From the state of mind that brought you Friday Night Twilight · 5:26am Jun 16th, 2015

I keep meaning to do a genuine status update. The short version is that I'm fighting off minor real life issues left and right, but that I have a new story in the works, and it's an adventure. More talk later.

Today, PaulAsaran posted a review of Sugar, Cubed, and in the process reminded me that my Applejack-focused stories thus far have been rather… trying for their leading mare. I decided that I should really think of a resoundingly happy story for poor AJ… and then on the way home from work I thought of one… except it isn't really all that happy. Curses. Here's the conversation that Applejack and I had as a result:

The armchair in the corner of the Apple family living room should be more comfortable than this. It probably would be if I was a pony, or at least closer to their height. Instead I’m hunched over, my knees almost touching my chin. Still, compared to present company the chair is as welcoming as a king-sized bed.
While I sit there, Applejack is pacing back and forth, eyes straight ahead and teeth clenched.
My fingers drum against the mug of cider that she so graciously gave me as soon as I arrived. Hers is sitting on an end table nearby, untouched.
I probably shouldn’t have explained the new story idea.
She snorts in unwitting agreement. “So let me get this straight. You get it into your head that you’re gonna write a nice little story where I’m all sorts of happy—” She glares at me and stomps her hoof so hard her mug of cider jumps. “—and your first idea is me having a broken leg?”
“The story’s not about you actually breaking it, that’s just—”
“I don’t care! It’s my leg!” Her back leg thrusts out and comes within an inch of obliterating her cider mug. “So first you write about how I’m secretly a math genius that’s all torn up about my dad being gone, then I get a ten minute massage that feels more like ten hours of torture…”
She takes a long, deep breath, and retreats to the rocking chair in the adjacent corner. “Just how much do you like having your head stuck on the top of your neck like that? I think it’d look a whole lot better on my wall.”
I take a long swig of cider. Maud was right; it just tastes like apples. “Sorry, Applejack… I really did want to make all that up to you with a happy story.”
“Couldn’t you just fix me up with somepony, like you keep saying your going to do for Fluttershy?”
“Well—”
“You got Octavia hitched and then some. You… whatever you call Spike and Rarity… you did that a whole slew of times. You even got Twilight sweet on some two-legged freak from your world.”
“Don’t forget about Rainbow and—”
Applejack grabs her mug and gulps down its contents. “Quit mentioning it and maybe I will, finally! I’ve read one-bit romance novels with more class. Least it was better than that thing with the two Wonderbolts.”
“You’re not winning yourself a whole lot of points here, AJ.”
“Hey, I’m as much a mare as any of my friends. I deserve a shot.”
I rub my palm against my head. The sugar in the cider is starting to get to me. “I’ll… see what I can do. Who would I even pair you up with?”
Applejack looks down into her empty mug. “Doesn’t exactly sound romantic, when you put it that way.”
“Hence my generic ‘write AJ a happy story’ motivation.”
“That just happens to open with me having a broken leg.”
I shrug. “Yep. Sorry.”
She closes her eyes for a minute. I can’t tell if she’s just thinking hard or willing me to leave. “I’m gonna need some more cider. How about you?”
“Sounds good.”