Two hours had gone by since you opened your shop, and not one single pony had walked into it. Lucky for you though, you were rather resourceful in such times. So, for the better part of these two hours, you had done the only thing possible in such a situation.

You had stood behind the counter while leaning over it, holding your head up in your hands as you rested your elbows on top of it... bored out of your noggin.

Unfortunately for you, the beam of sunlight that glided across your wooden floors could only hold your interest for so long.

“Why has no pony come in?” You asked yourself for what was perhaps the fifth time.

“I turned the sign to OPEN, right?" You had honestly lost count of how many times you had asked yourself that. However, as you turned to look over at the sign on the window, it was obvious the answer was the same regardless of how many times you had asked yourself that before.

“Yup, the sign is still correct…”

“Ugh, this is boring…”

Your attention was suddenly drawn to the unicorn next to you as you heard her let out a sigh for emphasis. You saw that she was still in the same position as the last time she had voiced her boredom.

Lyra, having been so determined to get photos of you using your hands, was still up on a stool, leaning over the counter with her head in her hooves, imitating you as her camera lay off to the side.

The sight honestly made you crack a smile that lingered for a bit before it vanished. You couldn’t really help it though. She was the only other pony you had seen make use of a stool like that. It had been odd when you first saw her like that, but after a while, it became odd NOT to see her sitting like that.

Well, I have seen stranger things since coming here… You thought to yourself as you slowly turned to look back out at the repair shop.

True to your word, you had done everything you had told Applejack you would do to turn your old home into a repair shop and a store.

In front of you, off to a side near the opposite wall, you could see a small counter set up with two spouts gleaming while they protruded from it. The store had been packed during apple cider season and had been quite a success, if not completely chaotic. Especially when Rainbow Dash kidnapped you one night, right out of your bed, just so that you could open the store early for her.

Would have probably worked too, if not for the line of ponies already waiting outside your door that is. You really wished she would have at least let you get some pants on beforehand though.

Some mares still gave you scary looks, like the ones you had seen during the heat.

Off to the other side, next to the wall that divided your workshop for from the front of the shop, a large bin took up a good portion of it. The bin had been meant to hold apples for sale, and it had. Every kind of apple that Sweet Apple Acres produced had been set on display and sold. However, the store ended up being more of an appeal to ponies that didn’t feel like going all the way to the crowded market just for some apples. Which, in turn, meant there was still a demand for apples to be sold at the open market for ponies that still felt like fighting through the throng of ponies.

Unintentionally, and much to Applejack’s delight, you had increased demand for apples from Sweet Apple Acres. Which was great for the farm and the Apple Family. It required more effort than before though, but you had been glad to take up a good chunk of it.

And thanks to that hard work, you had had enough apples to make other apple goods, such as the jars of apple jam that rested on the shelves behind you, behind the counter. Applejack kept telling you that your jaw would drop once you got a taste of Zap-Apple jam. Sadly, you had still to taste it seeing as it wasn’t a yearly thing, which you thought was rather odd.

But seeing as they were magical fruit, you supposed it was to be expected. Honestly, by now though, you had learned not to question the oddities of your new world too much.

It made for fewer headaches sometimes.

“Hey?”

Your focus on your surroundings was suddenly startled out of you as you felt a hoof tap you on the shoulder and you jumped slightly. You turned around to see Lyra looking at you rather intently.

She was blushing again for some reason and she was now fidgeting on the stool as her hoof fiddled with her camera.

“Hey, umm… I-I wanted to as-ask you about som-something.”

“Umm, okay?”

For some reason, perhaps because of the way her voice sounded, warnings began to flare our across your thoughts as soon as those words left your mouth. And with what she was doing, it really wasn’t helping.

She was quiet, too quiet.

It was almost as if she was really considering something important, but was unsure of following through with it or not. You were suddenly becoming aware of a lump in your throat that wasn’t there before, and you tried to swallow to get rid of it.

“I-I’ve heard, n-no, I’ve seen how… how fle-flexible your ha-hands are…”

Lyra was breathing rather hard as she said this, and that lump you felt in your throat became even harder to swallow. Only one word ran through your mind now as you looked at her.

“Crud…”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Okay, apparently your mouth decided to word out what was running through you mind.

Well done treacherous face hole… Oh good, that time it actually stayed inside your noggin as you blinked at Lyra.

Lyra was simply staring back at you, silently, as she continued to fidget.

You were desperately trying to compose yourself, failing to subdue some of the warnings popping up in your thoughts. She was a friend after all, and she knew you were with Applejack. Maybe you were still a bit paranoid because of what had happened during the heat. Yeah, that was it. You were over thinking things and letting your imagination run wild.

You began to smile at Lyra, and immediately, you saw her brighten up as she blushed redder and smiled back.

“Okay Lyra, what did you want to know about my hands?” You asked her in a confident sounding voice… which quickly disappeared with what happened next.

In one quick motion, Lyra had jumped up on the counter and brought her face up to yours, not even an inch away as she held it in her hooves. You could feel her hot breath radiate across your face, across your lips as you saw your reflection in her half-closed, glistening eyes. You could clearly see your own eyes open wide in shock. Your gears were working overtime, trying to grasp the situation, if only to give you a way out of it.

Sadly though, all that came to a screeching halt as you heard her swallow and saw her gingerly lick her lips.

“I-I want…”

You blinked as you found your lips dry and fought the urge to lick them, not wanting to invite her to do what you knew she was about to do.

“I want to… I want to…” She closed her eyes as she steadied herself and took a deep and shaky breath. You were suddenly aware you were sweating.

“I WANT TO FEEL YOUR HAND IN MY-”

OH CRUD!... Was the only thought that ran through your mind at that exact moment when you heard her request.

Many other thoughts had found their way into your mind since then.

“Oh-oh wow…”

Okay, admittedly, it was mainly the constant reminder that Lyra was a good friend of yours, and you were doing this for her and her book.

“AHH! I-I didn’t know you c-could do that with your hand!”

Which was kind of hard to do with her being so loud and… vocal. You were seriously starting to doubt it was all for research purposes.

“Mmm-AH! That tickles!”

“Lyra, don’t put my hand there, your hairs make my fingertips itchy.”

“Sorry, it just feels so… so nice and good.”

Also, the brightness from her flaring horn was a bit distracting, and it was starting to make your eyes hurt a bit. Which maybe meant you should stop looking at it before you went blind.

Well, at least it couldn’t get any more awkward… Or at least, that’s what you thought as you heard the door open and turned around to see a familiar red stallion walk in and stop immediately while staring at you and Lyra. He was a green and red scarf around his neck, somehow fitted above his traditional harness.

“Oh hey Big Mac, how you doing? I didn’t expect to see you here today.”

“Ah’m fine and uh… Applejack asked me to come see if yah ready to head on home and uh…”

Big Macintosh went silent as he continued to look at you and Lyra behind the counter. You couldn’t help but follow his gaze until your own gaze fell back on the oblivious sea foam unicorn.

Lyra was sitting on her stool, leaning over the counter with a gleeful smile on her face as she held your arm between your forelegs and looked intently at your hand. From your elbow up to the tip of your fingers, your arm was encased in a golden magical aura. Your fingers and wrist were moving on their own as Lyra’s magic manipulated them and they danced in front of her, her eyes glued to every movement they made. She had been doing this for the better part of half an hour, experimenting with every range of motion your hand could produce.

You looked back at Big Macintosh and only let out a sigh as you tried to focus on keeping that arm limp so that you didn’t have to struggle against her magic too much.

“She’s doing ‘research’ on my hand.” You answered his unspoken question as you used your other hand to make quotation marks in the air on the word research. It was unclear though if he understood what that gesture meant as he simply switched his straw from one side to the other in his mouth.

It was however obvious that he was in deep thought, so oddly enough, you felt you needed to elaborate a bit more.

“She’s just really ‘excited’ to see how my hand works. It’s for her book… well, books.” You added as you did the quotation gesture again, this time on the word excited.

Big Macintosh though, simply continued to stare at you as you looked back at him.

Maybe you should stop doing that quotation gesture.

“Hey! It’s not my fault you’ve never let me see them!”

“Yeah, I wonder why…” You let out in jest as you heard the sea foam unicorn defend her argument for wanting to see your hands.

“Yeah? Well…” Lyra though, went silent as she looked at you with a pout and blushed a bit, before immediately going back to fiddling with your fingers.

“Well… it’s very bendy, that’s all!”

“Yes Lyra, it’s very bendAHH!OW!OW!MYFINGERSDON’TBENDTHATWAY!”

Okay, admittedly you had that coming. And the grin on her face as you looked at her after she had bend your fingers so far back you thought they might break only led you to believe she had done it on purpose.

“Ah-hem…”

“Hmm?”

However, before you could give your rebuttal to her assault on your hand, your gaze was drawn towards Big Macintosh as he cleared his throat and looked at you with his traditionally stoic gaze. You had spent enough time with the giant stallion to know that look meant he was done thinking, and something was going on behind the scenes. And after a bit, he proved you right as he eventually put forth what was going on through his thoughts.

“Is this why yah didn’t stay home ta’day?”

The question caught you off guard. Not because of the question itself, but because of the tone behind it. The way he spoke reminded you of when you first helped out on the farm. It was skeptical and analytical, with an undertone of disbelief.

“No, not at all. I’ve wanted to go home all day, but I haven’t had any customers come in.”

“Then why not just go’on home then?”

“I can’t, not yet.”

That was obviously not the answer Big Macintosh was expecting as one of his eyebrows rose and his jaw lightly set into place. You both stared at the each other, waiting for the other to speak first. Eventually though, Big Macintosh’s silent gaze whittled you down, and you began to speak as you let out a loud sigh.

“Listen Big Mac, I’m going to let you in on a secret and I’d like you to keep it that way… please?”

The big red stallion looked right into your eyes as you said this, obviously considering what you had asked. But after only a few seconds of this, a smile broke out across his face as he answered you with confidence.

“Alright then, but if its sum’thing idjet like, and Applejack be needing ta’know, yah know mah answer.”

You only blinked at the stallion, this time being your turn to disagree with his answer seeing as he just insinuated you were up to something dumb. Big Macintosh only laughed a bit as he looked at you, sat on his haunches, and raised his forelegs in defense.

“Now hold on. Yah know dang well as ah do that Applejack will tan mah hide if ah kept sum’thing like that ah secret from her. Specially if yah might end up hurt.”

You took this into consideration as you nodded your head and smiled at him.

“Okay, fair enough Big Mac. So you’ll keep this a secret then?”

“Sure ah can.”

You both smiled at each other as he looked at you with a hint of merriment in his eyes.

“Though can’t rightly speak for her and her friends.” The merriment in his eyes invaded his voice as he nodded his head towards Lyra. You followed his eyes and turned to look at the sea foam unicorn.

Lyra was still sitting on her stool, studying your hand as a quill floated in her magical aura and…

“Lyra?”

“Hmm?”

“D-did you just draw faces on my fingertips?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Why?”

“Well, you said your fingers have names, so now they have faces too!”

You could only stare dumbfounded as she smiled at you and then turned around and began to draw a face on her hoof too. You had felt something ticklish on your fingers, but you assumed she was just tickling her chin like she had before. The laughter from the giant red stallion quickly made you turn around to look at him with an unamused expression, which only seemed to make him laugh a bit more as he tried to speak.

“Ah don’t-hehe- Ah guess we ain’t got to-heh- to worry about her friends. They seem-hehe- seem like the quiet sort ta’me.”

Your still unamused expression at his joke only seemed to make him laugh a bit more. However, as you had found out from Pinkie Pie, laughter was contagious, and you soon found yourself sharing a small chuckle with him.

“Okay, hehe, yah better go on and tell me what yah up to then.”

“Alright Big Mac, heh, you better lean in so I can whisper this to you.”

Admittedly, a blank stare was not what you had expected Big Macintosh’s reaction to be like when you told him your plan. You had divulged as much information as you could to make sure he understood what you were trying to do. And, seeing at it was simply gathering bits to take Applejack out to a fancy dinner while in Canterlot. You felt the plan was rather self explanatory after that. However, his aforementioned blank stare had started to make you feel like you had perhaps left something crucial out of your explanation.

Whatever that was, you didn’t have the faintest clue.

“Yah know you’re an idjet, right?”

“Okay, you’re going to have to elaborate a bit more than that.”

“He’s saying you aren’t very smart.” Lyra suddenly spoke up as she continued to fiddle with your hand, seemingly impossible for her to get tired of it. You had assumed she hadn’t heard anything of what you told Big Macintosh, so it was a bit unexpected that she had, but not completely out of the realm of probability. Especially when you cast a cursory look at her direction, and found out that one of her ears pointed in your direction said otherwise.

"Yes Lyra, thank you for-"

However, what was completely unexpected was what you saw when you looked at your hand in her hooves.

“Lyra…” You spoke as you wrestled control of your fingers for a bit to wiggle them. “Please tell me you didn’t glue those little paper hats to my fingers…”

“Well, they wouldn’t stay on.” She replied innocently as she went back to playing with your hand.

The palm of your other hand automatically flew to your face as you let out a deep sigh, and looked at Big Macintosh.

“Yes, you're right, I am an idiot…’

The giant red stallion simply remained quiet for a while as he looked at you and the straw in his mouth shifted from one end to the other. Once the straw had settled though, he simply shook his head and let out a sigh as he looked at you, and then around at the inside of the shop.

“Heh, sorry, didn’t mean to offend yah or nuh’thing. It sounds like a grand’ol time. It’s just… Ah know yah doing this cause ya love mah sister. But ah imagined that by now, yah at least had an idea of what mah sister likes. Seeing as you’ve been with her for a few months now.”

“Well, I do… At least I think I do.”

“Then yah know she ain’t all that into ah fancy dinner at ah fancy restaurant, so why go with such ah plan in ta’first place?”

Hearing Big Macintosh say this made you think about your own doubts about your plan. You had thought the same thing, but hearing it from somepony else, helped to put it into perspective.

Simply put, he was right. He confirmed what you already knew since the idea popped up in your mind. Applejack wouldn’t truly enjoy the fancy dinner, it wasn’t her thing. She’d love it because it was a gift from you, to show her how much you loved her. But beyond that, she’d feel out of place throughout the whole dinner, and not say a word. And you knew this, simply because that was just the kind of mare she was.

Applejack was special to you.

She was so different from the girls you’d been with before, back on earth, and that there was the main issue with your idea for the whole thing. You were not on earth anymore, and you were approaching this whole issue as if you still were, as you always had before. Because that was the only way you knew.

“Wow, old habits die hard I guess…”

“Huh?”

“No it’s just…” You paused as you tried to figure out what you were trying to say. It was kind of hard not to feel a bit disappointed in yourself at that moment, seeing as you had wasted so much time gathering the recommended bits for such an endeavor. The whole realization simply made you hang your head a bit.

“I guess I fell back into some old habits, from back when I-” You stopped suddenly as you felt something bump you on the shoulder and remain there. You turned to look, and found a giant red hoof resting on your shoulder, which was attached to the giant red pony across from you, smiling.

“Applejack has been mighty concern about yah lately. Told us ya been ah bit distant. But also told us ya lately had this look about yah as if ya was homesick, though ah guessed that was just ah small part of the issue.”

For a few seconds, you simply stood there, looking back at Big Macintosh’s hoof on your shoulder as your mind worked through everything, as it all fell together.

There was a reason you had fallen into those old habits from back on earth. Why your subconscious kept throwing them into your new life. And that was because those habits, those actions, had a purpose.

Back on earth, they had been actions that could have led to a desirable ending. To a desirable goal.

You hadn't even realized, or for that matter thought about what your relationship with Applejack meant to you. How all that effort you had put into your plan, and the plan itself. How It had never really struck you as a form of being homesick. But as a form of you dealing with realizing you had made up your mind, long ago, perhaps even before that day when you woke up in Applejack's bed after escaping Ponyville.

Your old life would be a memory. And you wanted nothing more than to do everything possible to make your relationship with Applejack work. Simply because in this new life of yours in Equestria, you wanted her to be a part of it...

For the rest of it.

Heh, who would have thought it?... Marriage, huh?... Your thoughts rang out before you began to feel an all too familiar smile spread into your lips. You hoped it wasn't too evident what that smile was about as you eventually turned up to look at the giant work horse.

“Nothing gets past you or Applejack, does it?”

“Nnope. And seems tah'me like yah found what yah want..”

“Heh, yeah, and what I want right now is to go home. And, well, home is where the heart is. And right now, I’m homesick for Applejack.”

There was a long pause as you continued to smile and felt Big Macintosh’s hoof drop from your shoulder as he stared at you. His expression was one of disbelief, and a hint of him almost trying to hold back a gag.

“Now that there was mighty cheesy...”

“Yeah, you’re one to talk. I’ve heard you and Fluttershy going at it, shmoopy-doo.”

Well, that was a rare sight to behold. You didn’t think the red stallion could get any redder as his eye darted to the sides as if checking if anypony else had heard that. Lyra though, did her best to hide her giggles. And after a bit, slowly, he began to shake his head and chuckled as he began to smile.

“Yeah, yah got me. Funny what ah purdy mare can do to ah fellow.”

“Eeyup!”

You both broke out laughing and it took a bit for both of you to settle back down. Eventually though, you two regained some form of composure as ye fell silent once more. With the exception of the occasional chuckle that is.

“So on that note, how’s Fluttershy doing?”

“Well, mighty excited ah’d say, in her own way that is. She’s starting to show ah bit now too.”

That was to be expected. After all, you would have been rather surprised if after everything, Fluttershy didn’t end up with a foal. Although you had been more surprised to see Big Macintosh had survived the process when he stopped by out of the blue to deliver the news. Touching moment for you as friends, to see the other had survived.

Though, you did have some choice words for him about leaving you at the mercy of Pinkie Pie.

Ah, fond memories… Terrifyingly, fond memories.

“She’s back at the farm with Applejack. We was gonna have a family lunch so they sent me on down ta’drag yah home. Applejack gave me permission to tie yah up and drag yah if ah have to, but ah told her she’d have to do that herself.”

Oddly enough, you couldn’t help but smile at the imagery of Applejack waiting with a rope. And a pair of boots…

And a corset.

And your mind just kept on wondering till you knew you had a dumb smile on your face. The end image made you feel your face a bit hot as you cleared your throat and tried to act casual.

“Yah was thinking sum’thing about mah sister, weren’t yah?”

“W-what?! No!... Nothing like that.”

Damn mind reading horse.

“Uh-huh.”

“No, seriously, I was just thinking it was about time I went home and enjoyed our vacation time. Besides, I may not have what I set out to get. But I'm pretty sure I just thought of something even more worth wild to use those bits towards.”

Big Macintosh only shook his head as he chuckled a bit and looked at you across the counter.

“Then lets go on home, before Fluttershy and Applejack come get us.”

“Alright Big Mac, just let me steal my hand back from-”

Before you could finish that sentence, a noise you had been hoping for all day rang out as three ponies stepped into your shop ad made their short way to the counter, pushing past Big Macintosh. To your surprise, you immediately recognized two of the ponies, Thunderlane and Caramel. The third pony though, a unicorn with a snow white coat, blue mane, and green eyes was completely unknown to you. Big Macintosh simply arched an eyebrow at the unknown unicorn, and then looked over at you. Lyra, for her part, remained on top of the counter with your hand in her hooves, no longer playing with it as she looked at the ponies in the room.

“Caramel, Thunderlane, long time no see! Haven’t seen you since the heat! Welcome to Apple Barn Repairs and Goods!”

All three ponies simply looked at you, unblinking, before Caramel and Thunderlane broke off their little small group and began to look around the store while walking around. Their behavior was a bit odd, to say the least, but not as odd as the unknown unicorn that remained at the counter, looking at you.

“Umm, okay, can I help you?”

“You’re the human, right?” The unicorn finally spoke, his voice sounding rather odd, almost as if it had a hiss to it.

Instinctively, you looked around to see if he was referring to someone else.

“You’re not from around here, are- Hey! Caramel! Please don’t go in there. That’s my workshop.” You interrupted your conversation to call out as your attention was suddenly drawn to Caramel as you saw him push open the door to what had once been your room.

At the same time though, out of the corner of your eye, you caught sight of Big Macintosh turning around to look at Thunderlane, who was standing in front of the door with his wings extended, looking oddly smug about something. And off to your side, you caught a barely audible gasp from Lyra as you felt her grab on tighter to you arm. You couldn’t help but to turn to look at her as well.

She looked angry, with a slight hint of fear.

“Okay you three! I don’t know what the buck is going on but-”

“Hold still.”

“Huh?”

No sooner did you turn to look at the strange unicorn, when his horn suddenly flared and something smashed into the back of your head. There had been no time to react. Sound seemed to drop a few decibels, and you sluggishly heard Big Macintosh call out your name before the faint sounds of a struggle breaking out drowned everything out. Your legs suddenly felt like wet noodles as your vision wasted no time in beginning to fade, and your arms uselessly grasped at the counter as you fell to the wooden floor. You could faintly smell the sweet smell of apple jam.

That bastard unicorn had smashed one of the jars from the shelf behind you into the back of your head. Your mouth opened as you continued to fall behind the counter, barely holding on to consciousness. You were going to call that smug looking face of his insults that had never before been heard in Equestria before.

“You mother board… potato yam… down your coat!”

Oh right, jar of jam smashed to the back of the head. Coherency was out the window.

The unicorn’s rather confused expression right before being tackled by Lyra was the last thing you saw as you lost your fight against gravity and let go of the counter. The wooden floor greeted you with that traditional hardness that you’d come to expect from things around you when you really needed them to instead be soft and not concussion inducing. You could still faintly hear bouts of the struggle sounding out around you as your vision faded into black shadows that seemed to engulf everything before slightly retreating.

Almost immediately, without warning, the sound of something slamming against the wall behind the counter was the last sound you heard as the struggle died down. It was quickly followed by something soft and furry landing on you with a pained yelp, before going still. Painfully, you managed to force the shadows back for only a bit, just enough to see Lyra on top of you, while somepony loomed over your head. It was the white unicorn, but…

A flash of green fire was all you saw as the unicorn was suddenly replaced by a black figure. You couldn’t make out what it was, but you immediately recognized the same hissing voice. That thing was the white unicorn.

“THRow THeM in tHE cARt!”

“You…”

A black hoof across the face was the last thing you remembered as the words left your unconscious lips.

“… ass”

Author's Note

AH HA! Another chapter! This one took me a while but I managed to get it moving along. I already had about two thirds of it done, but after reading it. Well, it was much too slow paced and headed in a completely different direction than what I wanted it to.

So, I re-wrote some parts and fixed up a bit. Well, tried to fix it. Too many awesome things kept getting in the way and I get distracted easily.

But yes, new chapter after a whole month of nothing. If you notice, its a bit less comedy and more action-like. Even if only a little. Trying to work on a better balance, so hey! You lot get to be tortured by-I mean, you lot get to be entertained by it.

Next chapter coming as soon as I can get it done!

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.