sunset said.

“No, I said a large fry,” Soul said.

Sunset rolled her eyes and Twilight let out an irritated sigh while they helped Soul walk back towards their table. While the two made their way, the crowd moved along with their business. Two teens stood there for a moment as they watched the three walk away and the janitor picking up and cleaning the mess.

One of the teens was a young man with black hair and grey skin with bright yellow eyes, while next to him was a young girl with sky blue eyes, silver skin and a dark blue pigtail.

“What the heck do you think that was about?” the girl asked.

“I don’t know, but I think it might be a better idea not ask,” the boy said. “Although, I have to admit that girl with the glasses is pretty cute.”

“Really, Zero?”

“What? I call them like I see them,” Zero said. “Ready to head back, Wind?”

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Wind replied.

The two made their way out while Soul got his cheeseburger. But he wasn’t happy that he had more than one fry, although he was glad he did later when his head was better.