Chapter 8.

The moonlight filled Matthew’s room as Luna still tried to enter Matthew’s mind in hopes of waking him up from his slumber yet each attempt made her angry. She was meant to protect him and she is failing.

“If you were chosen to use the magic of the sun and moon you would be powerful enough to save him from this magic.” A voice whispered deep within Luna’s mind.

“I don’t need Celestia’s magic, the magic of the night is all I need.”Luna snapped back at the voice as she was still using her magic to try and enter Matthew’s mind.

“Yet here you are still struggling to even enter his mind, if you would just listen to me and take the power of the sun you could save him.”

“I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” Luna used her magic to force the voice back from where it came from.

“You can’t keep me back forever Luna, you know what you need me to do!” The voice faded from Luna’s mind and a silence soon washed over her. She opened her eyes to see Matthew still sound asleep. She knew deep down maybe if she had been given both magical powers of the sun and moon maybe she could have maybe broken through this magical barrier. Yet she knew those dark thoughts were not going to help her. With a deep sigh of frustration she sat back in her chair with no idea how to truly help Matthew.

Luna felt something touch her hand and she looked to see Matthew’s hand and she looked up to see Matthew staring at her “H-Hey.”

“You're awake!” She pulled Matthew into a strong bear hug which shocked Matthew. He smiled and hugged her back.

“Sorry for worrying you all.” He said fighting back the tears as he felt guilty for putting them in a worry state.

Luna pulled away and looked at him “Don’t you be sorry for what happened.” She said, wiping the tears from her eyes “What happened?”

“Oh, um, how am I doing that spell thing.” Matthew said out loud which caused Luna to blink and then “Oh right.” He closed his eyes and a spark of magic flew into Luna and soon she heard everything Matthew had heard “Saves us time he said.”

Luna shook her head then looked back at Matthew “Wow, so much information to process.” Her mind had so many questions “Your long death.” She looked away from Matthew as she thought of the right words “Make sense why you seem younger than me, I was wondering about that just figured it was because of you being a half breed, not much is known about the lifespan of a half human/half pony.” Luna stood up and moved towards the window her mind still in deep thought “Sword the old man spoke of is in the Everfree forest, it was the first Pony kingdom before the forest became darken by a magical effect that to this day no pony could figure out what had happened to the place.” She looked back at Matthew “There are many things still within those walls, finding the sword will be hard but not impossible, we’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

Matthew slowly moved out of bed, his body still stiff. “We should go now.”

“You're in no condition to leave right now Matthew.” Luna said making her way over towards Matthew and stopping him “Night in the forest isn’t smart, there are things that lurk inside and will hunt us, best we go in the morning.” She used her magic to keep him from moving. “You still need to rest.” Matthew felt his body being moved back to laying down “I can still sense your body is stiff and needs rest.”

“A-Alright, I’ll wait.” He said letting Luna lay him down “I-I’m feeling a bit thirsty can I have some water?”

Matthew looked out the window and slowly sat up, he thought about bolting out the window yet knew he needed to listen to Luna. After a little while Luna returned with some water and handed him the cup, he smiled and thanked her for the water “Trust in Luna and trust in yourself Matthew, you will help her through the darkness within her.” The man’s voice echoed through his mind. “What darkness is within her, how can I help her through that?” He thought to himself as he looked at Luna, he couldn’t even tell there was something dark lurking within her.

Celestia sat in her room with papers scrolled about and her eyes were beginning to become sore from all this reading “How’s it going?” A soft voice said, causing Celestia to jump “Sorry sweetie, didn’t mean to scare you.” Moonlight said walking over to her daughter.

“All these laws and regulations are a lot.” She said using her magic to place some of the papers to the side “Most of them I don’t want to sign as it just harms more humans then helps them.”

“That’s your father making things harder for you.” Moonlight said placing her hand on her shoulder “A letter arrived from Luna today, she’s staying a few days in Ponyville then plans on heading to the human ruins to explore a bit there.”

“Interesting she’s going there after sending Twilight there, wonder if she found the vault?” Celestia thought “That’s good she’s safe, hopefully her trip to the human ruins goes smoothly.”

“Knowing your sister, she will find the most fun path that has all the twists and turns.” She said chuckling “Remember when she got lost? We searched for her for hours and she could have taken the easy path instead she went down the path full of mud and water.” She said, chuckling at the memory.

“I was so worried about her, yet dad felt no worry.” Celestia said, angry with her father.

“He worried in his own way.” Her mother said knowing he did worry about his daughter.

Solar Heart looked at the two stallions before him, his trusty Royal of the guards Shining Armor and his second in command Glitter Armor “Shining Armor stay here and keep watch over this area till Glitter Armor and I return.” Solar Heart said moving towards the door.

“As you wish sir!” Shining Armor said saluting.

Solar had Glitter follow him into a wagon and the two set off to an unknown location.

“If you don’t mind me asking your grace, why am I needed?” Glitter asked.

“You will see in due time.” Solar said with a smile.

Twilight used her magic to once again light up the room.

“Oooooo this is such a big door!” Pinkie Pie said, looking at the large vault door.

“You said this symbol was glowing?” Blaze asked as he looked at the symbol for infinity.

“Yeah, then it stopped after an hour, as if something triggered it.” Twilight said as she brought the light a bit closer to the symbol “If we can figure out how it was triggered maybe we can open this door up.”

“Are we sure we wanna open it?” Pinkie Pie asked “Why would anyone build something with as you said strong powerful magic to keep everypony out? What if this thing is holding the curse for an evil birthday party!?”

“Whatever is inside it was built to last.” Blaze said as he placed his hand on the door “This magic it’s something that can unlock everything that was taken from us.”

The two looked at Blaze as he kept his hand on the vault door “We’ll get that knowledge back Blaze.” Twilight opened up her book “So far I have figured out a couple of the symbols, Chaos takes control.” She closed her book “That’s just a rough translation, however maybe it’s speaking of the chaos the humans had when the war broke out?”

“Well you are better at this than me, I’m going to make some food and make sure no one’s sneaking up on us.” Blaze said moving away from the vault door “You two take it easy.” He walked up the steps leaving the two alone.

“I’m going to explore some more, good luck Twi!” Pinkie said, jumping away leaving Twilight alone to continue her work.

Blaze walked through the empty halls when Pinkie Pie appeared next to him “Hey! So about what you said, are you mad at us ponies?” Pinkie asked.

“If I were mad at you, I wouldn’t have joined the children of the night.” Blaze said, still walking. “However yes, I am mad at the past ponies for what they did, it’s up to us to fix the mistakes of the past and move forwards.” He said with a little bit of hope they’ll find a way to free all of humankind from the chains.

“That’s good, for a moment I thought you were mad at us.” She said with a big smile “Once we have the supplies I will throw you an awesome party!”

Blaze chuckled “Thank you Pinkie Pie.”

Applejack slowly awoke from her slumber, her mind still hazy from the dream she had. Her heart felt a tug as the image of Matthew appeared in her mind smiling. Applejack flitched a bit at the image, seeing his lifeless body on the ground hurt her, then that strange magic brought him back yet he still wasn’t awake. She let out a painful sigh as she got out of bed. The sun was just starting to peak out “Ah better get cleaned up and go check in on Matt. Hopefully he’s alright.” She thought as she made her way into her bathroom and began getting ready for the day. Big Mac had kindly taken over the family reunion role in running things while she dealt with Matthew.

The warm water washed over her waking her body up from its slumber, and her mind was focused on Matthew and his lifeless body. She sighed as she let the warm water run down her face “Ah never want ta see him like that ever again….. Will he even be the same after dyin’?” She thought as her eyes opened up and she was staring at the ceiling. She fought the thoughts out of her mind.

After a quick shower Applejack left her bathroom and walked over towards her closet with a towel wrapped around her and her hair wrapped in a towel. She grabbed the clothes she planned on wearing today and began to dress. With everything nicely on she grabbed her fathers hat off her nightstand and placed it on her head and looked at herself in the mirror, the bags under her eyes showed she hadn’t had much sleep “Once Ah know Matt is alright I’ll get a goodnight sleep.”She thought as she made her way out of her room and down the stairs. Some of her family were still asleep yet there were a few that weren’t, some of her cousins were in the kitchen drinking ale and playing poker with one another. Applejack rolled her eyes, their party didn’t even end at the crack of dawn. She made her way out of the house and towards the guest house and the smell of pancakes filled her nostrils and her heart skipped a beat.

The smell of pancakes filled the whole house and which caused Luna to stir from her slumber and she moved down the stairs to see Matthew cooking breakfast “Morning, I-I hope you like pancakes, oatmeal, and hashbrowns.” He said with a smile.

“You didn’t have to make breakfast Matthew.” She said, looking at the breakfast before her, “This does look yummy.” She took a seat “Where did you learn to cook like this?”

“Sawdust taught me a few things and the rest I learned on my own.” He said as he placed a plate in front of her and a cup of coffee. He turned and went back to cooking.

Luna took a bite and her eyes widened as the food tasted delicious. “You are a master chef.” She said taking another bite.

“It’s not my best work.” He said as he flipped a pancake.

The door opened and the two could see Applejack stepping inside. Her eyes landed on Matthew and before Matthew could say hello or good morning he felt her hug him “Ya alright!” He heard Applejack say, as she held him tight. Matthew didn’t know what to do or say at this moment. He felt her pull away as he then felt Applejack touch his face “Ya are alright right?” Applejack asked with concern in her voice.

“I-I am.” He said.

Applejack smiled and removed her hand from his face and then looked at Luna “So, what did ya find out? What spell helped him awaken?” Applejack was now facing Luna asking her questions.

“Nothing I did worked, however.” Luna looked at Matthew who was standing there still in a bit of shock from the hug and worry Applejack had. “Matthew, why don’t you use that spell to help fill her in.”

Applejack blinked in confusion “Spell?” Applejack looked at Matthew who snapped out of his daze.

“O-Oh right, um give me your hand.” Matthew said as he reached out for her hand and she did as she was told. Next thing she knew she had seen everything Matthew had seen with the mystery man. Applejack found herself now sitting in a chair as her mind was spinning “S-Sorry, you okay?” Matthew asked, showing his own worries about her.

“A-Ah’m fine Matt.” Applejack said with a weak smile “T-That’s just a lot ta take in.”

“Yeah.” Matthew said as he went over to the stove and grabbed a plate of food for Applejack and placed it in front of her “Here, this should at least help.”

“Ya didn’t have to make this for me.” Applejack said as she looked at the food and her stomach let out a growl, which caused her cheeks to turn slightly pink which made Matthew chuckle.

“Eat up.” Matthew said, returning to his cooking.

“So you're now caught up, he’s pretty much immortal and now we have to train him fully.” Luna said, taking another bite of her food.

“So that vault ya sent Twi ta check out was a bust then?” Applejack took a bite of her food while she asked the question.

“Yeah, I’ve sent her a letter this morning informing her of everything so far, if anything human knowledge is out there, it’s not in Avalon.” Luna sighed a bit as she took a sip of her coffee.

“So now what?” Applejack asked as she looked over at Matthew who was flipping some pancakes.

“The same plan we already had before, however, we’ll train him here in Ponyville.” Luna said as Matthew looked at the two “I hope it’s fine if we stay here to train him.”

“Of course it’s fine, Ah ain’t gonna kick Matt out of here.” Applejack looked over at Matthew who was placing some food on a plate and making his way over to the table “Sawdust wanted him in a safe place and there ain’t no safer place than here.” After what had happened yesterday Applejack vowed to make sure nothing hurts Matthew again “Ya can stay here in the guest house as long as ya need to.”

“I’ll gladly pay rent.” Luna said as she finished off her plate and was now sipping her coffee.

“Ya don’t need ta, Matthew here already covered the cost.” She said slapping Matthew’s back a bit causing him to blink in confusion.

“Huh? When?” Matthew asked, confused.

“The picture ya made me, that covered the cost.” She said with a grin.

“If you say so.” Luna said smiling at the two “Fate really wanted these two to meet.” Luna thought as she watched the two.

“I’m going to find Nigh Fire, you eat up Matthew then we’ll head to the forest in search of your sword.” Luna said, as she stood grabbing her dishes and placing them in the sink and leaving the two alone.

The two sat in silence for a while till Applejack broke it “So, how are ya feelin’?” Applejack asked, looking at him. She could see his eyes looking at his food.

“T-To be honest,” He slowly looked up at Applejack “I don’t know how I feel.” He could see she was looking at him and he kept his eyes locked on hers “So much has happened, and now here I am, an immortal human with no idea what I’m going to do.” He looked away and ate his food. He didn’t know if he could do what was being asked of him, he was born a slave, yet now he’s supposed to change things.

He felt a hand touch his hand and he looked to see Applejack’s hand “Whatever happens ya got support from all of us.” She said giving him a bright smile and without thinking kisses his cheek causing the two to blush “A-Ah better go check on how everyone one else is doin’, Big Mac is takin’ over things for awhile and Ah just wanna make sure ”

“I’m sorry, I know this reunion is meant to be a relaxing and fun time and now you have to deal with all of this. ” He said feeling bad.

“Now ya don’t worry about that, Ah’ve had so much fun already with ya and now we have a lot ta do. ” She said getting up and patting the back of Matt’s back “Ya take it easy alright? Ah’ll be taggin’ along with ya’ll when ya head into the Everfree Forest.” With that she left Matt alone with his thoughts.

He placed a hand to his cheek where Applejack left her kiss and he slightly smiled “What is this I am feeling?”

“That my dear boy, is what is called feelings of affection or as some call it, a crush that can lead into love.” He heard the first king’s voice say within his mind.

Matt blinked a few times at the king’s words “I-I’m in love?”

“It would seem.”

Twilight, Night Shimmer, Pinkie Pie, Blaze and Spike all sat by the fire as Twilight used her magic to place the last of her books in her bag “We now know what the vault is thanks to Luna and this information she found, it’s a cage keeping a chaos God locked away which explains some of what I translated.”

“While the vault is a dead end for knowledge however.” Night Shimmer brought out a book “I did find this hidden within a secret room, it’s human made and I’ve translated a bit of it, the book holds some spells I’ve never seen.”

“Mind if I take a look at it?” Twilight asked.

Night nodded and allowed Twilight to take the book. She skimmed through the book and her eyes lit up “You are right! They are spells!” She looked at Night “We’ll have to study this back in Ponyville, I have so many books that can help us translate and even understand some of these spells.”

“How can two wanted criminals hide in Ponyville?” Blaze asked as he took some food from his bag to snack on.

“Applejack has a farm, I’m sure you all can stay there, I can bring my research there so we don’t have to worry about anyone watching us since I’ve been hanging out there before.” Twilight said hoping that will make them feel better.

“There is also the old castle ruins.” Night said “We can easily setup defenses to keep the timber wolves out and any other critters from showing up in the castle.”

“Then you two will go to Ponyville?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Night Shimmer looked at Blaze who nodded “That would be a yes.”

“We’ll leave first thing in the morning.” Twilight said with a smile.

Luna looked over at Night Fire who looked like she hadn’t slept all night.

“You’re lucky he got away before you caught up to him, hurting him isn’t how we operate.” Luna said looking at Night Fire who kept her eyes away from her.

“It was my job to protect him, Luna, and that son of a bitch killed Matthew and I failed to protect him.” Night Fire fists were clenched as the rage in her eyes filled her soul. She felt Luna’s hand touch her shoulders.

“I know, I want nothing more than to harm him as well but if we do what he did we are no better.” Night Fire looked at Luna who she could see was angry as well “Now we will train Matthew to protect himself and we’ll guide him.”

With a heavy sigh Night Fire looked away from Luna and down the dirt path “I won’t fail you again.”

“We both failed Night Fire, let’s not fail him again together.” With that Luna removed her hand from her shoulder “I shall handle taking Matthew to the old castle, you need rest and the Everfree Forest isn’t much of a threat to me.”

“If you're sure, I can stay awake longer to help protect you both.” Night Fire said looking back at Luna.

“The element of honesty will be with us, she won’t leave Matthew alone.” Luna said, chuckling a little.

With a nod and a yawn, Night Fire put her faith in the two and made her way towards the house and found her bed to sleep on.

Matthew watched as Night Fire walked right past him with a slight wave and he waved back only to watch her disappear to her room for the day. Luna soon appeared in the room with him as he was finishing up cleaning the dishes from breakfast “D-Did she find him?” Matt asked, knowing why she was tired.

“She missed him by a few minutes.” Luna said looking at Matt “Once you’re done we’ll be going into the forest, I have a bow outside and some arrows as I’ve heard you're pretty good with a bow.”

“I’m not the best but can handle it just fine.” He said placing the last of the dishes away and drying his hands.

The door opened up and Applejack stepped inside “Are ya all ready?” She asked.

“Yup.” The two said together.

After a few hours of walking the three stood before the old ruins of the castle of the ponies. Luna noticed some of the towers were still intact while others were caved in.

“Now, this will be like finding a needle in a haystack, Applejack, Matt, you two search the west wing and I’ll search the east.” Luna said looking at the two “Does that sound like a plan?”

“Ya sure you’ll be alright by yourself?” Applejack asked.

“I have my magic to protect me.” Luna said with a wave of her hand a light blue magic moved. Luna used her magic to summon two lanterns and handed them to Applejack and Matthew “Just in case you need a light.” They took them and the three went their separate ways.

Matt and Applejack walked together through the halls, sunlight lit their path, they came to a large room with books on the floor, some ruined, others still on the shelves “Ah don’t think the sword will be in here.” Applejack said, looking around.

“Maybe it’s a pen sword.” He said, cracking a smile which caused Applejack to chuckle.

“Now ya got jokes.” She said playfully punching his shoulder. This made Matt smile more.

The two looked around the room and found another hallway leading to another area and made their way down it. The hallway slowly grew darker and they pulled out their lanterns to light the way. As they walked the floor clicked and the two were sent falling down a tunnel, Matt without thinking wrapped his arms around Applejack, with a slam Matthew hit the ground hard with Applejack on top of him he felt sharp pain rush through his body “Matt! Are ya alright?” Applejack asked as she quickly removed herself from him and was kneeling above him.

“I-I’m alright, J-Just need a moment.” He said huffing and grunting in pain.

“Ya don’t sound alright.” Applejack slowly helped Matthew up and her eyes went wide as she saw some blood on the back of his neck, she saw the black mist before slowly healing the wounds “You could have died again, ya can’t do that.”

“I wasn’t trying to die.” He said looking at Applejack who had a few tears slowly escaping her eyelids and rolling down her cheeks, he reached out and slowly wiped the tears away “I didn’t want you getting hurt, I completely forgot I couldn’t die.”

She wanted to give him a good smack yet resisted the urge “Ah don’t care if ya can’t die, Ah don’t want ta see ya harmed.”

“I’ll try and not too, I just wanted to make sure you were safe.” She helped him slowly get to his feet and the two looked around the room.

“Ya don’t have ta risk your life to keep me safe.” She said looking into his eyes and he looked deep into her.

“I can’t promise that, if I can protect you I will.” He reached for her hand and gave it a light squeeze “You have a family that needs you, I can’t die, you can.”

Applejack squeezed his hand back and sighed “Ah just don’t want ta see ya die again.”

“I can try and not to die, just can’t promise it.” He said hoping this would be fine for her.

She gave him a light smile “You try ya hardest then, if ya die once on me Ah’ll smack ya good.”

He gave her a light smile back “I will try my hardest.” With their talk done the two picked up their lanterns.

“Now, where are we?” Applejack asked out loud as she looked around the room and noticed they were inside a jail cell and she sighed “Well, this isn’t good.” Applejack said looking at the bar doors in front of her “We are pretty much stuck here, hopefully Luna can find her way down here to us.”

Matt walked up to the bars and lightly pushed the bars and they fell to the ground with a loud thud that went through the whole room “I think someone forgot to lock the door.” He said chuckling which caused her to chuckle.

“I’m sure the whole castle heard that thud.” Applejack said stepping out into the hall “Ah think this is the old dungeon area.” Applejack looked at Matt “Let’s try and not fall into another hole.”

The two walked together side by side both keeping their lanterns high allowing them to watch out for traps. As they walked Applejack felt their hands brush and Matt felt their hands brush as they walked as well. He didn’t know what possessed him to, he reached out and grabbed her hand and held her hand in his. Applejack didn’t say a single word as they walked hand in hand however if anyone could see their faces they were red as tomatoes.

Meanwhile With Luna.

Luna found herself in the armory with old swords, shields and armor laying around on the ground. “None of these are his swords match what was shown.” Luna said as she tossed another sword to the side. Floating beside her was a magical image of the sword shown in Matthew’s mind floating in the air “What would my ancestor have done with a human sword?” She thought for a moment when a loud thud rang through the whole castle causing her to jump up “What in the world was that!?”

Back with Applejack and Matthew.

Applejack and Matthew stood within a large room filled with human artifacts, from armor and swords to even written books. Applejack held one book in her hand as she read through the book “This is ya history Matt.” She handed Matthew the book and he took it.

“I’m sure your friend is going to have a field day here.” He said as he looked through the book. The words before him weren’t equestrian and in a language he’s never seen before “I guess I’ll have to learn how to read these now.”

“One thing at a time.” Applejack said giving him a pat on the back “Ya first need ta learn that sword of yours.”

“It has to be here somewhere.” He said as he placed the book back where Applejack pulled it out from and the two walked around the room with their lanterns keeping the room lit.

A light glow Matthew spotted coming from a box nearby and he opened it up and found the sword the old king showed him and he lifted it up, it was still within the old holster. He felt the flow of magic within him connect with the sword and he felt the sword old magic connecting with his “Good, the sword is now connected with you and I can teach you what I know.” He heard the king's voice say within his head.

“Um, are you always watching?” Matt asked the king.

“Not always, I felt the magical connection and wanted to inform you.” The king said “Don’t worry, I’m not watching you try and get close with the young mare, your love life is our own. However if you wish for help I do know a few things about love.”

He felt the king slowly fade from his mind and he looked over at Applejack. He felt his heart beat a little faster as she looked at her “Am I in love with her?” He thoughtas he held up the sword towards her “Found it.”

She smiled and walked over towards him “Ya sure this is the right one?” She asked, examining the sword.

“King said it was and I felt it connected with this magic I had.” He said as he looked at the sword. Applejack took the sword and used the straps to place it around his waist.

“We’ll have ta fix the straps a bit, however it looks good on ya.” She said with a big smile on her and he felt his cheeks heat up. The two were close to one another, he was getting lost in her emerald eyes.

“My, I see you two found a secret room.” The two turned to see Luna standing near a stairwell, her lantern shining bright. Luna could see a sword strapped to Matthew’s side “Is that the sword?”

“It is.” Applejack said stepping away from Matt with such red on her face Luna was grinning.

“That is good, what else did you two find?” Luna asked, lifting her lantern up looking at the many books in front of her.

“Oh, we found a lot of old books that are written in the human language which is Matt’s history.” Applejack said as Luna lifted a book from a shelf and looked at the pages within.

“You are right, I wonder why these are down here.” She closed the book and placed it in her bag “I’ll have to come back here later and collect a few of these books, for now I’ll just take one.”

“Maybe this is a trophy room.” Matt said looking at each one of the items around the room, from the books to the armor suits each item looked like something brought here to be shown off to someone collecting them.

“This was once a large pony kingdom, chances are this place was made to laugh at the humans who could never reach this room.” Luna said looking at Matt as she frowned a bit “I’m sure Twilight will be coming in here and digging through the many books.” With that said she looked back towards the exit “Let’s get going, we have what we came for and I don’t wish to be here when the sun goes down.”

The two nodded and followed Luna out of the room and up the stairs.

Unknown Temple.

Sparks of lighting wrapped around Glitter Armor’s body as his soul being removed from his body and being absorbed into the Centaurs mouth and the seals around him were shining bright. With a flick of the Centaurs hand Solar felt a part of his soul slowly remove from him and enter the now empty vessel. It was hard at first for Solar to control two bodies “It will take time however you will have the full memories of this young stallion’s memory which will allow you to act like the stallion till you are ready to fully take over.” The Centaur said with an evil grin.

“W-What happened to his soul?” The two split Solar’s asked.

“I have absorbed his soul.” He continued to grin.

“You should rest for a bit, your bodies will need a bit to adjust to what I have done.”

Solar’s two bodies moved towards the side and he took a seat “This is all strange, it’s as if I’m using mind magic.”

“It’s a bit like that.” The Centaur said keeping his eyes on the king “As time goes on you’ll be able to be two separate being’s and one at once.”

The king blinked a bit “This is weird, seeing through two sets of eyes, it’s making my mind spin.”

“Like I said, rest for a bit and focus on your mind.” The Centaur moved back to the middle of the seal “I shall be having this mage be by your side through your process.”

Before the king was a hooded figure he couldn’t see the face of “I shall help you through this, clear your minds and feel your souls.”

Sweet Apple Acres.

Applejack took a seat by the warm fire. Her female family members were sitting by drinking ale and playing some music which made her smile slightly. “So, that Matt fella, what’s his story?” Applejack looked to see her cousin Apple Fritter sitting there with a smile on her face as she took a sip from her ale.

“All Ah know is he’s been through a lot.” Applejack said as she was handed a bottle of ale.

“For a human he’s pretty cute.” Applejack looked at a mare with short green hair and her blue fur was a bit dirty from working in the fields. “I have only ever seen some of the older humans who age like bad wine.”

“Now that’s just rude Apple Butter, just like we ponies we all age like bad wine if we don’t take good care of ourselves.” Apple Fritter said, poking Apple Butter cheek.

“Still, he’s a looker.” Apple Butter said, taking a sip of her ale “If only it wasn’t against the law for humans to date ponies, I’m sure he would sweep all mares off his feet.”

“I’m sure he might accept offers for some fun time.” Apple Fritter said with a grin “I know a few places to the north that host human parties where mares and colts can be with humans.”

“Those places treat humans badly.” Applejack said cutting into the talks “The humans don’t even have a choice half the time, they are forced into those kinds of acts against their will.”

“I-I haven’t been to those places I’ve just heard about them.” Apple Fritter said.

“Ah know, ya savin’ yer self for that one true love.” Applejack said, teasing her cousin.

“What about you? Have you been to those places?” Apple Butter asked, looking at her cousin.

“No, Ah’ve heard everything about these places, they ain’t good fun as some mares and colts claim it to be.” Applejack took a sip from her ale as she remembered hearing about brothels that had humans being forced into sexural acts. Many who were saved from these places were never the same. “If ya ever go near those places remember they aren’t happy there.”

“Was Matt a rescue there?” Apple Butter asked, taking a sip from her bottle of ale.

“He hasn’t said.” Applejack now wondered if he’s been in a place like that on his long journey. Then the memory of their hands holding flashed in her mind. “The trauma of those brothels leave a long impact on humans, just a single touch will cause them to freak out and have a breakdown.” Twilight's words rang out through her head at the memory “Matt didn’t hesitate holdin’ my hand, he might have not been through such a thing.” The warmth of Matt’s hand appeared in her mind and her cheeks began to heat up which caused the two mares sitting by the fire to look at her with a puzzle look which Applejack quickly shook her head of the thoughts “A-Anyways, how’s everythin’ goin’? Has Big Mac been? Ah hope he’s handlin’ everythin’ alright.”

“Granny’s been on his tail for awhile, however, he’s doing a good job.” Apple Fritter said taking a sip from her ale and then a grin appeared on her face “Are ya busy courting this human? Is that why you're taking time away from things?”

Applejack’s already redden face was now showing even brighter from the ale’s effects “W-What, no! Matt just lost someone who was like family ta him, Ah just want ta make sure he’s alright.” That was part of the truth while the other he wanted to make sure he was safe after he died once already. She took a sip from her ale trying to force the memories of their hand holding.

“You can’t deny you have feelings for him.” Apple Fritter said moving closer towards her cousin and keeping her eyes on her “I saw the way you two danced that night, the way you two connected was something I’ve only ever seen in those old fairy tales.”

Applejack kept her eyes off her cousin and looked at the fire before her. “What connection and to who?” The three girls looked to see a rainbow hair and blue fur girl with wings flapping a bit behind her “Sorry I’m late, been busy.” She said while taking a seat by Applejack “What did I miss? Did you find a colt?” Applejack noticed a bit of jealousy on her face. Which caught her off guard.

“Applejack here has a crush on the human Matt here.” Apple Butter said with a grin “She just won’t admit it.”

“You like Matt? When did this happen?” Dash asked, her eyes narrowed on her.

Applejack blinked “It’s not what ya think Dashie, these two are mistaken.”

“Then what was that dance? You two were about to kiss at the end when that poor mare fell and passed away.” Apple Fritter said remembering everything that happened that night.

“You need to tell me everything!” Dash said staring down Applejack who in return was confused.

“W-Why is she actin’ like this?” Applejack thought while now surrounded by her cousins and her friend talking about a crush she had on Matthew and Dash was staring her down as if something was taking away her wings “W-What do Ah do?”

To Be Contunied.

Author's Note

A longer chapter like I wanted, as always enjoy!