Chapters

Applebloom
Divin'
Applebloom
Coffee shop crush
Rockin' Hearts
Applejack and Soarin'
Applejack and Soarin'
plans and place to sleep
Street light, bar fight, you don't look right
The "picnic"
In charge

Applebloom
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

Applebloom

"Come on, Applebloom! Rise and shine! Up and at'em!"

I rolled over in my bed and pulled the quilt over my head. Why won't my sister let me sleep? Applejack's been yelling at me to get out of bed for at least five minutes.

"Applebloom!" She sounds serious this time. "You get out of that bed right this minute, or so help me, Ah'll have Big Macintosh drag you out mattress and all!"

I reluctantly rolled out of bed. I called her bluff on that threat once before, and I don't dare give her any trouble about going to school anymore. But school's on a break this week while they fix up the giant hole in the roof. She should know that! And she usually lets me sleep for another 30 after sunrise, but now the sun isn't even up! What's her problem?

I walked towards the door to-

"DONK!!"

"Ow!" Ok, I thought I was walking towards the door, but that was the dresser. At least, it felt like the dresser, it's so dark in here that I can't tell. And does my head really sound that hollow when it hits something?

I felt my way along the wall until I reached the door. When I opened it, a blur as orange as the morning sun ran past me. That was my big sis. She was runnin' back an' forth, grabbin' stuff and crammin' it into that big ol' rolling suitcase my brother bought her.

It's weird, Big Mac does all the shopping, but he never buys anything for himself. He also does all the cleaning. And most of the cooking, and most of pretty much everything.

"And pack yer things!" she yelled, apparently not noticing that I was right behind her. Pack? Why does she want me to pack? And what is she packin' for. Are we goin' somewhere? The train doesn't even start runnin' until 8:30.

"Why?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes, "are we goin' somewhere? It's the middle of the night, sis. Asides, I ain't got nothing ta pack anyway."

"Now what did I tell you bout them double negatives?" she said in her lecture voice, rolling her eyes an' tiltin' her head at me. "Ya ain't got anythin' is how ya go an' say it proper." She tossed a few last things in the suitcase and tried to close it. Just like I try to get my cutie mark, unsuccessfully.

"Well, I ain't got anythin' ta pack. Can Ah go back to bed now?"

"May Ah," she corrected me, "and no you may not. We gotta hit the early train ta Appleoosa." She started jumping up and down on the case in an effort to make it latch shut.

I yawned. "But the train doesn't go anywhere till 8." I could have gotten another full hour of sleep.

"Twilight." Jump. "Said." Jump. "There." Jump. The case clicked shut and Applejack slipped off of it. She caught herself before she fell completely and gave the suitcase a glare. I don't see why though, it was her fault that she slipped. "There's one headed through 'round about seven. Now grab yer bow and get ready."

"Ah'm goin', Ah'm goin'." I trudged back to my room and grabbed my hairbow. I hope trudged is the right word, Sweetie Belle told me it was when you walk slowly because you don't want to do something. I should probably ask my big brother to buy a dictionary.

As I was walking out of my room, the sun had just started to come up. In the now- What did she call it again? Oh, right! Illuminated! In the now illuminated room, I could see my crayons on the dresser next to my photos. I grabbed the crayons and went back out to the living room. I gave both the crayons and the hairbow to Applejack and she helped me put the bow in my hair. "Sis, where's Big Macintosh? He's usually the one who gets my bow."

"Ah don't know, Sugarcube." When she finished with my bow, she tossed the crayons in the suitcase. Kinda funny how you can always stuff one more item into a suitcase, no matter how full it it is. "Ah ain't seen him since lunch."

"Did something happen to him?" I don't think we'd be going to Appleoosa if something bad happened to him, but what if something happened to him that wasn't bad? I don't really know what that could be, but it could happen.

"He goes ta that dojo thing of his every night, if he didn't show up, Pete or Fluttershy would have told us by now." She opened the door and rolled the suitcase out to the porch. "Mac probably just stayed out too long and slept at the gym."

"But ain't he comin' with us?"

"If we can find him, but Ah think it's just gonna be us sisters this time."

"But-"

"Now look here, Mac is a big pony and he can take care a' himself. It's right there in his name, Big Macintosh. So cheer up, we gotta go. Granny's waitin' fer us, Twilight already took her to the station." She grabbed the handle of the suitcase and started walking across the porch.

I started following her. "Wait!" We almost forgot! "Ain't ya gonna leave a note? For Big Macintosh?"

She stopped and spit out the case's handle. "That's a mighty fine idea sugarcube." She went back in the house and I tagged along behind her. "What should it say?" She went into the kitchen and dug around in one of the drawers. I thought about it while Applejack fished out a pencil and a pad of those sticky notes that Mac bought.

"It needs to say where we're going in case he decides to follow us," I said.

"Gah ta Afaoosa," Applejack said around the pencil as she wrote, "aythi' ese?"

"He needs ta know who all went, so he ain't lookin' for nopony."

"If Ganny and Afe-oom."

"And how long we'll be there."

"E ack i ree days."

"And why we're goin', then ya can sign it."

"ew ree, Afejack," she spit the pencil back into the drawer, "done! Ah'll just leave this on the table, then we'll go."

"Put it on the fridge instead." Big brother doesn't eat at the table if he thinks noponies looking.

"Good thinkin' AB!" She stuck the note to the fridge and headed back for the door. "Now let's go get ourselves a tree!"

I followed her, all but, halibut, no, albeit? Yeah! Albeit at a slower pace. "Why the big rush for a new tree? Ya spent weeks plannin' out the last tree."

Applejack was tapping her hoof as she waited beside the door. "Ah assume yer talkin' 'bout Bloomberg? This right here is a slightly different situation. There's a merchant who's got one left, and they're gonna leave town with it in three days. It's s'posed ta be some fancy northern tree that grows apples in winter, so we're gonna go see what all the fuss is about."

"But why are we staying for three days?" Once I reached the porch, I climbed on top of the suitcase. I ain't walking to the train station this early in the mornin'. Besides, sis has plenty of energy. "Couldn't we just buy the tree an' come home?"

"We could," she walked up to the case and dumped me off of it, "and we might end up doin' just that, but we gotta be prepared to haggle and get a better price."

"Ok." Why'd you dump me? That wasn't very nice. "Maybe I can get a cutie mark in buyin' and sellin' stuff."

"Ya tried that one already, didn't ya?" She grabbed the handle of the cart and pulled it down the steps.

"Just with apples."

"And this is a whole tree." The suitcase wheels got stuck the moment it touched the grass in the front yard. "Ya might want to start with somethin' smaller." Started shaking the case and fiddling with the wheels in an effort to get the case rolling again.

"Like what?" I don't think that thing's gonna move.

"Uh-" She gave up on making the cart roll and yanked it up into the air before throwing it on her back, uprooted grass chunks and all. "We'll discuss it on the train, sun's risin' fast and we need ta get movin' afore we miss it." She took of at her rodeo running pace with the case on her back. With a sigh, I start following her dust trail. Maybe if I get left behind, I can do something with Big Macintosh. We had a lot of fun last time sis was out of town.

"... ..."

What was that?

"... ... ... ... ..."

It sounds like somepony talking. Is it coming from the barn?

"... ... ... .. ... too."

I know that voice! That's Big Macintosh! Yay! I get to stay! Hey! That rhymed! Maybe I can get a cutie mark for writing poetry!

I was just about to make a break for the barn when Applejack came running back. "Alright, if ya can't keep up, Ah can carry ya, but yer not even tryin'!"

"Ah don't have ta! Mac's in the barn," I pointed, "so Ah can just stay here!" Why did I point? Applejack knows where the barn is.

She rolled her eyes. "And what would Mac be doin' in the barn at a time like this? He don't drink, so Ah know he ain't drunk an' sleepin' it off, he wouldn't start his chores without breakfast, and he'd tell us if he brought somepony home. Ah can't really see any other reason he'd be in there."

"WAHH!" Before I could say anything else, she grabbed me by the tail and tossed me over her head. I landed on her back atop the suitcase which she had somehow managed not to drop.

"And hold on." With that, she ran back towards Ponyville. She didn't even stop to open the gate, she just jumped right over it. The rest of the trip to and through Ponyville was a blur. Mostly because I had my eyes clamped shut and was hanging onto the end of Applejack's mane like my life depended on it, but also because she was running really fast.

As we approached the train station, I could see a purple mass waving at us. It was Twilight, the unicorn librarian. She's a friend of my sister and comes to my school all the time to give presentations on things. But why is she meeting us at the station? Spike wasn't with her, so he's probably still asleep. He's helped my friends and me with enough of our crusades for us to know how much he sleeps. I wish I could be sleeping. Wait a minute! I've got an idea!

"Hey Applejack," Twilight said as we got closer, "hi Applebloom." I have to time this carefully.

"Hey ya there Twi," said my sister, "uh, where's Granny?" I have to wait for the perfect moment.

"Oh," Twilight pointed at the train, "she's already on the train, she's taking a nap in one of the private cars. She said she wanted to be wide awake when you start talking price."

Applejack let out a chuckle. "That sounds like her." I yawned, a nap sounds nice right about now. That's it, I can't wait any longer. I have to make my mo- "By the way, Twi, mah little sister's 'bout ta use her pouty face ta get ya ta let her stay at the library." There was an awkward pause and I was left with my mouth hanging open, the words I was about to speak dead and falling from my tongue like so many bad apples. Well, that plan's ruined. How'd she know what I was about to do? That honesty element thing hasn't given her metal telemetry, has it? Applejack turned to look at me with a smile. "Mental telepathy? Nah! I'm just bein' yer big sister. Mac does the same thing ta me sometimes."

"Oh." I climbed off of my sister's back. Maybe the telepathy won't work if I'm farther away from her. "Then what's telemetry?" Oops. I shouldn't have asked that.

Twilight cleared her throat. Aw, come on! It's too early in the morning for this. "Telemetry is a term colloquially used to denote any sort of flight data, but specifically refers to a measurement of a distance made by calculating a known distance against a subtending angle. For example, know that point A is a certain distance from the observer and that the sine of X over..." She's still talking, but I'm still too tired. Oh well, I guess I'll sleep on the train.

"FFWHEEEEEEEET!!!"

"AAAHH!" I yelled. Not tired anymore, stupid whistle.

"... then if you convert that into radians- you do know what radians are, don't you?" Is she still talking? "Applebloom?"

"Huh?" Oh, right. "Radians are a way to measure angles, two pi radians to a full circle, and radius times radians equals the length of an arc."

"Uh, yeah." Twilight gave my sister an odd look. "That's exactly it."

Applejack shook her head. "Don't look at me, Mac handles all a' that." And he doesn't make it all boring like Twilight or miss Cherrilee do sometimes. But I don't see why everypony gets so surprised when I say stuff like that. I mean, building catapults and stuff takes a lot of calculatin'.

We were all standing around and not saying much when the conductor started yelling. "All aboard! Next stop Appleoosa!"

"Sorry Twi," my sister said to her friend,"gotta go. Come on Applebloom." She hurried past the conductor and onto the brightly colored train.

"It's gonna be a long day," I muttered to no one in, um, sounds like party cooler, particular, that's the one. I said to no one in particular and followed after her.

Divin'
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

Divin'

"Look Divin', it's not my fault you forgot your crayons."

I rolled my eyes and looked out the train's window. Bro's not listening again. I know he works hard to take care of me and momma, but it would be nice if he just paid more attention to stuff. "I didn't say that, I was just asking you to go get them."

He pointed out the window at the desert scenery flying by. "But we're halfway to Appleoosa already."

That's not much of an excuse for you. "As fast as you fly, I bet you'd be back in like five minutes. Why did we even take the train anyway? You're the best flyer in all of Equestria! You could have flown us there!"

He laughed, he laughs at the smallest things. No wonder everypony thinks he's a goofball. "I think that title belongs to someone else."

"No way. If someone else was better than you, then they'd be on the wo-"

"SSH!" He jumped out of his seat and put a hoof over my mouth. Then he checked to see if there was anypony in the car with us. There wasn't, we were alone in the traincar just like we were for the entire trip. "I thought you agreed to keep quiet about that. Besides, I can't leave you. Momma would make me sleep outside for a month if I left you on the train alone."

I pushed away his hoof. "But you sleep outside all the time anyway."

"But that's because I choose to." He climbed back into his seat. "It's not as fun if you have to."

Sometimes he just doesn't make sense."But what am I supposed to do with paper and no crayons?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something, put that artistic cutie mark of yours to work." He leaned back on the bench like he usually does before a nap. "Maybe origami?"

Why does he have to do that? He knows I don't have my cutie mark yet. And how can he be comfortable laying with his hooves behind his head like that? Taking one last look out the window at the featureless desert, I sighed loudly to get his attention,"I'm gonna go get a sandwich from the snack cart. Do you want anything?"

"Nah, I'm good, I doubt a snack cart would have apple pie or anything. Hold on." He dug into his duffel bag and took out a small bag of bits. "Here's five," he said, counting them out, "that should be enough to get something nice. Here you go." He held out the coins in his hoof.

Oh, no. He's gonna do it again, I know he is. I reached out my hoof to take the coins and, sure enough, he pulled his back. "Aww," I groaned, "do I have to?"

He bounced the coins up and down a few times. "Yes."

"But it's hard."

"That's why you need to practice." He gave a flap of his wings, knocking me back with a strong wind. "You want to be a good, strong flyer one day, don't you? This will help." He helped me up and ruffled my mane. I hate it when he does that. "It helped me." I guess that's what big brothers are for, making you do the things you don't want to do. I sighed and stretched out my wing. I fumbled with the coins for a few seconds before finally managing to pick them up with my wing tips.l. "See?" he said, "I knew you could do it. Enjoy your snack." He leaned back again and closed his eyes.

"Enjoy your nap." I trotted off to find the snack cart, stack of paper in one wing, coins in the other. Why did I have to forget my crayons?

Applebloom
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

Applebloom

Why did I have to forget my paper?

Sis fell asleep, so I went off to look for the snack cart. One problem though, I don't have any bits for the snack cart. Sure, they have free sandwiches, but I ain't eatin' one a' those nasty things. But worst of all, "I forgot mah paper!" I slammed my head into the floor. I'm stuck here with a box of crayons that I can't even use. How am I gonna make it all the way to Appleoosa without going crazy? What if I get a cutie mark in boredom? What would a boring cutie mark even look like?

"Here," said a voice, "you can have mine."

I looked up to see a light blue pegasus with a dark blue mane. He was about my age and didn't have a cutie mark. And he was handing me a stack of paper. With his wing. I didn't even know pegasuses could do that.

"Uh, thanks," I said as he set the paper down in front of me, "but why?"

"We were in a rush and I forgot my crayons." He started to walk away.

"We could share mine if ya want ta," I called after him.

He turned around with a smile. "Really? Thanks!"

I dumped out my crayons and pushed half of the over to him. "Well, yer sharin' yer paper, it's only right ta share back." When we split the stack of paper, he sat down and started drawing right away, but I had been so focused on boredom that I had no ideas. "What d'ya reckon Ah should draw?"

"Draw something that makes you happy," he said without looking up, "that's what I do."

"Huh." I started tapping a crayon against my chin. "Ah reckon that's pretty good idea."

"You talk funny."

"Take that back!" I jabbed the crayon at him. "And don't think Ah ain't gonna change my mind about sharin'."

"Sorry," he said. "I kinda like it though, the way you talk. You sound like you're from a farm or something."

"But Ah am from a farm." What's so great about that?

"Oh," he said, "that's cool. I like farms, all the plants and stuff. Cities are boring, there's too many ponies and they all run around like there's a fire all the time. My brother's taking me to see the apple orchards in Appleoosa."

I peeked over at his drawing. I couldn't tell what it was yet, but he sure was usin' a lot of green. "We're goin' ta the same place then. Mah sister's dragging me ta Braeburn's so we can get a new tree for our orchards. Mah brother didn't come."

He put down the green crayon and started looking around. "Do you have the red?" I looked around and gave him the crayon when I found it. "Thanks. My momma didn't get to come either, did your momma come?"

I stared at the paper as I thought about what to tell. Applejack is usually the one who answers questions about that. What am I supposed to say?

"I'm sorry," he said, looking up from his drawing, "I didn't know."

"What are ya apologizin' for?"

"You're acting like I do when someone asks about my dad, like you don't know what to say cause someone else always answers the question for you."

"Yeah, Ah never knew my parents. Big sis, Big Mac, and granny're all Ah got, and all Ah need." That's what I'll draw. "Ah'm Applebloom by the way."

"Divin'," he held out a hoof, "nice to meet you Applebloom."

"Divin' what?" I asked as I took his hoof and shook it. It sounds like there should be something at the end of that.

"I don't know," he shrugged and went back to drawing, "none of us do."

"You mean yer family doesn't even know yer own name?"

"I guess."

"How does that work?"

"My brother said there was an accident, when they found us, Momma couldn't remember us, or even her name. Brother was hurt and couldn't remember either. My first memory is him holding me in his wings and carrying me away from a fire. The only thing they found was a locket with me and my brother's pictures inside. The front had the words "Soarin' & Divin'," engraved on it. Since then, it's just been us, Momma still doesn't know her name, and my brother and I can't be sure we have the right ones."

"Sorry fer bringin' it up. That must be hard though, Ah can't imagine not knowin' my own name."

"Well, I can't imagine not haven't a Momma."

Coffee shop crush
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

Coffee shop crush

A second person romance between you and your coffee shop crush. Please bear with me, I am going somewhere with this.

"This is it," you tell yourself, "you are going to walk up to her, and you are going to tell her how you feel, and you are going to ask her out on a date! Though, technically this is already a date. And-. Agggh!" You scratch your hooves along your head in frustration, messing up your already messy mane. Or natural, windswept style, as she called it.

That was one of the things you loved about her, she always had a different way of looking at things. A creative way to make a difference into a similarity.

"So why is this so hard!" You slam your head down to the table in front of you. Just as quickly, you sit upright once again and settle back in your chair. Taking a deep, calming breath, you look around. If the bookshop had a name, you didn't know it. There was no sign on the front of the building and no identifying features on the inside either.

It was new, having been built only within the last few years, but everything inside was the designed to look old. The wood that made up the walls and the interior maze of bookshelves was artificially aged, and the pieces of furniture throughout the store were made of reclaimed wood.

You were sitting in one of those chairs now, a high-backed stool cut from a barrel. It was moderately comfortable despite its primitive construction, but you knew that the chair across from you was far more comfortable to sit in. But it was her chair. You learned that quickly. In fact, that was how you met her in the first place.

The first time you set foot in this building, you had been let off from work early and had some time to kill. You spent it wandering through the streets of Canterlot and all the little shops. When you came across this little bookshop, you decided to stop and check out some of the new releases. When you found that they carried used books as well, you decided to pick out some of the classic Daring-Do series. You only found one though, and sat down in a ridiculously overstuffed papasan to inspect it the book before purchase.

That had been a mistake, but it was a mistake you would gladly make again. No sooner had you sat down, that somepony else decided to hop into the chair, without checking to see if it was occupied. Imagine your surprise, one minute, you're checking some dusty pages for water damage, the next you find yourself staring into the deep blue eyes of the most beautiful unicorn you've ever seen as she lays on top of you, warm breath playing against your muzzle.

Of course, being as shy as you are, you promptly fainted. Sure, everypony thinks you're this macho tough guy with a funny side, but that kind of comes with your job as a professional athlete. It was all an act though, for the benefit of the general populace.

With a sigh, you lift your coffee mug from the large cable spool that served as a table and took a sip of the, don't tell anypony, hot chocolate contained within. You were a pegasus after all, and your metabolism didn't quite react well to caffeine sometimes.

She, on the other hoof, loved coffee. That day you fainted, she woke you up by waving a cup of the potent, pungent brew under your nose. Being as socially adept as you are, meaning, not at all, your first words upon waking up were, "where'd you get that?"

She promptly pointed to the little coffee shop along the back wall of the book store.

After sharing a nervous chuckle, you excused yourself and went to get a drink. Halfway to the coffee shop, you realized that you had forgotten your book and went back for it. Only to find her curled up in the chair and reading your book.

You still find it hard to believe what happened next. She looked up at you, adjusted her reading glasses, and ask if you wanted to read the book together.

It's been one month since that day, and you and her had been meeting twice a week to read together. You had also done a lot of talking. Slowly, but surely, you had developed a crush on her. She was smart, funny, all that wonderfully cliché stuff, but she was also interesting. She always had a surprise up her fetlock. From an extensive knowledge of ancient history, to an impressive Shakesponian stage voice.

Everyday brought a surprise from her, but your last meeting brought the biggest surprise yet. She left a little box behind. Inside were hoof-made cookies and a little note. "I made these, let me know what you think." Honestly, the cookies were a little burnt, and a little salty, and had way too much cinnamon, but they were still perfect.

But today, it was your turn to surprise her. Today, you were going to ask her out on a romantic date. Maybe dinner, maybe a play, maybe even a concert, but that could wait for later. The important thing now is getting over your nerves and asking her. To that end, you arranged to have the bookshop all to yourself. It didn't really take much, apparently, your signature is worth more than you thought.

Suddenly, the sound of bells reached your ears. Somepony just entered the bookstore! You rise to your hooves and walk towards the entrance to meet her. You round the corner and see her.

Her mane is tucked into her oversized beret as always, her thick rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of her snout, and she nervously adjusted her sweater vest as she looked around for the shop's employees. You notice that her namesake, her midnight blue coat is extra shiny today.

This is it! You step forward to greet her and ask your question. "Midnight, I have to ask you something." With a loud gulp, you continue. "W-will you go ou-"

The bells sounded again and another pony entered the building. He was running and had a paper bag with cutout eye-holes over his head. He reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a pie. Lifting said pie in the air, he started screaming. "NOPONY MOVE! THIS IS A HOLD-U-"

That's as much as you heard. Or saw. For some reason, all you can see is white and you can hear a faint ringing in your ears. Something scratches your throat and you start coughing. Smoke! This white surrounding you is smoke! A wind starts blowing and the smoke begins to clear.

In front of you, you can make out Midnight, flapping her wings as the last flaming remnants of her sweater dress blew away in the wind. She then ripped off her scorched beret, allowing her rippling, sparkling mane to flow free. Next, she tore the melted glasses from her brow and tossed them at the masked pony collapsed at her hooves. "YOU CURRISH, CLAPPER-CLOPPED KNAVE! PERHAPS THOU SHALT THINK TWICE BEFORE THOU ONCE AGAIN RAISE THINE HOOF AGAINST THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!"

You could do nothing but stare. Suddenly, the ancient history thing made a lot more sense. Midnight was actually princess Luna. You were working up the courage to ask princess Luna out on a date. On top of all that, she made you cookies. You see her turn around and approach you, but you were still too shocked to move.

"We apologize," she said, pulling you into a hug, "we- I should not have lied to you. It could never work, but I truly enjoyed the time we spent together." She leaned back from the hug, but before you could say anything, she leaned back in, locking her lips with yours. The warm contact was fleeting as she pulled away quickly. "Thank you, for everything." She took a step back and closed her eyes. There was a flash, and before you stood a little blue unicorn filly. "I need to go. The media loves explosions, and they'll be her very soon." She turned to leave, but stopped and looked over her shoulder. "I'll never forget you." She ran off, leaving you in a smoking crater with the masked pony.

Over the ringing in your ears. you hear a faint shouting. "He saved me! That nice pegasus saved me from the big mean-meanie in the mask." Wondering who she could be talking to, you step out of the smoke and right into the light of a flashbulb.

The next morning found you at home hiding from reporters. It was all over the news, "Wonderbolt Soarin' Saves Filly!" Now they just won't leave you alone.

Looks like Divin' can take a day off of school. Or maybe a week.

Or however long it takes for the reporters to leave.

Rockin' Hearts
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

Rockin' Hearts

A second person romance between you and Rainbow Dash. Again, bear with me, this will all make sense in the next chapter.

"THANK YOUUUUU!! YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL PONIES!!"

The crowd erupted into cheers. You raise your hoof into the air and toss your guitar out into the crowd. Much to your surprise, there wasn't a fight over it, and the three foals who caught the thing immediately ran off with. But you weren't about to complain, you were just enjoying the moment.

You had just completed a three hour set for the town of Ponyville's summer sun celebration and they loved it! You didn't really expect this sleepy little town to offer much appreciation for rock music, but the entire town showed to the concert. The hastily constructed amphitheatre filled up so quickly that they didn't have enough room for everypony until one purple unicorn stepped in and asked some pegasi to make more seating by moving in clouds. She then cast cloud-walking spells on at least 30 ponies so they see the show. You had already made arrangements to have some signed gear and stuff thrown her way as a thank you, but you would also have to thank her personally, that cloud idea was a lifesaver.

You reared up and threw your hooves in the air as you offered one last shout into the microphone.

"WWHHOOOOOOO!!"

The crowd erupted into a fresh round of cheers. You loved this, the raw energy and fresh emotion given off by a crowd of satisfied music lovers. But as much as you loved it, you had to get off stage before you collapsed. Those stage-lights are hot and, being an earth pony, playing an instrument was a much more physical exercise for you than it was for your unicorn bass player and keyboardist. And the pegasus drummer got to sit down the entire time.

You on the other hoof were the front-stallion. Vocals and guitar rolled into one. You did rhythm of course, but to everypony's surprise, you could play lead as well as, if not better than most unicorn musicians. This is mostly because you practice the living snot out your guitar. Every day before breakfast, one hour of guitar. Every day before lunch, one hour of guitar. Every day after dinner, one hour of guitar. Bedtime? Guitar. Free time? Guitar!

Through constant practice, you developed and perfected a special two-hooves tapping technique that allowed you to play hard and fast over a wide range, but it had one major drawback. You had to stand on your hind-legs to use it. You always made sure you had something to sit on or lean against, but by the end of a set, you were invariably exhausted.

As you were now. Sweat slicked down your coat and mane and your breath came in harsh ragged gasps. You turned and marched off stage, nodding to the bass player as you went. He nodded back and, using his magic, started launching bundles of t-shirts, headbands, hoofbands and other gear into the crowd. It was mildly surprising when one of the shirts came back enveloped in light blue magic. The shirt had a note with it. "I could design something better for you, free of charge. Rarity." You filed the information away for later. You've been meaning to update the bands image lately but never got around to it.

Right now though, you've got to get offstage. You make your way to the stairs leading to the equipment staging area and start down them. You were almost to the bottom when your hind-legs gave out, leaving you sitting on the bottom step.

"Uh, you all right there, Sugarcube?"

You look up to see the most beautiful mare you've ever seen. Orange coat and long golden ma- Ew! No! Not her! Ugh! Just thinking about it's making feel a little sick. No, next to her. A pegasus, as blue as the sky with a mane of every color. She was small, slender, but she walked with a confidence that bespoke the strength hidden in that wiry frame.

The bright mare that caught your eye was examining her reflection in the chrome pickguard of one of the backup bass guitars. "This stuff's pretty cool." Her voice was a little rough, but it just made her seem that much more interesting. "You ever play for the wonderbolt's? Your music would work really well as background track for one of their shows.

"Well, yeah." You smirked. "We've done a couple gigs for the wonderbolts, so you've probably already heard us."

"FWWWOOOM!"

There was a rainbow-colored after image on your eyes, a set of streaks in six different colors leading from where the pegasus had been looking at the instrument, to your left. You turned to see her leaning towards you with wide opened eyes. "What was it like?" You didn't really hear the question though, you were too busy thinking about her beautiful eyes.

There was just one thing ruining the moment. "I, uh-" With a sigh, you straighten up and face the orange pony. She was just looking at you and it was starting to ick you out. "Do you need something? Why are you back here, either of you?" You look back at the pretty pegasus again to find that she had her attention focused completely on something else. "For that matter, how are you back here? There should be security at the all the doors."

She shrugged. "Doors ain't the only way ta get somewhere, Sugarcube." You could feel yourself throw up a little in your mouth at the way she said that. It was so, ugh, suggestive. "We'll leave soon though. Um, it's kinda crazy, but Ah wanted ta give ya somethin'."

Now you're confused. "Give me something? Like what?"

She trotted over and started leaning towards you. You started leaning back.

She's trying to kiss you! Abort! Abort! Condition red! You cannot let this happen! But she's too close! You can't get away! Closing your eyes in terror, you flail your hooves, latching on to first thing you find and sticking it in front of your face. You could only hope that ,once she kissed something that wasn't you, she would give up and go home. Even so, you kept your eyes clamped shut.

Suddenly, you heard voices.

"Uh, AJ?"

"Yeah, rainbow?"

"Why'd you kiss me on the cheek?"

"Uh, no reason."

"Ok, cool. Uh, I'm gonna go before this gets weird."

"Good idea, Sugarcube."

There was a flapping noise and a breeze. When you open your eyes, you find that Applejack is still there and making no move to leave.

That's it.

you put a hoof to your jeans. Yeah, that's right! Your jeans! Ponies made fun of you for wearing them, but it was the only way for you to conceal your Identity. But you don't give a flyin' flip off a freight car about that right now. Any chance you had with that colorful, beautiful mare was now ruined because Applejack didn't recognize you with a dyed mane.

With a grunt, you use the last of your strength to rip the seam down the side of the worn, faded jeans, revealing the cutie mark hidden within.

Applejack stared in horror.

"COUSIN JOHNAGOLD!?!"

Applejack and Soarin'
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

Applejack and Soarin'

"Excuse me, miss?"

"Huh," I jerked my head upright, "whuzzat?!" I fell asleep! "Are we there? Did Ah miss the stop?!" I pushed my hat back from where it had fallen over my face. The faded blue overalls that met my eyes told me that the pony who woke me was one of the train's conductors, which means I probably missed the stop. I don't usually take naps, but when I do, boy howdy, I can give Rainbow a run for her money.

"Miss?" He asked again.

I shook my head, skewing my hat and wiping away the last traces of drowsiness. "Yes?" I asked, "what is it?"

"Are you Applejack?"

"Ah am." How did he know? "Who's askin'?"

"One, um," he took a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and gave it a quick glance, Granny Smith. She sent you a message via unicorn."

I straightened up and adjusted my hat. "Why would she go an' do somethin' like that? She was sleepin' in her her car."

The conductor "She probably woke up when her train arrived at it's destination."

"We're in Appleoosa already?" I looked out the window to see the scenery flying by, just like you would expect from a train in motion. "Or did ya pass it already?"

"No ma'am." The conductor started fidgeting. I'll tell ya now, that ain't a good sign. "We will not arrive in Appleoosa for another hour at least. The express train to Canterlot however, arrived at its destination approximately 20 minutes ago."

Oh good gravy. "Y-ya mean?"

"Yes miss Applejack, I am afraid so." I stood up with a sigh and the conductor jumped back, holding his hooves out in front of him like was expecting me to hit him. "Now, the train company will provide her with passage home, of course. Since the conductor of that train should have checked the destination on her ticket. Next time, please make sure that she gets on the correct train."

How the hay did this happen? Twilight said she- Twilight! Oh consarn it girl! "Ah think Ah need to send a message, can Ah do that?"

"Yes ma'am." He pointed towards the front of the train. "Just head to the front of the train and talk to the only unicorn conductor you see." His business concluded, the conductor walked away from me towards the back of the train.

"'Scuse me a minute, Sugarcube?" I called after the conductor. "What was the message?"

He looked back with a small shrug. "Don't go go above 225."

I nodded as he went through the door. "Understood, Granny, Ah won't let ya down." It's amazing, really, she wakes up alone a hundred miles away from her family and the first thing she does tell us to think about the farm. "Applebloom, Ah'll be right ba-" I sighed mid-sentence and looked at the bench where Applebloom was supposed to sitting,"Ah really don't know why Ah expected ya to actually be there." I set off for the front of the train, searching for Applebloom as I went. Why can't that filly stay out of trouble for one train ride?

***-------------------

"Hyaaaaaaaaaa." I yawned and stretched out, letting my eyes flicker open. That was a good nap. That's why I like earth pony transportation, you get to rest while you're traveling . The sun had risen a little higher in the sky as I slept and was now hitting me squarely in the face as it streamed through the window. I glanced over to the empty bench across from me. We'll probably be in Appleoosa soon, so I better go find Divin'.

I thought I told him to come back after he got his snacks.

I got up, stretched out, and started off for the back of the train to look for my little brother. I'm in the car right behind the engine, so my search path is a straight line back. I wonder if he found the snack cart?

I didn't have to look very far for the answer. I opened the door to the next car to find him sitting and drawing with a yellow earth pony filly who was wearing a red bow in her red hair. The once stacked paper was now strewn across the room. Nearly every page was drawn on. There was also no doubt that Divin' found the snack cart, because there were cupcake wrappers and crumbs all around and on the two foals.

What a mess! How is it even physically possibly to get that covered in crumbs from a cupcake?

"Applebloom!" I looked up when a voice shouted from the other side of the train car. Entering the car, was an orange earth pony in a hat. A cute earth pony in a hat. "What in tarnation is all this?" She demanded of her, I'm guessing, daughter. Too bad, but I guess it makes sense that somepony as her would be snatched up pretty quick. It would be nice if I could find somepony, but nice mares in Canterlot are few and far between. And the nice ones I do meet have no interest in romance.

I remember them all though. There was Twilight Sparkle, the purple unicorn, she used to be in some of the same classes as me back when the Royal Academy for Flight and the school for gifted unicorns shared a building. She was always lugging around bags full of books and I used to offer to help. Unfortunately, I was always too shy to offer loudly enough for her to hear. Then one day, I decided to change all that. I had everything planned, I would bump into her at a mutual acquaintance's birthday party, chat, then I would follow the script I had prepared and ask her out. Long story short, she moved out of town literally five minutes before the party started.

Then there was Sky, she was a really nice pegasus with an eye for business. She was also an athlete and that's what her company focused on. Even though she tended to be a little overly serious sometimes, our personalities clicked pretty well. As we spent time together, she was even starting to pick up a little of my laid-back goofiness. I never let on that it was a facade to cover my insecurity around other ponies, but hearing her laugh at my sometimes stupid jokes gave me the courage to ask her out. Long story short, when a mare challenges you to a hoof-wrestle on your first date and breaks your fore-leg in front of a crowd of at least a hundred ponies, it tends to make things a little awkward.

Then there was princess Luna. I didn't know it was princess Luna at the time, but we shared a few coffee dates at a local book-slash-coffee shop. I was about to ask her out one evening when somepony decided to rob the place, singlehoofedly doubling the city's crime rate. Long story short, when a prospective date turns a building into a crater, confidence tends to slip away you. Especially if you're as shy as I am.

But then there was Rainbow Dash, the brightly-colored weather pony of Ponyville. I don't know why, but I never felt nervous around her. We even danced at the royal wedding, something I was never able to do at a party before. Long story short, I don't know why, but I just can't help but feel sad around her. I hide it, but it's there, and I don't know why.

Then there was that beautiful mare at the gala, a white unicorn with a flowing purple mane. She was so beautiful, practically glowing with perfection. I also knew she just had to be nice, since she was apparently a friend of both Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Long story short, before I could even work up the courage talk to her, I saw her walking through the party with Blue. So much for that. The gala got kind of crazy near the end, so I don't know what happened, but I hope it worked out. Blue's actually nice once you get to know him and he deserves better than those royal suitors that pop up all the time.

I wish I could find somepony nice. There's no shortage of gold diggers, attention seekers, and crazed fans, but I do my best to avoid them. That doesn't mean I'm always successful though, and things invariably don't end well. Usually involving me somehow exiting a building via a window.

Well, there it is, my entire romantic history, laid out to see. I sighed. If there was patron saint of lost causes, it would be me. Pushing the thoughts of missed chances and outright failure out of my head, I cleared my throat, causing the foal in my charge to jump. "I would like to know the same thing. Divin', why did you make such a big mess?"

Both foals faced their respective accusers in silence, formulating a response that they no doubt hoped would keep them out of trouble. "We were gonna clean it up," they said in unison, "honest!"

"Well hop to it then." Using my wing, I picked up a cupcake wrapper from the back of a seat and held it up for emphasis. "I want this cleaned up before we reach Appleoosa."

"That leaves ya with one hour," said the orange mare, "git to it."

"Ok," they both sighed reluctantly as they moved away from their unfinished drawings and started collecting the ones that had scattered. They both slumped their shoulders and walked slowly, almost as if they were prisoners who had lost all hope of freedom.

"Heh, foals." I said, trying to break the awkward silence.

The mare let out a whistle as she adjusted her hat. "Ah know what ya mean. Applebloom can be a real hoof-full sometimes. But Ah'm sure she didn't mean ta get yer son into trouble, she was just bored cause she forgot her paper."

"Oh, Divin's not my son, he's my little brother." The luck I have with mares, I'll probably never have foals of my own. "He forgot to pack his crayons and apparently, your daughter shared hers. You can't blame them for getting bored on a long trip."

The earth pony shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, she ain't mah daughter. Applebloom there's mah younger sis'. But Ah know what ya mean, still don't mean they can make a mess a' things an' get away with it. Ah'm Applejack by the way."

Apple pie.

At the gala, when I was feeling crummy about letting my social ineptitude get in the way of even talking to that white mare, I decided to drown my sorrows in something sweet and sugary. This mare provided that in the form of an apple pie. I didn't even recognize her.

After a few moments, I noticed that I hadn't responded. Applejack was sitting there, patiently waiting for me to tell her my name. What do I do?! There wasn't any pressure when I thought she was married, and I could still barely talk to her. Now I find out that she might not be! I could feel the overwhelming urge to just hide under one of the benches, or to just slip into my Goofball facáde, but, through sheer force of admittedly crumbling will, I stopped myself. Appearing to be a crazy pony probably isn't the best way to make an impression. But I don't even know if I should be trying to make an impression. For all I know, she's got a special somepony. I can't know for sure without just asking her. "Are you single?" But saying that out loud would be insane and- Oh, hailstones.

I just said it, didn't I?

***-------------

Everything froze. He did not just say that, did he? It brought up a lot of hurt. Not that he asked, but that the answer was yes. And that despite my every effort to the contrary, the answer always ends up bein' yes. Those three little words dragged up years' worth of bad memories.

Most of those memories were old, like the unrequited crush on Thunderlane, the time I asked out Caramel only to find out that his marefriend was standing behind me, and that whole debacle with Johnagold. But one of those memories was more recent, Frost Bowl, the lyin' cheatin' scumbag of a unicorn that owns the snowcone cart in Ponyville. Several months, all his little business trips, all his lies, even with me being the element of honesty, I never even knew. Big Macintosh had to tell me about it when he returned from one of his tournaments. He was in a pub celebrating a victory when he ran into that two-timin' lowlife tryin' to seduce one of Fluttershy's friends.

That was nearly a year ago. After that happened, I swore it off, love, romance, special somponies, the whole bushel of apples. I had the comfort that Mac, and then Fluttershy's friend beat the stuffing out of ol' Frosty boy, but the damage was done. I felt used, dirty, like something that had been thrown away. I couldn't take the risk of letting somepony break my heart again, so I just buried myself under as much work as I could find. I was over love. I had my family, I had my friends, and I had the farm, that was all I needed.

But here's this random stallion asking the one question I hoped I would never hear again. I sat down and stared blankly at him as he smacked himself in the face. Then he held out his hoof. "I'm single." He shook his head quickly. "Soarin'! I'm Soarin'." His eyes were clenched shut and he was shaking as he held out his hoof. He looked terrified. What's he scared of? He pried one eye open. He immediately let out a gasp and put his hoof down. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, it's just that, I, um, well, you see, I, uh-" He seemed to shrink back with every word he said until finally lowering his head. His next words were barely even a whisper. "Please don't cry."

Was I crying? I lifted a hoof to my face and, sure enough, it came away wet. I guess I'm not as "over it" as I thought. I closed my eyes and tried to clear away the tears.

"WHAT'D YOU DO?!" I snapped my eyes open in time to see Applebloom leap onto Soarin's head. She latched onto his mane and started whacking away at his head. "NOPONY MAKES MY SISTER CRY!" She yelled as Soarin' tried to dislodge her. "BIG MAC WOULD FLATTEN YOU IF HE WAS HERE!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Soarin' gave up on trying to fend her off and collapsed to the ground, covering his head and face with his hooves in an fruitless effort to Ward off the blows. "I'm sorry," he sobbed, "I'm sorry."

I was about to say something, anything, to stop her when she was tackled by Divin' sending both foals tumbling in a blur of yellow and blue until they hit a wall. Divin' recovered first and stood up to yell at Applebloom. "Leave my brother alone!"

Applebloom got to her hooves and tackled him back. She had the strength advantage and was able to pin the young pegasus easily. "You tell him ta leave mah sister alone!"

Divin' grabbed her hair and pulled her off of him. It delvoved into a frenetic tangle of kicking, biting, and mane pulling.

"EVERYPONY STOP!!!" It took me a moment to realize that I was the one who yelled, but it worked. All three pairs of eyes were on me as their owners stayed sill in place. Just in time too, as Applebloom had pinned Divin' with her left hoof as she prepared to punch him in the face with her right. "Applebloom! Get off him, right now!" She moved to the side, allowing the now free colt to roll over and get to his hooves. They were both sitting and staring away from eaxmch other when Divin' reached over and smacked Applebloom in the shoulder. Without missing a beat, Applebloom smacked back. "STOP IT!" I stomped a hoof to help get my point across. "Look, nothing happened, you two. Soarin' just said something that brought up some painful memories. It's not his fault."

They looked at me for a while before glancing at each other. Then they each fixed their gaze on the floor between them.

"I'm sorry I pulled your hair."

"I'm sorry I punched your face."

I let out a sigh. "We all better now?" They glanced back at each other then looked over at me. They nodded sheepishly. "Good. Soarin', you okay?" I turned to see him get to his hooves.

"I'm sorry, Applejack." Soarin' spoke quietly as he stared out the window. "I spoke carelessly. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's all right." I moved around in front of him. He turned his head in response, determined to look anywhere but at me. "There's no way ya could've known Ah'd shut down like that. And Applebloom, well, she's Applebloom." I sat down beside him and stared out the window. "The answer to yer question is yes. I am single, and there's a long and somewhat painful chain a' mem'ries connected ta that."

"I'm sorry to hear that." He let out a sigh. "But it can't be any worse than mine."

I doubt that. "Try me."

"Ok," he looked over at me, "have any of your dates ever ended with you going out of a second story window?"

I pointed to the wings on his back. "That don't seem like it'd be much of a' problem fer you."

He smirked and looked back out the window. "I was stuffed headfirst into a winebarrel at the time."

I winced at the thought. Winebarrels are smaller than the cider barrels we use on the farm. "I ain't talkin' bout physical pain, Sugarcube. I'm talkin' 'bout it hurtin' inside."

He nodded. "Like spending three months working up the courage to confess to somepony just for them to move away the day you make your move?"

I sighed. "Like findin' out months later that he was cheatin' on ya from day one."

He nodded again. "That's worse. No wonder you reacted how you did." He kooked over at me again and my eyes met his. "I really am sorry."

I don't know why, but something in me snapped as I looked at him. Something inside told me to do it, to take one more risk. "If ya really want ta make it up to me, ya could buy me dinner."

His mouth slowly fell open in shock. I know how he feels, I'm surprising myself here. A flash of worry crossed my mind as he started working his jaw. Then he started to speak. "I-"

"We're done! Now what?!" I turned to see Divin' stuffing the cupcake wrappers into the waste basket by the door. Once he managed to cram them all in, he picked a straggler out of his mane and dropped it on top of the pile.

"We still have thirty minutes left." Applebloom was on one of the seats, straightening out the stack of collected drawings.

They sure finished that quickly. "Ah s'pose we can, uh-"

"Get something from the snack cart?" Soarin' pointed to himself. "My treat. If you don't mind, that is. Of course, we could always- No. Stop that." He looked down and started muttering to himself. "I am not going to chicken out just because I'm too shy to talk to a pretty mare. I'm just going to-"

I decided to interrupt him before he got too far. "Uh, Sugarcube."

He snapped his head up so quickly that my neck hurt. "Yes, Applejack?"

"Ya do know you were sayin' that out loud, don't ya?"

His lip gave a single twitch as the color started draining from his face. It was quite a trick really, considering that he was already a pretty pale shade of blue. Then he sprinted to the nearest window, thrust it open, and stuck his head out.

"HMMGHBBLLEEUUAAARRRFGG!!"

"SPLAT!!"

I watched in horror as the train's slipstream plastered the sudden expulsion along the outside of the train car's windows.

After a few dry heaves, Soarin' pulled his head back in and slumped into one of the seats. Then he wiped a tear from his eye and swallowed loudly. "So," he said weakly, "snack cart?"

I raised my hoof. "Pass."

Divin' divin' did the same. "Pass."

"I want another cupcake!" Divin' and I looked over at Applebloom. She merely shrugged. "What? Ah ain't had breakfast yet."

Applejack and Soarin'
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

Applejack and Soarin'

"Is that all, miss Applejack?" asked the unicorn conductor.

"Yep," I responded, "Can ya send it to Ponyville? Address it to either Big Mac or Twilight Sparkle."

He concentrated for a moment, and a glow enveloped his horn and the paper he had written on. Slowly, the words started erasing themselves from the page. "All done," he said once the last word disappeared,"the Ponyville train station will send it out via mail mare as soon as they receive it. All we can do now is wait. Please accept my apology, this never should have happened."

"Shoot," I said, "'tweren't your fault, but you best believe Ah'll be havin' words with Twi just as soon as Ah get back."

"I feel sorry for her," he said with a solemn nod, "you can head back to your seat and I'll notify you if we receive a response."

"Thank ya kindly." Am I really that scary? I know I've been a little out of sorts lately, but is it really that noticeable? Everypony's been acting like I'm one mispoken word away from smacking them silly.

I returned to the car where Soarin', Divin', and Applebloom were waiting. We moved up a car for obvious reasons. The two foals were sorting out who got to keep the various pictures and Soarin' was sitting near the back, sipping a ginger-ale from the snack cart to help calm his stomach.

Hoping I wasn't making a big mistake, I walked over and sat across from him. "Hey Sugarcube, stomach settle down yet?"

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Um, about that, I'm really sorry, I just, um, don't really react well under pressure." He sighed and looked out the window. "Personal pressure, anyway."

"Ah wasn't tryin' ta pressure ya." Is dinner really that much of a pressure?

He shook his head. "You didn't do anything, I just have trouble speaking to other ponies."

He seems to be loosening up a little. I just need to keep the conversation going. "Ah've got a friend who's the same way, Ah bet ya got herself some nice, quiet little job somewhere just like she does, don't ya?"

"Um, it's a nice job." He nodded. "I wouldn't exactly call it quiet. Or little."

He's opening up, that's good. "So, what is yer job, exactly?"

He looked over at me. "You don't remember me?"

"Should Ah?"

He let out a sad sigh. "That makes sense, I guess I don't make much of an impression."

Now that I think about it, he does look a little familiar. We've met before, but where? "The gala!" That's where I saw him! He bought- Where'd he go? I looked around, but couldn't see him. When I looked over at Applebloom and Divin', they both pointed down. I stuck my head over the edge of the seat to look under it.

I found a pair of green eyes looking back. "Oh, hi there." Soarin' crawled out and took his seat again. "Sorry about that."

I spooked him when I shouted? "How did you ever become a wonderbolt?"

He shrugged.

I sighed. "Ah was hopin' for a little more of a response than that, Sugarcube."

He nodded. "Sorry."

That's it! I can't take this anymore! It's like he's not even there! "How the hay is a wonderbolt too shy ta talk to a mare?!"

He shrunk back from my outburst, but didn't hide again. "Sorry."

That's what I'm talking about! "Quit apologizin'."

"Sorry." He paused for a beat. "Oh, sorry, I just did it again, didn't I?" His eyes widened a little as mine narrowed. "And again. Sorr- Uh, I mean-"

I put up a hoof to stop him. This is getting painful. "Just stop fer a minute, Sugarcube. Tell me, how did ya not have a total breakdown at the gala?" There were a lot of ponies there, and this pony doesn't seem like he'd be good with crowds.

He shrugged. "I was wonderbolt Soarin'."

"Say what now?" That makes no sense whatsoever. "Of course you're Wonderbolt Soarin'."

"No, um-" He looked around a little and moved his mouth as he struggled to gather his thoughts. "How do I put this? Um-" He put his hooves together and pointed at me. "When ponies look at you, what do they see? No, wait. Who do they see?"

They see me, of course. "Applejack, apple farmer and one a' the best athletes in Ponyville." Rainbow and I still haven't settled that question.

"I didn't see that. At the gala, I mean." He looked down at his hooves. "Ponies can only see what's in front of them. At the gala, I saw a salespony, maybe a chef. I never would have guessed that you were a farmer. When I'm in uniform, like at the gala or the royal wedding, that's all anypony sees. They don't see me, they see one of the wonderbolts, and that makes it easier to deal with. I just act like they'd expect, the team goofball."

I think I'm starting to understand. "So it's all an act?" He nodded in response. But something doesn't add up. "Why the team goofball? If it's just an act, why not be a tough guy?" He shrugged. All he does is shrug, or nod, or apologize! It's like I'm talking to a slightly less polite Fluttershy!

I sighed and looked over at the foals. They had just finished sorting out who each of the pictures belonged to and Divin' was putting his into a duffel bag. For a moment, I saw blue and yellow, it must have been his uniform. Then something else caught my eye. I walked over and grabbed it out of the bag despite Divin's protests. Then I walked right up to Soarin' and smacked the thing down on his head.

He looked up at the old set of flight goggles with a look of confusion on his face. I hope this works. I sat down, next to him this time. "Now yer in uniform," I said, "what would Wonderbolt Soarin' do?"

He clicked his hooves a few times before answering. "Complement you."

"Why?"

He sucked in as much air as he could and held it for a moment. "BecauseIthinkyou'rereallyprettyandI'dreally,reallylikethechancetogettoknowyoubetter!"

I took hold of his hoof with a smile. "You've got it, Sugarcube. See, 'tweren't that-"

"THUD!!"

"-big of a deal." With a groan I dragged the unconscious Soarin' from the floor back up onto the seat. If Fluttershy didn't already have somepony, I'd try setting her up with this one, but for now, I'll give him a chance. He actually seems like a nice stallion, well, nicer'n most. Now, if he could just talk to me without getting sick or passing out, then he'd be perfect. "Enjoy yer nap, Sugarcube. Ah'll wake ya when we get ta-"

"APPLEOOSA!!" Bellowed the conductor, his voice coming in loud and clear through the speaker pipes running along the ceiling. "NEXT STOP IN TWO MINUTES! PLEASE MAKE ALL NECESSARY PREPARATIONS TO DISEMBARK!"

"Sorry 'bout that, Sugarcube." I started poking him in the side. "Time ta wake up!"

He rolled out of the seat, crashing to the floor before popping back up like nothing happened. "I'm up! I'm, uh," He furrowed his brow. "How long was I out?"

"About ten seconds."

He nodded. "What'd I miss?"

"We'll be in Appleoosa in two minutes."

"Oh." He twiddled his hooves for a moment. "Um, about dinner-"

"Don't ya worry 'bout it." I suppressed a sigh as I looked out the window. I was looking forward to it, but I probably shouldn't have put him on the spot like tha-

"I'll pick you up at six." I looked over to see him with his eyes clenched shut and a hoof on the flight goggles that somehow remained on his head. He cracked open one eye. "Where would be a good place to meet?"

"The local apple farm, Applebloom and Ah are stayin' there with kin." He did it! Wait a minute. I did it too! After almost a year, I have a date! And I can be sure this one ain't seein' nopony already. At least I know this is going to go better than some of the dates I've had.

"Hey, I did it." He slowly opened his other eye and offered a small but genuine smile.

It's been too long since I've seen a smile like that directed at me by a stallion. "Ya sure as sugar did. Those goggles're really something, ain't they? Where'd ya get 'em?"

"I dunno." He picked them up off his head and turned them around in his hooves. I didn't take a good look at them before, but they look old. There are also some burnt spots on the synthetic material. "I guess I've always just had them. They're important to me though. I don't why, but they are." He put them back on so they hung loosely around his neck. "Well, the train's starting to slow down, we should probably get our stuff together."

"Yer right, Sugarcube." Those goggles sound like they mean as much to him as my hat does to me. "See ya tonight then." I started back towards our car to retrieve our luggage. "C'mon Applebloom."

"Hey, sis?" She jumped off the seat and walked over to me. The look on her face told me that she was about to ask for something. "Can Ah just go with them and meet ya tonight?"

No. "What about meetin' yer uncle Braeburn?"

She rolled her eyes. She never did that before she became friends with Scootaloo. "He's yer cousin, that means he's my cousin too."

"Ah know, but he's older'n you."

"He's older'n you too, an' you don't call 'im uncle."

We're getting off topic here. "He ain't seen you in nearly a year, we're gonna go see him. But if it's ok with Soarin', you an' Divin' can play at the farm while we're at dinner."

Divin' ran over to Soarin' and started tugging at his mane. "Can we?! Can we, please?!" Nice to see Applebloom's got yet another friend with hyperactive tendencies.

Soarin' looked from Divin' over to me. "Who's this Braeburn you mentioned?"

"Cousin Braeburn's the local sheriff, among other things."

He looked back at Divin'. "Ok, you can stay at the farm while Applejack and I, uh-"

"Enjoy our date?"

"Yeah, that." Is he blushing?

"Well, see ya tonight, Sugarcube." Applebloom and I walked back to our train car. I just hope he doesn't chicken out.

***-----------------

I hope I don't chicken out. Divin' and I left the train station and headed for the hotel. The entire time, I was thinking of the upcoming dinner date and, of course, the multitude of ways it could go wrong.

We walked until we found the hotel. A large sign marked its location. And a large oaken door stood at the front, allowing access to the smoking crater behind them.

What?!

I stood at the entrance looking back and forth between the front of the hotel and the view through the doorway. The front of the hotel is fine, just a regular small-town hotel, but everything else is gone! Somepony or something blew the back of the hotel off the map!

Our hotel! Where are we going to stay?!

plans and place to sleep
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

plans and place to sleep

"Ding-Dong!"

The orange farm pony, Applejack, sighed as she set her fork down beside her unfinished, or rather unstarted, meal. "Interesting, ain't it?" She reflected on the situation as she removed herself from her chair. "No matter what, the doorbell only rings after ya sit down.

"Cousin Braeburn!" yelled her little sister, Applebloom, "Somepony's at the door!" Her own meal was already well on it's way to being devoured. Once she was sure she was heard, she returned to the task of ridding her plate of its contents.

Applejack sighed, as much at the unnecessary outburst as at her sister's table manners. "Ya don't have ta yell."

The little, yellow filly swallowed a mouthful of food. "Ah know," she pointed her fork at the third pony sharing the table, "but Ah wanted to make sure he could hear me through the bandages."

"Ah'm sure that ain't necessary." Applejack glanced over at her cousin, Braeburn, and quickly revised her opinion on that matter.

Braeburn, the happy-go-lucky sheriff of the small frontier farming town of Appaloosa, was about as bandaged, head-to-hoof, as it's possible for a pony to be. However, despite his injuries, he was dead-set on maintaining some semblance of dignity and thus doing his best to feed himself.

That being said, his best wasn't very good.

The cast on his right hoof prevented him from being able to pick up his spoon and the heavy bandages on his left made his awkward coordination that much worse. It didn't help matters that he was eating soup. Trying to, anyway.

"Ya could use a straw," Applejack offered, knowing full well that the injured pony would refuse.

"Not while company's over," he grunted, still straining to get a single spoonful of soup to his waiting mouth, "Ah ain't lost all my dignity yet." After a few more attempts, never let it be said that Apples don't have a stubborn streak, he sighed and slumped his head, staring at his soup as one would stare at a mortal foe. "Could ya get the door, Applejack?"

"Sure thing Sugarcube," answered Applejack. She promptly walked over and opened the door. Only to be greeted by two familiar pegasi. "Soarin'! Divin'!" She hadn't expected them until much later, so she asked the obvious question, "what're ya doin' here?"

"Hello Applejack." Soarin' offered a nervous smile. He wasn't comfortable with what he was about to ask, but he had little choice. "You told me you were staying at the local apple farm, so I came to see if there was any additional room."

Applejack's expression froze in place. Being the element of honesty, she was completely honest with him. "That's a might bit creepy, Sugarcube. What happened ta stayin' at the hotel?"

"Ain't no hotel anymore," grunted Braeburn from inside, "just a big ol' hole in the ground."

"Yeah," Soarin' scratched his neck with a wing, "it's still smoldering. So I wanted to see if there was anymore room here. Is there? I wouldn't even ask, but..." he gestured back with his head to where his little brother lay on his back, "Divin' needs somewhere to sleep."

At the mention of his name, the blue-on-blue, little pegasus lifted his head and let out a squeaking yawn. "I'm up," he said, smacking his lips before laying his head back down and returning to his slumber.

"There's one bed left," Applejack sighed, "that's all we got."

"That's enough." Soarin' helped his drowsy younger sibling off his back, waking him once more in the process.

"Huh? What is it?" Divin' rubbed at his eyes.

Soarin' nudged him towards the door, "you've got a place to sleep, Divin'. How's that sound?"

Divin' let out another yawn. He tried to walk forward and stumbled a little. He bumped into Applejack's leg, grabbed on, and curled up around the orange hoof. "Sounds good," he mumbled before nodding off again.

"Sorry," Soarin' said, trying and failing to bite back the goofy grin that was appearing on his face, "he get's a little sleepy after traveling."

"Don't ya fret none," said Applejack as she carefully untangled herself from the lightly snoring colt, "Applebloom does the same thing after crusading with her friends. Ah'm just glad he ain't covered in pine sap." The farmer winced at the memory of trying to unstick three sappy fillies from a sofa.

"Where's the bed?" Soarin' asked, gently picking up the sleeping colt in his wings, "I think he'll be sleeping for a while."

"Right this way,Sugarcube." Applejack motioned for Soarin' to follow and led him to a small guest room.

Soarin' tucked his little brother into bed and quietly left with Applejack. "He'll probably wake up a little after sunrise tomorrow."

"Yeah," Applejack sighed, "Ah let Applebloom sleep in too." Well, she didn't let her sleep in today. In fact, she had woken her up a good deal earlier than usual. "Would you like some lunch? We ain't goin' to the restaurant after all."

This confused Soarin' who, for all his nerves, was looking forward to tonight's dinner date. "Why not?"

"The restaurant was part of the hotel." Applejack's voice contained just a hint of dejection, she had been looking forward to the dinner just as much as Soarin' was. She racked her mind for all the details she could remember from her last visit to Appleoosa, there must be another restaurant in town somewhere. Maybe a food cart? Or somewhere we could have a picnic?

When they reached the table, Applejack gestured to a seat and Soarin' sat down in it. He was sitting across from the seriously injured Braeburn who was once more fumbling with his spoon.

"Ah'll go see what we've got." Applejack walked towards the kitchen to see if there was a meal she could throw together.

"Thank you, App- OW!" The pile of bandages somehow managed to launch his spoon at Soarin's face at the exact moment he tried to express his gratitude. It wouldn't have been so bad if the spoon wasn't accompanied by a splash of hot soup.

"Sorry," grunted the gauze-wrapped stallion, "slipped."

"That's ok," Soarin' replied, wiping the soup off me with a napkin he found. "Do you need a straw?"

Braeburn's answer was short and to the point, a far cry from his usual demeanor. "No."

"He does," said Applebloom, absent-minded poking at the few vegetables left on her nearly-cleaned plate, "he just don't want ta admit it."

"Ya know, Applebloom, yer startin' to talk like yer sister," said the injured stallion, "ya oughta try talkin' like yer brother instead."

"But Big Mac doesn't talk much," said Applebloom. "It would be hard to talk like somepony who doesn't ta- She gasped when she realized the hidden meaning behind her older cousin's words. There could only be one response to that. "SIS!" She yelled towards the kitchen. "Braeburn's tellin' me to shut up!"

"Braeburn!" Applejack quickly yelled back. "Quit telling' my sister to shut up!"

"Ah didn't tell'er ta shut up!" Yelled Braeburn.

"He did too!" yelled Applebloom.

"Ah did not!" By this point, the yelling was more for the sake of yelling rather than making sure they were heard.

"He said Ah should be less like you, an' more like Big Macintosh!" Applebloom knew that her sister would take her side in this.

"Braeburn!" Applejack yelled.

Braeburn, unaware of what Applejack's connection is with the pegasus across from him, decided to do some dirt digging while the argument was still in full swing. "Yer just sore that you two lovebirds' plans went up in smoke with the hotel." He didn't notice that, across the table, blue was quickly becoming red.

"Braeburn!" Applejack was seriously starting to lose her patience.

And Braeburn noticed. "What? Ah'm on painkillers." He was hoping to deflect some of the orange pony's ire, but Applejack knew better.

"Yer allergic!"

"So Ah'm not on painkillers! Ain't that worse?"

Applejack sighed as she exited the kitchen. "Applebloom,finish yer carrots. Soarin' and Ah're headed into town. Yer in charge, make sure Braeburn eats his soup." She fixed the bandaged pony in an intense glare. "Even if it means a straw." She started for the door, walking past Soarin'. "C'mon, Sugarcube."

"What should I do? What should I do?!" Panic was starting to set in for Soarin'. He thought he was going to have another few hours to prepare, but it looks like the date's starting now. "Where're we headed?" Soarin' asked as he rushed ahead of Applejack to get the door for her, eliciting laughter from the pony in traction.

"Away from him." Applejack pointed at Braeburn as she walked out the door. "Anywhere away from him."

Street light, bar fight, you don't look right
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

Street light, bar fight, you don't look right

An ever present, silent sentinel, the sun stood watch high over the land of Equestria. Should it choose to, it could surveil all below it, from the emerald edges of the everfree forest to the sapphire glittering of the western sea. Possibly the last place the sun would choose to set its gaze is also, oddly enough, one of the places that most feels its presence. It was there, on the dusty, yellow dirt roads of Appleoosa, that two ponies walked together as silently as the sun above them.

Each had their own reasons for their silence.

One of them was a mare who's heart had been broken before. The avatar of honesty, she could be trusted to be truthful with her thoughts and feelings, and all she wanted was somepony that she could trust. Perhaps she wanted it too badly though. Everypony she had exposed her heart to had taken a piece of it, leaving nothing in return. The sad thing, at least from Applejack's perspective was that it never came as a surprise. After all was said and done, she had seen it coming, every single time. Even if she forced herself to try and ignore it.

She had tried to confine her feelings to friendships and family, but found herself unable to. Right now, she was waiting, hoping for the stallion beside her to give her a reason to justify the risk of opening up her feelings again. Either that, or to prove that this was a bad idea and should not have been attempted in the first place.

The stallion was silent, partly because he had nothing to say, partly because he was afraid to say anything at all. Every date he had ever been on had ended badly. And that was if he worked up the courage to talk to the mare in the first place. He had long ago lost count of the unrequited crushes and the times he had let his nerves get the better of him.

As they walked aimlessly through the sleepy, sun-kissed, or rather, sun-baked town, he realized he was doing it once again. He was letting his apprehensions about the situation get in the way. He had to start a conversation quickly or he would come across as shy and introverted. Well, maybe just a little more shy and introverted than he had already come across as.

After thinking for a bit, he finally settled on a nice, neutral conversion starter. "So, Applejack, what happened to your cousin?"

"Braeburn? He had a run in with some bandits." Applejack noticed that Soarin' was trying to play it safe with his choice of topics, but she didn't mind. She was just glad he was talking.

Soarin' caught himself mid-nod. It was one of his nervous habits to nod rather than respond when spoken to, but he wanted to change that. "Why would the bandits do that to him?"

"They didn't," Applejack said, "he did that to himself when he went and blew up the hotel." She was happy that they were having a conversation, but she wasn't quite happy with the way it was going. She wanted to know more about this blue stallion, and his choice of subject matter was hardly conducive to such a goal. She let out a light chuckle and tried to steer their chat in a more personal direction. "Ain't all bad though, he got a new friend outta the deal. She had to go to Canterlot to provide evidence against the bandits, but Ah hear they've been writin' back an' forth." Applejack looked over so she could see his reaction before continuing. "Judgin' by the way Braeburn was talkin' 'bout her, Ah'm pretty sure the two of 'em have got a thing for each other."

Soarin's reaction was rather disappointing, he kept his eyes leveled on the path ahead of him and slowly nodded. "That's nice."

Applejack let out a sigh. "Ah s'pose it is, Sugarcube."

"Why does she call me Sugarcube?" Soarin' thought to himself. He liked the idea of it, but it made him wonder if he should try to come up with a nickname for her. A few possibilities ran through his head. Things like, "Sugarbunch" or "Applecube." When his mind suggested "Jack," he decided that that he should just abandon the endeavor altogether. He didn't really want to though, he felt that he really had a chance to become at least a tiny bit more familiar with the orange mare and he didn't want it to slip through his feathers.

"Sugarcube?"

Applejack was, in his mind, one of the nicest mares he'd met in a long while. They also seemed to have a lot in common, younger siblings that depended on them, physically stressful jobs, and a single article of clothing that held significance to them and nopony else.

"Sugarcube?"

Soarin' wondered why he couldn't come up with a nickname, it should be easy, right? You just think about the other pony and pick something that suits them. Soarin' has a few friends that he calls by a nickname. There's Spits, Doc, Blue, Ziggy, although, Ziggy is more of a barely tolerated, and largely avoided, acquaintance.

"Streetlight."

"What?" Soarin' looked up in time to see the streetlight in all its rusty glory, but not in time to avoid it.

"KLAAAANNNGGG!" The hollow crash of head on metal resounded throughout the town and would have drawn stares had there been anypony present to do so.

"You all right, Sugarcube?" Applejack stood over the prone form of her current interest, staring down in concern. He would be a romantic interest, but she was still slightly undecided about that point.

"I'll let you know as soon as my head stops ringing." Soarin' tried to rub away the pain in his snout and forehead, but was still left with a decent ache. He would have to pay more attention next time. "Thank you for trying to warn me, A.J." It took Soarin' a moment to realize that he had finally come up with a nickname for the pretty farmer. It only took him a few seconds to mentally kick himself over how long he had managed to overlook such a glaringly obvious moniker.

"I s'pose all pegasi have got hard heads," AJ muttered to herself, marvelling at his speedy recovery from such a solid impact. "Um, Sugarcube, yer still on the ground."

"Yes I am," he said with a sigh. "So it begins." First he loses his dignity, then he'll embarrass himself further. Next thing you know, he'll find some way to insult her without meaning to and everything will go downhill from there. It's a script, one he had played out too many times, and Soarin' was sure, one written by a power who enjoyed a good, cruel laugh.

Applejack looked down at Soarin' as he stared blankly into the sky. The stallion had merely seemed sad before, but now, he seemed sad and depressed. For some reason that even she didn't know, that made Applejack angry. "Get up." Soarin' looked over at her but made no move to get to his feet. She stomped a hoof to make her point. "Ah said, get up." Soarin' rolled over onto his hooves and stood up, bringing him face to face with Applejack. "Do you dislike me?"

Of all the questions she could have asked, this was one Soarin' never expected to hear, usually, it was his dates that came to dislike him. "No, w-why would you ask that?"

Applejack told him why in no uncertain terms. "Yer actin' like ya don't want ta be 'round me, and it's startin' ta tick me off!" Soarin' opened his mouth to apologize, but she cut him off. "I don't want another hollow apology, I want ya ta tell me what's wrong!" She let her shoulders slump with a sigh and shook her head, planting her gaze on a rock near her hooves. It was a small, dirty, greyish-yellow rock, not much bigger than an appleseed. Probably a weathered chip of limestone that had once been much larger and brighter. "Ah knew this was a bad idea. W-we should call this off while we can still be friendly 'bout it."

Soarin's gaze had found a rock of its own to focus on, but he kicked it away and forced himself to look at the mare he had inadvertently hurt. "No." He swallowed loudly before continuing. "I'm sorry, Applejack, and that apology isn't hollow, but I'm scared. I'm scared things will end up like they always do when I get close to somepony, with you never wanting to see me again." He forced himself forward and put a hoof on her shoulder, causing her to look up. Tears, being fought back, were visible in her emerald eyes. "I don't want that to happen again." He had to fight the urge to withdraw, the urge to run and hide, and let things sort themselves out without him. He knew that he had to sort this out or things would never change. "I like you. I don't know you well enough to say anything more than that, but I feel like we have a chance and I am terrified of messing that up."

Applejack put a hoof on his shoulder before pulling him into a hug. "Ah'm sorry, Sugarcube." She let go of him and took a step back. "Ah shouldn't a' lost my temper at ya. It ain't yer fault that ya've got a bad hist'ry with romance."

"Eh," Soarin' winced slightly, "it kind of is."

Applejack shrugged. "Ah'll give ya that. But Ah'll tell ya, with the hist'ry Ah've got, you'd have to do somethin' pretty drastic ta scare me off." She paused for a moment to come up with a ridiculous example of something a stallion should never do on a date. "Somethin' like kissin' another mare while Ah'm at the table with ya." She started to chuckle at the absurdity of her hypothetical situation, but the laughter quickly died when she saw Soarin' cringe. "Oh, don't tell me-"

Soarin' put his hooves up in a placating gesture. "It wasn't by choice," he said quickly, "I would never do something like that on purpose."

Applejack put a hoof to her face as she shook her head. She should have seen that coming. "Fine, as bad as some a' the stallions in mah life've been, I won't hold who ya kiss against ya. So long as yer honest an' tell me 'bout it."

Soarin' nodded and quickly spouted off a list of names. "Spitfire, Colgate, Crest, Lemon Drop, Sunny Skies, Mint Tea, Parmesan Panini, Pillow Top, Inky Mane, Winter Grey, Summer Brightness, Fleur-de-lis, and princess Luna."

Applejack groaned loudly, that was much more than she wanted to know. "Ah didn't mean ya had ta- Wait, princess Luna?"

Soarin' shrugged. "Her and spitfire are the only ponies I've dated that I'm still on friendly terms with."

Applejack knew she would probably regret her next question, but she asked it anyway. "How many ponies have ya dated?"

Soarin' chewed his lip as he counted them out in his head. Applejack did not see this as a good sign, nor the fact he was taking quite a while to do it. He scratched his head with a hoof. "Including you? A hundred and thirty-seven. Two hundred and fifty-four if you count every time it didn't even get as far as the first date."

The blunt manner in which he said that shocked Applejack nearly as much as the sheer number. But, it did make her feel a little better about her own failures in that department. After all, her number was only about half as high as his. "Ah think we're gonna get along just fine, Sugarcube." She started walking again, still trying to wrap her head around that number. Well, that and how somepony like Soarin' ever managed to get a date with Luna.

"Say that after dinner," he said, following her. At first, he trailed along behind her, as was customary for him. But, when he noticed, he silently cursed himself and hurried ahead to walk side-by-side with Applejack. "There's a reason I've never had a second date."

She stopped. Walking, thinking, everything, just stopped as she processed this new information. Slowly, her gears started going again. "So, that hundred an' thirty-seven dates, that was a hundred and thirty-seven first dates?"

Again, Soarin' caught himself in the middle of nodding. "Yes."

"Whoa, Nelly! No wonder he thinks he's gonna mess things up." Applejack started walking again. "Ah tell ya what, Sugarcube, whatever happens today, how's about we do this again t'morrow? That way, ya don't have to worry about anythin'."

"Really?" Soarin' couldn't believe his ears. He was happy that Applejack was giving him such a generous chance, but he was sure that she just sealed the fate of tonight's date. He rushed to catch up with her and fell into step beside her. "Thank you, I mean, um, that's- That's really nice of you, and, uh-"

"You like grilled cheese?"

"Huh?!" Of all the bizarre subject changes Soarin' had ever heard, that one took the cake, or pie, or insert sugary pastry of your choice here. He shook his head and decided that he had to confirm what he heard. "Did you just say grilled cheese?"

"Yyup, like the sandwich?" Applejack stopped and pointed to a faded wooden sign. The olive green paint was cracked and peeling but the words, "The Two-bit Tow-bar, Saloon and Restaurant," were still legible. "Can't say much for the rest of the menu, but this place right here makes the most dee-licious grilled cheese Ah've ever had."

The crossed out saloon part of the sign worried Soarin', since he had no happy memories of any bar he ever visited. But if Applejack wanted to eat there, then he'll make it happen. "Then it looks like our dinner plans are back on," said Soarin'. Then, with an uncharacteristic burst of confidence, he offered a hoof, "care to join me for a meal?"

"Ah reckon Ah would." Applejack took the offered hoof and they started off towards the ~~saloon~~ restaurant, walking hoof-in-hoof.

They made it about three steps before they fell flat on their faces.

Applejack was the first one to untangle herself and make it to her hooves. "Sorry, Sugarcube." She helped Soarin' to his hooves and they started walking normally. "It's kinda hard ta walk with just three hooves."

"It's not your fault." Soarin' used his wings to dust off his flight goggles as they walked. "It was kind of stupid for me to suggest it."

Applejack let out a little chuckle. "Well, Ah'll be sure ta make a stupid suggestion too, so ya don't feel left out."

As it turns out, Applejack had already made her stupid suggestion, in the form of the restaurant where they now sat at a table, awaiting their meal.

"Ah don't know why saloon was crossed out," Applejack whispered to the stallion sharing the table with her, "everypony but us has got a bottle, and Ah bet ya it ain't cider."

Soarin' nodded and looked around the dark, smoky room. He was the only pegasus present, and Applejack was the only mare. Most of the other ponies were staring at them, making Soarin' feel even more self-conscious than usual. The only ponies that weren't staring weren't doing much of anything other than sleeping off the effects of whatever intoxicant they had chosen to imbibe. After completing his quick survey of the room, Soarin' leaned over so Applejack would be the only one able to hear him. "How about we make that meal to go?"

"That sounds like a mighty good idea, Sugarcube. Ah'll go get it." Applejack pushed away from the table and headed for the kitchen, leaving Soarin' alone in a room full of drunken ponies.

"Hurry back," said Soarin' with a nervous chuckle. No sooner had the farmer left, the atmosphere in the dim saloon took on a palpable change. To Soarin', it seemed like the temperature dropped a good twenty degrees. The sudden chill put him on the defensive and his ear twitched as he heard hoofsteps behind him. When a hoof descended on his shoulder, it took everything he had not to scream like a little filly. Though, Soarin' was pretty sure little fillies scream like him, rather than the other way around.

A hoof descended on his other shoulder and a gravelly voice spoke in his ear, carrying with it the pungent smell of a drink that was more alcohol than common sense. "Well Ah never thought Ah'd see th'day, an Apple and a pegasus. What would Granny Smith say?"

A tinny, wiry voice on his other side joined in the conversation. "She had her heart broken by one a' ya once. See, he jest couldn't stay in one place long enough."

"Ah, shaddup." said a nasally voice from underneath an empty table, "she almost married a unicorn, she don't care. No offense, Keys."

"None taken," said a unicorn who appeared to be napping on a piano in the corner, "ya no good louts pay mah rent, Ah ain't 'bout to complain none. But if ya start a fight, keep mah piana out of it." He waved a hoof and let it drop limply. "Have fun."

"A fight?!" Soarin' didn't like the sound of that. There had to be a peaceful way out of this, he had gotten into a barfight before and he had no desire to repeat the experience.

He was saved by the reappearance of Applejack, toting a makeshift saddle bag made from an old table cloth. "Am Ah interruptin' somethin'?" She made her way over to the table where Soarin' was "talking" to two ponies.

"Not at all," said the wiry voice to Soarin's right.

"And, might Ah say, yer lookin' mighty pretty mizz Applejack," said the deeper voice on the left, "as always."

"Shove it, Gumbo," Applejack slid the table out of the way so Soarin' could get out of his chair despite the two ponies behind him, "you an' yer brother've caused us a lot a' trouble with yer prospectin' so don't ya start talkin' sweet now." She turned towards the door without taking her eyes off them. "Let's go, Sugarcube."

Soarin' offered no hesitation as he got up and moved to Applejack's side. "Thank you!" Soarin' took the chance to look back at the two ponies who were behind him.

The two earth ponies were obviously brothers, their coats were the same dusty color, their manes were the same tawny shade, and they were wearing matching, yellow plaid shirts. They were almost comically different though, one of them, Soarin' was guessing Gumbo, was heavyset and had his mane straight and neatly trimmed. The other was lanky and let his wavy mane fall long on either side of his face.

"Ahh, yer no fun." Gumbo grabbed a nearby bottle and was about to take a swig from it when he caught a wiff of the hotsauce contained within. He wrinkled his nose and set the bottle down. "Ah guess we know who's wearin' what at the weddin'."

Applejack groaned in disgust as she headed for the door. She was stopped by Gumbo's brother calling after her. "Before ya go, Ah have jest one question." He trotted up to Applejack as she turned around and let out a snort. "That unicorn ya had a thing for, Frost, was it?"

"Yeah." Applejack's glare went unnoticed by the earth pony. He also failed to notice the way she tensed up at the sound that name.

"He had ice magic, right? Snow, cold temperatures, stuff like that?"

"Yeah." Applejack ground out her response much like she was grinding her hoof into the floor. Her muzzle was twisted into a scowl.

The lanky earth pony still took no notice of Applejack's irritation as he paced back and forth in front of her. "So, Ah've jest gotta know," he came to a stop in front of her, "how'd ya still manage ta get burned?"

"CRACK!!"

Before anypony could register what happened, the earth pony fell to the floor, the clatter of misplaced teeth sounding a sharp counterpoint to the dull thud of unconscious body. All eyes focused on Applejack. Her hoof was still raised, but her look of anger was replaced with one of, "oh, horseapples. Did Ah just do that?"

Her confusion was soon cut short by panic as she was shoved from behind. The sound of breaking glass filled her ears as she tripped over the pony she just knocked out. She crashed to the floor, but quickly got up and turned around. She let out a gasp at what she saw. What she saw was Soarin', amber liquor tinged with red dripping from his mane, facing down a buffalo. The dark brown shards littering floor told her that Soarin' had been hit by a bottle. One, she realized, that had been meant for her.

"Tough runt," grunted the large creature.

Soarin' let out a snort. "I guess Pegasi just have hard heads." He looked like a parasprite trying to face down a dragon, but he wasn't a parasprite that would back down. To the surprise of all present, when the Buffalo reached for another bottle, Soarin' headbutted the bulkier being.

The attack was entirely ineffective in and of itself, but the Buffalo flinched and that split second of surprise was all Soarin' needed. He stretched out his wing and took hold of the same bottle his opponent was reaching for. With a swift stroke of his highly trained wing, he wrecked the bottle against the side of the buffalo's head. The Buffalo was dazed, but still standing when Soarin' reared up and grabbed hold of the creature's horns. Soarin' twisted and flapped his wings to put the buffalo off balance and provide enough momentum to slam him into the nearest wall. Soarin' delivered a swift kick to the large creatures gut, causing him to toss his head in an attempt to strike back at his smaller tormentor. Soarin' dodged the attack and leapt into the air. The buffalo looked around for him, but Soarin' stayed out of sight until the buffalo's head passed over a table. At that moment, the pegasus flew into a powered dive, coming down on the buffalo's head and sending it through the timeworn wood of the table to the floor below. The buffalo didn't get up.

Applejack watched as Soarin' stepped of the buffalo's head and through the splintered debris that was strewn about. She had seen a lot of fights, even participated in a few, but she had only ever seen one fight like that before. When she was younger, during zap apple season, an injured timberwolf had been set upon by a manticore. The situation looked one-sided, but the ensuing clash ended with the timberwolf walking away. The fight was dirty, one born of desperation and the overwhelming desire to survive despite all circumstances. Soarin' fought like a cornered animal.

There was a light scraping noise as somepony moved and stood up from their chair. Soarin' spun and shoved a hoof in that pony's direction. "You have three seconds to sit down, or I get SERIOUS!!!"

"One!"

Everypony looked at each other, fear in their faces as they contemplated the pegasus' order.

"Two!"

Everypony who wasn't already sitting plopped down as quickly as they could.

Where the count of three should have been, there was only a sudden gust of wind as a weathered old Stetson drifted slowly to the now empty floor.

Lines. That's all Applejack could see, lines of color. But her eyes stung when she tried to look, so she closed them against the biting wind she felt. She felt something else, a pair of hooves wrapped tightly around her. She heard something as well, she thought it was a voice, but couldn't be sure over the sound of wind in her ears.

She didn't like this, she had no control over what was happening and she couldn't even open her eyes to see it.

She didn't know how long it was before the wind started to die down, but as soon as it did, she became aware of one particular sound. A heavy, labored breathing above her. She tried opening her eyes again, the wind was unpleasant and still stung, but it was bearable. The lines were gone, replaced by the familiar scenery of the Appleoosan desert. They weren't very high up, but Applejack saw that they were descending. And at a pace a little faster than she was comfortable with.

"Applejack," she heard Soarin's voice from above her. Something about the way it sounded worried her. "I'm sorry."

"It's not yer fault, Sugarcube," Applejack told him. "It's mine," she added to herself. She let her temper get the better of her and dragged him along for the ride. "That was mighty heroic of ya to-WHA-!" She let out a yelp as she felt his grip slip. "Sugarcube, what's goin' on?!"

Soarin' did his best to tighten his hold on her, but there was no avoiding what was about to happen. "We're gonna crash." As they approached the ground, Soarin' did his best to drop Applejack gently on a clear patch of ground.

As her hooves came into contact with the ground, her rodeo instincts kicked in and she rolled to dissipate her momentum. After coming to a stop, she got up and checked herself, finding no serious injuries.

The same could not be said for Soarin'. The combination of injuries and exertion had dulled his movements, leaving him unable react in time to lessen the impact of his crash. He came down hard and skidded through a rocky patch of ground.

Applejack rushed to his side, fearing the worst. She found him mostly intact, save for multiple cuts and bruises. He tried to stand up but was too shaky and ended up collapsing. Then Applejack saw something she hadn't before. His shoulder was torn open from point to wither and bleeding badly. He tried to stand again. This time, Applejack caught him before he fell. He leaned heavily against her, shivering in pain and shock. His ragged breathing worried her. If he suffered some sort of internal injury in that crash, she had no way to help him.

But she couldn't worry about that now, she had to focus on how she can help him. "Come on, Sugarcube," Applejack said gently, "let's get ya ta shade." She slowly guided the wither-wrung pegasus to the shade of a large boulder not far from where he had crashed. She paid very close attention to make sure he didn't put too much weight on his injured side. Once Soarin' was laying in the shade, Applejack tore off her checkercloth saddlebags and got to work digging through them.

The food was mashed, but she set it aside for later. There were also two water bottles and some napkins. She used some of the water to wet some of the napkins. "This is gonna sting, Sugarcube. Try ta relax."

"AAAUGGH!!" Pain ripped through Soarin's shoulder at the touch of the drenched linen.

"Soarin'?" Applejack pulled her hoof away from his shoulder. "You ok?" She had to clean out the wound, but she didn't want to cause him any more pain.

Soarin' panted to catch his breath, cold sweat clinging to his face. "G-get it over with!"

She hesitated. "Ya sure?"

"Applejack, I trust you." Soarin' clenched his teeth. He knew this had to happen, but that didn't make it any less unpleasant. "Do what you have to do!" With a wince, Applejack dug into the wound, clearing out dirt and pieces of rock. "AAARRGGGHH!!"

Applejack paused slightly before continuing her treatment. "Ah'm sorry," she whispered. Soarin' couldn't hear her over the sound of his own screaming. "Ah'm so sorry."

The "picnic"
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

The "picnic"

"At least it can't get any worse." That was Soarin's first thought upon waking up. He had passed out at some point while his shoulder was being cleaned, so he turned his head to look at it. The cleanest parts of the tablecloth were tied to the wound with the rest of the checkered cloth, and the wound didn't appear to be bleeding too badly.

That didn't mean that it stopped hurting. His entire shoulder ached with dull, throbbing pain. He tried to move his leg, but the pain worsened, causing him to draw in a sharp breath.

"Sugarcube?" Soarin' felt movement against his back. "You awake?"

Applejack had been taking a nap in the shade beside Soarin'. She wasn't exhausted or injured like he was, but she had to conserve the strength she had. After all, there was no way Soarin' would be walking with his shoulder messed up like it was.

She got up and turned around to face the injured stallion. "How ya feeling?" She made a visual check of his injuries. The shoulder was the only on bandaged, but he had many more. There were a few scrapes and bruises from his rough landing, but those were relatively minor. Applejack was more worried about the wounds he sustained from the broken bottle. She didn't have anything to help her remove the bits of broken glass, so she had tried her best to rinse it away with water. Fortunately, nothing seemed to have gotten any worse.

Keeping his weight on his good shoulder, Soarin' forced himself to a sitting position. The movement still sent waves of pain crashing through his left side. "I'm fine."

Applejack saw the pain he was trying to hide. "Don't lie ta me, Sugarcube. Ah patched that shoulder for ya, Ah know how bad it is." She sighed and reached into the brown paper bag that held their food. His lie had been well-intentioned, meant to reassure her, but she still didn't like being lied to. She gave him one of the mashed up grilled cheese sandwiches. It was mangled, almost beyond recognition, but it was better than nothing. "Don't ever lie ta me."

Soarin' took the disfigured offering with a quiet, "sorry."

"What was that?" Applejack took her own crumbly sandwich and contemplated it for a moment before taking a cautious bite. Even if it was a little beat up, it still tasted as good as she remembered.

"I said, I'm sorry for lying to you." Soarin' took a bite of his own sandwich. He liked it, he just wished he would have been able to eat it under better circumstances. "My leg feels like somepony tried to cut it off."

"Thanks for the honesty, Sugarcube." There was one waterbottle left, she took a swig of the refreshing liquid before offering it to Soarin'. There was no way around it, they just had to share, but Soarin' hesitated. "Ah ain't got cooties, ya know."

"What? No!" Soarin' waved his good hoof in front of him, almost losing what was left of his sandwich in the process. "I mean- Um, have you had enough? What if you want some more water later?"

Soarin's hoof was still stretched out in front of him and Applejack snuck a glance at it before quickly leaning forward and taking a bite of his sandwich before he could pull it away. "Thish is shurfifal, Shugarcube, Ah don't mi-" She suddenly frowned and started chewing. After she swallowed, she stared down at her sandwich, then she looked over at Soarin's. "Yers tastes better." She sniffed her sandwich as Soarin' looked on in confusion. She looked over at his sandwich on more time. This time though, her gaze lingered prompting him to examine the cheesy edible resting in his hoof. He slowly held it out to her and she took a sniff. She immediately took another nibble of her own sandwich. She stared at it in consternation. "Mine ain't hardly got any seasonin'!"

Soarin' started laughing, each peal of mirth causing spikes of agony to run through his shoulder. He just couldn't help it though, she was being so serious about the sandwich that it was funny. "Maybe you should go get a refund," he joked, setting his sandwich on the paper bag and absent-mindedly taking a drink from the water bottle, "after what happened, I doubt they'd refuse. You could get your hat back too."

"Mah Hat?!" Applejack hurriedly put the sandwich down on the paper bag and brought her hooves to her empty head. Her eyes went wide as she found bound emptiness where weathered felt should have been. "Ah lost pappy's hat." Applejack started to panic. She couldn't replace that hat, what would she do if it got damaged? What if somepony picked it up and left town with it? She might never get it back!

Something came down around her head, breaking her out of her frenzied thoughts. She felt something resting on her shoulders, so she looked down.The tips of Soarin's wings were resting on either side of his old flight goggles which now hung around her neck. Soarin' placed his good hoof under her chin and slowly tilted her face towards his. "I'll get your hat back, A.J. I promise." He knew how he would feel if he lost his goggles and he felt responsible for the loss of her hat. "Until I do," he tapped his hoof against the goggles, "you hold on to these."

Tears started to fall from her eyes as she looked at him. "But Ah-"

Soarin' put a hoof to her mouth to silence her. "Those are important to me, Applejack, take care of 'em."

"Ah will, Sugarcube," Applejack pulled him into a gentle embrace, "Ah wi-"

"GYAAHHH! A.J! SHOULDER!"

Applejack let go quickly. "Sorry."

They sat in awkward silence as Soarin' recovered. Once the pain subsided to a bearable level, Soarin' reached for his… sandwich. "Uh, A.J? Which 'wich is which?"

"Huh?" Applejack looked down at the paper bag. Two mashed up grilled cheese sandwiches sat side by side with no way to identify which pony each belonged to. She shrugged and grabbed the one closest to her. "Survival, Sugarcube." She took a bite and held back a smile when she noticed that it tasted better than it did earlier.

Soarin' took the remaining sandwich. "You keep using that word." He took a bite and felt his face heat up when he realized that the sandwich didn't taste as good as it did before.

Applejack swallowed her food as quickly as she could and threw a hoof in the air. "Ah do not think it means what you think it means! Ah loved that book!"

Soarin' chuckled. "That's an old reference, I'm kinda surprised you caught it."

"Pfft!" Applejack dismissed that with a wave of a hoof. "Old don't mean anythin' if somethin's good."

"That's for sure." Soarin' noticed that she lifted her sandwich at the end of her sentence and idly wondered if she was taunting him. "Have you ever seen the film? It's pretty good."

Applejack washed down the last of her, Soarin's really, sandwich with some water. She shook her head. "Ah've been meanin' to, but Ah haven't had time ta get to a theatre. Ah tried ta get Twi ta play it at the library once, but the projector was busted."

"Well, maybe I can take you to see it some time, it really is good." It didn't even dawn on Soarin' that he just asked Applejack out. "But seriously, why do you keep saying survival? We walked into town in about an hour. I don't know how long I was flying for, but we can't be that far away from Braeburn's house, can we?"

Applejack took a deep breath and put a hoof on his good shoulder, consoling him for what she was about to say. "Here's the thing, Sugarcube."

"If I had a bit for every time I heard a mare say that…" thought Soarin'.

Applejack pointed one way. "Farm's that a way." She pointed in the opposite direction. "You flew that a way."

Soarin' blinked and shook his head. "Sorry, I blacked out for a moment there. Did you just say I flew in the wrong direction?"

Applejack nodded. "If Ah had ta guess, Ah'd say we'll be lucky ta get back before sundown."

"We?" Soarin' pointed to his shoulder. "I don't think I'm going to be walking anywhere anytime soon. And if I tried to flap my wings, I'd probably start bleeding again."

"Ah know," said Applejack.

"Then, how-" Soarin's eyes went wide when he realized what Applejack meant by we. "No. A.J., you don't have to-"

It was Applejack's turn to silence Soarin' with a hoof too the mouth. "Ya carried me, Ah can return the favor. And no complainin', Ah bet Ah've hauled baskets of apples heavier'n you."

Soarin' let out a sigh, there was no way he was going to talk her out of this. "Looks like we're in it for the long haul."

Applejack snorted trying to hold back laughter, but ended up laughing anyway. "Ya oughtta tell more jokes, Sugarcube, that one was mighty clever."

"You ought to laugh more, it's really charming." Soarin' started chuckling, but suddenly stopped and let out a horrified gasp. "Was that out loud?"

Applejack patted him on top of the head. "Yes it was, Sugarcube, yes it was. Ah'll make ya a deal though, keep tellin' jokes, and Ah'll keep laughing. Sound good?"

To Soarin', that sounded very good. "A camel, a zebra, and a unicorn were on a journey in the desert when they came across a pegasus. The camel- mmph-hmm-bmmmh-" He looked down at the hoof in his mouth, then at the glare on Applejack's face.

"Too soon, Sugarcube, way too soon." Applejack took her hoof out of his mouth and wiped it on the ground. "Let's try gettin' out of the desert first."

"Ok." There was a long moment of silence as the two ponies stared at the ground between them. "Um, A.J.? How do we do this?"

"Ah dunno." Applejack got up and stood sideways in front of him. "Ah guess ya just climb on. Ah've never gotten this far with a stallion before."

Soarin' stood up, keeping his weight off his injured leg. "Well, if I- Wait. What?!"

Applejack looked back at him. "What?"

Soarin' blinked. "What?"

Applejack looked around like like she was confused. "Why ya sayin' what?"

Soarin' shook his head. "Huh?"

Applejack pointed up at the sun above them. "Time's wastin', Sugarcube. Ya wanna get home before nightfall?"

Soarin' took everything that just happened and pushed it as far out of his head as he could. Tucking his bad leg as tightly to his body as he could, he threw his good hoof around the back of Applejack's neck. Then he hopped up so he was laying sideways on Applejack's back. He wrapped one wing around her midsection to stabilize himself. "Is this ok, A.J.?"

Applejack took a few steps forward. "That's fine, Sugarcube. Ya comfy?"

"Um, very much so." He stretched his other wing out over Applejack's head, shading her from the sun.

She started walking in the direction of Appleoosa. "Thanks, Sugarcube." This was going to be a long walk, and the shade would make the trip a bit more bearable.

Soarin' shifted a little, so he he would be in a better position to talk to the pony carrying him. "Why Sugarcube?"

Applejack glanced back as she walked. "What was that?"

He spoke a little louder. "Why do you call me Sugarcube?" He wasn't complaining, he was just curious.

"Well, ya can blame my brother fer that." Applejack let out a chuckle at the memory before continuing her story. "Ya see, we lost our ma and pa long ago. Ah don't know exactly what happened, and Ah think Mac's the only pony who knows the full story. Anyway, Granny Smith became our legal guardian, but she couldn't handle all the work. Mac did everythin' she couldn't, tending the fields, makin' repairs, even takin' care of Applebloom. He pretty much raised the both of us. Before she was old enough to know better, Applebloom even called him pa. He taught me everythin' there was to know about runnin' a farm.

One a' those things was sellin' our goods at market. Ah was nervous on my first day running the stall, so Mac told me to pick somethin' Ah liked. Ah picked a Sugarcube and he told me ta call the customers Sugarcube. And that way, Ah'd be thinking about that rather than being nervous about talkin' to somepony. Well, Ah started doin' and it just kinda stuck. Mostly, Ah use it fer mah friends. Sorry it ain't nothin' special."

Soarin' thought about that for a moment. "So, we're friends?"

Applejack gave a small shrug. "Sure."

"Well," said Soarin', "I think that's special enough."

In charge
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Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

In charge

"Ah'm in charge?!" Applebloom mulled over her sisters words for a moment, barely believing her ears. Slowly, a grin spread across her face as possibilities came to mind. "Yay! Ah'm in charge!"

Braeburn hadn't seen Applebloom in nearly a year, but he still knew her well enough to know that this would not end well for him. "Good fer you," he grunted.

"No it ain't," Applebloom said, jumping off her chair with a smile.

Braeburn did not like the sound of that. "Then what is it?"

"IT'S GREAT!" Full of enthusiasm, Applebloom grabbed her plate and ran it to the kitchen.

"Great," Braeburn muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes as he thought of all the ways this could go horribly wrong.

Applebloom ran back to her chair. "It's good fer you too, cousin Braeburn." She shoved the chair back under the table right into one of Braeburn's plaster-clad hind-legs.

"Really," he hissed as his face contorted in pain, "now, why's that?"

Applebloom puffed her chest out proudly. "Cause Ah'm gonna make sure ya get better." She pushed Applejack's chair under the table, smacking it against the other cast-bound leg.

Braeburn bit down on his lip and tried to hold back tears as pain shot up his leg. "Can't wait." He clutched at his leg with his slightly less injured left hoof.

"Ya don't have to!" Applebloom jumped up on the table and struck a pose. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER REHA-, RE- uh-" She stopped and looked at Braeburn.

He forced a smile. "Rehabilitator?"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER REHABILItibitila-, uh, WHAT HE SAID! GO!" Applebloom hopped off the table and ran to the kitchen.

"Just get a straw," cousin braeburn called after her, "then ya can go play." If it came down to a choice between his dignity and enduring who knows how much of Applebloom's well-intentioned care, well, goodbye dignity.

"That's okay, cousin Braeburn." Applebloom returned from the kitchen with a bag of ice which she set on the table. "Ah don't mind takin' care of ya."

"But, I mind," thought Braeburn.

"Asides, all I brought were crayons."

"Crayons and paper, perfect! You can draw a picture."

"Nope, just crayons." She ran back to the kitchen. "Where's the straws?"

"Left of the fridge," Braeburn told her. "Applejack did the packin', didn't she?"

"Yeah, she did!" Applebloom came back with the straw and dropped it in the soup. "How'd ya know?

" Cause Big Mac knows how much paper you go through." Braeburn put a hoof to his chin. "Ah tell ya what, last time ya where here, yer brother left some toys in case ya ever came ta visit." Braeburn made a mental note to thank Mac for that before pointing to a door across from the kitchen. "They're in a box in the back of the closet. You can play with them."