What a Prince Does

by Ixtaek

Under the Apple Boughs

“Come on, Blueblood. I got a lot o’ buckin’ t’do if I’m gonna make up fer that party. See ya later, Twi.”

“What is… ‘buckin’’?” asked Blueblood, trailing behind her.

“It’s what the Apple family calls harvestin’. We plant all the trees so we always got somethin’ t’pick, except durin’ winter.”

“Fascinating! What do you do with all the apples you harvest?”

“We eat some… we sell most of ‘em though. Need money t’run a farm, after all.”

Blueblood thought about this. “Money is… gold, yes?”

“Well, yeah, an’ silver and copper…”

“I have gold.”

Applejack paused. “Y…y’do?!”

Blueblood nodded. “I… I believe the book I was reading back there was about me. It was about the noble house of Blueblood.”

Applejack stared at him. When he had said he was pursuing her, she had immediately dismissed it, but if he had money… they could fix the plow, the roof, Granny’s hip! If she just agreed to marry him right now… No. Applejack shook her head slightly. Marrying a pony, any pony, for money wasn’t right.

“Well, when y’git back t’Canterlot you’ll be glad t’have it, I reckon.”

Blueblood didn’t reply. They finally got back to the farm, and Applejack traded her nicer hat for her old one, then hitched to cart and walked to the orchard. Blueblood protested her pulling the cart, but she pointed out the harness was made for a pony of her size, so he couldn’t pull it for her. When she got to the first tree of apples she stopped, unloaded her baskets and gave the tree a sharp kick. The apples fell into the neatly arranged baskets, with only a few escaping and rolling away. Blueblood watched in fascination.

“So this is ‘buckin’?”

“Yep! Gotta finish this row a’fore dark.” She picked up the basket and hauled it to the cart. Blueblood helped her put it in the cart, watching her buck several trees before piping up again.

“May I attempt, Ms. Applejack?”

Applejack looked him over. Unicorns were more fragile than Earth ponies, but he did have a lot of muscle under that fur… Applejack nodded. The stallion was clearly excited as her approached a tree and slammed into it with his back hooves, making the apples scatter everywhere but in the basket.

“I… I failed you…”

“T’ain’t a problem, Blueblood. Jist help me pick em up and put em in the baskets a’fore bugs get to em, then try again.” She began scooping the fruit into the basket quickly, Blueblood joining in. After a few minutes they both dumped the harvest into the cart.

“K, now yer obviously strong enough t’get the apples down, but y’gotta hold back jist a tad or else it’ll cause a mess.” Blueblood looked from her to the tree nervously, then gently tapped it. The apples swayed but didn’t fall. “A little harder. You still gotta show em who’s boss!”

Blueblood gritted his teeth and smacked the tree harder. The apples fell into the baskets neatly. He looked at her, eyes shining. “Good job… now try doin’ it about a hundred taime’s a day.”

“You are indeed most tenacious to complete such a task, Ms. Applejack.” He helped her load the baskets into the cart. “Perhaps if I assist you we may finish sooner?”

“Ah reckon so. Much appreciated, Blueblood.” The two began working, and the work did get finished faster. Applejack realized having an extra set of hooves around the farm may not be a bad thing at all.

After a dinner of apple and carrot salad, Applejack climbed the stairs and reached her room, glad the long, hectic day was over. Hanging her beloved hat on a hook on the wall, she lay down on her bed and almost instantly went to sleep.

Author's Note:

Apples are known to drive away doctors. Apparently not princes.

I don't think I'm using these notes for their intended purpose.

Comments

[Magical Trevor]

In general... You're just rushing far too much. You're so eager to get to the end that you aren't exploring options and whatnot that you could be. I mean, we still don't really know why Blueblood is doing what he's doing, or what he's thinking, or anything. He said he was going to try to figure out what a prince 'should be', but we haven't really seen... well, anything. And with only two chapters left, no matter the ending, it's going to be rushed. I can tell you that right now without having read them. In the future, you need to SLOW DOWN. Show what characters are doing, what they're thinking whenever there's a lull in the story, stuff like that.

[Yoshifan30]

So it looks like Applejack and blue blood return to Apple acre and she needs to finish Apple bucking but Blue Blood wanted to help her even though he had no idea how to do this but he wants to try nevertheless and I noticed something your store is a little bit short are you try to finish your story quickly or something