Author's Note

Earning that red tag with this chapter.

Chapter 2

I don’t see Apple Bloom for the rest of the day, although admittedly a part of that is intentional. I want to give her some space after what definitely should not have happened, happened. The problem is that the more I work, the more time I have alone with my thoughts, and the more I’m forced to come to the unsettling conclusion that her reaction, and the kiss, may not have been the doing of my magic after all.

Maybe it was encouraged by it but…

The blushing, the stammering, the odd looks. I have no idea how I missed it before, maybe because I just have a blind spot when it comes to my friends’ siblings which I feel is entirely fair, but I’d be willing to guess that Apple Bloom has been nursing a fairly big crush on me for a while.

The more I think about it the more it seems likely.

To my knowledge, Apple Bloom never had any serious relationships while she was in high school. Not even a fling under the bleachers. She was always really serious about graduating with good grades and working hard. I tutored her a lot through her senior year because I admired her tenacity and drive.

Now I realise that may have been a mistake.

Not helping her, obviously, but I think I’ve been blind to her affection for a long time, and that did her no favors.

I don’t know if she exclusively bats for her own team the way I do, but I can’t help but wonder if my presence kept her from having a healthy relationship with a girl her own age.

Written’s Quill, as if I needed more guilt.

By the time night rolls around I’ve pretty much convinced myself that I ruined Applejack’s little sister by proxy if nothing else, and was really building up a good head of steam in the mental self-flagellation department by the time I was carrying the last basket of apples down the steps into the storage cellar of the barn.

The north orchard is the furthest from the Sweet Apple Acres homestead so it takes the longest to store from, but it’s also the smallest of the orchards so it balances out. Although I didn’t see Apple Bloom after we parted ways, I did see her at work. She's definitely got ‘the punch’ down because she was going through trees fast. Not quite at her sister's clip, but still, fast.

Me? Not so much. My hand starts killing me after four or five trees.

It’ll still take better than a week to clear the north, even with us both working.

“What am I doing?” I groan as I set down the basket by a barrel and start storing the apples.

It’s almost dark and the cellar is getting dim as I get to the last layer of apples at the bottom of the basket. As I kneel to grab one, I feel a hand go to my shoulder.

“Hey, AJ, I—” I start as I turn my head.

Eyes like rose apples are staring back at me. The apple drops from my hand as I stand up, open my mouth to say… say something… anything.

Instead, she kisses me again.

Apple Bloom all but pins me against the barrel as she leans against me, melts against me, and kisses me. Her hands go to either side of my face, and the pads of her fingers trace little patterns on my skin as our mouths move together as one. I’m doing it again. I’m not saying no even though I know that I ought to.

Instead, I’m holding her again. I’m pulling her closer. I’m deepening the kiss.

Compounding my mistakes.

Then she pulls back, her mouth still softly open and inviting, and to my personal frustration I lean in to kiss her. Not just reciprocating but initiating. I grip her waist, and a moment later my hands are moving lower, taking hold of her backside and earning a soft moan from Apple Bloom as I gently squeeze.

She draws back again, but this time it’s only to kiss along the side of my jaw, then along my neck. One of her hands wanders from my face to my shoulder, then down to cup my breast to give a soft, tentative squeeze as she tests her boundaries.

This is definitely where I should draw the line but I don’t. Instead, I let out a quiet, pleased sigh.

She moves against me addictively, shifting and pressing against my chest as she kisses down my collar, back up my throat, and along my chin until her lips meet mine again.

Then she draws back.

“Ah gotta go,” Apple Bloom says softly as she pulls away.

“Huh? Wha—?” I start, but she pecks my lips, putting paid to my mumbling, then steps back before turning and all but sprinting out of the basement.

“What…” I mumble, before licking my lips and tasting apples. “What the fuck just happened?”

Call me stuck in my ways, but I am not used to being the one getting topped then left wanting more. That’s my gig. So here I am, red-faced, with messy hair and some serious issues south of the border in the stocking cellar of my best friend’s barn wondering if maybe I might be the one who’s getting in over her head.

I finish my task in a daze before stumbling out of the cellar to head back to the farmhouse, intent on retrieving my leathers for the ride home.

“You a’right, sugarcube?”

Applejack is sitting in an old chair on the front porch nursing a hard cider. She looks exhausted, but in a good way. She looks like someone who worked hard all day and is enjoying the fruits of her labor. Literally.

“Yeah,” I say, forcing a laugh. “It’s just been a while since I hauled that many apples around, plus the north orchard is halfway to the Commons, so…”

“Aw, quitcher bitchin’ it ain’t that bad,” Applejack laughs, waving a hand. “C’mere’n take a load off, crack one open.”

“I can’t, I gotta drive,” I say, shaking my head. “Raincheck though, maybe when all this is done.”

“I’ll be cashin’ that check, for sure,” Applejack says as she taps the neck of her bottle against the rim of her hat. “Drive safe, sugarcube.”

I pass Applejack and step into the main room where my leathers are folded neatly by the couch, and sit down to start pulling them on. While I do I have time to reflect on just how much trouble I’m getting myself into, because Apple Bloom is all kinds of trouble.

Like, farmer’s daughter levels of trouble.

“You leavin’?”

I pause for a moment as I’m pulling on my leather jacket, then nod without looking back towards the voice as I finish yanking my arm through the sleeve.

“Comin’ back tomorrow?”

“I promised I would,” I say as I lean down to pull on my boots and lace them up. “The harvest isn’t done in a day, after all.”

“Do… do ya hate me?”

My brain comes to a slow halt as I stop tying off the laces. Then I sigh and finish up before standing and turning to face Apple Bloom as I tug my jacket straight around my shoulders.

What I see almost takes my breath away.

She’s wearing a long tee-shirt with what I think is a sports team logo on the front, but it’s too faded to tell. It hangs down her legs stopping just above her knees, and the look on her face is one of quiet pleading for some kind of affection. Some kind of assurance.

“Never,” I say with a smile. And I absolutely mean it.

Her face brightens, then she glances behind her before turning back to me and skipping over. I know what she’s about to do but either I’m not fast enough to stop her… or more likely I don’t care enough.

Apple Bloom pushes close to me and leans up on her tip-toes to press a soft kiss to my lips, and my hands move instinctively to her waist as she does.

“Drive safe, Sunset,” she says softly as steps away. “See ya tomorrow.”

“Y-Yeah,” I reply quietly. “Tomorrow.”

I can’t help myself. I reach a hand up and trace my knuckles down her cheek, feeling the soft warmth of her for a moment as she leans into my touch. Then I pass her by and head out the door, doing my best not to look guilty as Applejack waves good-bye, having no idea that, a moment ago, I was kissing her younger sister fifteen feet away from her.

The ride back home is a long one, but my mind is so occupied that the drive fairly flies by. I’m not even thinking of anything in particular beyond a pair of rose-apple eyes and soft lips. That shouldn’t be what I’m thinking about, but I am.

The funny thing is that if Apple Bloom were a stranger I probably wouldn’t be thinking twice about hooking up with her. The problem is that she’s not a stranger. She’s Apple Bloom! I’ve been to every one of her birthday parties for the past five years!

And that whole time she was probably looking at me in a way I didn’t realise.

Written’s Quill, I hate it when decisions are hard.

I pull into the parking lot for my complex, take my assigned spot under one of the covered areas, and dismount. The ride helped a little, but only a little. I’m still restless… almost nervous, but not quite. Tomorrow I'll be going to go back to Sweet Apple Acres, and I'll do it again and again and again for the next week while we work our way through the late-summer apple harvest.

Those apples are always the most fragile.

So I’ll go back, I’ll help, and all the while I’ll probably be working with Apple Bloom in the north orchard which means that, knowing me, I will definitely make more mistakes.

I was right.

“Bloom, we—mmph.”

It’s halfway through the day, and up until now, we’ve been working at a fair clip. Honestly, we’re way ahead of where I know Applejack projected we’d be, largely because Apple Bloom can pull off that punch with a hundred percent accuracy now.

That, of course, meant that the moment we started working in the same grid square of the orchard, Apple Bloom walked over to me, bold as brass, and pulled me into another kiss.

Naturally, I don’t even try to push back. Rather, I do the exact opposite because I make terrible life choices and most of my problems are self-inflicted. So I hold onto her, I pull her against me, and I savor the way her weight settles against me as I lean back against the tree I was about to shake down as indulge myself and Apple Bloom.

Everything smells like apples and flowers right now, and the taste of her lip balm really is something else. Right now, if I ignore the fact that I’m currently making out with my best friend’s little sister, I’d say that everything is perfect.

There’s a kind of silent agreement between us right now, I think, that we don’t talk about what it is we’re up to. Talking about it might make it feel a little too real. For the moment there’s a certain dreamlike quality to everything. Everything is just a little too perfect and I think we both know that talking about it will spoil it.

Still, we have to eventually.

That’s the part I dread.

Apple Bloom pulls back, smiling and blushing as she brushes a few strands of red hair from her face, then leans in and kisses my cheek lightly before stepping away and going silently back to her work.

I work through my grid square and then out and away from Apple Bloom’s set. I know we’ll eventually meet up again, but probably not until tomorrow, so I don’t get distracted again until it’s almost evening and Applejack comes strolling in through my neck of the woods with a fresh bottle of water.

“Hot damn, y’all’re gettin’ it done quick,” Applejack drawls as she passes me the water, which I have to fight my instinct to chug and instead drink down slowly.

“Yeah,” I say raggedly as I lower the bottle. “Your sister is almost as good as you.”

“Ah noticed,” Applejack says with a wry grin. “Also noticed she was knockin’ them apples outta the tree in one hit like she’d been doin’ it all’er life, ‘cept Ah know fer a fact she ain’t been able to figure out the trick of it… until yesterday.”

I wince.

“Don’t be mad,” I say before Applejack can continue.

“Ah ain’t,” Applejack says, waving a hand and grinning. “Bloom looks happier than she’s been in a long while, finally bein’ able to feel like a real Apple, even though we both know that’s a load’a crap… she’s as much an Apple as I am and always has been.”

“I know,” I say, feeling a wash of relief. “But believe me, coming from someone with serious self-esteem issues when it comes to feeling like I belong… I get it.”

“Ah know ya do,” Applejack says. “Part’a why Ah wanted’er t’work with ya. She respects you a helluva lot, sugarcube.”

“She respects you too,” I counter, frowning.

“Ah know,” Applejack repeats. “But Ah’m also’er sister, and siblings… well, we got a different way’a respectin’ each other, and there’s some stuff we just gotta hear from other folks.”

“I wouldn’t really know.”

Applejack winces then sighs and walks closer before throwing her arms around me and pulling me into a hug.

“Y’all got a family right here, sugarcube,” she says softly. “And you always, always, will.”

I nod, then bury my face against her shoulder as I hug her back just as hard. There’s something incredibly transient about being an orphan. It’s a feeling of constantly fading away, like no bond or link you have with anyone else is fully complete, and that at any time it might dissolve. I know that’s not true, especially with Applejack and her family. I know it intellectually, but feeling it is harder.

“Thanks,” I say as I step back. “A-Anyway, I better get back to it.”

“Sure thing,” Applejack says, smiling. “Just wanted t’letcha know we’re so far ahead Ah’m givin’ everyone the day off tomorrow. We’re makin’ great progress and frankly it’s supposed to blow past a hundred degrees tomorrow afternoon, so Ah figure maybe we skip that day and miss the heatstroke.”

“I’ll take that offer,” I say with a laugh. “Thanks, AJ.”

“Anytime, sugarcube.”

As Applejack walks away, heading back towards her own section of the orchard, all I can think is how that day off might be for the best. It will give Apple Bloom some time to cool her heels and give me some time to get my head on straight.

Right now, the constant proximity, the heat, and just how intense Apple Bloom is, makes it really hard to put up any kind of resistance. Especially since I really don’t want to and I’ve always been kind of crap at doing things I don’t want to do.

So I work until dusk, going through as many trees as possible until my knuckles are aching and my legs are burning. My whole body is slightly sticky with sweat and I can’t wait to get home if only so I can take a damn shower. I don’t see Apple Bloom the whole rest of the evening, not even as I’m putting on my riding leathers, which surprises me.

And, annoyingly, it also disappoints me.

I know I shouldn’t have been looking forward to kissing her goodnight before leaving, but I was. It’s probably for the best though, so I ignore the feeling and lace up my boots, tug my jacket straight, and head out to the driveway, waving back at Applejack who’s sitting on the porch, per usual, nursing another cider and looking over her family’s farm.

She once confessed to me that it was her absolute favorite thing to do in the whole world. Just to sit on that old wooden porch and watch the orchards and farmlands, and enjoy the land and the wind and the smell of it all.

I told her that being in love with her home was nothing to be ashamed of.

My bike growls to life and I open the throttle as I roll down the gravel road, get out onto the asphalt, and head for the highway. I won’t be seeing Apple Bloom until the day after tomorrow and by that point, I hope I'll have gotten my thoughts in order enough to have an actual conversation with her about what’s going on.

Part of me says I should tell Applejack but honestly, doing that feels like betraying Apple Bloom. She and I are both adults and I shouldn’t have to involve her older sister just because I’m too much of a coward to talk to her like one.

The ride home feels longer today, but I enjoy it all the same. The night air is still warm with the heat of summer bleeding up out of the street, and the wind is just enough to make it feel comfortable rather than cloying. The passing lights of the highway lamps, and eventually the lights of downtown Canterlot, race by me like passing stars and for a moment I let myself fall away into the speed of the ride and just live in the moment.

By the time I get home, I’m in a significantly better mood. I race up to my apartment, get inside, lock up, and immediately start stripping off my leathers as I head for the bathroom.

I’m really looking forward to that shower.

I spend a good half-hour under a stream of cool water as I sluice off the sweat of the day, scrub myself clean, and then just enjoy the milder temperature before I have to step back out into my too-hot apartment. I opened the window and set up my box fan before I took my shower, but that only does so much.

It’s not like the city is all that much cooler outside than it is in my apartment.

By the time I have the wherewithal to step out of the shower I’m feeling reasonably more human and a hell of a lot cleaner. I wrap the towel around myself as I step out, not quite willing to put even a light layer of clothes on yet with the heat the way it is, and walk out to my kitchenette where a cold glass of water is definitely calling my name.

I’m halfway through chugging it when a knock sounds at my door.

Frowning, I lower the glass and set it down, tie off my towel a little tighter, and head over to the door to peek through the spyhole.

The other side is empty, and that just makes me more suspicious. Then again, it might’ve just been a package being dropped off.

I make a quick sprint up to the loft where my bed is to drop my towel and change into my pajamas, a soft, red silk pair that Rarity made me for my birthday last year, and then head back down to open the door, ready and willing to throw hands if there’s a creeper on the other side.

No package, no creep.

I hold the door open for a moment, glancing around with narrowed eyes for a moment before pulling the door shut.

It doesn’t get halfway before I get tackled from behind prompting a squawk of alarm as a pair of familiar arms with gloved hands wrap around my waist and an extremely familiar weight settles on my back.

“Hey there~”

“Apple Bloom!” I pull away, staggering back and out of her arms with a scowl. “Written’s Quill, you just took ten years off my life!”

Apple Bloom’s smile falters as she steps back and tugs nervously at her thin jacket before kicking the door shut with her heel.

“Ah… Ah’m sorry,” she says shakily. “Ah just… Ah wanted t’surprise ya.”

“Well you did that!” I say, putting a hand to my chest as I try to slow the hammering of my heart. “What are you doing here?!”

“W—Whadya mean?” Apple Bloom asks softly, and the tiny pang of hurt in her voice puts a needle into my heart. “Ah’m… Ah came t’see ya.”

She moves a little closer, then a little more until she has both hands on my shoulders and she’s staring up at me with those beautiful rose-apple eyes, and against my better judgment, my hands find their way around her waist again.

“We got t’morrow off,” she continues, looking up at me with that sly smile of hers, “and Ah told mah sister Ah’d be out all night, too.”

Oh no. That’s a step too far, I am not going to—

Then she kisses me again, and like always, my brain goes dead silent. I don’t know what it is about the feel and taste of Apple Bloom’s lips, but apparently my brain has a 'Stupid' switch that acts as a manual override for my common sense and inhibitions, and Bloom kissing me flips it instantly. One minute I’m ready to tell her that this can’t go on, and that she and I need to come clean with her sister, and that maybe, maybe after that we can have a serious conversation about going out, and the next I’m kissing her like a dumbass.

As always, Apple Bloom’s intensity puts me on my heels and drives me back until I run into the couch. All the while more articles of clothing are dropping off of her. Her jacket goes first, and she somehow manages to kick her shoes off almost at the same time. Beneath that is a soft white blouse that hangs nicely off of her lean frame, and at some point during all of that my hands find their way to her backside again.

I draw my hands up the length of her body, and I think my original intent was to let go but it quickly turns into just touching her along her sides, then up her back until I’m teasing my fingers through her hair and getting a solid grip as she moans softly against my mouth.

Then she’s practically climbing me. Her legs hitch up to lock around my waist and her weight settles against me even more firmly as I’m suddenly carrying her. She’s surprisingly light, considering the stock she comes from and against my good sense and better judgment, boldly assuming I have any, I find myself slowly backing up the stairs to my loft.

All the while Apple Bloom is pulling her blouse off, then her thin tee shirt beneath it, and leaving them in a trail behind us until I bump against the side of my bed and drop down onto it, letting Apple Bloom settle into my lap as we continue to kiss.

I left my dignity and good sense downstairs and now… now I’m just following my instincts. I’d say that’s for better or worse but it’s definitely worse. My instincts are always bad, but I follow them anyway as I start tugging at Apple Bloom’s bra clasp until it releases and I move down from her lips, fixing my mouth over one of her nipples. I run my tongue across it, brush my teeth over the sensitive skin, and suckle, relishing that chorus of small, pleasured cries that come from her.

Apple Bloom’s fingers are already working at the belt of her jeans, pulling them loose, then shuffling them off, and I’m vaguely aware at this point that she’s got nothing on underneath them.

Cheeky little thing.

A moment later she’s pulling my pajama top off. Both of her hands find my breasts, kneading at them gently and sending little shivers of pleasure through me as I pull away from her to look up into lust-warmed, rose-apple eyes. Without a word, I turn to lay her down on my bed as she pulls my last bit of clothing off.

And I let her.

She’s lying beneath me, naked and beautiful, and for several heartbeats it’s all I can do just to stare at her. She’s flawless.

Slowly, I trace my fingers down her chest, across her navel, then lower. She doesn’t squirm or move away, she just nods with a small, shy smile on her face.

Damn it. Why does this have to feel so easy?

I lean down and kiss her warmly as I slide one finger across her slick entrance, up and down, and I savor the hitches in her breath and the soft moans she makes against my lips.

Apple Bloom’s whole body shakes in my arms as I slip a finger inside, first one, then two the moment I realize she’s comfortable.

Well, I was already pretty sure by this point that she wasn’t an amateur but now I’m positive. Emboldened, I rock my fingers in and out of her, settling into a tempo that has her bucking her hips against my hand and gasping against my lips in moments.

The real shock is when I feel her fingers slip between my thighs, pressing hard and pulling a guttural moan of pleasure from me as she slides two fingers inside and starts to give as good as she’s getting.

My legs wobble as, suddenly, I’m the one rolling my hips, and soon I’m lowering myself to my side and pulling her flush against me. I’m kissing her as I ride her fingers for several minutes while pushing her further and further toward her own edge until—

“S-Sunset, Ah’m close!”

“Me too,” I say breathlessly. “Come with me, do it~!”

Apple Bloom lets out a sharp gasp once, twice, then cries out as warmth spills over my hand, and I’m right behind her as I start bucking wildly, cussing fast and quiet under my breath as I finally come, drenching Apple Bloom’s fingers as I seal my mouth over hers.

For a long moment, we’re both just writhing against one another slowly, sensually, and gently. Her skin is so wonderfully soft, and my head is fuzzy with endorphins making the sensation that much more pleasurable.

When I do pull away from Bloom it’s only reluctantly, and I look down to see a face still heated with desire as she raises her hand, still soaked with my essence, and slowly puts her fingers to her mouth and licks herself clean.

“Uh…” I say intelligently.

“Lay back,” Apple Bloom says quietly as she pushes me down until I’m laying flat on my bed.

Then she moves to straddle me until I can feel the wet heat of her sex against mine as she settles into my lap, and after a moment of finding her balance, she starts to move.

“H-Holy shit!” I snarl as I grip her hips as she grinds against me.

I’m already way more sensitive than usual, so both the feeling and the sight of Apple Bloom riding me is bypassing every single thread of sense in my brain and wiring directly to my libido.

She’s riding me hard and steady, and I have to use my hands to keep myself from just wildly bucking my hips like a virgin on her first good night. Apple Bloom isn’t bothering to keep her voice down either, she’s moaning softly—she’s moaning my name softly—and that gets me going as hard as anything.

Between the sound, the sight, and the sensation, I’m already coming again a moment later on the heels of another stream of curses, while Apple Bloom hits her climax a little more gracefully as she cries out my name again before drenching my lap.

It is, hands down, the best sex of my life.

Apple Bloom goes slack on top of me, her head coming to rest against my chest as a contented purr takes up somewhere in my rib cage. I stroke her head for a while as I come down from the high she sent me to, and I hope to hell she felt as good as I did.

Without a word, Apple Bloom moves again, and I frown as she shifts out from under my hand and starts moving away from me.

“Are you o—OH!”

She moves down between my legs and buries her face between my thighs where, without a word of polite warning, starts to lick.

“Oh fuck!” I set both hands on her head and it takes all my self-control not to just grab her by the hair and start grinding against her mouth.

I know it’s not exactly classy but give me a break. It’s fuckin’ been a minute since a girl’s gone down on me.

“Bloom… don’t stop… don’t—oh fuck—don’t stop!”

I start shaking. Full-body shaking. And a moment later my hips are bucking and rolling against Apple Bloom’s mouth, and in the brief moment between fireworks going off in my head, I glimpse a sight that sticks fast in my brain: Apple Bloom, with her hair messy and her flushed cheeks, staring up at me from between my thighs with those beautiful rose-apple eyes.

She keeps me right on the edge with her tongue for long enough that I think I briefly go crazy. I do eventually stop orgasming though, thankfully.

Apple Bloom, for her part, stays between my legs long enough to clean me up with her mouth, give my swollen sex a little kiss, and then crawl back up into my arms and collapse.

I actually watch her fall asleep. On. Off. Deadass, like a light switch.

Awake. Gone.

“What,” I mumble, staring at Apple Bloom in patent disbelief, “the fuck was that?”

Whatever.

I curl up next to Apple Bloom and bury my face in her hair. I’ll figure it out in the morning, presumably before Applejack lynches me.

Whatever.

Worth it.