The day was a bright and sunny one, with a warm breeze steadily flowing across all the land. And while the main town of Canterlot was as busy as it usually was on this weekend day, there was one spot, just beyond its borders, that was about as far removed from that hustle and bustle as you could get; Sweet Apple Acres. This farm, the ancestral homestead of the Apple Family, stretched on for ages, and at this time of year the many apple trees there were green and healthy, creating a feel of bounty and plenty to all who saw it. And speaking of those looking upon the place, that was now the action of one Flash Sentry, who walked through the many orchards with a smile upon his face. He steadily made his way past the numerous trees, looking upon their sumptuous-looking fruits, but always focused upon his final destination.
That destination was none other than the central home of the Apples, a house of white timber that looked about as homely as one could possibly get. For the most part, there seemed to be little activity at the house, but when Flash took a few steps closer, he could hear the unmistakeable sound of Granny Smith, humming some kind of song. After looking around for a bit, he could see her through one of the windows in the side, apparently in the middle of some kind of cooking. But before he could call out to her, his eyes focused on a closer choice, as the looming figure of Big Mac now emerged from behind the house.
"Afternoon, Mac!" Flash called out.
The larger boy, who was currently carrying a rather heavy-looking crate of apples, turned to look to the newcomer, putting on a smile when he actually caught sight of him. He set the crate down on the ground for the moment, just in time to see Flash walking up to him.
"Pretty nice day, right?" the boy asked.
Mac nodded.
"Eyup."
Flash looked to the right, then the left, before casting his eyes back to the larger figure.
"I...er...I got a call from your sister last week. Something about needing some help today?"
Again, Mac nodded.
"Eyup."
Flash looked to him, clearly awaiting some extra answer beyond that single word. But as with most things, Big Mac simply looked to him with that smile of his, all while Flash looked on awkwardly.
"So...um..."
"Hey there, Mr Flash!"
The second voice caught him off-guard, and he spun around immediately. There, walking towards him, was Apple Bloom, wearing the kind of happy smile that only the young could wear. Flash returned the expression as much as he could, given his still-surprised state, and as he folded his arms, he stayed silent as the girl started speaking to him again.
"Y'all here for mah sis?"
Flash nodded, prompting Apple Bloom to turn around. She raised her hand, pointing out towards one of the orchards.
"Last ah saw, she was headin down that way. Towards the old pond, ah think."
For a moment, the boy looked to where she was pointing, to the large and denser-than-normal collection of trees in that direction. After taking a few seconds to take in those instructions, he smiled to the girl.
"Thanks, Bloom."
Apple Bloom returned the grin, looking to Flash as he began to walk past her, giving her an appreciative pat on the shoulder as he did so. But before he could move off entirely, the youngster spoke up a second time.
"Ya know, if AJ don't need ya fer anythin, ya could always catch up with Sunset or the like. It ain't been too long since she was here."
Stopping, Flash turned to look at her, looking understandably confused.
"Sunset? She was here?"
Apple Bloom nodded.
"Yep. Wanted ta talk ta mah sis bout somethin. Didn't ya know?"
Flash paused, considering that for the moment.
"Er...no, I didn't."
But he soon regained his smile.
"But it's fine. Those girls hang out all the time. If Sunset went out of her way to tell me every single time she went off to spend the day with them, I'd probably never get a moments peace."
Apple Bloom giggled to this, before promptly starting to happily skip off elsewhere. Mac likewise began to move away, picking up his crate and hauling it off towards the front of the house. Now alone, Flash cleared his throat, starting to make his way in the direction Apple Bloom had given him. The further he moved towards that particular collection of trees, the harder it was to move around. He considered that this must have been an older section of the orchard, given how much more dense and random the trees were gathered here, rather than the more orderly orchards elsewhere on the land. But press on he did, walking for a good five minutes in fact, moving past tree after tree until, finally, he found himself exactly where the young girl had pointed to.
"Wow...pretty."
Before him was, as promised, a pond. With the bright sun above, the water sparkled, and the surrounding ring of trees gave it the feel of a secluded place, a haven from all the influence of the outside. To Flash's dismay though, there didn't seem to be any sign of his host. Looking all over the place, he couldn't catch sight of Applejack, leading to him placing his hand upon the top of his head and scratching that spot for a few moments. But then, in the corner of his eye, he saw something. By a nearby tree, Flash saw the unmistakeable sight of clothing upon the grass. What's more, he soon realised that they looked very familiar to him. A pair of brown boots leaning against the tree's trunk. A blue skirt and green-and-white shirt, neatly folded besides it. And finally, a Stetson hat, hanging from a low branch. Looking upon those garments, one thought above all took hold in the boy's mind.
"...Oh no."
The boy's suspicions soon proved true, as the surface of the nearby pond soon burst, a spray of drops spreading in all directions. In the corner of his eye, Flash could see the figure, whose identity he already knew, rise from those depths, her blonde hair flipped behind her in a dramatic fashion as she emerged. Fortunately for him, he could only make out a brief general shape of the girl, as the instant this happened was when he spun his whole body around, just in time to keep his eyes as far away from her as possible. To further deny his eyes this sight, he raised a hand and quickly slapped the palm of it over his face, causing him to see nothing but darkness afterwards. He waited, for moment after moment, until finally, his friend's voice called out to him.
"Wha...Flash?!"
As the words reached his ears, the boy already knew how to respond.
"I didn't see anything! I swear!"
Again he waited, and there was a long and uncomfortable silence hanging over the place. Flash began to sweat heavily, as mental images of the consequences of his presence here began to repeat over and over in his mind. But to his eternal shock, none of those consequences then happened. Instead, he found to his surprise that Applejack actually laughed. Naturally, curiosity would normally get him to turn and look at her, but given the current circumstances, he remained where he was. Instead, he stayed in this one spot, listening as he could then hear the sounds of someone moving through water towards him.
"Heck, Flash. Y'all don't need ta fret or anythin. Ah know ya wouldn't peep. It ain't yer nature."
In spite of himself, the boy let out a long sigh of relief.
"I...I really am sorry, Applejack. It's just...your family said you'd be here and..."
But he was soon interrupted when the farm girl spoke up again.
"No harm, no foul, friend."
Hearing those words, relief washed over him instantly, though he still kept his vigil in covering his eyes. However, the situation soon changed for the uncertain, as he could then hear Applejack emerge fully from the water, taking a few steps onto the grass behind him.
"Um...ah don't want ya ta look exactly, but...could ya pass the towel?"
Flash paused, considering her request carefully. In the end, and ever so slowly, he parted a space in his fingers, opening his eyes through them in the tiniest of squints. Sure enough, there was indeed a towel on one of the nearby tree branches, and after taking a few deep breaths, he reached out for it. Pulling it down from the tree, Flash reached behind himself with it as far as his arm could go, waiting for his friend to take it from him. Thankfully she did so, and before long, Flash could hear what was undoubtedly Applejack drying herself off. In the quiet that followed this, Flash was looking, naturally, somewhat uncomfortable. So, he elected to fill the silence with some conversation, albeit of the hastily put-together variety.
"So...pretty warm today, right?"
A chuckle was heard from behind.
"Eyup. That's why ah'm here after all."
Flash returned the laugh, never giving in to the usual etiquette of actually looking at the one speaking to him.
"I guess...you wanted to cool off before we started on those chores...right?"
A pause followed his question, after which Applejack finally replied.
"Ah'm actually surprise to see ya here right now, Flash. Ah weren't expectin ya fer another hour at least."
Flash nodded.
"Yeah, well...I was planning on doing some guitar practice with Rainbow first thing today, but she had to cancel for some reason. So...I figured I'd come over early."
Another laugh was heard.
"Well, ah appreciate that, friend."
The boy kept his small smile, but before he had the chance to say anything further, he was halted by the sound of her clearing her throat. Squinting through his fingers again, he saw that Applejack had stretched out her hand to his side, the only part of her that he could see right now. She was giving a "please hand it over" gesture, causing some brief confusion in him. Thankfully he soon got the message, and slowly scooted over a few steps to the side, kneeling down and picking up her pile of clothes. For the barest possible second, he could have sworn he saw some form of underwear poking out from between the shirt and skirt, but wisely decided to simply close his eyes again, instead reaching behind himself as before.
"Thanks," Applejack replied as she took the clothes.
Flash nodded, again waiting in silence as she got herself prepared, which was easy to hear given that no other sounds were present right now, save for his understandably fast-beating heart. It took almost a full minute, but finally, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Y'all can look now."
Nervously, Flash began to slowly lower his fingers, which corresponded with the equally-gradual opening of his eyes. After a good long wait, he finally turned, and saw that it was just as Applejack had said. She was indeed clothed, save for the fact that she was still barefoot right now, and as she walked over to the tree, she gave her friend a quick smile and a nod. Flash returned it, watching her as she sat down beside the tree. Grabbing hold of her boots, Applejack took a few moments to pull them onto herself, before promptly getting up and finally grabbing hold of her hat from the close-by branch. It was only now that Flash noticed that her hair was still somewhat damp, hence why she simply carried the hat rather than wear it, and it wasn't longer afterwards when she turned to look at him.
"Well then...shall we?"
Nodding, the boy began to walk alongside her, re-tracing his steps on the route that had brought him here in the first place. Though things on his side were clearly awkward, and not without good reason, Applejack, for her part, was instead looking nothing short of calm.
"Thanks fer not lookin, Flash. That were pretty gentlemanly of ya."
Nervously, he offered a brief laugh to this.
"Well...my Mother didn't raise a peeper."
Applejack returned the laugh.
"All things considered, ah doubt ah'd have felt that bad if y'all had caught a look. We're friends after all. Ah'd have trusted ya."
Flash looked to her, looking somewhat uncertain about that.
"I...I have to say...I was expecting you to be way more upset about me being there while you were...well..."
He didn't finish, as Applejack already knew his concerns.
"Relax, friend. Ah know an accident when ah see one. Besides, if y'all were ta ask me what boy ah'd be comfortable havin around me durin all that...ah guess ah'd probably say y'all."
As one would expect, the boy didn't really know how to respond to that. So, as his mind frantically tried to come up with some kind of response, it instead conjured up the memory of why he was out here in the first place.
"So...what work do you actually need my help with?"
Looking to him, the farm girl gave a brief chuckle.
"Nothin too bad. Just helpin out takin our boxes of apples downtown."
A small smile crept onto the boy's face.
"Oh yeah, I think I saw your brother make a start on that already."
Applejack nodded.
"In that case, better hurry up then."
As the two of them continued to make their way through the densely-packed trees, a laugh escaped the girl.
"Ya know...if y'all get too hot from this today, yer always welcome ta cool yerself off in the pond. Heck, doin that stuff with friends ain't unheard of fer us Apples..."
Looking to him, she raised her eyebrow in a display of snark that would have looked more at home on the face of a girl like Rainbow Dash.
"...maybe ah'd keep ya company?"
He knew she was only speaking in jest, but even so, Flash couldn't help but blush slightly, fumbling his words as he replied.
"Well...erm...thanks for the offer, but I think I'd probably only want to do that kinda thing with my girlfriend. I mean...if she was into that kinda thing, I mean."
Laughing at his response, Applejack nodded, looking away from him briefly.
"Just with a girlfriend, eh? Well then...ah'll keep that in mind."
The boy hadn't heard her, but after a few more moments of walking together, he looked to her, a clearly curious expression upon his face.
"So...your sister said you had a visit from Sunset today? Anything interesting going on?"
Though taken aback by his words, Applejack quickly regained her smile, letting out a short sigh before looking him right in the eye.
"No need ta worry yerself. We're just plannin a surprise is all, Flash."
Flash's curiosity grew at this.
"Really?"
Applejack nodded, chuckling slightly.
"Oh yeah...y'all can trust me on that one."
