Those Beautiful Magenta Eyes

by Upatree502

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

A couple days had passed and it was Wednesday morning in Psychology class. Mrs. Hawthorne had given us a small quiz on the previous week’s lesson and was now teaching us the next unit— mental disorders. I had to admit it was a really interesting subject, despite it being only our first day into the unit.

Mrs. Hawthorne only did a basic overview of the different mental disorders rather than go into detail about any of them. I glanced over at Rainbow Dash when Mrs. Hawthorne happened to mention bipolar disorder. I still thought there was a possibility that she had it, but I still wasn’t totally sure.

My gaze drifted over to Rarity. Right as I started to doze off a bit, the class began packing up their things. I looked up at the clock, surprised to see that it was time to go. I packed up my bag and stretched, relieved that the school day was over. It had been a pretty quiet day between me and my friends; I guessed maybe it was just because everyone was tired. Either way, I hadn’t made plans with anyone, and that’s the way I wanted it to be. I had something else I needed to take care of.

I spent a couple minutes talking with everyone after school but after that we all headed back home. When I got home, I worked on math homework for a little while and finished annotating a poem Mr. Novella had given us. When I was done with that, I pulled out my phone, frowning at it before finding Jack’s name and typing out a message.

-Hey. Are you busy?

I waited a couple minutes and he replied back.

-Not really. Just finishing up some homework.

-When you’re done, do you want to meet up somewhere? I kind of need to talk to you about something.

-Alright :) How about at the café?

I felt so guilty reading his response. He probably knew something was up but didn’t want to ask until we were together.

-Sounds good. :)

He sent another text back saying to meet there in half an hour, I assumed since he was finishing up his homework. I left early since I decided to walk there. The walk was about fifteen minutes, so it wasn’t too long, and it was a beautiful day outside so I decided to take the opportunity.

I got there before him and sat down at a table outside while I waited. When the waitress came around I just ordered a water, not in the mood for anything else. Jack’s car came around pretty soon, parking in one of the spaces next to the café. He walked over to my table and sat down, a smile on his face.

“Hey,” he said. “How are you?”

I smiled, but my heart wasn’t really into it. “I’m… well, I’ve been better. I kind of need to talk to you about something.”

His smile dropped and he nodded seriously. “Yeah. Is everything okay?”

I looked away, tapping my fingers against my water glass. After a moment of silence, I sighed. “There’s not really any other way I can say this, and I feel like absolute shit for doing this, Jack.”

He listened to me, keeping his gaze on me the entire time. I decided to look up and meet him in the eye, knowing he deserved at least that.

“You’re probably one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever met, but… I have to break up with you.”

There was a long pause before I said what I said next.

“I’m kinda in love with Rainbow Dash…”

His eyes widened a bit and he looked at me with surprise. “Woah.”

I released a tense laugh, looking down. “Yeah…”

To my surprise, he smiled. “Gonna be honest, this kind of sucks. You’re an awesome person, Applejack, and it kinda sucks that you’re in love with someone else. But maybe we could stay friends? I mean, I’d still like to spend time with you, even if it’s just as friends.”

I looked up to see him smiling at me, and I smiled back. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

I knew the whole “staying friends” thing didn’t usually work out, but I figured we could at least try. I was beyond relieved that he hadn’t taken this too hard, or if he did he wasn’t showing it.

Jack leaned in a bit, his eyes wide with innocence, lips pursed tightly.

“So, like, are you a lesbian or something?” he asked quietly.

I laughed a little at his expression, then shrugged. “I don’t know… I mean, even though I love Rainbow Dash, I did still enjoy being with you. I guess maybe I’m into both guys and girls?”

He sat back, thinking about it, nodding a little. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much. There’s no need to label yourself. Just be you.”

I smiled, looking at him for a moment. I looked down, shaking my head slightly. “You’re one of a kind, you know that Jack?”

He smiled, letting out a small laugh. “And yet… I still couldn’t keep you,” he said, clicking his tongue. “But hey, don’t feel bad. I get it. Go after Rainbow Dash. I’m serious. You guys would make an adorable couple.”

“Thanks,” I smiled. I felt bad for Jack. Although he was taking this whole thing surprisingly well, he was still a great guy and deserved someone who actually wanted to be with him. I wondered if I could set him up with one of my friends. He and Fluttershy would be great together…

I snapped out of my daydreaming. It wasn’t really the time to be thinking about setting him up with Fluttershy. Perhaps later, but for now I should just enjoy his company. We spent a little more time at the café together talking and chatting before deciding to head our separate ways.

We hugged goodbye and I headed back home— it was nearly dinner time by the time I actually got home. Big Mac was washing his hands in the sink and Granny Smith was making soup. I peered inside the pot and saw an assortment of carrots, celery, beef, and a couple spices.

“Mm, smells delicious,” I commented.

“Where were you all day?” she asked, ignoring my comment.

“Oh, I was out with Jack.”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Um,” I said, scratching the back of my neck. “Well, ex-boyfriend now.”

Big Mac turned with an eyebrow raised, drying his hands off with a towel.

“You broke up? Are you okay?” he asked with concern.

“Oh, yeah. I’m the one who broke up with him,” I said, appreciative of Big Mac’s concern about me.

“Aw, I’m sorry, honey,” Granny Smith sympathized. “Things just not work out between you two?”

“Well…” I looked away, unsure of what to say. I couldn’t tell them the whole truth of what happened. But I didn’t necessarily need to lie either. “He’s a great guy, just maybe not the guy for me.”

“Well, you can’t go turning down every guy you meet just ‘cause he don’t seem like the one for you,” Big Mac lectured, walking over and playfully flicking my arm. “That’s why you gotta get to know ‘em.”

I rolled my eyes and punched him lightly. “Like I need relationship advice from you, Mister Single.”

Apple Bloom came running down the stairs. “Hey, ya’ll! What’s going on?”

“AJ broke up with her feller,” Granny Smith said, waving the spoon around that she’d been using to stir the soup. I rolled my eyes— my whole family is crazy.

“Her ‘feller’?” Apple Bloom asked with an eyebrow raised. “Oh! You mean her boyfriend? Aw, why, Applejack?”

I stifled a groan, partially from Apple Bloom’s far-too-excited tone and partially because I didn’t feel like explaining it again.

“Things didn’t work out,” I said quickly. “Can we please eat now? I’m starved!”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and walked over to the table. “Fine.”

We all got our bowls and filled them with soup once it was ready and sat down at the table to eat. Thankfully, the subject of Jack was dropped and we had normal conversations about school and whatnot while we ate. When we had all finished eating and washed our dishes, I headed upstairs to my room.

I caught sight of the snow globe near my windowsill and walked over to it. I picked it up, examining it lightly. It felt strange still having it since Jack had been the one who got it for me, almost like it didn’t really have much of a meaning. When I first saw it it reminded me of Rainbow Dash, but now it was just a snow globe with a Christmas tree inside, and a little pile of sparkles resting at the bottom waiting to be shaken up.

~ ~ ~

Friday morning passed by quickly and I was in a good mood, simply enjoying the day. Mrs. Hawthorne decided to give the class an easy day, allowing us to finish homework and talk with our friends. Rainbow Dash whirled around in her seat, placing her hands on my desk. I looked up.

“Applejack, you doing anything with Jack today?” she asked.

“Uh, no. I—“

“Sweet! You wanna hang out?” she asked eagerly.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I said. “But, actually… I broke up with Jack a couple days ago.”

Rainbow Dash looked at me with surprise. Rarity, who had been sketching some designs in her notebook, stopped drawing and looked at me.

“Huh? Why?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Um…” I looked down, tapping my pencil against my desk.

“That’s okay,” Rainbow Dash said. “If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine. I thought you were happy with him though.”

I looked up at her again. “It’s… complicated.”

Rainbow seemed to drop the subject but Rarity stared at me for a little moment longer. I looked over and saw something in her eyes; I couldn’t quite pinpoint it. She looked away too.

“Do you still want to hang today? I mean, if you don’t want to I understand,” Dash said.

I smiled. “No, I’d love to hang out.”

She looked confused, although I didn’t know why. She was probably wondering why Jack and I hadn’t worked out, but of course I couldn’t tell her the real reason.

“Wanna come to my place?” I offered, hoping to get her mind off the subject.

“Sure. What’s there to do, though?” Rainbow Dash asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll find something.”

I suddenly realized how rude it probably was to make plans right in front of Rarity. I looked at her but she was back to drawing again. Even though I didn’t exactly want her to come, I decided I’d offer anyway.

“Did you want to join us, Rarity?”

She looked up from her paper and looked at me. “Oh no, darling, that’s fine. Besides, I have a dress I need to make by tomorrow and I need today to work on it.”

Rarity smiled strangely— almost like a smirk— and her eyes narrowed slightly. I got the feeling that she was lying for some reason, but I had no idea what that look was all about. She didn’t… she didn’t know, did she? No, she couldn’t have…

I looked away, shaking away the thought. After class ended, the three of us walked outside and met up with the rest of the group as we usually did after school ended. As we parted our separate ways, Rainbow Dash and I walked to the parking lot together.

“I’ll just follow you to your house then,” she said. I nodded and headed over to my truck.

She followed me in her car back to my house and parked behind me once we got there. We got out of our cars and she stretched her arms over her head when she got out.

“Ugh,” she groaned. “So nice to be out of that place and into the sunlight.”

She held her arms out as if absorbing the sunlight, making me laugh a little. She waved at Big Mac who was feeding the chickens.

“Hey Big Mac!” she called out. He looked up and waved back.

“Come on, let’s go inside,” I said. “Nothing to do out here except farm work.”

RD followed me inside and she got a glass of water for herself. I set my bag down on a chair then looked up the stairs, wondering where everyone was.

“Apple Bloom?” I called out. No response. I shook my head. “She’s probably out with her friends again. That girl is out way too much.”

“Aw, come on, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash smiled, nudging me with her elbow. “There’s nothing wrong with hanging out with friends.”

“There is when she doesn’t do her homework,” I mumbled.

Rainbow Dash walked over and laid down on the couch emphatically, making herself at home. She had one leg resting on the armrest and the other leg hanging off the side of the couch. I rolled my eyes and walked over, poking her in the stomach. She jerked instantly and grabbed my hand with both of hers, afraid that I was going to tickle her.

I rolled my eyes again. “I ain’t gonna tickle ya’, freak.”

She let go of my hand hesitantly, eyeing me cautiously. She moved over on the couch, allowing me to sit down next to her. After a small moment of silence, she huffed quickly, getting up from the couch and going toward the cabinet under the TV.

“Come on, let’s play a game,” she said, rummaging through my collection of Xbox games. They were mainly Apple Bloom’s. Big Mac and I rarely played video games.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash looked at a certain game and smirked deviously. My eyebrow raised cautiously. She held it up for me to see, waggling her eyebrows.

“Come on, Applejack. Dance competition?”

Oh, Lord. She was holding up the game Dance Central, a game that I had no doubt I was horrible at. I couldn’t dance at all, and there was no way I was going to try and play this stupid game with her.

Ten minutes later, Rainbow Dash and I were dancing horribly to some stupid song that I couldn’t even understand the lyrics of. But honestly, it was kind of fun. Because neither of us cared how we looked, and it was just fun acting completely stupid with Dash.

The song ended and it gave us our score— I got one and a half stars and she got two and a half.

“AGH!” I yelled, throwing my hands up in anger. RD burst out in laughter, and I couldn’t stay mad for long because of how adorable she was. I smiled and shook my head.

“Whatever. You still sucked,” I teased.

“You sucked more,” she said, sticking her tongue out.

I playfully shoved her and we both laughed. She was choosing another song when Big Mac walked into the kitchen and began washing his hands. She looked over and suddenly her face lit up like it does when she has a crazy idea.

“Oh my God,” she said. Suddenly, she ran over and grabbed Big Mac’s wrist, pulling him over with a surprised look on his face. “Come on, Big Mac. Dance with us!”

I stifled a laugh and his face turned red with embarrassment, eyes wide from surprise. He tried stammering out an excuse but couldn’t come up with one in time before Rainbow dragged him over. She picked the next song and I backed up since only two people could dance at once.

I can’t say that I’d ever even seen my brother dance before that, but watching him now was quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. I was laughing the entire time at Big Mac’s flailing arms and legs. Rainbow was doing better than him, but it was still funny to watch the both of them attempt to follow the dancing character on the screen.

By the time the song was over, Big Mac and RD were both sweaty, and I was on the couch dying from laughter. They turned around, RD smiling through her heavy breathing and Big Mac still blushing from embarrassment, but I could see a small smile playing at his lips.

“See, Mac? That wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked after I stopped laughing.

He breathed a sigh and smiled a little more. “Eenope.”

Rainbow Dash laughed one of those adorable little laughs she does when she’s high off adrenaline. “You play him now, AJ. I wanna see who wins, brother vs. sister.”

She took my place on the couch and I got up, stretching my arms a bit as I prepared for the next song. Big Mac let me choose it and I decided to go with an easy one since neither Big Mac nor I were very good at this game.

We started dancing, looking pretty much the same as we sloppily copied the movements of the woman on the screen. A couple times throughout the song we accidentally hit each other, some arm or leg bumping into the other’s. By the time the song was done, we both were panting from laughter and exhaustion.

We plopped on the couch, both on one side of Rainbow Dash. She was also laughing from watching us; eventually the three of us calmed down and sat on the couch, trying to catch our breath.

“That was fun, but I think I’m done for the day,” I said, a smile on my face.

RD smiled in agreement. “Yeah. I mean, not ‘cause I’m tired or anything. I just don’t feel like dancing anymore,” she flicked her hair, rolling her eyes a bit. I snorted slightly.

I hadn’t seen Big Mac smiling like this in a while, either. It wasn’t that he was never happy, he just didn’t smile very often. His smile is great though, so I love seeing it. I stretched my arm behind RD’s back so I could playfully punch Big Mac in the shoulder.

“See? Taking a break from the farm ain’t that bad. You should spend a little more time hanging out with the female gender. We aren’t that bad, you know,” I teased.

He smiled and rolled his eyes. “I like girls, you know.”

“I know, I’m just teasin’ ya,” I said, smiling.

I suddenly heard a bit of muffled giggling coming from outside. I raised an eyebrow and looked out the window but didn’t see anything. Big Mac and RD seemed to hear it too, judging by the confused looks on their faces. I walked outside and heard another giggle. I followed it to the source, only to find my little sister and her friends hiding in a bush, staring down at something.

“What are you three doing?” I asked.

They gasped once they heard me and jumped, staring up at me. Apple Bloom quickly hid whatever it was they were staring at. My eyebrow raised once again and I put my hands on my hips. Rainbow Dash and Big Mac had followed me outside and now stood next to me. Scootaloo looked suddenly excited when she saw Rainbow Dash but then shrunk back down, remembering that they’d just been caught doing… whatever it was they were doing.

“Whatcha got there?” I asked skeptically.

“Nothin’,” Apple Bloom responded quickly.

“Ya’ll are acting real suspicious. So now I’m gettin’ worried about what you’re hiding, there,” I said.

“It’s nothing, really! We were just, uh…” Apple Bloom trailed off. Sweetie Belle tried to stifle a laugh, but her half-laugh soon spread to the other two who sat holding back giggles.

Suddenly, Apple Bloom broke out into a full-on laugh. “You guys have some pretty sweet dance moves there…”

My face turned from suspicious to confused. “So you saw us dancing. But what’s so secretive about that?”

“Oh, don’t worry. It won’t be secretive for long!” Apple Bloom said through her laughter. From behind her back, she pulled out a video camera— it didn’t take long for me to realize what they’d done.

“Oh, no. You are not showing that to anyone!” I said, making a quick attempt to grab it. The three of them made a break for it, running away and laughing hysterically.

“Oh, God. We have to get that video camera,” Rainbow Dash said with horror. “If anyone sees me dancing the way I did, I will lose any and all dignity I have left.”

“It’s okay, if Apple Bloom shows it to anyone I’ll ground her for a week,” I said angrily, glaring at the three kids as they ran off even further.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash started giggling. I looked over with confusion, trying to keep myself from laughing as well— it was difficult; her laugh is contagious.

“Your guys’ faces…” she said, breaking out into laughter once again.

I looked at Big Mac and couldn’t stop a smile breaking out onto my face. He was beet red with embarrassment and I could only imagine how comical my own face must have looked when I was glaring down Apple Bloom and her friends.

I laughed and shook my head. “Shut it, RD,” I said and began walking back inside. “Come on, who’s up for another round?”

Author's Note:

It's been a long time. I apologize, as usual. More of a light-hearted chapter today, hope you guys enjoy it.

Comments

[Sheendough]

Mac, you'd better step aside.

[PandOracle]

So im guessing rarity wants the gossip on the break up...or rairty x jack.

[Stormie-squall]

Well, that was a lovely chapter

[Tchernobog]

4418886
Nah. She suspects the real reason behind the breakup. She'll probably encourage AJ at some point.

[schmitthappens21]

It didn't seem like a long wait this time around.
Anyway, still loving this story!

[Infamous IF]

"YESH!"
IT RETURNS!

[CaptainSanchez]

Always happy to read a chapter of this.

4421456 Ladyparts abound in this love triangle. Nothing wrong with that, of course, I've just wanted a chance to say that for a while.

[GalaxyDust]

Yay another chapter! I've been waiting for this to get updated. Ugh. AJ and Rainbow need to get together. NOW! Yeah. But I am in love with this story. I just wish you would update more often.

[lazzerface97]

PLEASE GOD UPDATE MORE OFTEN!!!!!!!!!!!

[Vivalafegel]

All this teasing... Nice chapter. That awkward moment for Big Mac (I know that feel).
Can't wait for the next chapter.

[The Yaoi Mistress]

It's alive!!!!! and with a happy tone! I like it! Mac dancing was pretty fun! Catch them all before they upload the video!!!! XD
Does anyone has the feeling that Mac knows?

[Kjquave]

Really sweet chapter. I love the character you created for Jack.

[FreckleBerrie]

One of my favourite AppleDash stories. So sweet.

[Dashabel]

Argh! If I don't see some chemistry between Dash and AJ soon from this story, I'm gonna explode!