A/N: So here's another chapter, and don't worry, we'll get back to the good stuff in the next two chapters after this one... Indeed. It's funny you should mention what you did, Frank019, in your review... Because I had planned on some of what you described. ;)

6. Strike Zone

It made me angry when I arrived at school, late as usual, and Applejack's truck was not there. Her truck was always, always there before me, she was too responsible to be late like I was. So clearly, she hadn't even bothered to show up. What the hell was she so damn afraid of? Twilight told me that Applejack had called her early in the morning and apologized for having to miss their usual study session before school, and that she was feeling under the weather or some bullshit. I didn't believe a word of it, the liar.

The day was boring when she wasn't around, even Pinkie Pie's random escapades and Rarity's constant dramatic freak outs were no consolation when I had no one to enjoy them with. It was lunch by now, and I was too angry to even eat. When the rest of them were all gabbing about trivial matters, I took off for a bit to work out some steam. I got a soccer ball from the equipment room and headed to the gym.

Bang!

I kicked the ball hard against the gymnasium wall, sending it flying back to me to hit once more.

Bang!

I wanted to break it right through the wall, to kick the ball until it exploded. Again and again, the soccer ball smashed against my foot and ricocheted hard. I felt my fists clench up and my teeth grind together, the rage seeping from my body and crashing against the chequered ball. Anyone else who had once been in the gym with me moved far away or left, as I was clearly not holding back my anger and could have gone off screaming at anyone. Still, while my body sent the ball back to the wall time and again, my mind was still preoccupied.

I was livid as I chewed on her name in my mouth, feeling it roll over my tongue and snag on my breath.

Bang!

I nearly started barking my frustrations out loud, but managed to hold them in, sending the fury to my feet instead. Finally I had been able to indulge in my fantasies, and she had even fully and willingly participated in them, but then it all fell apart. Big fucking surprise. I should have listened to Rarity, I should have never kissed her, not the first or the second time. I should not have tempted fate or forced her hand, because now I was left here alone in the gym kicking a ball against the wall. I had lost my best friend, and taunted myself with what I could not have.

Bang!

The ball hit the wall once more, harder than usual, and had bounced high into the air above me instead. I moved forward and caught it in my hands, looking down at the poor abused thing. I continued to step forward and leaned against the wall with my forehead, clutching the ball in my arms as I closed my eyes. All this crap was just so stupid and frustrating, and, and— Goddamn it I couldn't even describe it! I groaned loudly and hit my forehead harder against the wall.

Bang...

I pulled away and dropped the ball, turning on my heel and shoving my hands into my pockets. Jeez, why did everything have to be so awful and dramatic and crap, all I should have been concerned with was athletics, my friends, and my future. But for years, everything had exclusively been about her. I was furious with Applejack, for leading me on or ignoring me or teasing me or whatever it all was. I don't know why I should have blamed her though, I mean she was only giving me exactly what I wanted.

As much as I thought it might be easier to just drop the whole thing, like I said, I was not someone who gave up that easily. She'd have to come back to school, she was too responsible and honest not to, and when she did, I would be there.

I arrived at school early the next day, but did not park in my usual spot. I knew that if she saw my motorcycle she could be deterred, and I could not have that. Soon enough, I heard that rickety old muffler chuffing away as she pulled into her usual spot, followed by the sigh of relief as the truck was turned off. I didn't dare move from my place just behind a protruding structural pillar that hugged the exterior wall of the school, in case she might see me and think up a plan to walk around and not have to deal with me. I heard the squeaky door open and slam shut seconds later, followed by a jingling of keys and those boot steps I knew her by.

She drew ever closer to my spot, and it had me anxious just trying to keep myself patient enough to let her get so near. I was not exactly the patient type, you see. That became all the more clear as I darted out from around the pillar and found myself less than a foot in front of her, startling her stiff. She genuinely looked surprised by the action, and blinked once or twice. It was then I realized how odd her eyes looked, they were tired, bordered by bags, and slightly swollen.

"Rainbow! Y'darn near scared my boots off, what are you doin' sneakin' up on me like that?" Applejack forced an awkward laugh and took a slow and subtle step back, which I instantly followed. Though her voice told me that nothing was wrong, I knew better. She would not look at me in the eyes, and kept her hat low over her face like she was trying to hide.

"Why are you avoiding me?" I asked plainly, but did not give her enough time to even think of an answer, "You think just acting like nothing happened is going to make it go away?" I paused then, but her only response was a swift and rude evasion as her expression settled into irritation. Applejack strode past me, bumping her shoulder into mine and hurrying towards the main entrance to the school. I chased her to the heels though, and my voice only raised with frustration, "Hey, I'm talking here!"

"C'mon, it was just a mistake okay? We just weren't thinkin' straight, is all. Why you gotta push it like this...?" Applejack murmured quietly and solemnly, closing herself off to me by grabbing one elbow with her opposite arm.

"It was no mistake A.J., and the quicker you stop lying to yourself, the sooner you can admit that you liked it. You liked it a lot!" I nearly skipped in front of her, looking at her in the face though she refused to do the same. I noticed the way she bit back her initial tendency towards honesty for something safer.

"I dunno what you're talkin' about." She looked away and tried to act oblivious. That just sent me reeling, right over the edge.

"Damn it Applejack!" I grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her against the brick wall, barely even hesitating to apologize when I saw her cringe from the pain I must have done to her, "Look your best friend in the eye and tell me that you didn't enjoy it."

Though she tried to keep up her ruse, she reluctantly found herself looking at me once again. Her gorgeous green eyes were shining in the morning sun like I had never seen them, moistened with troublesome worry. She struggled for words, and I just watched on, demanding some explanation. It killed me to see her like that, and what made it so much worse was that I didn't really care what she must have been going through, I still just wanted to grab her and kiss her and do horrible things to her. Her head fell and her lips moved slowly as words formed.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow." She really was, I could see it on her face. Applejack pushed past me again, keeping her head low as she walked towards the school. I ground my teeth together at her stubborn nature, but refused to accept defeat.

"This isn't over. If you won't admit it, I'm going to have to show you." I spoke aloud, and she must have heard me despite the fact she did not react. I balled up my fist and hit the brick wall, leaning against it as I watched her leave me.

Applejack was the last person I thought I would find lying to me, or lying to herself. I knew that as a good friend I would have to do that out of her. Whether she knew it or not, there was some reason that she had responded so completely to me after the game. It may have been a rebellion against her own inhibitions, or an attraction to me she did not want to acknowledge, or some psychological crap. All I knew was that she was hiding from it, and that was not Applejack.

I had my second class with her, and as usual I sat right beside her at our three person table. On my right side was Twilight's seat, though in class she might as well have not been there at all because all she ever did was stick her nose in the textbook or scribble notes instead of chatting. Applejack didn't make a fuss about trying to find another seat, instead she sat down on my left as usual and made herself look busy. When Twilight arrived she had cheerily greeted us and asked Applejack if she was feeling any better. She didn't even notice that when Applejack replied she made that face she makes when she lies, chewing the inside of her cheek and pursing her lips. I didn't bring it up.

Our teacher wasn't the most boring of my teachers. He was older, sure, and spoke like a learned professor, but he taught us Ancient Civilizations, and damn was there a lot of action back then. Wars, political struggles, murder, betrayal, sex, all the good stuff. I wasn't really paying such close attention until he got onto a topic that peaked my interest, something about the ancient world that I had not heard of before.

"Some theorize that the ancient Greeks used homosexuality as a means of birth control, giving the men a way to enjoy the physical pleasures while not creating mass numbers of offspring to provide for." He told us, and it intrigued me.

Why had it been entirely socially acceptable back then, well, for the men anyway, but it was still looked down upon now? I glanced over at Applejack as a sly smile cracked across my face, thinking up something to discuss.

"Everyone did always say that the Greeks were good at crossing swords," I murmured the vulgar remark into my hand as I smirked at Applejack, who shook her head with a huffed laugh as she continued jotting down the notes. I looked down at the pencil in her hand, moving about so rapidly in squiggles, and reached over towards it. My own pencil clashed with hears, and she paused in writing when she watched me carefully cross our implements together. "So, if this is okay," I continued in a whisper, and she would have known to what I was referring if she had been listening to my remark about crossing swords, "Why isn't this?" I scraped my pencil against hers until they crossed in a different way, so that the narrowing angle of the intersecting pencils looked something like a pair of—

"Rainbow! Don't be gross!" She hissed in a whisper as seemed to get my reference and pulled her pencil away from mine.

"You didn't think it was so gross when—" She interrupted me by smacking my pencil with her own, knocking it out of my gasp and sending it rolling across the table towards Twilight.

Twilight actually looked up from what she was scribbling to watch the pencil roll its last few inches towards her, until it stopped against her left hand. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at it, and then over at us, "Girls, quit fooling around." She tapped the pencil with her pinkie finger and sent it rolling back to me.

"Sorry, Twi," Applejack apologized quietly and gave a sheepish grin. I, on the other hand, just sort of shrugged and took my pencil back.

Applejack left me one last warning glare before she turned back to her notes, and that was probably the worst thing she could have done. I took it as a challenge, as I always do, and proceeded to watch her movements more carefully, waiting for an opportunity. I started off slowly, yawning a bit and gently knocking my left hand against her right one. She jerked her hand away a bit, unconcerned that it screwed up the word she was jotting down. Again, I brushed against her, and I heard her make an annoyed sigh before she moved further away. I waited for maybe thirty seconds before I went for it, scooting a bit closer as if I was looking over at her paper. My left hand dropped under the table though, and she didn't seem to notice at first.

My heart rate increased as I felt her body so near, and I smiled as I felt her twitch at my touch. She glared at me as she felt my fingers drum a bit over her knee, finding a perfect place to rest. She stared right at me with this intimidatory gaze, though it didn't affect me like she had hoped. I licked my lips and let my eyes trail up and down her body, which I knew would put her on edge. She just kept digging her eyes into mine, even after her freckles were shadowed by a hint of rosiness in her cheeks.

Without hesitation, I began to slide my hand up her thigh, creeping closer and closer to the goal. I considered it some kind of game of chicken, and for a moment she let it go on, but only until I could feel the rising warmth of her body reacting to my touch and vicinity. She pulled her legs together forcefully and halted my advance, before she reached down under the table and grabbed my wrist, prying it off of her. She held me there in this monstrous grip, though I feigned like it didn't hurt. Finally she released me, and I took it all in stride with a simple shrug, folding my arm up under my chin and lingering no longer on our obvious sexual tension. I was done enough for now, and it still had me biting back snickers as I watched her try desperately to get back to focusing on the lecture.

I was already at our usual lunch table with half a sandwich in my mouth by the time Applejack came around, she was walking alongside Rarity and talking to her about something I couldn't hear. She chuckled a bit as she came over to her usual seat beside me, grabbing the chair by the back and turning it around as usual. She suddenly stopped and looked down at me, as if just noticing I was there. By then she had already begun to sit down, so stopping now would have revealed her to the whole group. Instead, she swallowed her pride or her fear and sat down beside me, putting her tray on the table.

"Just in case, I think I should give him a call to make sure he's feeling better." Twilight continued her conversation with Fluttershy, and I had to admit that I really hadn't been listening, "Spike never stays home unless he's really sick."

"Spike is ill?" Rarity asked as she sat down across from me, looking over at Twilight.

"Just influenza I think, poor little guy called me this morning to confirm our study appointment at the library after school and he was coughing and sneezing all over the place." Twilight explained with a hint of worry. Spike was this little kid that Twilight had taken under her wing a few years back, he was chubby and awkward at the time but he was diligent and eager to learn. By now he had become something of a little brother to Twilight, though she treated him more like a mother would honestly.

"Oh my, do tell him that I hope he gets well." Rarity told her in a genuinely consoling tone.

"I'm sure it will mean a lot to him," Twilight smiled, and yeah, I'm sure it would too. Considering that boy has had the hots for Rarity since the day they met, it kind of reminded me of a sweet and innocent version of how I felt for Applejack. I sympathized with the kid, what can I say?

"Um, sorry to leave so soon," Fluttershy peeped up nervously, "I promised the Green Team that I would help with the sign up sheets for the clutter clearing project. We need volunteers, is all." The Green Team was the eco-friendly initiative launched by the school that participated in all kind of city-wide projects to save the planet, recycle, all that stuff. Sure, it was a good cause and all, I just wasn't much for it.

"No worries Fluttershy, the protected forests around here would choke on Scotch broom if not for you." Twilight agreed as she waved Fluttershy off, "Keep up the good work."

"T-Thanks," Fluttershy was never very good at taking compliments, so she just brushed it off and went her merry way.

"On that note, I should probably go give the little guy a call, before he thinks I forgot about him." Twilight picked up her tray and stood suddenly, fumbling around for her cell phone in her pocket.

As Twilight left, I realized that there were only three of us left sitting at the table: Rarity, Applejack, and myself. I could have sworn that Pinkie Pie had been there with us at one point, but as usual she disappeared without explanation. A sneaky smile spread across my face as I thought up a topic, knowing if I were to make something of a move on Applejack, having an audience just might push her over the edge. Besides, I didn't have to worry about spilling my own secret, seeing as how the spectator already knew about my feelings.

"So," I spoke up casually though somewhat louder than I intended, commanding the attention of both of my company, "You feeling any better, Applejack? That's why you weren't at school yesterday, right? You were sick?" I quirked an eyebrow and waited on her response.

"Uh, yeah," She replied as her eyes avoided either of our faces and she focused on the rafters instead, "I wasn't feelin' so hot, the game must've really tuckered me out or somethin'." She absently played with her food.

"I don't know much about baseball myself," Rarity admitted, though her cautious gaze was watching me, knowing that I was planning something. She turned to look at Applejack with a kinder expression, "But from what I can tell, you are quite skilled at it Applejack. I certainly could never even think to throw or hit a ball that far or fast."

"Ah, the game-winnin' run belongs to Rainbow." Applejack shifted the focus back to me as she leaned forwards over the back of the chair on her crossed arms. I moved my chair a little closer to hers and noticed as she twitched at the sound of the chair scraping across the floor. I extended my arm around her and pulled her closer to me, gripping her opposite shoulder and almost fondling it.

"We sure do make a good team, don't you think?" I leaned closer to her, so our cheeks almost touched. My tongue just barely emerged to wet my lips, and I could see her eyes watching it with confined desire. Her cheeks were flushing again and I could feel the heat of her skin from so close growing warmer as she tried to get a hold of herself again. "A.J.?"

"S'pose so." She pulled herself away from looking at me, checking on Rarity to make certain she didn't suspect anything. Certainly there was little to suspect when she already knew the truth.

"Applejack, are you all right, dear?" Rarity asked up, though I could tell she was subtly hinting to Applejack that she could tell her if I was bothering her. "You're looking a little red."

"Am I?" Applejack played coy as she pulled away from me again, unfurling her arms so that her wrists were crossed instead, leaning back as if she was just fine.

"Here," My breath was intentionally warm against her skin as I leaned towards her and pressed the back of my hand against her head. "Let me check." I pursed my lips a bit as I pretended to have been measuring her temperature.

"I-I-uh," Applejack winced a bit as I entered her personal space, something she normally would not mind at all. Our usual physical interactions had become tense and heated, and surely those nearest to us would notice. She chewed at her lip again as our eyes met, as if she was begging me to stop playing around with her in such a cruel way.

"Something bothering you?" I asked as innocently as I could muster, though the arrogant grin was creeping up close to the surface. I could tell Rarity was itching to say something, but she was too good of a friend to tell my secret or to make Applejack even more uncomfortable by revealing just how much she knew.

"I," She stammered again as she began to sweat, thinking up any excuse to get out of there, "I gotta see a man about a horse!" She stood abruptly and pulled away from me, turning on a dime and rushing out of the cafeteria, leaving only that odd euphemism in her wake.

"See you at practice after school!" I called after her with this big old grin on my face. I had really riled her up that time.

"What exactly was that?" Rarity asked in a harsh tone, and I cringed just remembering she was watching. She was almost as bad as Twilight with the whole voice of reason thing, "Rainbow Dash, you can't just go around pushing Applejack's buttons like that, just because you have feelings for the girl."

"Keep it down, would you? Jeez." I hushed her with wild gestures and a shushing. I sighed a bit as I realized no one had heard, and continued to explain myself, "And I am not pushing her buttons, I am trying to get her to admit that she likes me, didn't you see the way she reacted?"

"She looked rather terrified to me." Rarity replied dully as she took a drink from her can of diet cola, which she sipped with a straw of course.

"She's anything but! You should have seen her after the game, when I kissed her, she was all over me!" I was just so excited about even just remembering I almost forgot to keep my voice in a hush. Rarity just kept staring at me, waiting for me to tell her something more serious, "I don't know exactly how she feels or anything Rarity, but I really, really want to know. She won't talk to me about it or anything."

"Don't you think this might be a bit difficult for her, as well?" She reminded me, and I crossed my arms grouchily as I didn't want to hear it, "Do be careful, Rainbow. You don't want anyone to get hurt."

"The only one who can get hurt here is me." I pointed a thumb to myself with a nod. I didn't even try and censor myself before the words came tumbling out of my mouth, "I mean after all, I'm the one who's freaking in love with her."

"I knew it!" Rarity and I both jumped and nearly fell off of our chairs. The table shifted a bit with a bump before a pink-haired girl rolled out from underneath it and turned to face us, this determined, narrow-eyes glare present on her face.

"Pinkie?! What are you doing under the table?" Rarity squealed, though luckily the rest of the school was accustomed to our antics by now and hardly noticed it. She brought her hands to her mouth and let out a melodramatic gasp as she realized it, "I'm wearing a skirt!"

"I knew that something was up between you and Applejack!" Pinkie Pie ignored Rarity's protests and pointed a finger at me, and I hurriedly gestured for her to settle down. She seemed to get the message and leaned against the table with a hush in her voice, "You look at her the way I look at sweets!"

"I hope not," I smiled weirdly as I imagined such a thing, though I didn't really get too upset about Pinkie finding out about it. I mean, there was no use in hiding it after what she must have overheard. "You don't want to make out with sweets, do you?"

"Well not usually, jeez Rainbow Dash I can't taste them with just my lips, that's my tongue's job." Pinkie argued as she found a seat and continued with the conversation, "But then again, you probably use your tongue too, don't you?"

"Pinkie Pie!" Rarity cried incredulously, shocked at such a remark from our usually romantically oblivious friend.

"Only once, but I sure wouldn't mind doing it again." I grinned slyly and admitted to the charges.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity called my name this time, appalled at our topic of choice.

"You did that with Applejack?!" Pinkie Pie gasped at such a scandal, though her eyes lit up with an earnest desire to know more, "What did she taste like, like apple cider or apple fritter? Or maybe apple pie, or maybe—"

"Just like, like Applejack I guess." I sighed remembering it, remembering the way she had me pinned to the bathroom mirror and was exploring my body. I could not get the feeling out of my head no matter what I did, and finally I could discuss it openly. And I did just that, "It was awesome, like the sweetest, softest, most—"

"Okay that's enough," Rarity's hands slammed against the table, causing both of us to jolt back to reality. She glared at me sternly as her tone became dangerously serious, "Clearly whatever it was that happened between you and Applejack is troubling her. And yet here you are just joking around about it, what kind of a friend does that make you?"

"Hey, she's the one who—" And then it hit me. Rarity was right, and that sucked. Sure, Applejack had indulged just the same as I had, but in her mind it was almost like a horrible, disgraceful act, and for whatever reason, it tore her apart. Just knowing that crushed me, as it was all my fault for kissing her in the first place. I had already hurt Applejack, and now I was just torturing her further. "Damn it."

She wasn't at baseball practise. And somehow, though I had joined the team specifically so that I could have a reason to be away from her, it did not feel the same when she was gone. I sat on the bench in the dugout watching my backup pitchers tossing a few lousy balls in the bullpen for most of the practise. The rest of them were running some drills and playing a few games like hotbox or whatever, but I did not feel like playing. I felt guilty about it all, and watching those bright, new baseballs fly back and forth somehow seemed wrong. Those were not the pitches I relied on, those were not the balls that she cherished and learned to throw. All of this, without Applejack, was just some kids playing catch.

I picked up my baseball cap off my head and ran my hands through my hair, letting it fall back over my eyes and my sullen expression. I ended the whole charade sooner than usual, telling everyone to go ahead and get home while I gathered up all the equipment. I needed the time alone more than anything, and waited until everyone had already left the change room before I went in and pulled my own uniform off. I sat on the bench in the change room for a good long while, waiting to see if maybe she showed up especially late or something, but she never came in.

It was getting dark out again, but I did not have her comfortable old truck to fall into like before. I pulled my helmet on over my bangs,hardly bothering to adjust it despite how uncomfortable it felt. I buckled it under my chin and turned the vehicle on, that same eccentric roar of the engine seeming less exciting than it used to. I pulled out of the odd spot, one that was not my own, remember, since I had parked there so Applejack would not notice I was at school. I sped towards the exit to the parking lot, my hands gripping at the bars as if I wanted to break them off. I was near the exit when I looked back towards her vacant parking spot, but I was surprised to find that it was not vacant. In fact, her truck was still resting there just the same as it had been since this morning.

I quietly rolled the bike over to her truck and peered inside, as if she might have been hiding in there, but found nothing. I kicked the kickstand out and leaned my motorcycle against it, standing up so that I could get a better view. I could see that the doors were locked, and no one was inside. I turned the bike off and removed my helmet, shaking out my rainbow-coloured hair and looking around as if she would just be loitering or something. Still, in the coming evening, I saw nothing. I still stood upright for a moment, tucking my helmet under my elbow as I waited for any sign she might be hanging around.

There, a noise. It was distant and quiet, but it sounded something like an expulsion of air, a growl or a groan. I lifted my leg over the other side of my bike and put my helmet onto the seat before I moved towards the sound, as it came from a familiar area I knew at the school field. Another sound was heard, like a small object hitting the dirt from what I could tell. I came slowly around the side of the building towards the field, and at first I still didn't see anything. That must have been due to the poor lighting back there, as the lights that hung high above the field were still turned off.

My eyes adjusted soon enough, and I could see Applejack's body as a silhouette against the dimming horizon and the cascading, dull street lights beyond her. She was on her knees, adjusting something on the mound of the baseball field. I moved closer still, entwining my fingers into the diamond shaped holes in the fence. What was it she was setting up? I tilted my head to try and get a better look, but as she squatted her knee was obscuring it, not to mention the dim of light. Finally, she stood, and reached into the little satchel she had waiting beside the mound.

A wooden block? Applejack had placed this little one foot long block onto the mound, it was maybe half a foot tall and half a foot wide, from my estimate. She returned to it before I could make a good calculation, and I could even make out the outline of her favourite Stetson, that old cowboy hat she adorned so well. She tipped it back a bit as she placed one foot onto the block, raising her other knee almost up to her chest. She reached up farther, captivating me entirely, as she placed something on to of her hat. Even from my distance, I could see the gleaming red shimmer and the trademark shape of an Apple family red delicious apple. She was still, and I watched her stern face contort as she tried to reach focus, wobbling a bit on the balancing block with the apple teetering on her head.

I could not believe it, was this how she practised when she was alone? Down towards the plate I noticed a fabric net set up, framed by these clearly home-made wooden borders, marked with several sections of a strike zone. Though she tried to breathe and calm herself, even I could tell that something was eating her up and keeping her from balancing the way she must have been accustomed. And that made her angry.

Applejack fell into her wind-up unprepared, lashing out against the imaginary batter with a vicious and furious pitch. Half way through the throw she lost her balance, and her footing gave out from under her as the apple fell from her head. Though the throw had tremendous power and speed, the baseball flew out and missed the target entirely, ricocheting off the rear fence and bouncing several times across the dirt. She hit the ground on her knees hard as the block she stood on tumbled away, and from what I could see her uniform was already dirtied from prior attempts. The apple bruised against the dirt and rolled about a foot away, only to flinch with the force of her fist pounding against the ground. She snatched the fruit from beside her and chucked it towards the strike zone with an aggravated shout, I blinked in shock as it hit the net dead-centre and shattered against the force of the throw, splintering and dripping over the fabric as the corpse of the apple fell limp to home plate below.

I moved from the fence at last, approaching the hunched over girl, who was holding herself and choking back something of cries. The closer I drew the more I could make out the awful balling, the shaking of her body as she tried to contain her sorrow from leaking out of her eyes. I had no idea how to deal with something like this, but I walked on anyway until I was merely a yard or two behind her. I tried to clear my throat, but found speaking did more to get her attention.

"So, this is how you became such a great pitcher?" I managed, though the words felt fake and forced. I really wanted to bend down and hold her, but she was too fragile for something like that. She jerked at the sound of my voice and hurriedly pulled herself together as best as she could.

"Shoot, Dash, I-I thought you'd gone on home by now." She managed to sound out below the erratic snivelling. She got to her feet, but did not turn to face me and kept her hat pulled down over her eyes, "S-Sorry, when my pitchin' ain't so dandy I guess I start to get a mite sour, is all."

"Do you start to lie, too?" I spoke softly, though the words were coarse and true. She forced the tears and huffing away for a light-hearted laugh instead.

"Nah, it's stress that brings that out." Applejack spoke as she wiped her face again like she was clearing sweat or dirt. I didn't know much else what to say, so I slipped my hands into my pockets and watched her, though her tone went bitter again, "Dash, what are you doin' here? Go home."

"Well, as captain of the baseball team, I took an active interest in discovering why my starting pitcher was not at practice today. Instead of playing with her team mates, she decided to wait until dusk to throw balls at a net. So tell me," I was best at discussing sports rather than feelings, so I did just that. Sure, it may have sounded somewhat insensitive, but Applejack had known to expect that from me, "Tell me why I shouldn't cut you from the team?"

"C'mon, you know as well as I do how awkward it'd be if I were there." She said in a hush as she managed to pull herself together, pretending to fool around with her glove like she was still breaking it in.

"What I know is that it looks like you trained really hard to be here, A.J., and nothing should come between you and what you want." I said as I approached her, noticing the way she kept turning farther away and hiding herself from me. I wanted to touch her shoulder or something, but after everything I had put her through earlier it did not seem right. "The stuff between us? Yeah, it's hard, it's distracting, it's complicated and yeah, maybe one-sided. But does that mean two friends can't play a game of ball together?"

"I just don't wanna make things worse 'tween us. I'm still just real confused, okay?" Applejack admitted as she summoned the courage to face me, her eyes flickering up to mine and catching me breathless. She seemed to speak in a timid and careful manner, something unlike her, "You know I'm a team player, Rainbow. I just ain't sure what team I wanna play for."

I noticed the double meaning of those words and furrowed my brows as I watched her. She let her eyes fall back down to her mitt as she toyed around with it on her hand. I shrugged at first like I didn't really care, but soon enough I found enough good sounding words to put together something that sounded nice in my head.

"Well," I took in a breath as I began, still sorting the words into the right places, "Sometimes the team you end up picking isn't the best in the league, or the most popular, and hey, maybe they don't even have the coolest uniforms," I gabbed on for a bit, trying to make it as easy to understand as it was for me. She gradually opened back up, looking into my eyes even through the blanket of dusk, "Sometimes the team you pick is that team you grew up beside, the team you were always cheering for and spent your time with. Sometimes the team you pick is just the one you fell in love with. Sounds pretty simple to me."

Applejack smiled faintly, and it seemed to illuminate the whole field and warm me up inside despite the chill. She opened her mouth and let the words out easily, "When'd you get so fancy with words?"

I returned the friendly gesture of a smirk, "Just now, I suppose. Getting better every time, I'd like to think." I reminded her of her own words when we had first played ball together, and she seemed to remember it perfectly as she slowly nodded.

"Well, if it's all the same to you," Applejack spoke as she turned back around and adjusted her hat, "I think I might just like to be alone for a spell."

I didn't say anything to her then, I just turned around and left. Whatever it was that she needed to work out, it was apparent that I could not help her right now. Her tone had told me she was still angry at me for earlier, and I knew her temper was something that no one wanted to evoke, but here I was at the business end of it. And rightly so.