The walk towards town had been a long one. Everything was covered in a layer of fresh snow, so your pace had been a bit slower than usual. Admittedly though, you’d be lying if you said part of it wasn’t due to the fact that you pulled something. But still, the long held adage of “walking it off” still held true in Equestria. Or so you kept telling yourself along the way.

The slow pace though, had given you plenty of time to think about a few things as you observed the beautiful snow covered scenery slowly pass you by. Applejack had firmly been the base of a lot of your musings seeing as after your morning, um, workout per say, you had not been able to get her out your mind. And you really didn't want to.

You had left her warm, tired, and content as was evident by the way she snuggled your pillow and smiled with a deep blush adorning her features. The mere recollection of her so happy like that gave you great joy because deep down, you knew that what you saw, was a side of her that nopony else would ever see.

You knew that that side of her, was solely reserved for you, the one she loved.

And just because of that, you had been very tempted during your entire trip into town to just forget the whole thing and crawl back into that warm bed with her. But as luck would have it, as these thoughts permeated your mind, more than once you had found them segueing into thoughts that perhaps, you were wrong about this whole entire plan of yours. And you knew all too well why you thought as such.

Applejack didn’t care about things like fancy dinners, sophistication, or such. This was obvious to anypony that spent at day around her, let alone a whole year like you had.

You knew this all too well.

You knew that instead, Applejack cared more about practical things. She didn’t care if a dinner was fancy as long as it was good and hearty. And she didn’t care if the dinner was at an expensive restaurant as long as she was spending time with her family and friends. And in truth, that was one of the things you loved about her. She cared about her family and spending time with them, and she tried to do everything possible to show them just how much they meant to her.

And in truth, wasn’t that the reason you wanted to go through with this plan of yours in the first place though? To show her a good time and show her how much she meant to you?

Even though that had already been established, with your crazed run through a town filled with horny mares and what not, a reminder now and then was always nice. Or at least that had been your experience back on Earth before you found yourself in Equestria. More than once a relationship had gone south because you had overlooked that slight detail.

You didn’t want this one to end like those had.

No, your mind was made up. And as you finally reached town and trudged further through a layer of snow and turned a corner to head to your shop, you felt nothing could make you turn back till your task was done!

“You’re late!”

Crud… Your mind yelled out as you did an about-face turn and began walking back the way you came.

“Hey wait!”

Too soon did the sound of crunching snow and hooves reach your ears as you felt something grab hold of the sleeve of your jacket. There was no way of avoiding it now.

“Do you really need to take more notes Lyra? I swear you have more than enough for your book.” You let out with a heavy sigh as the sea foam colored unicorn stopped biting down on your sleeve.

“Two books actually. Now I just need pictures!”

Without warning, a flash of light suddenly blinded you as soon as you turned around and saw a camera float out of her saddlebags. You had to rub your eyes a bit as you tried to see again, and you couldn’t help but remember how you came to meet the obsessed unicorn in the first place.

Oddly enough, it had been a little bit after you arrived in Equestria that you first came into contact with her…

Your body felt strangely alien to you as you came to from a deep sleep and felt the unfamiliar texture underneath you that in no way resembled your mattress. It felt more like dirt than downy soft bed sheets, and the earthy smell that permeated your nostrils made you wonder if you had fallen asleep outside like the last time you worked yourself to exhaustion.

You began to vaguely recall having spent most of the prior day working in your backyard, trying to turn it into something more than just an area with spots of grass and a bench or two. If you were honest with yourself though, a green thumb was sorely missing in your skill set. But it didn't matter though, it had just been an effort to take your mind off recently frustrating events that had taken place not too long ago. Except, last time though, you had fallen asleep on one of the benches you put up, exhausted, after building the most awesome wooden deck ever. This time, you must have rolled off the bench and not even woken up when you hit the ground.

Yeah, that must have been what happened… You thought to yourself as you forced yourself up and found yourself to be slightly disoriented. You could feel the dirt firmly clinging to your face as you managed to sit up, and began to try and will your eyes open.

Everything was a blur. But even in such a state, one thing was clearly obvious to you.

First off, you were wearing you pajamas, which was strange since you doubt you would had been doing yard work with them to begin with. And secondly…

This doesn’t look like my backyard. I don’t recall putting up so many, or for that matter, any colorful lawn decorations… Your mind voiced out as your eyes adjusted and took in the throng of pastel blurs. However, as you lazily raised a hand to rub your eyes and opened them again, the obvious became clear as day.

You were in some unknown park, surrounded by little horses. They were all looking at you with what strangely resembled big expressive eyes, all of which expressed shock and fear. You could only blink as you took in the sight and turned your head slightly to look around, your attention being drawn to one that was sitting on a bench looking at you rather intently. There was something off about the sea foam colored horse.

Horses don’t sit like that, right? Wait, horses don’t sit on benches at all…

Without warning, three of the horses screamed in what your mind doubtfully registered as being English, and you soon found your legs pushing you up in fear as you joined them.

“KYAAAAHHH!”

“Wait! Don’t run away!” The one on the bench suddenly yelled out as it jumped of it and ran at you.

“TALKING HORSES! AHHH!” You replied, screaming as whatever doubt you had about them speaking English vanished, and you immediately stopped dead in your tracks and started running in the opposite direction, away from the horse. You ran directly through the fountain in the center of the park you had just woken up in. The dirt covering the legs of your pajama pants was now nothing but mud.

Not surprisingly though, that was the least of your worries as you ran through the sudden throng of screaming pastel colored miniature horses, mortifyingly aware that you were still being chased by one of them.

“Oh wow! You speak Equestrian! I’m Lyra… and we’re ponies, not horses.”

“AAAHH! KEEP AWAY! WAIT, WHY AM I GLOWING PURP-WHOAAHHHHH!”

You slightly shook your head as you finished recovering your sight and looked at Lyra. From that point on in your memory, everything was sort of a haze, filled with panic and fear.

At most, you had a vague recollection of the sea foam unicorn following you as you hovered through the air, talking excitedly to you and the purple horse, which you now knew as Twilight the unicorn pony. She had effortlessly captured you and prevented the spread of further panic through town during that time. However, you couldn’t remember a single word, or anything, Lyra or Twilight had said at that time.

Fear and panic in such a situation were funny like that.

For a long time after that, the sea foam colored unicorn stalked you and eventually interacted with you in ways that didn’t involve her staring at you through a window or from a bush. After a bit though, once it was obvious she wasn’t entirely crazy, you kind of had to admit she grew on you and eventually, somewhere along the way, you two became friends. And by then, when she approached you asking for your help in writing a book about your species, you had no reserve about helping out a friend.

Although, as you rubbed your eyes trying to regain your sight for the third time since you encountered her, you couldn’t help but be glad it was almost over with.

“Lyra, stop taking pictures! If you don’t, I’m not going to be able to open the door.”

“Sorry... it’s just that...” She sheepishly apologized while her gaze fell on your hands. You were trying to work the key into the lock on the door. As you did though, out of the corner of your eye, you could have sworn she was blushing a bit.

Or perhaps, that was just because of the cold.

Or maybe, that was just your imagination.

Either way though, you quickly cast any thoughts about that aside as you felt the key go into the lock, and began to turn it before pushing the door open.

“Well…” You let out contently as you motioned for her to walk into the shop. “If you’re going to be stalking me today, might as well do it indoors where it’s not freezing cold.”

“Hey! It’s not stalking! It’s research!”

Another flash of light blinded you before your eyes could adjust to looking into the dark interior of the shop. You staggered a bit in place as you heard her trot on in past you, and you were left with not other option but to begin fumbling blindly with the CLOSED sign. After a bit of struggling with the sign though, and actually being able to foggily distinguish what the heck you were reading on it, you managed to grab it and turn it so that it faced OPEN out the window next to the door.

Okay… you can do this. Just one customer and you can go back home and spend the rest of the day with Applejack… You thought to yourself as your eyesight recovered fully once again, and you looked out your door.

Ponyville was wide awake now and as vibrant as always.

“Oh yeah, this should be done within the hour.” You managed to voice out before you turned around, and quickly lost your sight again as another flash of light from Lyra’s camera hit your retinas like a baseball bat.

Son of a…

Author's Note

So if you read the prior story, you'll noticed that it kind of had a slow start to it. Well, at least it felt to me as it was a slow start. Could be that slow starts are relative to those whom read them.

*Shrug*

Anyhooty! Next chapter is ACTUALLY almost done with. If by almost you mean 2/3's of it that is.

Disclaimer - All characters presented in this work of fiction are owned by their respective creators and owners. In short, all the wubs go to Hasbro.