Morning crept up all too quickly on the Apple house. It’s something that seemed to happen when your entire family insists on waking up at the crack of dawn, and normally was meant with groans and dark sacks under a pony’s eyes. This morning however, was met with good cheer and smiles. Applejack practically hopped out of bed, giving a long yawn as she greeted the rising sun.

There were a lot of things for her to be happy about today. For starters, it was looking to be the perfect day for apple bucking, not a cloud in the sky, and a steady breeze to keep them cool while out in the orchard. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The real reason she was happy was because of Soarin’. The Wonderbolt was probably sound asleep in the other room, but if she was lucky he would have had some pleasant dreams. Dreams about their little run in that night. Applejack knew that she had a few lustful thoughts about it last night, but today she had a goal: make her dream come true, and keep Soarin’ on the defensive. She had been a nervous wreck yesterday, but now she was back in her comfort zone, and the edge had been taken off.

As the farm pony got ready for a day of work, Soarin’ was still fast asleep. Last night had been… interesting for him. It had taken him a bit to actually fall asleep, what with the smell of sex on his sheets and the image of that cowpony firmly indented in his memory. It was strange… it wasn’t like him to be caught off guard like that. Yesterday in general had been a wild ride, but this earth pony, Applejack, was far too much of a wildcard for him to predict. Maybe that’s why he found himself so vulnerable, and strangely happy for this surprise.

He saw the sun peak through the window, and he winced away from it. All he wanted was a few more minutes alone with his thoughts, just another moment to think of naked orange mares.

But life would have none of that. There was a loud knock on the door and he shot up. “I’m awake!” He shouted, bunching up his blanket to cover his morning thoughts. He’d rather not have to deal with that right now. “Just give me a second to get some clothes on!”

Applejack, who was standing on the other side of the door, couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Aw, but that doesn’t sound very fair, partner. You know, considering you got a front row view of my ranch.” She turned the knob of the door extra slowly, so Soarin’ could hear the creaks of the old door. “I think you owe me a quick look, don’t you think?”

Soarin’ started to search through his bag with quick haste, but suddenly realized something. All he had packed with him was a toothbrush, some clean underwear and a spare Wonderbolt costume. It had never occurred to him to pack something more casual. He could hear the door slowly creak open, and that sent him into a frenzied panic. “Umm, little problem Applejack!”

“Relax, Soarin’ I’m just kidding around,” Applejack said through the door. Maybe she had come on a little too strong and spooked him. She didn’t want to become another tragic memory for the Wonderbolt. “Y’all can forget about what happened last night, it was a… a flook.”

“That’s not really what I was talking about, AJ, can I call you AJ?” He asked, not waiting for her to answer. “Well anyways, as it turns out I forgot to pack some regular clothes…”

“Really?” Applejack wondered. “Is that so…” I guess that means you’ll have to apple buck naked… stop it Applejack. Get him some clothes. You’re not a purvey monster… unfortunately. “Well, if you want, you can borrow some of Mac’s clothes… though his shirts may be a few sizes big.”

Soarin’ didn’t know what she meant by that until he opened the closet. Last night he had done a bit of digging through it looking for sheets, and he thought that the shirts were blankets, but they were… XXX… possibly XL shirts. Was Applejack’s brother a titan? Still he had to wear something, and his manager would kill him if he got his Wonderbolt costume dirty so he tried to wear the giant’s clothing.

Applejack, waited impatiently for Soarin’ to get ready. “I hope you’re not just stalling in there, I plan on breaking you in today… with work! Not... fuck,” she muttered that last part under her breath. However, she was right; it was getting close to seven-thirty. It was time to take matters into her own hands. She was going in.

When she swung open the door, she was met with… a strange site. Soarin’ looked like a little kid playing dress up with adult clothes. Mac’s giant shirt draped over his arms, giving him sloppy sleeves, and the denim jeans he wore were scrunched, bunched, and rolled up so he wouldn’t trip over them, and he had to wear his belt to keep them from falling off. Soarin’ looked unamused as Applejack tried to hide her laughter, but the cowpony eventually gave in.

“That’s a great look for you!” She laughed. “I should call Rarity and tell her I found this year’s new look.”

Soarin’ kept his tired death stare. “Laugh it up, toots, but I’m not getting any work done like this.” He flopped his arms up, the sleeves flapping about as he did so. “So what’s your plan, Applejack?”

She started to think a bit about what to do. As funny as it was, farm work required suitable attire and work duds that fit. It took a moment, but she knew of a few old suits of clothes that might fit him. “I’ll be right back.” She said somewhat solemnly before walking down to the end of the hall. She reached up to the string that dangled down from the ceiling and pulled it down, a large cloud of dense dust as she released the attic door and the folding ladder. She climbed up it, fanning away the year old dust before flicking on an old light. It had been awhile since she came up here, and she wasn’t too happy to be back, especially for the reasons she had now.

Boxes upon boxes were piled up against useless antiques and Apple family heirlooms, each one shrouded with cobwebs and dust. She headed to a particular pile of boxes, and wiped away some dust to see the faded label on the box.

Wolf River Apple… her father.

It had been years since Granny Smith had decided to store away all her folks old stuff. It had been too painful for the family to be constantly reminded about Wolf River and her mother, Maigold. So they gathered all their clothing, possessions, and even any pictures of them and hid them away in the attic. However, Applejack would sometimes come up here from time to time when she was younger. As she got older though, she came to terms that her parents were gone, and was able to move on with her life as she was sure her parents would want.

Still, it always made her a little teary to think about it for too long. It was for that reason that she quickly grabbed a pair of her father’s old work jeans, a few shirts, and a belt from the box and headed back down the ladder. After resetting the attic back to normal, she headed back to her brother’s room where Soarin’ was still trying to hitch up some pants that were too big for him, and Applejack threw the clothes at him. “Here you go; these should fit you real nicely.”

The pegasus took a few looks at the shirt; they seemed more regular pony sized. “Thanks, AJ. Can I call you AJ? You never answered that for me,” He asked as he let his baggy pants drop to his ankles, catching the cowpony a little off guard. Her eyes widened as she got a good look at the athlete’s strong, muscular legs, and cursed her brother’s giant shirt of skirting what she really wanted to sneak a peek of. She turned around, not letting Soarin’ see her blush.

“You can call me anything you want, sugar cube,” she gulped, getting a little sweaty under her collar. Damn this heat. “Now hustle up and get dressed, we got a big day ahead of us.”

“Sure, sure,” Soarin’ said, not paying Applejack much mind. He was just thankful that he had some clothes that fit. He gave a loud yawn as he pulled up his work jeans. He was more tired than he thought. Why did he have to sleep on a mattress that reeked up bodily fluids? Which of course did not help his thoughts either… that and it just smelt awful. He probably would have been better off on the floor or in the hallway.

“Hey, y’all almost done up there?” Applejack shouted from downstairs. “Your breakfast is about to be forfeited.”

“Coming!” The pegasus shouted back, hopping down the stairs as he zipped up his pants. Down in the kitchen, Applejack was already shoveling down pancakes and drinking out of the syrup bottle. Granny Smith was in the kitchen, washing some dishes as she hummed to her record player. “Wow… hungry, huh?”

“Hmm?” Applejack mumbled, wiping away some crumbs from her mouth, her cheeks puffed up with breakfast. “Well, got to fuel up for the work day, since my brother isn’t here we’ll have to go at it extra hard.” She nearly choked on her breakfast. “Working that is!” Why does everything sound dirty this week?

“I see… well, did you save me some pancakes?” He asked, looking at the bare table where plates of delicious fluffy pancakes once stood. Now all that was left were pitiful displays of empty plates. “Is your grandmother making more?”

“Oh… crap,” the cowpony muttered. “I… don’t think so,” Applejack blushed a little, looking down at her plate in shame. “Must have gotten carried away. Like I said last night, I usually have to scrap with my brother for food, and well without him…”

“Her appetite goes to the wind!” Granny shouted from the kitchen. “That girl’s got the stomach of a fully grown stallion I tell you what. But don’t worry sugar pea, I put aside a plate for you.” She walked into the dining room with a plate of food. “I had a feeling this one would be a problem without somepony to compete with food with.”

Soarin’ scratched his head, a little confused by the way food was distributed in this household, and wondered if they had ever heard of portions and sharing… but he was too busy chowing down on his breakfast. Within seconds, he was full, and ready to go.

“You about done?” Applejack asked. “Cause we’re running late as it is.”

Soarin’ sighed; it was about time that life got difficult for him. Still, it had been nice while it lasted. But farm work couldn’t be that bad… right? “Well, show me what I have to do. I think you said something about apple bucking?”

“Yeah, just follow me to the orchard and I’ll show you the ropes,” Applejack said, waving goodbye to her grandmother. “See y’all at lunch, Granny.”

“Goodbye, love,” Her grandmother whistled to them. “Now you take it easy on the city slicker, don’t need him broken on the first day!” She chuckled a little to herself as she started to put some of the plates away. “Lunch will be at the usual time, now go buck some apples!”

The farm filly just rolled her eyes, and headed out into the fresh morning air. She took a deep breath, and sighed. Nothing like a sunny day to get you ready for work. Since it was Saturday, she would do the southwest orchard first, which was good considering it was also one of the smaller groups of trees she had to do, and would be a great place to train the newbie. “All right, Soarin’ so basically here in Sweet Apple Acres, we buck apples.”

“Yeah, can I just say…” Soarin’ interrupted, raising his hand. “… that every time you say buck apples it makes it sound like we’re going to have sex with them.”

Applejack stopped on the spot, breaking out into a cold sweat. “Wh-what… no! Why would you ever make that connection?!”

The Wonderbolt just shrugged. “I don’t know… maybe that’s how you add its flavour?”

“Have… sex with the apples?” Her mind was in a state of shock. Never in all of her life had she even considered having sex with the apples. Apples were for eating, not for… that. “No, when I say bucking, I mean we’re going to knock them down from the tree.”

“Knock them down?” Soarin’ asked. “How?”

“… With our feet.” Applejack said, answering his question as if it were obvious. “How else would we do it?”

“Oh I don’t know… pick them by hand?”

The cowpony couldn’t help but laugh. “Ha! That’s a hoot! Picking apples by hand… we’d be here till the end of time. But nah, I should probably show you the proper way to pick apples.”

Soarin’ rolled his eyes, sighing a little. Still, it was nice to see Applejack gain some confidence. “Sure thing, teach away. I’m all eyes and ears.”

“Right,” she nodded, walking up to a nearby tree. She placed her right boot on the base. “Now, the first thing y’all want to do is stretch out your legs like so…” she leaned into her leg, gripping the base of her heel, she felt a familiar burn in the back of her thigh, and her leg becoming limber.

Soarin’ was also feeling a little bit of a burn. This girl had some flexibility to go with those muscular legs of hers. His jaw dropped a little as she forced her leg up, her foot soaring past her head. How she got it up that high, with her jeans clinging tightly against her thighs, possibly on the verge of ripping, or at least they were in the pegasus’s mind. How this girl had confidence issues he’d never know.

The idea that her little stretching act was erotic would fly over Applejack’s head, and as she finished up her second leg she was felt ready to go. “OK, now that we’re all limbered up we can start kicking the trees. Now, the trick is to hit with your whole foot at about waist height, if you don’t you might stub a toe.” She reared up and picked her spot on the trunk. She stalled for a second to aim, and then unleashed the full power of her kick, hitting it with a thunderous blow that shook the foundation of the tree. Apples rained down from the branches, falling to the ground. “See? Ain’t anything to it.”

Soarin’ watched with interest. It definitely looked amazing, and a unique twist on a traditional technique. But he gave a little smirk. “Sure, how hard can it be? You just kicked a tree.”

Applejack gave him the stink-eye. She didn’t care how much she was in love with him, nopony ever insulted her applebucking. “Just kicking a tree? Okay, Mr. Celebrity, let’s see you knock all the apples off that tree over there.” She pointed a little away, it was one of the smaller trees in this field, and barely had half a dozen apples on it. “Take that little one over there, so y’all don’t give yourself a boo-boo. Wouldn’t want to ruin your pedicure.”

The Wonderbolt just stared back at her. “I’m a highly trained athlete, a military veteran, and one of the fastest of the Wonderbolts to ever live. I’m pretty sure I can kick some apples off a tree.”

“Well we ain’t going to find out with you chatting away,” the cowpony said, sticking her tongue out at him.

“Heh, I just hope I don’t break the tree in half when I’m done with it,” Soarin’ said, staring down the tree. He limbered up a little, not doing any sort of exotic stretching like AJ was, but enough to loosen up the ligaments in his legs. This tree was going down. He readied himself and spread his wings, and, with one quick dashed straight into the tree at a breakneck speed. At the last moment, he reared up his boot and slammed against the trunk of the tree with all of his might.

It was silent for all but a second, before Soarin’ fell to the ground screaming and clutching his foot, which was throbbing with an unbearable pain.

Over his howls of agony though, Applejack couldn’t help but laugh. No one ever took what she did for a living seriously at first, but when it came to actually kicking the tree, most would break their toes or sprain their ankles, a price they had to pay for their ignorance. “Woo we! Well at least something fell, eh, Soarin’?” She chortled, almost collapsing over herself as the pegasus rolled around on the ground. He didn’t seem to think it was that funny, and the cowpony figured she should at least figure out if he was hurt. “All right, chicken bone, quit your squealing and let me take a look at it.” She leaned down next to him and started to take off his boot.

His foot seemed fine, too fine in fact. Applejack had never realized how beautiful the Wonderbolt’s feet were. Clean, smooth, toenails well-trimmed, she wondered if these big blue feet were ticklish or not. Maybe just a quick scratch…

“Well how does it look?” Soarin’ asked, wondering why she was just staring at his foot. Did this mare have a foot fetish? “It hurts a lot, is it broken? I swear to the goddess if it’s broken…”

“Huh?” Applejack mumbled absentmindedly, not fully hearing what Soarin’ had said. “Uh… nope, I think you’ll be fine.” She let go of his foot, brushing her hands off and turning around. “Yeah, well, now you know to take this seriously, apple bucking is legitimate work. So show it some respect, all right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Soarin’ nodded, slipping his boot back on. He made sure to be tender with his foot, but after putting a little weight on it, he realized that maybe he had overreacted to his pain. Not that it was unusual for him to do that. Still, he had found a newfound respect for the art of apple bucking, and was more determined now than ever to take this tree down. “Okay… round two…” he said with a grin.

*****

As the hours clicked away at the sun, the day grew hotter, and once that great ball of fire found its way to the center of the sky, the terrible heat was at its worst. Applejack took off her hat, having to wipe off the many beads of sweat off her brow. She looked back behind her and smiled at the mounds of apples piled in several baskets. She had made great time despite having to teach Soarin how to buck apples, and it was looking like she was even going to make her quota.

That didn’t make it any less warm out, and she was drenched in sweat. “Have to stop wearing these things in the summer…” she muttered, trying out air out her flannel jacket. However, since she wasn’t wearing anything underneath this, she unbuttoned it as much as she could from the top, and tied the bottom of the shirt up in a knot. “Much better…” she thought aloud. “That’s better… should get some water too… Hey Soarin’! Water break?” She called out. However, Soarin’ had disappeared. “Soarin’? Where’d you get too?”

She started to wander down the orchard, looking for her temporary farmhand. Eventually, she heard some grunting from behind some bushes, and when she went to investigate, she found Soarin’ working away at an apple tree, although he had stopped suddenly, panting and out of breath. Soarin’ had eventually gotten the hang of the apple bucking method, but it was still taking him six to seven kicks to knock all the apples off the branches. Still, that hadn’t weakened his motivation. However, as he stood there, he started to reach for his collar, and with a heavy grunt, he began to pull off his work shirt.

The Wonderbolt had no idea that Applejack was watching, so he didn’t see her eyes widened at his shiny, sweaty body. Those familiar lustful thoughts were creeping back into her mind. She had always feared that the pictures in the magazines she read were photo-shopped or fake, but after seeing his budding six-pack in the sun she was a believer. She imagined how hard they would be, and how they would feel against her body, the two of them just rubbing their sweaty bodies together, making love while the sun beats down against their backs, only heating up their desires of their lust-filled frenzy.

She soon became lost in her thoughts as Soarin’ gave the trunk of the tree a mighty kick. Only about half the apples came falling down, but she hardly noticed that. No, she was far too committed to just sucking on his eye candy. However, when she went to lean in, she must have put too much pressure on the stick she was leaning on, as it gave out from under her with a snap, and she yelped while crashing into the bushes.

Soarin’s ears perked up from the sudden noise of snapping twigs and looked towards the bushes. He wasn’t that surprised to see Applejack crawl out of them, cursing under her breath. He had to hide some of his laughter, but he also wondered if she was spying on him. Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time somepony stared at him in secret, but it felt a little different with Applejack. More… innocent. Of course if he could read her mind, it’d be anything but innocent.

Still, he should help her up. “You need a hand there?” He asked with still a little laughter in his voice. “Or do you want me to pretend I didn’t see you?”

“The latter actually,” Applejack mumbled with embarrassment. “I must have slipped on some mud or something.”

“Uh-huh, sure,” Soarin’ said, rolling his eyes. “And I’m a Princess. I know you were spying on me, but don’t think too much into it, I get that a lot.”

“I-I-I wasn’t spying on you!”

The pegasus just gave her a stare. “You’re an awful liar, you know that? You face gets all red when you don’t tell the truth.”

That just made Applejack even redder. She pulled her hat down to cover her face and spat. “Okay (OK) fine, maybe my eyes lingered a bit in your general direction, but that don’t mean I was spying on you. It just means you got in the way of my looking, is all.”

“Hey, whatever helps you sleep at night, Applejack,” he yawned, giving a mighty stretch backwards while flexing his wings open. He saw in the corner crack of her Stenson that she was peeking at him. Give you something to picture later while you sleep he thought to himself. His stomach gave a rather loud growl, and Soarin’ realized just how hungry he was. “So… when’s lunch?”

“Lunch? Oh! Right! Yeah, that’s why I came over here…” She started to drift away.

“Before you decided to spy on me?”

“I thought we agreed you were just invading my vision?” The cowpony said with a huff.

“We agreed on something,” Soarin’ chuckled. “But whatever, lunch time! And I am starving.” He jumped behind Applejack and waited for her to lead the way. It took her longer than he hoped to understand what he was doing, but eventually they got moving.

As they were walking, Soarin’ couldn’t help but find himself staring down south a little, at Applejack’s curvy round flank. He could just picture it in his mind, the last piece of the puzzle, and the only place he hadn’t seen of her naked. That encounter really had drilled itself into his mind, and now all he could do was strip her with his mind, picturing her cute orange rear, big red cutie marks, bouncing up and down as he pounded into her. He wanted to take a fistful and squeeze it, wondering if she’d squeak pleasantly or moan succulently. He wanted to count her shivers as he drove her to climax, how many times he could leave her begging for more or—THONK!

“Ow! My nose!” Soarin’ whined, rubbing his snout.

Applejack turned around, a little confused. “Soarin’ did… did you just run into a tree?”

“Yes Jackie, I did,” he mumbled in a sad whimper. His nose was throbbing but it probably hurt less than he thought. “There are a lot of trees around here, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Oh really?” Applejack asked, a sly grin creeping on her face. It was her turn to have a little fun. “Oh really… sure you weren’t staring somewhere else?”

“Yeah, pretty sure.”

“Ah-huh… you were distracted by something weren’t you?” She wondered coyly, giving her rear a little shake. “Or was I just in the way of where you were looking?”

Soarin’ shrugged. Unlike Applejack, he was a good liar. “Just had something on my mind, that’s all.”

“Oh, did you now? You know you’re a terrible liar, your wings poof up when you lie.”

He would never admit it, but Soarin’ had just realized that his wings were fully erect. Perhaps he had gotten a little too into his thoughts. Normally he’d never think about doing that so badly. Well, that wasn’t true, he did sometimes get that way when he thought about that Pie Mare. But why was he thinking about that with Applejack…?

Soarin’ hadn’t said anything in a while, and Applejack marched forward proudly. She knew she got him, and it felt good. “That’s what I thought. So anyways… what do you want for lunch?”

The Wonderbolt thought for a moment. “Eh, I’m in the mood for anything.”

“OK then,” smiled the cowpony. “Then do I have a treat for you. Why don’t I whip up some of my famous apple pie!”

“Pie huh…” He asked, chuckling in his mind. “Sure, that sounds nice. But I should warn you, when it comes to pie. I’m sort of a stick in the mud. I had a slice of pie years ago, and I’ve never had anything quite as good since. So don’t take it personally if I don’t get a boner or something.”

“Best pie ever, eh?” Applejack asked, her heart racing a little. There was no way it was her pie he was talking about? “And uh… where did you eat this pie exactly, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Grand Galloping Gala a few years ago,” he said. “There was…” he stopped himself a little. Applejack was a nice girl, and he didn’t want to ruin the mood with his wild goose chase. “Actually, don’t worry about it. It’s the past.”

“Oh…” Applejack said, a little disappointed. “Well, who knows? Keep an open mind when you taste my pie.” She needed to keep a positive attitude if she was going to do this. There was the possibility that she was this ‘pie mare’ of his, but there was the chance that she wasn’t. This was her chance to prove herself. If she was going to win Soarin’ over, she was going to take the fast track through his stomach and straight to his heart. She was going to have to make the best pie of her entire life.

Author's Note

So the tension is building up. I wonder if Applejack can still make them pies good like she did a few years ago?

Hey do you hear that? It sounds like rain.

ACTASAP did the edits, and I thank him for that. I hope you enjoy

Clop probably next chapter.