"Just the one Earligold? That'll be two bits, pardner."

The white unicorn stallion hoofed over the bits, and took his apple. "Alright, thanks dude." He took a loud bite out of the fruit, and lifted the purple sunglasses he wore up his brow to inspect the apple more closely. "Damn, this just might be the best apple I've ever had!"

"Thank ya kindly sir. Hope you'll swing on bah another day, always a delight havin' new customers." Applejack waved to the stallion as he walked off through the market square.

The afternoon was drawing to a close, as were Applejack's market hours, he peeked into the bin stashed beneath the shelf, he'd made quite the haul today. 'That new plow should only be a couple weeks away at this rate.'

He set about packing away the apples still laid out on the cart and folded the top down, hitching himself to the front to begin hauling it back home. As he passed through the park he cast friendly smiles to and greeted various ponies he knew from around town. 'Seems everypony couldn't help but get out in the fresh air foe such a lovely day as today', he thought to himself.

He then noticed his friends, Rainbow Blitz and Pinkie Pie, no too far off. Blitz was simply bouncing a ball off his head and back while Pinkie observed with intense concentration, presumably keeping count of the bounces. 'Then again, ya never can tell what's goin' through that gal's head', Applejack chuckled to himself. The pink party pony then started hopping up and down and chattering the way Pinkie was wont to do, distracting Blitz, who let the ball fall to the ground as he shot his bouncing friend an annoyed look.

Continuing further down the path, the workhorse noticed the object of his not-so-secret affections, Fluttershy, standing with her back to him and staring off in the distance at something, what Applejack couldn't tell. It was obviously distressing her, whatever it was.

Applejack took actions and trotted up quietly beside her, attempting to give her fair warning before he opened his mouth and nearly scared the legs of the poor girl. "Howdy, 'Shy."

She jumped ever so slightly off the ground in surprise, and turned to look at the large stallion. "Oh, good afternoon Jackie. Did you do well at the market today?"

"It was a mighty fine day fer sellin' some apples, thank ya." An awkward pause. "'Shy, is everythin' alright? I noticed ya were lookin' a mite distressed here."

"Um, well... I was actually looking over towards the mountains, and I noticed this trail of... smoke."

"Smoke, huh?" Sure enough, when Applejack cast his glance in the direction of the mountain range, there it was. A black row that was endeavoring to cover over the entire sky. "Hoo-wee. That don't look too good, reckon we should tell somebody 'bout it, darlin'."

Fluttershy blushed slightly at the stallion's choice of words. "Oh, I tried to tell everypony, but well, nopony really wanted to listen."

Applejack frowned at that. Even with his intense infatuation for the mare before him, he was still well aware that she needed to pony up and assert herself more sometimes. "Well let's fix that, sugarcube." Applejack was taking a deep breath in, about to call out across the park to grab the pony's attention, when --

"Listen up!" The voice of one Twilight Sparkle rang out across the park. Everypony directed their attention to hte bridge on which she stood. "Smoke is spreading over all of Equestria."

Everypony finally took notice of the growing mass of smoke beginning to overtake the blue sky above them.

"But nopony worry. I've just received a letter from Princess Celestia in forming me that it is not coming from a fire..."

Several sighs of relief were released, Flutershy visibly relaxed a bit. "Thank goodness."

"It's coming from a dragon!" Finished Twilight. A new mess of paniced expressions spread throughout the group of ponies.

Fluttershy, stiffened on the spot, obviously terrified. "A- a- d-d-d-dragon?" She toppled sideways into Applejack, and fainted leaning against the stallion.

A couple hours later, and the group - that is Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack - had reached the mountain, and had begun to make their way up the first slope. The group looked back to notice Fluttershy still standing at the bottom, looking mortified as ever.

Blitz was the first to speak up. "Hey! What are you waiting for? An invitation?" he called down the slope.

Pinkie hopped up ecstatically, "Ooh, I think I have one in my bag!" She then jumped behind a rock, only to pop out a second later with a card held in her mouth, sending a blast of confetti straight into Rainbow Blitz's face.

"I-it's... so... steep." Fluttershy murmured back up to the group. Seeing her so terrified nearly broke Applejack's heart, but he knew they needed to get her up the mountain if they wanted any hope of getting that dragon out of there. He reached for the map sticking out of Twilight's saddlebag.

"Applejack, what are you doing?" Twilight questioned.

"I'll need this if Ah'm gonna find us another way around this here mountain." He stated, and began sliding down the slope to meet up with the pegasus at the bottom.

"Ugh..." Rainbow Blitz groaned incredulously. "Around the mountain? that'll take them forever."

Applejack reached the bottom of the slope, and looked back up to the group. "Don't y'all worry none. We'll be there before ya know it." The two ponies at the bottom watched as the rest of the group turned and continued their journey up the mountain. Once they were out of sight, Jackson turned to his companion. "Come on now, sugarcube. We'll find an easier way up for ya."

"Oh, thank you Jackie. You're so sweet." She brushed her side up along Applejack's as they began walking around the base of the mountain, causing the stallion to sport a blush warmly.

"Yer always welcome, darlin'."

They had found a much smoother path, and though it had taken them quite a bit longer than the previous route would have. Applejack wasn't about to imply that he didn't enjoy the time spent with his lovely pegasus companion.

Being that they were now coming up on a space where the path seemed to widen, Applejack thought it might be a good time to take a small break, but they had to keep moving if they meant to catch up with the others.

Suddenly he heard a rumble from above, and looked just in time to see a medium-sized boulder rolling down the rock-face towards them. He nudged his companion forward, and both sprinted forwardto the widened area, out of the path of the falling rock. After checking overhead to make sure there were no other loose boulders that might try to crush them, Applejack decided it might be a good idea to take a small break to slow the beating of his heart, however no such relaxation would come.

"Jackie?" He heard the voice of his crush address him. "Can- can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, sugarcube." The stallion answered. His expression turned to one of worry when he noticed the downcast look on his distant yet oh-so-near beloved's face. "What's on yer mind?"

"I just..." She hesitated. "Why are you always so patient with me? Even when my timidness seems to wear on everypony else, you're always so sweet to me. to most I'm just the pony who's scared of her own shadow... I'm nothing special." She looked down, dejectedly.

Jackson immediately jumped into defense mode upon hearing this, moving in closer to the mare and placing a hoof under her chin to bring her face-to-face with him. "Hey now, darlin'. What's got ya sayin' that?" He pressed gently. "Ya are special. I know it, so does everypony else. Yer talented, stronger than you know, and more beautiful'n..." He froze up and blushed heavily, realizing what he'd just said.

Fluttershy was blushing rather hard in this moment as well. "Y-you really think... me? Beautiful?"

Applejack tried to find a way out of this jam he'd talked his way into. 'What are ya doin'? Don't ya wanna tell 'er how ya feel, ya damn fool?' Of course his thoughts played his voice of reason, he came to his decision. "Well- Ah... yes. Ah never meant to tell ya like this, sugarcube, but it's out there now. Ever since I first met ya Ah had feelin's fer ya somethin' fierce."

"R-really?"

"Darn right, sugarcube. In fact I know what yer fear of that there dragon must be like, 'cause, well..." He trailed off, unable to finish that thought.

Fluttershy's concern for this stallion instantly overcame her shyness. "Oh my. Applejack... are you afraid of- me rejecting you?" She received a bashful nod in confirmation. "Why? I'm not too good for you, if anything you're out of my league." Applejack's eyes widened in surprise at this. "I mean, you're successful, hard-working, outgoing, and possibly the most..." She hesitated once more. "Handsome stallion I know. You don't really want to be associated with somepony as plain and boring as me."

Applejack was completely taken aback. 'Too good for her? Me? But she's absolutely wonderful!' His confidence in speaking was regained once more. "Now 'Shy, Ah hope you ain't implyin' Ah'm a liar of some sort when I say y'all are beautiful... and kind, strong-willed, sweet as sugar, and a whole mess of other things that make me absolutely crazy fer ya. Why, I would like nothing more than to take ya fer just one night out on th' town, so's I can prove to ya jest how wrong you are in sayin' those things."

"I- I would really like that, Jackie." She responded quietly as she nuzzled her head up under the large stallion's chin. "Maybe after we get rid of this dragon, though?"

"Why a'course, darlin'! Now..." he turned around to continue up the path, his companion moving alongside him, "...shall we continue onward, m'lady?"

"Oh yes, we shall..." She giggled, and they continued up the way, remaining close the entire time.

Author's Note

Well damn, I took my sweet-ass time getting this done, didn't I?

This fic is actually approaching it's end. I decided to make the wrap-up quick n' dirty, since I have ideas for other sequels, prequels, and tales concurrent to this one I want to put out sooner rather than later. The next chapter will most assuredly be the last.

Thank you for not giving up on this story!

-- WetWilly

Chapter title stolen from my favourite band, The Flaming Lips.