Applejack was twisting and turning in her bed. She couldn't get herself to rest. Her head felt like it was being whacked with a hammer. Her room was practically creating ice, and her stomach was just crying for something to digest. Applejack turned and moaned for another minute before giving in and getting up from her bed.
At least I can take care of one of those things, she thought to herself. She sighed and walked out of her room.
The orange mare rummaged through the kitchen, looking for anything to snack on. All she could manage to get her hooves on was a big bowl of pineapple slices. She was about to question why the other residents of the Sweet apple acres had even bought pineapples, considering that none of them actually ate them, but she shrugged it off and started to stuff the juicy, sweet slices in her mouth. It didn't take long for her to finish the entire bowl. She washed the empty bowl, put it away, and grabbed a bottle of cider. She chuckled as she popped the bottle open.
"Ah really shouldn't drink anything hard this time a' the night... but hey, no harm in a single time! Besides, ah need somethin' ta warm me up a bit."
She chugged down a good bit of the beverage, put the half-full bottle back, and returned to her room.
The farmer pony grabbed a second cover from her closet, and got back into bed. She was feeling a little better than before, and with her stomach satisfied, the feeling of cold relieved, and her headache sedated by the slight buzz of the sweet booze, she managed to drift off into a state somewhere between a light sleep and a deep slumber.
Applejack was gently awoken from her slumber by the tingly feeling of the morning sun's rays playing on her face. She slowly opened her eyes and for some reason she couldn't explain a smile appeared on her still sleepy face. She pulled her covers up a bit and relished the soft and comfortable feeling of the covers against her body, and the warm breeze blowing against her back. She hummed contentedly at the feeling of hooves wrapping around her, and she-... . Applejack's eyes shot open and her sleepiness and comfort were instantly forgotten.
Hold on for one applebuckin' second! "The feelin' of hooves wrappin' around me?" What in tarnation is-... !
Her thoughts were disturbed by the feeling of something rubbing against her neck, something which she could only imagine to be a unicorn's horn. As for the breeze she felt earlier... she could now tell it was the feeling of somepony breathing up against her back. Shivers were running down Applejack's spine in unison with the pony's breaths. She struggled to free herself from the prison like embrace and she launched herself out of her bed. With an expression of fear and confusion plastered to her face she stared at the pony occupying her bed. Only now did she notice the light snoring noises he was making, and the occasional sleep babble he was uttering... at least, she assumed it was a male pony. Compared to the other stallions and colts she was used to seeing around Ponyville it looked very... feminine, but its voice, though soft, sounded a bit masculine for that of a mare.
Applejack hesitantly reached out for the pony and she carefully nudged him. As the pony slowly opened his eyes and sat up on the bed, the covers fell off of him, revealing two things Applejack did not expect to see. The first thing was a set of wings. They fluttered for a while, as if they were trying to shake off his sleepiness. The second thing was his cutie mark. Truth be told, if it wasn't Applejack looking at him nopony would've noticed the significance of the birthmark on his flank. His cutie mark was one that the farmer pony was intimately familiar with, it was one of three red apples.
The confused mare glanced at her own flank and then back at the pony in her bed. Their cutie marks were indeed identical, which only served to confuse Applejack even more. The apple themed cutie marks were a trademark of her family, and this colt was definitely not a relative. The Apple family exclusively consisted of earth ponies. There were no unicorns, no pegasi, and most certainly no alicorns!
Applejack approached the stranger occupying her bed. She squinted and stared the colt in the eyes, he challenged her gaze with a similar one.
"Who are you?" Applejack asked.
The colt didn't answer her question, instead he slowly pushed her back out of his personal space and plainly stated
"Ya breath smells!"
Applejack just blinked. She wasn't sure how to retort to that, but then again, she didn't really get a chance to, because directly after he said that, he stood up from the bed and followed it up with
"Ya reek of alcohol! Ya been drinkin' again, haven't ya AJ?"
Applejack stood flabbergasted. Apparently this pony knew her, but she was fairly certain that she had never seen him before. He walked in circles around her and he stopped behind the mare.
"And yer flank is gettin' fat! Have ya been-..."
**SMACK!**
The alicorn colt was silenced by a swift and powerful buck to the face. His vision blurred and he fell to the ground. Applejack harrumphed.
"Y'all should be more careful with yer words. Ah don't take to kindly to insults, Sugarcube."
Her last word had an air of sarcasm to it. Three voices sounded from the other rooms of the farm.
"Did them kids go invitin' ponies over again?" she heard her grandmother say.
"Who in the world are you?" sounded the squeeky, high-pitched voice of her little sister.
"Well I'll be!" she could hear Big Macintosh exclaim from his room.
Applejack looked at the unconscious pony on the floor. "Sounds like ye're not the only troublemaker here." She walked to the door. "Stay put, ah gotta check this out fer a sec."
