One Afternoon

by Arbarano

Interim

Applejack glanced down at her plate, eyes widening at her prize. It was bigger than it normally was, come to think of it, and not that that was a bad thing. All right, maybe it was when Mac had already ploughed his way through three of the dang things, and she could see him inching a hoof back to the spatula, but she wasn’t about to stop him.

Hay, she was having a hard enough time stopping herself from drooling all over own her slab of pastry. Nah, that wasn’t right. It was more than a slab; it was practically a patchwork quilt of puffy goodness, with an even finer treasure lying beneath its flaky surface.

Licking her lips, AJ took in a deep, long whiff, almost drinking down the sweet scent, warmth filling her insides.

She looked away from her plate, and over to the pony whose hooves had put it there moments before. Yes ma’am. She smiled. Granny might not remember much, anymore, but she’d sooner forget the sky was blue than misplace an old Apple Family recipe. And that was something the whole town’s taste buds’d appreciate come the harvest festival next month.

Her smile faltered, leaving behind a scowl. How had they already got enough cider for that?

“Soo, Macintosh?”

From staring at the table, Applejack’s eyes flew over to Granny, who had a hoof pointed at Mac. But it was only just lifted off the surface, and her eyes glowed softly.

“Eeyup?”

Granny’s cheeks bunched up even more. “I was jus’ wonderin’ if y’had any plans with that filly-friend o’yours for the evening’.”

Mac smiled and gulped down one last mouthful. “Eeyup. ‘Shy needs help findin’ firewood.”

AJ snorted. Big Mac, the romantic. Her smirk ran free.

“An’ what ‘bout you, Applejack?”

AJ looked up to find Granny’s warm, soft eyes beneath a high eyebrow, a smirk of her own just below them.

“I don’t rightly know, Granny,” she said, shaking her head just a little before looking across the table to the littlest Apple. “AB’s surprisin’ me with somethin’, though, aren’t you?”

Her sister smiled back.

But hers ran off, scared.

She blinked, an awful something starting to gnaw away at her insides. Her sister’s smiles came in three types.

There was the big wide one, with maybe a glimpse of teeth, which usually brought along a spring in her step and happy little twinkles in her eyes. Applejack had seen that a lot more, lately, and it normally meant a big hug and a nice, long half-hour by the fire, listening to that squeaky voice of hers talk about the next amazing adventure her filly sister had been on. That, or they were on their way to making one of them stories…

Then there was the even wider one, where she’d show off how much she listened to that nice dentist. It’d usually be from right down by Applejack’s forelegs, with eyes big and dark and wet and daring her to say that that little darling was not getting another filly-fighter comic this week…

And there was also that one. The one where she’d maybe curl her lip a little. The one that she now knew had just one proper response, and it wasn’t gonna’ make her sister cry…

But this one…

“Yup!”

AJ stared. At that little curl, each end running into a tiny dimple. At those eyes, glowing softly like fireflies in an old jam jar.

And at those tingles running down her neck again.

Just what was that filly planning?

Author's Note:

As before: if something appears wrong, RIP APART IN THE COMMENTS!

And, also, this time I doplan to have So What'll It Be, Dashie? completed by the end of the week. Yes.