Ch.10: Winning the Tom-Colt Over

A short while later, Peter came out of the infirmary wing, his broken arm in a cast. Applejack, Shining Armor, and Marvin were the first to approach him.

"Hey," Shining said to his new knight. "How's your arm feeling?" The doctor from the Ponyville Hospital came out to answer his question.

"He's going to be just fine," he answered. "The X-rays show that he broke a bone in his arm, but it's not too serious. However, I'm afraid he'll have to keep his arm in that cast for some time. I'll expect him to keep off of it in the meantime and come see me two weeks from now so that we can check to see if his arm has fully healed."

"Understand, Doctor," the Captain replied. "Thanks." The doctor then handed Peter a medicine bottle.

"While you are waiting for your arm to heal, Sir Peter," he added, "I recommend that you take one of these after each meal for the next two weeks. They're special calcium pills that Zecora made to help your broken arm heal a little faster."

"Merci, Doctor," he replied with a smile. As the doctor then left, Peter then turned to Shining Armor.

"I apologize for what happened, Capitan Armor," he replied. "I was only trying to help Princess Celestia."

"No need to apologize, Peter," he replied with a smile. "You only did what you thought need to be done. But just do us all a favor and stay off that arm like the doctor asked, alright?"

"Will do, sir," the skunk replied, giving him a salute with his good arm. Shining returned the salute with a smile as Big Mac then went up to him.

"Thanks fer savin' my sister," he said, shaking his good arm.

"Well, I couldn't let any harm come to her, now could I?" he replied humbly as he turned to Applejack, who blushed and looked away with a small smile.

"Hey, guys," Twilight said with a strange tone in her voice. "Don't we need to be somewhere else for a bit?" Marvin, Shining, and everypony else immediately got what she was talking about. Well, almost everypony…

"Not really," Pinkie Pie answered happily. "I can stand here all—"

"Let's go, Pinkie," Big Mac said, ushering his girlfriend down the hall with everyone else.

"Aww…" the pink filly whined. Soon Applejack and Peter were alone in the hall, just outside the infirmary wing.

"So…Doc said yer gonna be fine," the filly said to him shyly.

"Yes, he has," Peter replied, looking down at his arm before frowning. "I'm sorry…" Applejack turned to him with confusion.

"Fer what?"

"For getting hurt on you. I gave you my word that I'd be careful, and I got hurt in the end."

"Hey, don't beat yerself up," she replied reassuringly. "It's not yer fault ya got hurt; ya just didn't have time to react is all. And…I'm the one who should apologize." Peter turned to her to see her looking down in shame.

"For what? For trying to protect moi? You didn't know Discord was going to pick you up, chere. Beside, it didn't hurt that much when I caught you."

"I know," she stated, "but that ain't what I'm apologizin' 'bout. I'm apologizin' fer…not tellin' ya the truth."

"What truth?" he asked with slight confusion. She gulped with a sigh before answering.

"I never told ya this, but…the reason I was actin' strange when we first me was 'cuz…I get shy 'round French hunks like ya. Whenever I'm 'round a handsome feller with a French accent…I get more nervous than Fluttershy on her first day of school. I didn't tell ya this 'cuz I didn't wanna hurt yer feelin's." Peter just smiled at her before tilting her chin up with his finger.

"I already figured you're shy," he explained. "And I'm not offended; it was my own fault for rushing it. I only took Spike and Marvin's advice and took it slow by better acquainted with you so as to make it up to you. And it seems to me it helped get over your shyness." Applejack looked up at him with a smile before he took her by surprise by wrapping his good arm around her waist, causing her to stand up on her hind legs and wrap her front legs around his neck.

"So you think I'm a hunk, non?" he purred to her suavely.

"Whoa-hoo there, lover boy," she laughed. "What happened to gettin' acquainted first?"

"I thought we did when we had our dance," he teased. She then playfully thought about it.

"I can with that," she replied before pressing her lips into his and kissing her. Peter simply returned the kiss, knowing without a doubt that he has finally won the tomboyish cow-pony over.

At the other end of the hall, Applejack's filly friends watched them with a simultaneous "Awww…" while Spike, Shining, and the guys watched with knowing smiles. Cadence who's with them just smiled before resting her head against her husband's neck, and Luna and Celestia smiled as well.

While the others aren't looking, Celestia took out her red book and opened it to a blank page. She then place her horn on it and concentrated on her spell. On the page appeared Applejack and Peter sharing their first kiss with his good arm around her waist. Taking out her quill, the Princess wrote down the title:

Applejack's French Hero.