It had been a couple of days since that day at Sugarcube Corner when Paul decided to give a relationship with Apple Bloom a chance. Even though it had been a week since that day, to Apple Bloom it felt like a year.

She was the happiest she had been since her breakup with Bane. Paul had felt the same about her but he was hesitant to show it for reasons even he could not really describe. He had not left her completely without affection though, he did give her the occasional peck on the cheek when nopony was looking, tossed her a smile her way in hall and she did the same for him.

She had asked him why he was being so hesitant to show his affection but he passed it off as not wanting the news that they were together to get back to Applejack and Big Mac before they told them. The only ones who knew were of course Paul and Apple Bloom, as well as Pinkie Pie but she was sworn to secrecy until the rest of the Apple Family was notified.

Joe and his friends on the football team knew as well but they were also sworn to secrecy, this oath however, was sworn under penalty of severe ass kicking from Joe. He also told them what would happen to them if Paul found out and flipped his shit. Scootaloo knew as well but she already knew to keep her lip buttoned regarding the matter....

* * *

It was 4:05, about an hour after school got out. Paul and Joe to had work in the fields that day, but Paul was driving Joe around lately since his Shelby Cobra busted its trans axle and ended up on the rack at Flim and Flam's, its guts lying all over the shop floor.

He was leaning against his truck, parked out in front of the school wearing his "Hang the DJ!" T-Shirt, puffing on a cigarette and perusing through the Canterlot Times, skimming headlines all the while. "Hmmm.....New Minister of Finance......New Era in the relationship between Equestria and the Gryphon Nation.....yada yada....High Tensions with the Changeling Nation....More like a competition to see whose dick is bigger you ask me..." He muttered while flipping through the pages before pausing to look at his digital watch. "4:05!? He should have been here 10 minutes ago! What is the fucking hold up!?" he said as he tossed the paper into his truck through the window and took another drag on his cigarette before exhaling and placing it back in his mouth.

All of sudden, Joe came out of the school wearing his cowboy hat, duffel bag on one arm and Scootaloo on the other. The two were laughing as they walked down the steps before stopping to kiss passionately. Their make out session was interrupted when Paul let out a high pitched whistle and shouted "HEY! Lover Boy!” Joe and Scootaloo broke their embrace to see Paul standing there with his Ray Bans on, a cigarette in his mouth, and a very impatient look on his face.

"As cute as you two are, we have a job to get to Joe! You two can fuck on your own time! Now toss your shit in the back and get in the truck, otherwise you're going to be walking to Sweet Apple Acres!" He called out as he walked around to the driver's side, got in and started up the truck.

Joe smirked and said to Scootaloo, "I would have thought that getting together with Apple Bloom would have loosened him up a bit."

Scootaloo gave him a small kiss before saying, "It's only been a week and they haven't told Apple Bloom's family yet. He's probably just nervous."

"Maybe… anyway I better be getting along before he takes off without me." He replied, giving her a kiss of his own.

All of a sudden the sound of a horn cut through the air for 3 seconds before Paul yelled out the window, "Last call Joe before I leave you behind!"

"Bye Scoots." He said giving her a peck on the cheek before running over to the truck, tossing his duffel bag in the truck bed, and hopping into the passenger seat before the truck speed out of the parking lot and down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres....

* * *

It had been a quiet but speedy ride from Oxton to Ponyville that day. It wasn't until they were outside of Ponyville heading to Sweet Apple Acres that Paul finally spoke.

"Look man, I'm glad you and Scootaloo are happy. By all means go nuts....but our jobs need to come first, it’s your livelihood, it’s ‘MY’ livelihood. Applejack and Big Mac maybe fair but they're not going to tolerate tardiness. That's why if you're going to be riding with me to work.....you show up WHEN IT'S TIME TO GO!!"

"Jesus man! Okay! I'm sorry!" Joe replied apologetically.

Paul took another drag on his cigarette before exhaling and sighing deeply. "I'm sorry man..... I don't mean to bite your head off..... I'm just really fucking tense lately......"

"Does it have to do with Apple Bloom?" Joe asked curiously.

"What makes you think it has to do with her?" Paul replied defensively

"Well you are two together now, and I'm getting the feeling you haven't told her family." Joe replied.

"How do you fucking know that!?" He shot back.

"I saw you in your truck that day remember?" He replied as Paul recalled that day. "I just wanted to see what was going on and I heard you from the front door of the school."

"What are you talking about? I didn't see you anywhere." Paul said inquisitively

"I was pretending to read the newspaper..." Joe said with shy grin.

"What!? Oh great.... not only do I still have to tell Apple Bloom's family we're dating, my best friend thinks he's Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade. What else did you do Raymond Chandler? Use a pencil to reveal the impression on the notepad? Huh, Dashiell Hammett?" He said sarcastically.

"No..... but Scootaloo and the guys on the team know..." Joe said sheepishly.

"WHAT!? OH FUCK ME SIDEWAYS, FORWARDS, BACKWARDS, AND 3 DIMENSIONALLY!" He said in exasperation.

"It's okay dude, they're not going to saying...... I made sure of that..." He said cryptically.

"You better be sure....." Paul replied just as equally cryptic.

They continued to drive down the road to Sweet Apple Acres for a few minutes before Paul spoke up. "Guess I'll put on some music." He said putting his phone on Random. A second later the stereo started playing...

Good time for a change

See, the luck I've had

Can make a good man

Turn bad

So please please please

Let me, let me, let me

Let me get what I want

This time

Haven't had a dream in a long time

See, the life I've had

Can make a good man bad

So for once in my life

Let me get what I want

Lord knows, it would be the first time

Lord knows, it would be the first time

Joe looked over at Paul for second and he thought he saw a couple tears run down his face behind his sunglasses. "Hey man.....You okay?"

"Yeah...." Paul said quickly as he wiped them away. "Yeah, my eyes are just irritated....Probably a fuckin' eyelash or something..."

"You sure?" Joe asked.

"Yeah...I'm okay." Paul said as regained his composure.

The song ended just as the truck pulled up in front of the Apple House. Paul turned off the engine and took a deep breath and said "SHOWTIME!" with a smile on his face before getting out of the truck with Joe. Applejack came out of the house along with Big Mac and Apple Bloom in tow.

"Howdy Y'all! It's good tah see yah! Ain't it Big Mac?" Applejack said with a happy tone.

"Eeyup" he replied in usual tone.

Paul thought of something quick to maintain his facade of normality.

"Celestia should appoint you as her personal Spokes-stallion, Mac." Paul chuckled as he took a drag and exhaled. He always liked poking fun at the laconic stallion because he knew he could take it. "I can see it now, you at a royal press Conference: 'Is there any credence to rumor that Celestia routinely pigs out on cake?' Nnnope. 'Is there a state of peace between Equestria and the Gryphon Nation?' Eeyup. 'Can you recount what has happened in these past few days?' A lot. 'HE SAID SOMETHING BESIDES YES OR NO!' Then they all run for the telephone booths." He said finishing off by mimicking the action of running.

"Paul! Don't tease him!" Applejack scolded before she saw Apple Bloom giggling heavily. "Apple Bloom! Don't laugh at yahr brother!"

"Awwwww.... come ahn AJ! Yah know it's funny! Look! Ah think even Big Mac's crackin' a grin!" she said pointing to her brother.

Applejack looked to see that she was indeed correct. Big Macintosh was standing with a small grin on his face. "Ah don't mind AJ, kid's actually pretty funny."

"HEY EVERYBODY BIG MAC SAID MORE THAN JUST YES OR NO!!!" Paul yelled at the top of his lungs.

All of a sudden Pinkie Pie popped out from the hood of the truck and said, "Goodie Goodie! Another Tally Mark!" and wrote down something on a notepad as Paul whipped around to see her before she disappeared back into the truck's engine compartment. Paul opened the hood but no trace of Pinkie was to be found.

"That girl is like a teleporting Daffy Duck....." He muttered, regarding Pinkie's mysterious appearance and disappearance before shutting the hood.

Apple Bloom was just plain laughing out loud at this point. Big Mac had joined in with his low rumble of a laugh. Even Applejack managed a chuckle. "Alright, Ah'll admit it was pretty funny." before clearing her throat. "Alright y'all it's time tah get applebuckin'. Paul put out that cigarette and let's get goin."

"Sure thing AJ." He replied, putting out the cigarette in the truck's ashtray before grabbing a couple pieces of spearmint gum to freshen his breath. "Well, let's get to it." He said, following the group out into the orchard......

* * *

"Taste my size 12 and half shoe punk!" Paul said as gave the tree a large kick sending a large number apples falling into the strategically placed baskets around the tree. "Yeah...... That's how I roll!" he said with a dramatic flourish before repeating with another nearby tree.

Applejack gave her tree a kick before saying, "Okay I gotta ask Paul, why does your shirt say 'Hang the DJ'?"

"Huh?.....Oh...It has do with something that happened about 27 years before I came here." Paul replied as he continued his work. "This big disaster with this Nuclear Power Plant in a country called Russia spread a lot of radioactive material...basically really nasty stuff... over this continent in my world called Europe. Anyway, In Great Britain.... Another country.... this lead singer of this band called ‘The Smiths’ heard about it on the radio and all of a sudden the DJ started playing this really poppy song by Wham! and the guy was like 'What the fuck does this got to do with people's lives?' and wrote a song about it called 'Panic'. 'Hang the DJ' was the refrain to the song. The lyrics are actually on the back of the shirt...see?" He replied showing his shirt. "Here I got on my phone here..." He told her as he selected and played the song out loud for Applejack.

Panic on the streets of London

Panic on the streets of Birmingham

I wonder to myself could life ever be sane again?

The Leeds side-streets that you slip down

I wonder to myself

Hopes may rise on the Grasmere

But Honey Pie, you're not safe here

So you run down to the safety of the town

But there's Panic on the streets of Carlisle

Dublin, Dundee, Humberside,

I wonder to myself

Burn down the disco, hang the blessed DJ

Because the music that they constantly play

It says nothing to me about my life

Hang the blessed DJ

Because the music they constantly play

On the Leeds side-streets that you slip down

Provincial towns you jog 'round

Hang the DJ

Hang the DJ

Hang the DJ

.......

"Huh....interestin' song...." Applejack replied before shifting her attention to Apple Bloom who was managing to keep pace with rest of the group.

"So Apple Bloom, how have things been goin' with that colt yah have yer eye on?" She asked giving her sister a playful nudge.

"Oh, it's goin' great! The first day I told yah about him, he saved me from gettin' beat up by Diamond Tiara, then he walked me tah class, and ah got assigned to an English project with him and he gave me his number in case ah ever had trouble!" She said happily while throwing a glance at Paul.

"Well alright! That must have been one heck of a day! He sounds like a nice young colt." Applejack replied.

"Oh he is!" Apple Bloom said throwing an unconscious glance at Paul, "He acts like he's this big aloof tough stallion loner. He acts like he's a punk, but he's actually really nice. I think he just acts that way because he's shy and afraid of being rejected. But he is really nice Applejack, he's been a perfect gentlecolt, he never says anything that's impolite to me and he always helps me out."

"But that's not all that's happened!" She continued excitedly. "He's been walking me to class for the last coupla weeks and coupla days ago he took me out for coffee at Sugarcube Corner!"

"What happened next?" Applejack replied as Big Mac and Joe paused their routines in order to listen.

"Well....ah asked him out.....AND HE SAID YES!" She said hugging Applejack.

"Well alright Sugarcube! Ah'm glad tah see that yer movin' on from yahr last coltfriend. Ain't we Big Mac?"

"Eeyup....." He replied casually before pausing, "Well, ah think it's time we meet him.....Ah'd say over supper tomorrow." Big Mac stated.

"You already have..." Paul muttered under his breath.

"What was that Paul?" Applejack asked.

'Oh shit! Quick you idiot! Redirect the conversation!'

"I said 'OOH! Twice in one day!'' Paul replied quickly.

All of a sudden, Pinkie Pie's head shot out from underneath Applejack's hat. "OOH! That's new record!" She squealed as she wrote down something on her notepad before retreating underneath the hat. Applejack immediately took it off but Pinkie had somehow vanished. Applejack gave a confused shrug before replacing the hat on her head.

"Somewhere....... there's a physicist crying his eyes out...." Paul said with a confused smile. "How does her very existence not drive Twilight Sparkle to drink?"

"Sure thing, brother! Ah'll make sure and tell him." Apple Bloom said in order to get the conversation back on track.

"Hey is that Fluttershy and Soarin' waiting at the front door?" Paul said pointing towards the Apple homestead.

"Well shoot it looks like it....We'll call it a day boys......Ah have.... something Ah need... tah talk about...." She said before hurrying to the house.

"Ah....... what she said." Big Mac replied hurrying towards the house.

"Huh? What's the big emergency?" Paul said as the three watched Big Mac and Applejack run for the house.

"Who knows?" Joe said stretching his arms after a long day of Apple bucking.

"Well, Angel Face it sounded like you were you putting me on pedestal." Paul said with a smirk. Apple Bloom immediately turned red.

"Don't worry about Joe, he already knew."he said knowingly.

"How?" she asked.

"Remember the guy in the hallway that day with the newspaper?" Paul said.

"Yeah?"

"Bingo. Actually I can’t believe I missed him. Only one guy in the entire school is that big… and at the same time, just as dense." Paul said with a sly grin. Joe gave him a half assed frown. "Seriously man, that trick is older than my grandma."

Apple Bloom paused for a moment, "Were yah spying on us Joe?" She asked in an inquisitive tone of voice.

"Spying is such an ugly word....I would think I merely observed you." Joe said in a joking voice.

"Yeah and so did the entire football team, numb nuts." Paul snarked.

"WHAT!?" Apple Bloom gasped, turning as red as the apples they were picking.
"It's all right Angel Face, Joe's assured me that they've been sworn to secrecy under penalty of ass kicking. Plus Scootaloo knows to keep her mouth shut."

"Scootaloo knows to!?" She gasped in a panicked voice.

"It's okay darlin'. We'll tell them tomorrow at dinner." Paul cooed her in a soothing voice.

"Alright...." she replied unsurely.

"Well Joe I feel like having a couple beers. You in?" Paul asked

"I don't know man...." Joe said.

"Don't worry, we're not going to get fucked up, we're just going to nurse a beer or two." he said dismissively

"How am I going to get one then?" Joe asked.

"I'll buy it for you. It's alright, the bartender owes me a favor." Paul said. "Aw shit, do you guys have a first aid kit? I nicked my hand."

"Yeah, Big Mac and Applejack know where it is." Apple Bloom replied.

"Okay, I'll go ask them then..." He said before walking towards the house.

* * *

"Hello!?" Paul said as he stepped inside the house. He scanned the area but couldn’t see Applejack or Big Mac. He walked over to kitchen to look.
"Hello?" He called again but got no reply. 'Huh. Maybe they're upstairs' he thought as he climbed the stairs and went down the hall to right. He walked over to Big Mac's door and opened it. "Hey Mac, do you know where the HOLY FUCKING ASS CRACKERS!" He said he immediately covered his vision with his arms. He had the unfortunate luck to walk in on Mac in a compromising position with Fluttershy, namely behind her....

Fluttershy shrieked while the two covered themselves. "Okay....I was going to ask you something but.....Never mind I'll just go ask Applejack." He said quickly before shutting the door.

"Okay, that was possibly traumatizing..." He muttered before walking over to Applejacks door and opening it. "Hey Applejack, where's the..... Are you fucking.... kidding me?....." This time he walked in on Applejack in her own compromising position with Soarin'.... this time on top. She shrieked before the two covered their collective shame. "Just my luck… I walk in on two different ponies going at it within the span of 20 seconds....Fuck it, I don't care anymore. Do you know where the first aid kit is?"

"It's.....downstairs in the kitchen... the cabinet above the refrigerator." She replied blushing profusely.

"Okay...Hey man how you doing?' He asked Soarin.

"I'm okay......you?" he nervously replied.

"I'm good..... I do have to admit though keeping the cowboy hat on was kind of a sexy touch...."

"That's what I said!" Soarin replied as Applejack continued to blush.

"Okay, I'm going to take care of my hand and then I'm going to the bar. I already walked in on Big Mac and Fluttershy and then you guys, I don't need anymore... Jesus.... the image of those two going at it...... like a bratwurst through a cheerio.... Okay you don't need to know that.... and neither do I....." He said apprehensively.

"Okay, I'm out of here....Later Applejack, Soarin'."

"Bye Paul..." Applejack stammered with heavy embarrassment in her voice.

"Later dude!" Soarin' said.

Paul shut the door and said in the direction of Big Mac's room. "Later Mac!...... oh, Nice to see you again Fluttershy." Evoking a short "EEP!" from within the room.

Snickering, he walked down to the kitchen to get the first aid kit....

* * *

Apple Bloom and Joe were waiting outside the house when Paul came out. "What was goin' on in there? I heard yelling." She asked.

"Oh nothing much, just went to ask them where the first aid kit was and ended up walking in on your brother and Fluttershy going at it like rabbits and then 10 seconds later I ended up doing the same thing with your sister and Soarin' going at it." He replied as if this was completely routine.

"WHAT!?" Apple Bloom gasped with a look of shock on her face.

Joe just started laughing his head off at the incident. "Laugh up buddy boy... Laugh it up."

"That's rich! Only you would end up walking in on two different pairs of ponies doing it in the same day!" Joe said laughing.

"Har de fuckin har. Come on let's go to the bar..." He said as he and Joe walked towards his truck.

After managing to shake off the shock Apple Bloom said to Paul, "So you'll be here at dinner time tomorrow right?"

"Sure thing...as long as your siblings can keep it in their pants..." He said with wink causing her to blush again.

"Later Angel Face! See ya tomorrow!" Paul said as he and Joe got into the truck and drove away.

As they drove down the dirt path, Joe continued to snicker and laugh. Paul looked over at him and pointed a finger and said, "You ever.... tell anybody about this and I will kill you..." causing Joe to laugh harder. "Ughhhhh...." Paul groaned as he pulled onto the main road and drove to Ponyville.......

Author's Note

The T-Shirt in question:
It's a The Smiths T-shirt, as worn by Morrissey (The guy at the bottom of the image)

I didn't choose that first song at random....I chose it specifically because it really describes how Paul's feeling right now. That and it's a beautiful song...