Hearth's Warming Eve (Original Story)
I could practically feel the air shake as Applejack slammed her masterful hooves against another apple tree. Every single clump of snow tumbled from its branches and landed in heaps around the smiling farmpony. As always, it was awesome to watch her at work. Even if it was kind of hard for her to get all sweaty and shiny on a cold day like this, she was making one hay of a go at it.
I sighed longingly as she trotted off to bestow her wonderful blessing on the next one in line. “Lucky trees,” I muttered. Almost too late, I snapped my head back behind the cloud as Applejack looked up to investigate the voice with her bright, emerald eyes...
“Rainbow Dash? That you up there?” she yelled. The sound of her sexy accent calling my name made me bite my lip to keep from squealing.
I cleared my throat, faked a yawn and stretched out my hooves before peeking out over the edge of the cloud. “Huh? Oh, hi, AJ. I was just taking a little nap up here – totally haven't been watching you or anything.”
Applejack giggled. “I swear, I've never met a lazier pony in my life. Is there ever a moment when you ain't itchin' to get to bed?”
“You have no idea...” I threw her a suggestive smirk. I guess she didn't see it, because she just shook her head with a smile and went back to her trees.
They had her attention twenty-four seven... Even when she wasn't working, Applejack's mind was back in the orchard, tending to those trees with her firm, loving hooves. It felt kind of weird to be jealous of trees but... well, I was. And I'd had enough of it.
'This is the day,' I told myself, staring determinedly down at Applejack's perfectly-curved flank. 'Today, I'm gonna tell her!'
I rolled my head around – stretching the muscles in my neck and making the bones crack awesomely. Then I bent down, fixed my eyes on my sexy target and pounced from the cloud. As I soared downwards and the wind whipped through my mane, it was way hard not to just tackle her to the ground right there and then... but I had a feeling that that wouldn't end too well.
So I just about managed to keep my cool and landed next to her instead, just as she finished bucking the snow from another tree. She looked up at me with an eyebrow raised, obviously expecting me to say something. I licked my lips. 'Play it smooth, Dash...'
“...Whatcha doin'?” I said coolly.
Oh yeah, that was smooth...
Applejack gave me the sort of smile that said she thought I was slightly crazy. “What's it look like? I'm bucking the snow out of these here apple trees.”
With a quick gulp, I composed myself and smirked at her again. “Mind if I get in line?”
Applejack grunted in surprise and smiled more honestly. “Well, now that you mention it, I could use a little help. Mighty good of you to offer, RD.”
I opened my mouth to tell her that's not what I meant, but shut it a second later. If I was going to tell her how I felt, I'd need an excuse to spend some time with her. And as much as I hated the idea of working on a snow day, maybe helping AJ out would... soften her up a bit.
“Uh, sure!” I said, puffing out my chest proudly. “You know you can always count on me, AJ!”
I caught one last wink of her awesome smile before she turned and started towards another tree. From this angle, the view was just about perfect. I knew I probably should've been focussing on the bucking technique, but the pony doing the bucking was way more interesting – especially the way the muscles in her flank curled as she kicked out in slow-motion...
I only came back to my senses when she looked up at me expectantly. Wiping the drool from my mouth, I turned to the nearest tree and hurried over to it. I figured it couldn't be too hard, so I just did my best Applejack impression – spinning in place and kicking out my sexy, muscular legs to strike the wood with a satisfying thud.
The snow started falling from the tree in globs, and I flashed AJ my proudest smirk. Instead of smiling back though, her eyes went wide as she stared at something above me...
Next thing I knew, something cold, heavy and super-embarrassing landed on my head – crushing me, face down, into the snow. It took a while for the shock to wear off and the ringing in my ears to go away. When it did, I heard the muffled sound of Applejack's laughter coming from overhead.
Normally, not a bad sound to hear. This time, it made my cheeks burn so hot that the snow around me started to melt.
“Y-you okay down there?” Applejack laughed.
I planted my hooves either side of me and pushed myself up, shaking the snow out of my mane as I went. “I totally meant to do that!” I said, turning to frown at the still-snickering farmpony. She lifted a hoof to try and stop the giggles – or at least make it look like she was trying – while I just stood there, feeling like a complete, snow-plastered idiot.
Just as I was trying to convince myself to forget the whole thing and take off to save me the embarrassment, Applejack trotted right up to me, until our snouts were barely a step apart. Still smiling, she lifted a hoof and ran it through my mane, brushing the last of the snow onto the ground. My eyes bugged out.
“Not as easy as it looks, is it?” she said softly.
“Uh huh...” I grunted. Her eyes were half-lidded in that kind, honest sort of way that made me want to bounce forwards, push her to the ground and--
She pulled her hoof back and started trotting away, coldly snapping me out of my daydream. As I watched her tail bob from side to side, I felt a sudden stab of panic in my stomach. “W-wait!” I called out.
AJ turned to look back over her shoulder with raised eyebrows.
I couldn't just let her walk away – not this time... not today. But I also had no idea what else to say or do to keep her there. Even if my stomach cringed at the thought, I knew that I had to come out and say it...
“...Let's go build a snowpony!”
...Or come out and say something completely random and weird...
Applejack gave a single, confused chuckle. “Beg pardon?”
Gulping down the urge to hide from the look she was giving me, I straightened up and tried to wing it. “Y-you heard me! Let's go build a snowpony.”
“...Why?” said Applejack, turning her body to face me properly.
“Why not?” I threw back. “It's a snow day. I'm here, you're here, and we haven't hung out in, like, days. So let's go.”
She narrowed her eyes and drew back a little. “Ain't we hangin' out right now? You're... actin' kind of funny, RD...”
“Kind of hard not to when you're around,” I muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing! You coming? Or am I gonna have to drag you?”
Applejack blinked at me. Then she turned her head to look around at the orchard full of trees that were still covered in snow. “Well, not that I wouldn't like to or anything, but--”
I groaned and pulled down on the bottom of my eyes. “C'mon, AJ! It's Hearth's Warming Eve! Wouldn't you rather be spending time with me than with them?” I glared at the nearest of the trees – daring him to make a move. He didn't have the guts.
“'Course I would!” said Applejack defensively. “But that don't change the fact that I've gotta get all the snow out of these trees before tomorrow. Why, I'd never forgive myself if one of 'em got hurt on account of my slacking off!”
With a roll of the eyes, I turned to look at how much work was left to do. There had to be hundreds of snowy trees left, versus the two-dozen that Applejack had already cleared. It'd take hours to finish, and I couldn't waste that long waiting. So, naturally, I came up with an awesome plan.
“Alright, here's what we'll do – you come and hang out with me now, then, when we're done, I'll go convince Twilight to come clear the rest of the trees. Okay?”
Applejack gave me a doubting sort of frown. “Didn't she say she was magic-proofing her bedroom for when Trixie comes over tomorrow?”
I waved a hoof dismissively. “Pfft, this is Twilight we're talking about – I bet she's already finished. Besides, she's probably real nervous about their magic duel or whatever it is they do up there, she'll be happy for a distraction.”
AJ huffed and gave the ground a bemused half-smile. “You ain't gonna let me say 'no', are you?”
I shook my head firmly.
She rolled her eyes. “...Alright, fine. But you'd better not slack off when it comes time to get back to business!”
My heart did a backflip. “Wouldn't dream of it!”
A snowpony? Oh man, what was I thinking? I hadn't made a snowpony since I was a kid! Still, I guess I'd managed to get AJ alone – away from her trees. Now I could at least talk to her without having to worry about my competition listening in.
As the two of us wandered down the snow-covered trail away from the farm, I realised how cold it was. I mean, I wasn't cold – pegasi don't get cold as easily as other ponies. But, now that she was out in the open, Applejack was shivering a little every time a gust of wind blew past.
Being naturally gallant as I was, I moseyed on over to share a little body heat. At least, that was the plan... until she looked across at me. Then I quickly decided that it was a little forward and backed off, hoping that she didn't notice.
“Uh, something bothering you, sugarcube?” she asked.
“Huh? Who, me?” I flashed her an innocent smile. “No, nothing!”
“Really? 'Cause you seem to be havin' trouble walking in a straight line...” She narrowed her eyes. “You haven't been drinking, have you?”
“No! I--” Actually, that gave me an idea. An awesome idea. “I-I mean, yeah, maybe a little...” I hung my head and looked away, pretending to be embarrassed.
I gave it a good three count, then deliberately tripped and stumbled sideways, bumping into AJ's sleek, firm body. She gave a little grunt, but didn't fall down. I hadn't really expected her to.
“RD! Are you alright?!” she asked urgently.
I couldn't help but smirk to myself.
“Uh, y-yeah...” I grumbled, turning to blink up at her as if I was totally disoriented. “Just... kind of wobbly still. Do you think I could maybe lean on you for a bit? Just until I sober up?”
She blinked at me. For a minute, I thought she saw right through the bluff. But then she shook her head and smiled. “Aw, sheesh, Rainbow Dash. Go ahead. But don't expect no sympathy past that! You should know better than to be drinking at this time of day!”
In a flash that probably gave the game away, I shot up to my hooves, unfurled my wing and wrapped it around her. I pulled her close, until my side was pressed up against her coat – all warm and messy from where she'd been bucking those trees. It was hard not to laugh in triumph. 'Score one for Rainbow Dash!'
She didn't say anything as we started down the trail again, though I did catch a couple of funny looks. I didn't care – she'd understand everything when I explained. And right there – cuddled up close and in the company of her warm, apple-scented breath – seemed like the perfect time and place.
“Hey, AJ, I--”
Before I knew what was going on, she stuck a hoof in front of mine. I tripped and hit the ground face-first for the second time that morning. When I managed to shake it off and scramble to my hooves, I shot her a look, only to see that she was smirking.
“W-what was that for?!” I snapped.
“Sobered up now?” she said slyly.
My mouth fell open for a few seconds, trying to make sense of what she'd just said. When I did, I adopted a deadpan expression. “Yes. Thank you very much.”
“You're welcome,” she chirped, turning to trot onwards without so much as a look back.
I stared at her swaggering flank for a moment, then a few more moments for good measure. “...Man, that was sexy...”
“What?” she called back.
“Nothing!”
I kept a... 'comfortable'... distance as we made our way down the trail. Ponyville was getting closer, but that wasn't where we were heading. About two minutes out, I trotted off the side of the trail and glanced back at AJ. “This way.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “We ain't going into town?”
“Nope. There's a tonne of snow on that hilltop over here--” I pointed towards it. “--It should be perfect.”
“...Looks kind of dull to me,” Applejack observed.
“That's right! No ponies, no trees and absolutely no distractions! It'll be just the two of us. Alone...” I waggled my eyebrows at her.
The farmpony blinked. “If you say so,” she said indifferently, making to trot up the hill. When she'd passed me, and I knew she wasn't looking, I did a little victory jig in celebration. She wasn't in the bag yet, but we were getting close.
The hilltop really was deserted. It was totally flat and covered in snow, and that was pretty much it. Well, the view was okay – Ponyville in the not-so-far distance to one side and the rolling plains leading up to Canterlot to the other. Kind of boring, but that wasn't really important right now. We'd make our own fun...
“Okay, we're here. Now what?” said Applejack half-heartedly.
I smirked at her. “What's the matter, AJ? Never built a snowpony before?”
“Nope.”
“...Really?” I said, surprised.
AJ shook her head. “Never needed to.”
“Well, you never need to build a snowpony,” I explained, rolling my eyes. “You just do it 'cause it's fun. Remember fun, Applejack?”
She threw me a glare. “Hey, I'm fun!”
“Oh yeah?” The smirk made its way back onto my face. “Show me then. I dare you.”
She leant forwards and raised her eyebrows. “Well tell me how to make a snowpony and maybe I will,” she said condescendingly.
I scoffed at that. She was getting competitive. That was good. That was very good...
“Alright – snowpony one-oh-one...” I trotted over to the middle of the hilltop, swatting her playfully with my tail in passing. The way she scrunched up her nose was so cute that it was hard to resist making another pass. But there'd be plenty of time for that later...
Making a snowpony was kid-stuff, so it didn't take long to explain. And, once I'd rolled the first hoof to demonstrate, she got the gist of it and started on the next one. That's another cool thing about AJ – she's smart. Not 'Twilight smart' or 'book smart' or 'street smart'... just the perfect amount of smart for me.
“So, uh, AJ,” I said, trying to spark up a conversation as we went through the motions. “You ever had a coltfriend?”
“Me? Nah.” She said it so coolly, didn't even look over at me.
I couldn't help but grin to myself. “...Marefriend?”
“Nope.”
“Huh?” I furrowed my brow at her. “So you're still a--”
“Yup.”
...Wow. Just... wow. I wasn't really sure how to feel about that. Kind of excited, I guess. “So... you're just waiting for the right mare, then?” I said hopefully.
She shrugged. Didn't get all defensive or anything. Just shrugged. She was cool. And I was awesome... We were practically made for each other!
She idly glanced over at me. “I guess. Why d'you ask?”
'This is it, Dash,' I told myself. 'Never gonna get a cleaner shot...'
I took a deep breath and braced myself. “Babe, it's 'cause I want to be that mare.”
Oh man, it felt so good to finally get it off my chest. And with a delivery that amazing, there was no way she could resist. All that was left now was for her to gallop over and confess her undying love in a passionate kiss that--
“...What mare?”
I blinked. “What?”
“What mare do you want to be?” she asked, furrowing her brow.
...Huh? Was she making fun of me? She couldn't be serious, right? “T-the mare,” I explained. “You know, the right mare.”
“Right for what?” she said, starting to sound annoyed.
I stared in disbelief. “For what we were just talking about! Were you listening or what?”
“I was listening!” she threw back. “We were talking 'bout whether I'd ever had a special somepony. Then you suddenly came out sayin' you wanted to be 'the mare'. You're already a mare, RD!”
“No, you--” I broke off as I realised what she'd just said. “Wait... I am?”
She gave me another funny look. “You been taking randomness lessons from Pinkie Pie?”
“Wait, go back!” I said desperately. “Did you say I'm already the mare?”
“Alright, end of weird conversation,” Applejack declared, turning back to finish rolling her snow hooves.
I mouthed at the back of her head, trying to grab her attention back, but I couldn't make any sound. Had she meant what I thought she'd meant or not? Was I the mare? Was I?!
“Now, are you gonna help me build this thing or not?” AJ said as she finished her second hoof. “'Cause if you want to skip this part and get back to work in the orchard--”
“No!” I blurted out, almost panicking. She raised an eyebrow. “I-I mean, yeah! Sure – I'm helping!”
She stared at me blankly. I got to work balancing the hooves upright and tried not to look her in the eye. My cool was starting to slip, and I couldn't let her see that.
So, the rest of the snowpony building went pretty quietly. I was way too focussed on composing myself to worry about looking for opportunities to romance her. She rolled the body while I rolled the head. We actually worked pretty well together. I mean duh, how could we not?
By the time we'd balanced the two bigger snowballs on top of the hooves, I was starting to feel a little better. Just a little... Enough so that when we stepped back to admire our work, I could offer AJ a sidewards smirk.
“...It don't look much like a pony,” she observed.
I rolled my eyes. “Uh, yeah – it's not finished yet. We've still got to add the details.”
“Details?” she repeated sceptically.
“You know, like face details and stuff... Take you, for example.”
“Me?”
Yes! Another brilliant idea from Rainbow Dash! I walked around in front of her and stood close enough that I could reach up with a hoof to touch her face. “There's the ears--” I brushed a hoof past the brim of her hat. She twitched, but she didn't make any effort to pull back or try to stop me. So, with a smile, I carried on.
“Then there's the rough, golden mane--” I made my way slowly down her mussed up hair. “And the cute snowpony nose--” I hesitated for a sec, then pressed my hoof up against her nose. Weird that I had to fight the urge to say 'boop'... I guess Pinkie was rubbing off on me after all.
AJ's eyes crossed as she tried to look at the end of my hoof. I was so in the zone. “Then there's... the lips--” I half-expected them to be chapped or something, but they was totally soft and rosy... totally perfect.
I slid my hoof gently down off of her snout and onto her chest. Then, not wanting to lose my momentum, I leaned in. “And the eyes,” I whispered, staring into those beautiful, grassy-green orbs. She stared back. I could feel her warm breath against my nose. She batted her eyelashes. It was too much...
I let out the breath I'd been forcing myself to hold and leant forwards, resigning myself to the tension. I closed my eyes. 'Here it comes,' I thought. 'The most awesome moment of my life...'
“Oh, I get it,” said Applejack.
She moved to the side, and my hoof slipped off of her chest. I didn't even bother trying to stay upright as I fell forwards and landed on my face. Again.
“Whoops, sorry, sugarcube!” She grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and dragged me up out of the snow. Then, without so much as a worried look back, she trotted over to the snowpony and started slapping on globs of snow for the ears and nose.
That was pretty much the last straw.
My face started heating up, my eyes narrowed and my hooves started trembling. The side of her thick, stubborn head was the perfect target... I grabbed a hoof-full of snow, bounced it once to test the weight, then hurled it.
The snowball struck its mark with a satisfying thud. That brought one heck of a smile to my face. “Ha! Take that!” I yelled. Applejack stared blankly at the snowpony. After what felt like minutes had passed, my smile started to fade. “Uh, AJ?”
She turned slowly to look at me. She didn't say anything, but I could see something in her eye – a real dark and vengeful sort of look that made me a little uneasy.
...Okay, maybe more than a little.
I took a step back and shifted my wings as she lowered her brows fiercely. “Uh, don't go nuts, AJ...” That was probably a pretty pointless thing to hope for...
She scraped her hoof against the ground and blew a puff of air through her nostrils, preparing to charge as I'd seen her do a bunch of times before. And, normally, I'd pretend to be caught off guard and let her hit me. A little tickle torture wasn't so bad, after all. But, judging by the fire in her eyes, that wasn't what she had in mind...
She pounced, and I took off. I barely snapped my tail out of the way in time to dodge her gnashing teeth. Catching myself in midair, I spun around and stuck a pose. “Missed!”
And then a snowball hit me in the face.
I shook the snow out of my eyes and turned to scowl at AJ, who was smirking. Almost giggling, actually. “Hey!” I yelled.
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, I see – you can dish it out but you can't take it.”
My mouth fell open. “Oh, you did not!”
She stuck her tongue out defiantly.
It was so on...
I twisted my body to get as much speed as possible as I dive-bombed towards her. Wasn't fast enough though – she dodged to the side and swatted me with her tail as I passed. With a growl, I scooped up a hoof-full of snow, flipped over and threw it back at her, catching her square on the flank.
From there, things escalated pretty quickly. Of course, with my awesome aerial acrobatics, she didn't have much of a chance in a straight up snowball fight. I shot all over the place, launching attacks from every direction and leaving a super-cool rainbow trail behind me. Too bad AJ couldn't see how cool it looked, being on the receiving end of the snowball barrage...
“Gah!” Something grabbed hold of my tail and pulled me back so hard that I almost got whiplash. Applejack was biting down on it with a proud look on her face. I flapped my wings and desperately tried to slip the hold, but she was too strong.
She threw me to one side, then – before I could even regain my balance – she was diving towards me.
It was like being hit by a gorgeous, fluffy cannonball. I had to admit, as the two of us plummeted towards the hillside, it was pretty sweet, having her pressed up against me like that. But it was kind of hard to enjoy it after we hit the hillside and started bouncing down it, head-over-hooves. I tried to gain the upper hoof, but every time we slammed into the hillside I completely forgot where I was.
When we finally hit the bottom – kicking up a massive snow-cloud – I didn't even know which way was up. My head swirled with dizziness... It took me a while to focus enough just to get out a few words. “A...Applejack? You okay?”
I felt something shift near me, but she didn't say anything. I waited for like, a minute, before I started to get a little worried. I tried to get up so that I could look for her, but something had me pinned to the ground. It took a bit longer for my head to stop being all foggy but, after that, it wasn't hard to figure out what it was...
Sure enough, when the snow-cloud cleared up, AJ was laid on top of me, pinning my hooves down with hers. Her hair-thingy was missing, so her mane kind of flowed down over her face, half-covering that cocky smirk on her lips. Amazingly, her hat hadn't moved an inch, and that just added to the awesomeness of the sight.
Yeah, she wasn't just 'okay' – she was perfect.
AJ batted her eyelashes. “I reckon I win that round...” she said quietly.
I stared at her.
“Uh, you okay there, sugarcube?”
As she frowned and leaned in closer to make sure, a tuft of her hair fell out from behind her ear and brushed against my cheek. That touch was all it took...
“...AJ, I think I love you.”
It was that simple. Just like that, I came out and said it – how I actually, truly felt...
Applejack drew a sharp breath as the weight of the words hit her. I felt my heart do a backflip – she finally got it! Her shining, green eyes blinked twice slowly, before her lips curled up into a smile. I bit my own lip in anticipation as she opened her mouth. Her next words would either make me or break me...
“...D'awww!” She leant down and rubbed her snout against mine. “I love ya too, RD – you ol' softie.”
She pulled back with a friendly smile on her lips... a friendly smile – leaving me to gawp at her. “N-no, AJ – I meant 'I love you' as in--”
“Yeah, yeah – don't worry,” chuckled Applejack, standing up to her full height and stepping off of me. “I won't tell anypony you got all sappy. But hey, you shouldn't worry about tellin' your friends you love 'em on Hearth's Warming Eve – it's what you're supposed to do, silly.”
She trotted off to pick up her hair-thingy from where it'd landed in the snow and tucked it inside her hat. All I managed was to get steadily to my hooves and gaze after her. “...Applejack, I don't think you're quite catching my meaning here--”
“Oh, I see what's going on here,” she said, turning to smirk over her shoulder at me.
“I really doubt that...”
“You're trying to distract me so I'll forget about your promise, ain't ya?” She gave a short laugh and shook her head. “Nice try, but that ain't gonna work on me. I reckon we're about done playin', so y'all get along to Twilight's right quick and keep up your end of the bargain, y'hear?”
I groaned and hid my face behind my wing. 'Oh, to Tartarus with this. I'll try again next week...'
* * *
As Applejack closed her bedroom door late that evening, her body still aching from the day's work and play, she breathed a content sigh. Curling up into bed seemed like a perfect idea right now, but she just had one last thing she needed to do. It was Hearth's Warming Eve, after all...
She closed the curtains and crouched down to pull a box out from under her bed – filled with presents for each of her five best friends. A book on the history of apple farming for Twilight, an extra-specially huge tube of Sweet Apple Acres Best Cake Frosting for Pinkie Pie--
Her eyes fell on the present she'd been looking for. Carefully as she could, she bit down on the thick, red envelope and lifted it from the box to lay it down atop her bed. She stared at the name on the front for a long moment before reaching in and pulling out the card inside. When she nosed open the card itself, she smiled. The chain was still there... As if it could've gone anywhere.
She ran a hoof over the custom-made pendant of two cutie marks side-by-side, overlaying a big ol' pink heart, all made from fancy glass. Kind of a sappy gesture, maybe. Okay, a really sappy gesture. It'd probably never even get worn. But that was okay. It was the message behind the gift that really mattered. And it was kind of hard to misinterpret this message.
She leant down and laid a soft kiss on the cold pendant, then drew back and chuckled to herself. “You're in for a surprise tomorrow, RD...”
Hearth's Warming Day (Optional Epilogue)
I awoke to a weird, tickling feeling against my nose – like somepony was brushing a feather against it. I lifted a hoof to bat it away. Whatever time it was, it was too early to get up.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” cooed a familiar voice. “It's Hearth's Warming. You have presents to open...”
I groaned. “G'way, Fluttershy... S'not Hearth's Warming for ten more minutes...”
“Oh, it's not? Oh, I'm sorry, my mistake – my clock must be fast. I'll just--”
Somepony else cleared their throat, cutting her off. Didn't matter who it was, but I was grateful to 'em. I smiled and nestled myself further into the comfy couch pillows.
Then the feather-thing tickled my nose again. I opened my mouth to tell Fluttershy to quit it, but my breath caught in my throat...
I sneezed.
Somepony giggled.
As much as I would've liked to forget it and go straight back to sleep, the sneeze had shocked that dreamy haze from my head. Naturally, I was kind of annoyed about that. I craned open an eyelid to get a look at just what was going on. Fluttershy was there, but she wasn't the one holding the feather – it was hovering as if somepony was using magic on it. There were some other ponies behind her too... four or five of them...
Whatever. I started to close my eyes again.
And then I did a double-take.
“Surprise!” came a chorus of four voices, so loud and sudden that it startled me into back-flipping over the couch. I landed on my belly with a thud and groaned again.
“Guys, what the hay?” I managed as I pushed myself up and looked over the couch towards them. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and... Applejack... They were all smiling at me, and by the way that her horn was glowing, it looked like Rarity was the feather bandit.
All of a sudden, Pinkie bounced up onto the couch and pulled me into one of her traditional, random hugs. “Happy Hearth's Warming, Rainbow Dash! Did you sleep well? I know you did, because you were mumbling something about apples, and apples are delicious!”
“Um, yeah,” I muttered, creasing a brow. “So... what's going on?”
“It's a Surprise Hearth's Warming Get-together for all my bestest pony friends!” Pinkie reported happily as she bounced down from the couch. “Twilight's coming by later, if you were wondering – she has to take care of her visitor slash not-so-secret lover first. But it's cool, huh?”
I looked around at everypony again. “...You all planned this for me?”
“Actually, it was more of an impromptu thinger,” said Applejack. “Pinkie came a-calling to each of us this morning, saying we should all spend the day together.”
“Which is a wonderful idea, if you ask me,” Rarity chimed in.
“And then we all came here and thought we'd surprise you since you were the last pony!” Pinkie finished. “Well, except for Fluttershy – we woke her up first since we figured you'd be less likely to pass out when we all yelled 'Surprise!'”
“Huh,” I grunted. It seemed legit.
“Well, sugarcube?” said Applejack, taking a step forwards and smiling in that warm, sexy way that she did. “You want to spend Hearth's Warming with us?”
It wasn't exactly a coin toss moment. For me, Hearth's Warming usually meant spending the day hanging out with Fluttershy. Which was cool, of course, but it wasn't exactly something to get crazy excited about. This, on the other hoof...
I hopped up onto the back of the couch and leapt forwards – throwing out my fetlocks to catch as many of them as I could in a tackle-hug...
* * *
Celestia-knows how many hours later, I found myself collapsed in front of the gently burning hearthfire, with my friends all sprawled out behind me, on and around the couch upon which I'd woken up that morning. Twilight had shown up mid-way through the afternoon's third game of pin the tail on the pony, and after that there were no holds barred on the party front.
The room was littered with stray bits of torn wrapping paper, cupcake holders and other party stuff... I wasn't surprised that everypony had fallen asleep – it'd been one heck of a get-together.
I let out a yawn. It was pretty ironic for me to be the last one awake, I guess. Not that I minded – after a day like that, a nice, relaxing lie down in front of the fire felt about three times more awesome. Part of me didn't want to fall asleep – I just wanted to stay that comfy forever...
“Pretty, ain't it?” came Applejack's voice. I blinked in surprise and turned my head to the side as she laid down beside me, facing the fire. The crackling light gave her emerald eyes a fitting kind of sparkle.
“Thought you were asleep,” I muttered.
She grunted and smiled. “Nah. I reckon the others are all flat out though – they could do with a little more regular exercise if you ask me,” she added in a whisper.
I chuckled. “Yeah, you can say that again.”
“Besides,” Applejack went on. “There's still a few minutes left of Hearth's Warming to enjoy – can't fall asleep yet.”
I've got to admit, I was tempted to suggest enjoying them together. Just a little tempted. But I didn't. I was too tired and I didn't feel like spoiling the awesomely relaxed atmosphere by trying to break through that thick skull of hers. Not to mention that it was an easy target, and those were never much fun anyway.
So I shook the thought from my head and gave her a joking smile. “What, is that some kind of Apple family tradition?”
She scoffed and turned to look at me. “No. But them last few minutes are time enough for me to give you your present.”
My smile fell at that. Did she say present?
Casual as ever, she flicked off her hat and put it down in front of the fire, showing off her rough, golden mane. She reached inside with her snout and pulled out a thick, red envelope, laying it between us. I gulped.
“H-hey! I thought we agreed not to get each other anything!” I hissed, throwing her a glare.
“Yup,” she said coolly. “But this ain't for Hearth's Warming. Actually, it's a couple of months early, but--” She broke off and looked away. “--Well, after yesterday... I reckon you should have it now.”
A couple of months early? So, what was this, like, a birthday present? Or, more likely, she was trying to one-up me by getting me a Hearth's Warming present and saying that I didn't have to get her anything in return.
I lowered my snout towards the envelope, to push it back and tell her to save it for later, but somehow I couldn't. Maybe I was curious. Maybe I didn't want to hurt her feelings... I don't know.
“Alright, fine,” I grumbled finally. “But I'm getting you something too, first thing tomorrow!”
She didn't look at me, but I saw a smile creeping onto her face as she stared into the fire.
Turning back to the envelope, I tried to guess what was inside. Too small for a book, wrong shape for an apple... well, that sure narrowed it down... and the words 'Rainbow Dash' on the front didn't help much either. Maybe it was just a card? That wouldn't be so bad – cards were easy.
As I nosed open the flap and reached inside, it turned out that I was right. I pulled out the unusually-thick card and laid it in front of me. There were no words or patterns on the front or anything, it was just a plain card made of... card-stuff. I gave AJ a questioning look. She was watching me out of the corner of her eye.
With a mental shrug, I flipped open the card. That's when I saw the actual present...
“...A necklace?” I mumbled, shifting the chain aside so that I could see the pendant. “Why'd you get me a n--”
My mind flashed blank as I looked down at the jewel in front of me. Two cutie marks, mine and hers, underlaid by a cute little pink heart, all lit up awesomely by the flickering firelight. I couldn't even bring myself to try and process what it meant... I actually had to poke at it with my nose, just to make sure that it was real.
And then she kissed me.
I felt a warm, tickling sensation on my cheek as she pressed her lips up against it. My breath caught in my throat. My mouth went dry. My eyes bugged out. She held there for what felt like forever, before finally pulling back and leaving behind a cool wetness.
I stared blankly at the pendant. “No way...” I shook my head and turned to look at Applejack, who was watching me with an unreadable expression on her face. “Just... no way! Y-you're messing with me, right? This isn't what I think it is, right?”
A frown danced across Applejack's face as she stared at the manic look I was giving her. “I... I'm sorry, RD. I don't mean to be so forward--”
“FOR--” I broke off and glanced over my shoulder at our sleeping friends. Not wanting to wake them, I lowered my voice as I turned back to AJ. “Forward?! Are you kidding me?” I whispered.
She looked away, and her cheeks started to turn red. “I know it's kind of sappy, but I figured... after yesterday... why not?”
I... well, what was I supposed to say to that? I don't think there was anything to say. Was I supposed to smile? Was I supposed to jump over and hug her? Weirdly, with all my fantasies of her finally confessing her majorly-requited love for me, I had no idea what to do here.
So I laughed. I just... laughed. What else could I do?
“RD! This is serious!” Applejack hissed. Her cheeks were practically glowing now. “I'm bearing my soul out here!”
I choked with laughter, trying to get some words out. “You... you... after all my... trying to... and you... you like me? Ahaha--” I was half a step away from rolling onto my back and breaking into an uncontrollable giggle-fit. The glare on Applejack's face was the only thing keeping me from it.
“N-no,” I coughed, shaking my head and rising to my hooves with an ear-splitting grin on my face. “You... you know what? I don't even care...”
I unfurled a wing and brushed it against AJ's cheek, keeping her from looking away again. My feathers cast a shadow across her face, blocking the light from the fire. Her eyes still shined, even without the dancing flames to light them up.
“You're serious?” I asked, still smiling, but keeping my voice as level as I could.
She blinked slowly, then nodded.
“Good.”
Staring deep into her honest eyes, I knew what came next. For once, this was going to happen for real. I started to lean in, still holding my wing softly against her cheek. I didn't want to think about whether this was a dream – but I moved slowly just in case, so that I wouldn't jostle myself out of it.
We were close – inches away. She started to lean forwards too. Her lips parted and a wave of that familiar, sexy apple-scented breath blew past my nose. I closed my eyes. Nothing could ruin this moment...
“Mmph... are you two still awake?” grumbled Twilight.
'Oh, come on!' screamed a voice inside my head. Obviously startled, Applejack snapped away, blushing fiercely as she looked over her shoulder towards the couch, where Twilight was blinking the sleep from her eyes.
I glanced at AJ. Then at Twilight. Then back at AJ...
'Screw it.'
I put my wing under Applejack's chin and forced her to look up at me, then leant in and pressed my lips up against hers without another thought. I let out a relieved sigh through my nose and closed my eyes to revel in the awesomeness of the kiss. The rush of warmth that welled up in my cheeks and my chest, the gentle softness of the touch, the surprising lack of apple-flavour... it was everything I'd imagined and a hundred times more on top of that--
“Ho-ly letters to the princess!” yelled Twilight.
Applejack, cheeks still flushing, broke the kiss with a smack and glared over at the unicorn. “Twilight, don't you dare--”
I leapt forwards and tackled AJ, rolling over a bunch of times until I had her pinned to the ground a short way away from the fire. My eyes were foggy – they felt wet, swimming with joyful, triumphant tears. The shocked-looking farmpony beneath me could've been taken straight from a dream sequence. But she wasn't.
My other friends were waking now and turning to watch. I didn't give two bits.
I bent my hooves and bowed into another kiss.
Even with the shocked gasps and squeals of our friends, I could feel AJ pushing back against me. But she wasn't trying to push me away, she was...
...She was kissing me back.
