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Heart of Scales
Turn 12: Confidence
Interlude Tertius
The Cooking Center gradually grew warmer as the ponies heated the ovens to prepare for the final stage of making the giant cake. They rolled the metal racks containing the large cake molds into place, being extra careful not to let any of the batter inside spill. Applejack watched from high up, on an elevated platform, watching the progress unfold in front of her.
They had a good amount of time before the sunset and were making good on their schedule. Despite a few hitches, everypony managed to do their jobs very nicely. Applejack took a deep breath, knowing that her break was not too far off. As soon as every last cake mold made it into the oven, she would be allowed to head for the break room for a moment of peace, away from the noise and the constant work related yelling. She had been looking forward to this break. Not because she grew tired of working, but because she anticipated the feeling of accomplishment that would overtake her as soon as she began her refreshing drink from a deep mug of cider.
Everything after her break would be nothing compared to the hard work that came before it. And after that would be the party, where she would be able to find some quiet corner to sit back and watch the rest of the scene carry on it's lively festivities. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she would see Ruby come over with a couple of drinks and a few snacks, and until the sunrise, they would discuss their day while relaxing their worked selves, and planning what to do on the usual day off after the Summer Sun Celebration.
"Lock 'em down!" Apple Cobbler shouted after the last of the molds were slid off of the metal racks and into the radiating oven. The ponies near oven backed away as the front was sealed off by bricks with magic. The same unicorns stacking the bricks would make sure nothing inside got too hot or cool, overseeing the baking process while the rest of the staff enjoyed their moment off.
Applejack immediately jumped off of the podium and out of the main cooking hall, down the hallway, and into the break room. There were a few ponies that had already beaten her there, enjoying a few drinks themselves. They were the ponies that would be the first to be called back to the front when the baking was finished. Applejack was also a pony that was required to be in close proximity until the end of the project. Thus, there weren't many places she was allowed to wander, even during her break.
No worries, she will be free soon. For now, her world only consisted of the white foam topping her pint mug and everything under it until she hit the wooden bottom.
"Oh Applejack!" She heard somepony sing from behind, requesting her attention. It was a voice much too thin and high pitched to be somepony working here. It took her longer than it should have to look back and notice Applebloom and her friends, her crusaders, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, greeting her with bright smiles.
"Do you need anything, Applebloom?" Applejack asked. Their sudden appearance wasn't anything like an unpleasant surprise, but she sure as well wasn't asking to see these three here during her precious break time. She also wondered why nobody bothered to ask them what business fillies had inside a cooking center.
Not wanting to let Applebloom slow her down, Applejack took a sip of the cider. It was indeed just the fizzy, refreshing sensation Applejack needed going down her throat and spreading throughout her body from the center of her stomach, but something about Applebloom being here slightly distracted her from it. She was just one care away from having none in the world.
"Can we interest you in a bit of conversation?" Applebloom asked cutely, trying to earn her older sister's curiosity. "You might want to hear what we have to tell you."
"Uh, well... I don't see why not." It would have been one thing for Applejack to go over a few trivial matters with her little sister and send her on her way, but it appeared that a light chat would be a fraction of what she would need to go through to wrap up her business with her. She wanted a talk, an actual talk. There was an urgency in Applebloom's voice that she could not dismiss.
Despite everything beginning to feel like a hassle, Applejack led them out of the break room and into an unoccupied office room a few doors down the hallway. Of course, Applejack had brought her drink with her and was beginning to hold it insecurely, feeling that somehow they might take that away from her too for the sake of their talk. Why not? They'd already forced her to forfeit the preferred location of her break time. What else could they possibly ask from her?
Applebloom and her gang followed Applejack into the room and closed the door behind them. They all stared expectantly at her. A pause seemed to be necessary before they told her this great thing they had prepared.
"As you know, we were with Ruby this morning in the tree house after you left," Applebloom began, preparing for Applejack's imminent reaction. "and we discussed a few things with him involving the two of you. You know, asking what he thought about you. Guess what he said!"
Applejack was prepared, but not for this. Since the moment Applebloom laid eyes on Ruby, or rather his blank flank, she's taken quite the interest in the character. He gradually won over her approval as the perfect coltfriend for her older sister. Watching Ruby and her sister work together, sharing a kind of chemistry she hadn't witnessed between two ponies before in her relatively short life only fed her bold, but reasonable idea that there was something going on, if not, possible between the two.
She had discussed it with her older sister a few times, jokingly, as they were together in the upper floor of their house, right above the barn where Spike was spending his evenings reading a few books Applejack lent him about trees and gardening. It was all fun and games when she first brought it up. Applejack laughed at her theories about the her and Ruby and brushed it off as just Applebloom's new way of teasing her.
As time passed Applebloom continued to be diligently observant and began to sound more serious, pointing out things that even Applejack had a hard time denying, that they could be easily misinterpreted. Applejack no longer continued to laugh her off and began telling her to mind her own darn business, to let her know that this had turned into more of a pester than a tease. Her reaction only gave Applebloom further reason to investigate, which she did, of course, much to Applejack's annoyance. And boy, did that annoyance reach it's peak, right here.
"Look! You can bother me all you want, but don't you even think about talking that nonsense to Ruby!" Applejack sent a mouthful of cider down her throat, and slammed the mug down on a nearby table to show how agitated Applebloom had just made her. It was an attempt at intimidation. What else could she do, really? She was cornered and somehow she knew it, instinctively, at least. "We promised that you wouldn't, you said, and I quote, that you wouldn't 'Sell him any of your hogwash'!"
"Hogwash?" Sweetie Belle repeated in confusion. Likely a word she'd never heard in her household, before, ever. Applebloom seemed to understand though.
"And I kept my word!" Applebloom declared. "I just told him that you two were perfect together and that he should totally go for it. Which doesn't break the promise, cause everything I said was not hogwash, it was true. If that wasn't true, would I feel all warm inside whenever I watch the two of you getting along with each other?"
Applejack just stood there with her eyes shut, with a great look of displeasure, massaging the bridge of her snout. How foolish she had been to have stuck the CMC in a tree house with Ruby. She should have known the risk in exchange for the convenience, the perfect chance and pony to watch the kids and keep them out of trouble. It turned out that they had caused her a great deal of personal trouble, which she would have gratefully exchanged for a few setbacks they would have caused in the town's preparations without supervision. How stupid of her. She wasn't the only one who had been troubled. Ruby would have been unsettled by what he'd heard from Applebloom. It would be difficult to believe and he'd take up the same attitude Applejack did, try to avoid the subject and anypony who brought it up.
Applejack picked up the mug and brought it up to her mouth to pour the last of it into her parched system.
But wait, she couldn't know how Ruby had reacted. Applebloom wouldn't have come if she didn't have something solid for her. As much as she didn't want to give her little sister the satisfaction, it didn't not look as if she had a choice. How can she let this chance go? It would be a waste of Ruby's troubles to get this information to her.
"Hey?" Applejack asked, mug over her mouth, muffling herself. She quickly put her anger aside, sounding very calm. This caused the CMC to be on their guard for any sudden bursts of spontaneous,vicious, fury. "What did he say when you spoke to him?" she asked into her mug, looking away.
"Oh, he didn't like it. He was actually a little worked up, to be honest. Just like you, right now." Applejack shrugged. "He was quick to blow me off, refusing to listen to what I had to tell him. Basically, he wasn't going to make an effort to see it our way."
"That's why I told you not to say anything..." She didn't want to talk anymore. None of this was going to help her finish the rest of her job here. Actually, it was going to be a lot harder after hearing about Ruby's not-so-enthusiastic attitude towards Applebloom's ideas.
"You look pretty wiped out," Applebloom noted to Applejack while smiling. "It's a big disappointment to hear isn't it? I mean, the fact that you care so much means that there's something on the line for you, am I right?"
"Why I ought to-" Applejack got off of her chair and began pacing menacingly towards a frightened Applebloom, who was holding onto Sweetie Belle in terror.
She reached Applebloom, casting her shadow over her, but soon realized that there wasn't anything that she could possibly do to her little sister at this point. Finally Applejack threw off her hat and took a seat on a nearby chair, too fed up to even stand, feeling mentally exhausted.
"Just leave me alone," Applejack sighed. "And here I was, expecting you to actually have something helpful to tell me."
The CMC knew that they had more to tell Applejack that could possibly reverse her declining mood for the better. Applebloom looked toward Scootaloo, whose met eyes with hers, asking through eye contact if she could proceed in telling Applejack about what she had learned from her little session of "Stop, Eavesdrop, and Roll". Scootaloo replied with a small nod, giving her signal to go ahead.
"I've only told you how Ruby reacted when I asked him what he thought about you," Applebloom said. "It turns out he wasn't being completely honest when he was talking to me. We just happened to overhear him talking about how he really felt, a little while after our first little discussion."
Applejack tried not to give them any more attention than she already had, but once again, she fell victim to her own curiosity. She really wanted to hear what they were really meaning to tell her all along. Ruby wouldn't have been as stupid as to tell a group of fillies his actual feelings, knowing that they would probably tell every living soul they met afterwards. What he had told Applebloom then probably weren't his true opinions on the matter. Then what? What was it that Ruby had kept from the CMC?
Applebloom was just on the brink of telling her when there was a tapping sound coming from the window right next to Applejack, who was too close to the wall, right beside it to see who was outside. But the CMC were looking out the window to whatever or whoever was tapping at the glass.
The CMC couldn't make out what the pony outside was yelling through the closed window, which explained the confused look on their faces, but Applejack sure could make it out, being right next to it and all.
"You better not have told her!" Rainbow Dash yelled to make her muffled voice as audible as she could from outside, making Applejack's ears twitch. So this pony knew, and actually aided the CMC in their shenanigans. Some role model she was to the fillies.
Applejack, with lightning speed, faster than Rainbow Dash's startled reaction time, stepped right in front of the window, in her face, flung open the window, grappled her by her head and neck and dragged her into the room. The window closed shut on its own while Applejack spread the surprised pegasus onto the wood beneath her, waiting for her to recover from shock so she could hear what she had to say to a very cross Applejack.
"What the hay is going on, Rainbow Dash?!" Applejack yelled, shaking her hoof. "I thought you were better than to play along in their little games!"
"Little?" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, outraged at what Applejack thought of their CMC activity.
"Games?!" Applebloom exclaimed even louder, with more outrage.
"So you found out already? Well actually, I wasn't intentionally part of their games," Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head, smoothing out her mane, getting back up to her hooves. "Scootaloo talked me into hanging out with her. I had no idea it was a Crusaders thing. I swear on my right wing."
Applejack turned to Scootaloo with a look of perplexion. She was the last filly that Applejack had imagined helping Applebloom out with this personal scheme. Applejack needed to find out how she and Rainbow Dash were mixed up in all of this.
"Scootaloo, why don't you be the one to explain," Applejack asked politely before raising her voice. "Because I'm so hopelessly confused!"
"Well, we split-up after separating with Ruby when we arrived in town," Scootaloo began. "Each of us did our own stuff. Sweetie Belle went off somewhere. I had no idea where. Applebloom kept a close eye on the cooking center, here, where you were working. I was given the to job of tailing Ruby. I followed him around, watching him his do his boring work. Then eventually, he headed here to meet with Applejack. I saw Rainbow Dash on the way, so I asked her to take me on her cloud and I kinda convinced her to help me continue watching Ruby from the air."
Rainbow Dash gave Scootaloo a stern look of warning as she spoke. Applejack shouldn't hear more than the needed to know, especially when going too far into details would doom them both to some more scolding.
"After he went inside, er, we decided to wait until he came back out to continue watching him." Scootaloo recited to Rainbow Dash, leaving out choice pieces of information of the stakeout that was sure to cause Applejack to blow her lid, then force the unicorns in the main cooking area to open the oven, and throw everypony currently in the room with her into the heated oven to cook with the cake.
Applejack probably knew there was something that Scootaloo wasn't telling her, but knowing the small details of of the story weren't what she was after. She was interested in what happened after Ruby left the Cooking Center. She was sure something went down after she had seen him earlier today. She waited for the rest of the summary, but Scootaloo assumed that ending it where she had was acceptable to Applejack. She was wrong, however.
"You continued to watch him?" Applejack repeated. "What did he do? What did you two overhear? Rainbow Dash, you better finish this story!"
"It's kind of hard to explain how exactly it happened, but Ruby caught me after he left through the back door." Rainbow Dash continued in place of Scootaloo. "He almost got Scootaloo too but I managed to save her part of the cloud so she wasn't discovered. Anyways, we start discussing work and stuff and he starts bringing up talk about you. So we did that for a bit."
Applejack stared at Rainbow Dash intensely as she told her side of the story, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth.
"But yeah, he's totally into you." Rainbow Dash shrugged with a nervous chuckle. "Ruby told me, and Scootaloo was right there, he just didn't see her. He also told me right after not to tell anypony, but I couldn't do anything about Scootaloo. Ruby found out about her a moment later, but Scootaloo raced out of there before he could stop her. I was scolded, on her behalf. Maybe he didn't scold me, but he really did seem like he was about to explode in my face. I admit, things might have went too far."
"Too far? You've upset him?" Applejack asked the three CMC members, turning to Rainbow Dash, sounding extremely distressed. "He was about to explode in your face, huh?"
"I can't say I haven't made an effort to keep a lid over all this. Ruby wanted me to keep it from you most of all. I would have been able to do that if I had just managed to keep Scootaloo's mouth shut. You gave me no choice when you forced it out of me. I tried my best, okay? I should be telling you, 'congrats', Ruby likes you, back."
"I was right all along, wasn't I?!" Applebloom jumped in. "This is great isn't it? When are you going to tell him?"
"Tell him what? My 'feelings'? If there's anything that I'm going to be telling him, it's going to be an apology and an explanation for all this. I can't even begin to imagine where in the world I'll find the nerve to do so." Applejack replied beginning to feel dizzy. "You all have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know Ruby. He's just that kind of stallion. He's a nice guy. He'll tell you what you want to hear, and you four have made the huge mistake of taking advantage of his patience!"
"Four?" Rainbow Dash did not take kindly to taking any part of blame for this fiasco. "Scootaloo, I give up. I'm out of here. I'll be waiting outside, so sort out this out and wrap it up."
Rainbow Dash walked over to the window and opened it, but she stopped as she spread her wings to take flight.
"Before I leave," Rainbow Dash said, staring outside, retracting her wings slightly. "Sorry for interfering with your personal matters, Applejack. I didn't see how complicated it all was, but now I do, and I sort of understand. I'm starting to believe that it doesn't have to be. You have no idea how similar you sound to Ruby right now. It took him a while to say he liked you, but he did in the end. I helped him accept it, and I think you should be thanking me, and Applebloom."
Applebloom managed to make a warm smile at receiving merit for her actions, which by now, had gone very unappreciated. Applejack noticed this, surprised that Rainbow Dash had taken her sister's side after apologizing.
"He said that because-"
"It wasn't for the sake of just saying it," Rainbow Dash interrupted Applejack. "Unless mind reading is possible, there's absolutely no way to know. But from the talk Ruby and I had, I'm pretty sure he meant it. Applejack, get yourself together. There's no use worrying about what's already said and done. Just decide what you're going to do about it now. You've have something excellent in your hooves, don't ruin it, please."
With one swift flap of her wings, Rainbow Dash was lifted out of the room, through the window, and outside. Applejack stood staring at the open window.
"I'm sorry too," Scootaloo said, stepping up to the window herself. "I probably either did the most damage, or was the most help. Anything to keep Ruby away from Rainbow Dash. I wasn't trying to cause you any direct trouble. I'd say that was mostly Applebloom. I hope everything works out." She turned to her two friends, who were surprised to learn that she didn't exactly have the same motives as they did. "Sorry for ditching you guys, but I think it's about time we called it a day on today's agenda."
Scootaloo climbed over the windowsill and left to join Rainbow Dash outside. Now only Applejack, her little sister, and Sweetie Belle remained. Applejack sat back down on her chair after seriously considering between leaving the room and sitting down to rest. She had done the latter. Applebloom was bothered by her negative attitude even after it's been said enough that Ruby liked her.
"I don't understand, Big Sis." Applebloom asked with a sincerely. "I went through all this trouble so there can finally be something greater between you two, is that so bad? What's not to like about Ruby, Applejack? I'd thought you'd be happy if I got you to believe me."
"There are some things I can't do, things that I can't believe. I can't. Not until I find out for myself. Sometimes, it's better not knowing." Applejack replied, appearing to be dozing off on the chair.
"Hey, Applebloom." Sweetie Belle tapped her with her hoof from behind. "I don't think your plan is going so well. If it's all right for you, would it be okay if Rarity had a turn with Ruby now? Applejack doesn't seem to be too interested."
"What the heck are you talking about?" Applebloom had been disturbed by Sweetie Belle's question.
"We've been at it this long. Isn't it your turn now to help me with Ruby with Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"No way! You're just copying my plan!"
"Fine then..." Sweetie Belle frowned, crossing her arms. "It's up to Ruby to decide, anyway. I'll just have to convince him myself. All I have to do is make a better case."
"Don't you dare!" Applebloom yelled, beginning to feel fear now that she realized that Sweetie Belle's own plan had even a remote chance of working.
Applejack gave the two of them a look of melancholy and spite after having tried to ignore them until they went away, pretending to be taking a short nap for a headache. However, they were right in front of her deliberating if Ruby should be moved as if he was some object for possession. The fact that they had the nerve to do this right in front of her made her realize that she should have just left in the first place rather than continue gracing them with her presence.
She picked up her hat that she had thrown earlier, wore it again, and was about to leave. Applebloom was about to call after her when Applejack ran into somepony as she was about to step out after opening the door.
"So there you were," Apple Cobbler was standing at the doorway, a few inches away from Applejack. "You were supposed to be back in the main room a few minutes ago, yes? It's a relief that I even had the opening to leave in the middle of work. You're lucky nothing important was happening or I wouldn't have even bothered coming to look for you."
She noticed the atmosphere in the room, the look in Applejack's eyes. She could tell something had went on during Applejack's break.
"What happened? Are you not feeling well?" she asked. "If you aren't, then go for a walk, I'll take care of things in the meantime. So how about it, yes?"
Applejack gave a slight nod, she could certainly use an extended break after her original one not having gone as she had wanted it to. Apple Cobbler stepped aside to allow her through.
"Wait up!" Applebloom called. "What are you going to do?"
Applejack took a deep breath. She couldn't be angry at Applebloom anymore. It was because she'd tried to ignore the issue that her sister had gone this far with this thing about her and Ruby. Maybe she was exactly what both of them needed to clear the air of all this modest laughter between their true feelings. Feelings that might agree or disagree. Things they were blind to, or even, didn't want to see because they feared what they might find on the other side. Applejack could just be losing her mind thinking this and needed to teach Applebloom a lesson for being such an interfering brat, but none of that came to her. She couldn't act like nothing was there anymore, trying to snuff it out whenever anypony dared bring it up. She now had no choice but to resolve it before it resolved itself in a way she didn't want it to.
This was about her. Nopony else should be talking for her. There were many ways to try and figure all this out and only she could decide how. Only her.
"I'm not happy about what you did today." Applejack turned to Applebloom. "But I'm willing to forget about it. If you just step off, permanently, and let me handle it."
There was no way for her to know if this was something to happy or otherwise about. Applejack had an air of decisiveness that she had been asking of her all along, but did it mean Applebloom was going to get what she wanted from all this? She could only stare with a confused look, unable to tell what her sister was about to do, and now, unable to do anything about it anymore.
"Promise to stay out of it?" Applejack asked.
"All right then." Applebloom nodded, taking a few glances at her older cousin standing in the hall. "Don't forget what you've heard. Please, think about it." she made a last effort to convince Applejack.
Applejack didn't say anything more to her as she passed Apple Cobbler and stepped out of the room. The dizziness that had overtaken her was gone and was replaced with a feeling of nauseous anxiety.
"I'll try..." Applejack whispered to herself as she stepped out of the Cooking Center and into the orange light of the sunset to think about what she should say when she finally met Ruby again.
Both of them had been forced to discuss their true feelings today. Next time they meet, it wasn't going to be all fun and laughter. Somepony could get hurt. A friendship might break. The bliss that had been the last few weeks of working with Ruby would become memories of a better, happier, ignorant time. She might have to let Ruby go. Ruby might leave on his own. They could be feeling different things. Applejack knew well what she had decided on. What it was that Ruby had decided on was what mattered and what it might mean for her, because honestly, what she had decided on was virtually irreversible and it was going to be difficult if they hadn't decided on the same feelings.
She didn't want Ruby to have to leave. What she had now was what she wanted. She wouldn't ask for more. She wouldn't ask for more. Spending workdays with him, playing around, just being good friends. Was that impossible now? Couldn't she at least try to continue things the way they were? Perhaps a time to discuss these feelings might present itself, a time when nopony has to get hurt, a better time. Let's just put this whole day behind us!
But things couldn't go on like this forever, could they? Both of them were aware. Aware of each other. Any more time and one of them might go ahead and let it out before that better time. If that happens, it would only hurt more. Especially now that they were aware.
Right now didn't feel like that better time, but what if it was? What if this was the "best time" and she was about to miss it? What if everything fades away altogether? Then there would be nothing left between the two of them. Would it be better to talk about it now before it goes stale? Before it's too late and it doesn't even come to mind anymore? She had to tell him, before Ruby completely loses interest, even if there was a chance he never had any to begin with.
She had to tell him. She had to tell him. She had to tell him.
"Please forget everything you've heard from them, okay?"
"Don't worry about it. We can't let a few fillies get under our skin, right? It's nothing to apologize about, they've never caused me any trouble. So, there aren't any problems?"
"I guess, yeah. I better head back now."
"I'll see you later."
"Sure."
...
...
...
...I am...
...
...
...
...a coward...
And who knows, maybe you can tell her how you feel if everything works out?
So you knew too.
It's not the hardest thing in the world to work out.
But... will it work? It feels really stupid if you consider the circumstances.
There you go again... Would you be all right if somepony had feelings for you?
It would be alright if I had the same feelings for that somepony.
That's that and there's nothing more to it. It'll work out; all you need is some confidence.
Confidence, got it. Thanks for the advice. I feel much better.
To Our Beloved Readers: Thanks for Reading, LordPlagus777