“No no no this can’t be happenin. Ah…what do Ah do?”
Apple Spice walked around in a circle around a wooden table ponderingly, her hooves making a resounding clop on the wooden floor. The young cream colored kirin was worried so much right now and it was all because of the a pink card she happened to get today. Whenever she looked back at that card her heart started pumping out of fear, and a little bit of love.
It was Hearts and Hooves day so Apple Spice was expecting a few cards, even though she wasn’t the most popular filly at school due to the fact that she can breathe fire just by accidently sneezing. But she still did get cards from Sweetie Bell’s daughter Jade, Twist’s daughter Spearmint, and she even got a card from Pipsqueak’s son Bismarck. But all of those were just friend cards, and nothing really special. This card however, was the card she was most disappointed not to see at first but now that she had it her emotions started swirling inside of her.
~
“Hay Apple Spice,” Scootaloo's son Lightning said as he walked up to her before she left the schoolhouse.
“Oh hi Lightning,” Apple Spice said as she looked at the only pony who was never really nervous around her. “Ah was wonderin where you were today. You weren’t in school so Ah was kinda worried.”
“I asked Orchid for the day off so that I could visit the Wonderbolt Academy,” the light gray colt told her. “It took a bit, but I eventually convinced him that it was for my education. Anyways, Sky Dasher was awesome enough to let me come in for a visit and since his parents Rainbow Dash and Soarin’, and my mom and dad are Wonderbolts and they oked it first. And I…” Lightning scratched the side of his head with one gray hoof. “I sort of had something to ask him about. And well, here you go.” Lightning reached into the saddle bag to his right side and with his mouth he grabbed out a pink Hearts and Hooves day card. “I want to give this to you but can you…open it up somewhere else?”
“Uhh…sure,” Apple Spice said before grabbing the card.
“Thanks,” Lightning said. “I’ll see you later.”
~
Apple Spice looked back at the card and read it once again. “Dear Apple Spice: Ah’ve…kinda had a crush on ya for a while now and well…Ah wanted ta know if you would be my…special somepony? If you can, please meet me at the clubhouse in your back orchard today. Lightning.”
“Ahh Lightning what do Ah do?” Apple Spice asked herself. “Ah really like ya too, after all you’re the only colt that never got nervous around me but…”
Apple Spice puffed out a bit of smoke. One of the many things the young kirin inherited from her father, Spike. However that wasn’t the thing she was worried about, that wasn’t the reason she was so worried right now. She had much, much bigger worries that filled her with so much sadness and fear.
“What do Ah do? What can Ah do? Ah don’t want ta break your heart Lightning and Ah…Ah really like ya. But Ah…” Apple Spice paced back and forth. “Ah don’t know what Ah should do.”
Eventually a smell wafted from the Sweet Apple Acres kitchen stopping Apple Spice’s worry for a new emotion: hunger. Through all her thoughts and worry Apple Spice didn’t realize she was hungry at all, nor did she realize how hungry she was. Her stomach was growling quite loudly, so that if she wasn’t alone somepony would have probably heard it.
Apple Spice walked out of the living room and into the kitchen where she saw her cousin Apple Cream working in the kitchen. The salmon pegasus wearing a white chef’s outfit looked to be baking sweets for the holiday and already had a tray of cookies fresh from the oven cooling off on the wooden counter. It took him a few minutes because he was busy cooking but he eventually noticed Apple Spice was watching him, to which he got nervous.
“Oh…uhh…hi Apple Spice,” Apple Cream said. “I uhh…didn’t see you there.”
“Hay Apple Cream,” Apple Spice said. “Would you mind…if Ah take an apple cookie? Ah’m kinda hungry right now.”
“Yeah I uhh…” Apple Cream looked over at the cookies. They were really hot and a normal pony couldn’t eat them but of course the dragon blood that flowed through Apple Spice allowed her to pretty much eat anything. “I…think I have enough for this afternoon. Or I…hope so. I’m…not really sure.”
“Are you filling out an order or making that for your special somepony?” Apple Spice asked.
“My marefriend and her family are coming over and I want to make sure they have the best snacks I can possibly give them,” Apple Cream said. “Her family is not going to settle for anything but the best.”
And if ya give them snacks y’all don’t hafta talk a lot, Apple Spice thought. Apple Cream was known for his shyness, which he inherited from his mother. He only ever talked easily with his small group of friends and anypony in his family. Anypony else, and he was usually silent.
“Hay Apple Spice, would you mind starting up the oven again?” Apple Cream asked. “I think I’ll make another batch just in case. Afterwards I’ll give you a few cookies.”
“Alright,” Apple Spice said. She walked up over to the open oven and breathed fire into it jump-starting it up again.
“Thanks,” Apple Cream said. He then flew up to one of the higher up cupboards and grabbed out some diamonds in a mixer. He then crushed a few into powder using a crusher and poured the diamond dust onto two of the cookies, which he then handed to Apple Spice. “Here you go.”
“Thank ya kindly,” Apple Spice said before she started digging in to the diamond apple cookies. Apple Cream noticed that she was eating them sort of slowly and not really focusing while she was eating.
“Umm…is there…something on your mind?” Apple Cream asked.
“Ah…Lightning likes me and he wants to be mah special somepony,” Apple Spice said.
“So then what’s wrong?” Apple Cream asked. “I think that’s kinda cute. Do you not like him back?”
“No that’s not it,” Apple Spice told him. “Ah…think Ah like him back. And that’s mah problem. Ah…really want to love him. Ah want to but…” Apple Spice’s head fell.
“But what?” Apple Cream asked.
“Ah’m…Ah’m a kirin. Ah’m a pony and a dragon.” Apple Spice looked back up at Apple Cream. “So Ah…have the life span of a dragon that means…Ah’m gonna outlive him.”
“Oh…yeah.” Apple Cream remembered that. Apple Spice and if you want to be technical Spike, are both going to outlive the rest of the Apple Family. Their genes are going to cause them to live for possibly thousands of years. Everypony in the family knows that, however it wasn’t something that was talked about a lot.
“Ah don’t know what to do,” Apple Spice continued. “Ah…wanted ta ask Mah and Pah about it but…they’re both still off for Hearts and Hooves day and Lightning wants me to meet him today.”
“I…well I don’t know what to say,” Apple Cream said as he turned his head back. “I guess…” he thought about it for a few seconds “maybe…” the pegasus looked back at Apple Spice “well, Aunt Apple Bloom and Uncle Spike probably went through the same thing. So maybe…if you’re willing to love him then it won’t matter. I…don’t know. I’m…sorry.”
“Nah, it’s ok.” Apple Spice took a deep breath and finished off her last cookie. “Ah…think Ah’ll go meet him now.”
“Do you need me to umm…come with you?” Apple Cream asked.
“Don’t ya have your special somepony coming over?” Apple Spice pointed out. “Ah…think Ah’ll be fine.”
“Ok then. Make sure you umm…grab your boots and a scarf because it’s…kinda cold out there,” Apple Cream reminded her.
“Alright thanks,” Apple Spice said before leaving the kitchen.
She walked into the hallway and towards the front entrance where she grabbed on a green scarf to match her green bow and some brown boots. She then walked out into the snow filled field of Sweet Apple Acres, her boots just barely covering her from the snow. After taking a few seconds to get used to the change in temperature and adapt to the cold, which it took a while for her to adapt to, she walked around towards the back of the house and into the white orchard behind her, leaving hoofprints behind her. She walked on the path through the orchard until she saw a wooden clubhouse that like everything else was covered in snow.
Lightning must already be in there waiting for me, Apple Spice thought. Ah…guess it’s time.
Apple Spice closed her eyes and took in another deep breath before looking back at the clubhouse and walking up the steps. She opened the door to the clubhouse and walked in. As soon as she stepped inside the yellow wooden room she took of her boots and scarf and left them at the door. And as she expected, when she turned around she saw Lightning there waiting for her with a worried smile on his face.
“Hay Apple Spice,” Lightning said. “Did you…read the letter I gave you?”
“Yeah Ah did,” Apple Spice said. She looked over at Lightning and her heart was starting to pump much faster. Alright, here it is. “Y-yeah Lightning, Ah will be your special somepony.”
Lightning breathed a loud sigh of relief. “Thanks Apple Spice,” Lightning said. His head and eyes then moved around from some more nervousness. He looked back at her with his head askew and a nervous smile once again on his face. “So then can we…seal it with a…kiss?”
Apple Spice’s eyes widened even more than ever and her heart started pumping more. “Y-yeah Ah’d…like that,” Apple Spice managed to squeak out. Ah’m…about to have my first kiss.
Apple Spice walked up to him and Lightning walked up to her. They both sat down right in front of one another and they leaned their heads forward. Their lips met and they both shared their first kiss.
As Apple Spice kissed him she felt amazing. Her heart was pumping the fastest it had ever pumped and she felt euphoria all around her body. She liked him. She liked him so much. And one day…he will leave her. She will outlive him one day. She felt amazing happiness and love…but at the same time she was feeling a great sadness. The thought she will leave someday, the thought that she will live for thousands of years while he will only live for maybe a hundred, caused tears to produce in her eyes. She couldn’t enjoy it no matter how hard she tried.
Eventually they broke off and Lightning noticed her tears. “You ok Apple Spice?” He asked.
“Y-yeah Ah…Ah’m just fine,” Apple Spice lied. She couldn’t face him right now so she kept her head towards the ground.
“What’s wrong?” Lightning asked.
“Well it’s just…” Apple Spice looked back into Lightning’s purple eyes. “Lightning Ah’m gonna…outlive you. And when that happens Ah…”
“Apple Spice, you’re just a filly and I’m just a colt,” Lightning interrupted. “We’re both still really young. We have plenty of time before I’m…gone.”
"Ah...Ah know that but...when it does Ah..." The tears that were in Apple Spice’s eyes started pouring down her face.
"Apple Spice, you're not immortal,” Lightening pointed out. “While yeah, you're going to outlive me, you're not going to live forever either. So when I...die...I want you to know something. However long it takes, whenever it finally happens I'll be waiting. When your time comes I'll be there waiting for you. Even if it takes thousands of years I'll be waiting and I hope that you will be looking forward to the day when we can meet again. Because we will meet again."
“Ya…ya promise that?” Apple Spice asked.
“Of course I do,” Lightning told her. He used his right hoof to wipe the tears from Apple Spice’s eyes and then rubbed his hoof between her dark pink mane and her ear. “Now can you please stop crying? I'm going to make sure that the years I'm here are the greatest of your life you got that?"
“…Thank ya kindly Lightning.”
The two of them embraced once more and this time, Apple Spice tried to get past her sadness to just enjoy the kiss. Lightning himself enjoyed the kiss, and while he was kissing her he had a thought flash through his mind. He remembered back to this morning when he was talking to Sky Dasher.
~
“And there you go squirt,” Sky Dasher said. “That’s the Wonderbolt academy.”
“Thanks for taking me on the tour Sky Dasher!” Lightning said. He hovered a bit before landing back on the cloud.
“No problem,” Sky Dasher said. “I’d rather be with my marefriend for Hearts and Hooves day instead of training here but hay, at least I’m able to show this place to a future Wonderbolt like myself.”
“Oh yeah…it’s Hearts and Hooves day,” Lightning said sadly, his face looking towards the ground.
“Hey, what happened to you?” Sky Dasher asked. “You went from happy to sad in a flash, almost faster than I am.”
“It’s just…I have a problem,” Lightning said. “I…there is a filly I like.”
“So? If you like a filly than just ask her out. Just go ahead and do it already.”
“No it’s not that.” Lightning looked back up at Sky Dasher. “It’s just…can I get some advice?”
“If you want it sure,” Sky Dasher said. He put a hoof on his own chest. “Just ask away.”
“Well it’s just…the filly I like is Apple Spice. And well…she is a dragon and a pony. So wouldn’t that mean…she’s going to live as long as a dragon?”
“And you’re worried that she is going to outlive you?” Sky Dasher asked.
“Y-yeah. I mean…she is going to live for thousands of years and I’m going to only live for about a century. So even if we do start dating, we will only be able to date for sixty, seventy, maybe eighty years if I’m lucky. And after that I’m going to be gone. So what am I going to do?”
“Well I think that’s pretty easy,” Sky Dasher said. He put a hoof on Lightning’s shoulder. “If you really like her, then make those sixty, seventy, and maybe eighty years so great, that she will remember them even through the thousands of years that you two are apart. And then remember, and you can remind her, that neither of you are immortal. One day you both are going to meet again.”
~
And that’s what I’m going to do, Lightning thought as he kissed her and was rubbing her ear. Apple Spice, I promise we’re going to have lots of fun together. I can’t wait to see the things we do and where we go. What Sky Dasher told me was right. I am going to make your life as great as I can.
For as long as I am here.