Sunday morning, and Applejack sleeps late. She sleeps right through the cock's crow, she sleeps through breakfast, she sleeps through until gone ten o'clock. It's not like her at all, her family think; of course, they don't know she was up late having her very first "real" date, with her secret human coltfriend.
When Applejack wakes up, she looks over at her clock, yawns, stretches, and then looks at her clock again in panicked disbelief.
"Past ten? How in Equestria... Oh mah gosh," she says to nopony in particular as she tumbles out of bed and grabs her hat and hair bands. "Ah'm gonna be in some trouble for this, Sunday or no Sunday."
She hastily brushes out her mane and tail, and pulls on her hat as she vaults through the bedroom door and gallops down the stairs towards the kitchen.
"Granny, ah am so sorry ah overslept...", she begins to apologise. "Ah never meant to miss breakfast, ah just..."
She gradually comes to a stop, as she realises the kitchen is almost empty. Apple Bloom sits at the table, writing in a journal with a pencil in her mouth.
"Uh... where is everypony, sugarcube?", asks Applejack, confused. "Ah overslept."
Apple Bloom looks up at her sister. "Ganny di'h wa'u way oo", she says, and then spits out her pencil. "Oh my, 'scuse me. Sorry, Applejack. Ah meant to say... Granny didn't want us to wake you".
Applejack looks confused. Granny Smith is never cruel, and has been known to turn a blind eye to the younger Apples having the occasional lazy Sunday... but she's also very strict, and AJ can't think off-hoof of another time Granny has ever left the farmstead and told her siblings not to wake her up.
Apple Bloom notes AJ's puzzled expression. "She got a letter this mornin' from our cousin Key Lime," she continues, by way of explanation. "Sayin' he's in Canterlot for a couple days, and askin' if Granny wanted to go get a bite to eat. Ah wanted to let you know first, but she wouldn't hear of it. She pretty much went runnin' to the station, or at least she was trottin' real fast with her walkin' frame. She told me and Mac not to wake you."
Apple Bloom paused, her own face now scrunched up in confusion as she thinks things over. "I know it's a long time since any of us has seen Key Lime and all, but... Huh. Don't think ah've ever seen her that excited over seein' one of our cousins."
Applejack scratches her head in confusion. "So... ah suppose... we ain't gonna be havin' dinner today, then?", she asks, as nonchalantly as she can.
The question catches Apple Bloom slightly off-guard. "What? Uh, no, ah guess not. What's that got to do with anythin'?"
Busted.
"Uh... nothin'. Nothin' at all."
An uncomfortable pause, as Apple Bloom looks skeptical, and AJ's eyes shift from side to side.
"...Well, ah guess since ah'm up and about now, ah should go check on what Big Mac's doin', and then ah can think about fixin' some brunch. Ya want some pancakes, maybe?"
"Oh! Ah never mentioned!", exclaims Apple Bloom, suddenly excitable again. "Big Macintosh went on over to Twilight's house. Said he had to help her with somethin' at the library. So ah guess it'll just be me and you eatin' today. Unless... is Matt comin' over again later? Be nice to see him."
At the Golden Oak Library, Matthew Williams sits up with a yawn; he stretches, and rubs his bleary eyes. For a moment, he's confused; the light in the room seems all wrong, the noises of the city are conspicuously absent, this bedding is ridiculously comfortable, and is that a tree root growing by the window?
Oh, right, Equestria. He sometimes takes a few seconds to process the massive changes in his life over the past few months. He's not a New York video game store clerk, he's a farmer in a land of kindness, fresh air and colourful talking magic ponies.
He smiles, as his brain fires up.
Equestria. Ponies. Applejack.
He smiles some more, and closes his eyes again as he starts to lie back down.
Applejack!
Matt lurches up, bolt upright, and leaps out of bed. He grabs a T-shirt and underwear from his dresser, and looks around for his shaving cream as he pulls his clothes on. What time is it? Is he late for dinner? The dinner? Where he and Applejack are going to tell the rest of her family about their relationship?
He looks at the clock, hopping as he struggles to get his leg into his pants. It's almost a quarter to eleven. Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit.
He pictures Applejack, wondering where he is, waiting anxiously for him at the farm, her terrified glare as he runs breathlessly up the path, their shambolic, unprepared, unrehearsed announcement, the furious looks on the Apples' faces... All because he couldn't wake up on time.
He can't call ahead and let her know what's going on. All he can do is run over to the farm, right now, as fast as he can, and hope for the best. He throws the shaving cream back on the bed; no time for that now. He flings his door open and runs barefoot into the hallway, still hopping as he fastens up his pants, heading for the bathroom; he needs to brush his teeth and comb his hair as quickly as is humanly possible, find shoes, and get gone.
He's halfway down the corridor when he turns, mid-stride, and then abruptly stops in his tracks.
Matt looks at Big Macintosh, who immediately clocks his half-dressed state.
Matt looks at Twilight Sparkle, who is standing right next to Big Macintosh. Like, right next to him, flank to flank; their manes are tousled, and practically intertwined.
Matt looks back at Big Macintosh, who is just standing there with a slack-jawed expression.
Matt looks at Twilight again, who is blushing furiously.
The silence lasts for a couple of seconds, and then everyone starts talking all at once.
- "So, uh, hey, Matt..."
- "Big Mac here was..."
- "I'm late, I was just..."
Everyone stops to let somepony else speak, and the uncomfortable silence descends again.
Twilight clears her throat. "I, um, needed some help fixing one of the shelves. Big Macintosh here was kind enough to offer to help. I didn't want to bother you."
"Eeyup," agrees Big Mac, trying to play along.
"...Right," says Matt, smirking. "So, I'm kind of thinking out loud here. Just wondering. Do you guys think I'm, like, a complete idiot, or just a bit stupid?"
"Look," says Twilight, dropping the charade. "Big Mac and I... You know what's going on. After I got back from Canterlot... where I was helping the Princesses... you remember? So... yes. We decided to see each other again, and now we've decided to see each other... again. Some more. Again."
"Eeyup," says Big Mac, relieved. He puts a giant hoof around Twilight, stopping her babbling; she looks at him holding her shoulder for a moment, but doesn't move him away.
"Matt," says Twilight, looking right into his eyes, pleading for him to keep quiet about recent events. "Can we trust you to keep quiet about this? Just for the time being, until we're ready to tell everypony?"
Big Mac interjects. "Ah don't wanna keep things secret from mah family, Matt, but... Ah need you to not tell Applejack about this. Ah know you two are real good friends."
Twilight's pleading stare hasn't left Matt's gaze this whole time, and her expression hasn't changed; she didn't visibly flinch when Big Mac spoke about Matt and AJ, but Matt thinks her eyes might have gotten just a tiny bit bigger.
"Of course, you guys," says Matt, snapping himself out of his reverie. "I'd never do anything to mess things up for you, I hope you know that by now. I'm a creature from another world who trips over things a lot, but I'm not an asshole."
"Thank you, Matt," says Twilight, and the look she shares with him underlines just how grateful she is.
Matt smiles, and then remembers why he was running down the corridor barefoot with his pants unbuckled in the first place. "But... Big Mac, if you're here, aren't you going to dinner? Back at Sweet Apple Acres, I mean?"
Big Mac looks at him quizzically.
"...Not that I want to split you guys up or anything," Matt quickly adds, "but, uh, I was rushing because I thought I was late for dinner, and I didn't want to disappoint... uh... Granny Smith."
"Oh!", says Big Mac. "Ah see. No, Granny's gone to Canterlot for the day. She went over to see one of our cousins. Key Lime. Hey, Twilight, ah have to tell you all about the Limes some day, you'll get a real kick out of the story." (She smiles, and nuzzles into his mane.) "...Doubt Granny will be back much before sundown. Ah was, uh, plannin' to stay and grab a bite to eat here, with Twilight."
Matt processes this information. It feels like a golden opportunity to just tell Big Mac and Twilight everything that's going on between him and Applejack, to get the burden off his chest, assuming Twilight hasn't already told Big Mac everything anyway. He mulls the idea over in his mind; he could just be honest, and tell them the whole truth. Or, well, most of it, they don't need to know everything that's gone on, but they can have the edited highlights. It would make everything easier, not having to sneak around, not piling secrets on top of secrets.
But he pictures Applejack, back at the farm with Apple Bloom, waiting to talk to him, waiting for him to arrive so they can make their big announcement together. How would she react, if she found out he'd already gone and told her friend and her brother, without her there? He can't do that to her. He decides to stay quiet.
"Well," he says after a moment, "I suppose I don't need to rush now. But I think I should still head over there. Applejack and Apple Bloom might still be expecting me?"
"Guess so," says Big Mac. "It's mighty decent of you to want to keep them company. You're a good friend, Matt."
Twilight makes a choking sound. "Are you alright, sugar cube?", asks Big Mac, tenderly.
"Just a frog in my throat," stammers Twilight. "Yes, Matt, I think it would be a very nice, friendly gesture to go over and see Big Mac's sisters. And, um..." She raises a surreptitious eyebrow and tilts her head, almost imperceptibly, towards Big Mac.
Matt gets her meaning. "And I can give you guys some space too. Just let me go brush my teeth, and find my boots, and I'll be out of your manes."
"Ah can't believe it," says Applejack. She kicks a pebble in frustration; her powerful kick surprises her, sending the pebble flying across the barnyard and bouncing off the wall with a pronounced crack.
Matt stares at the dent the pebble made in the brickwork, and then shakes his head to focus on his marefriend. "It's not the end of the world, AJ," he reassures her. "We can still tell everypony, it just won't be today."
Applejack snorts, angrily. "Ah'm just so mad at all o' this happenin' today, of all the days. Ah was ready. Ah was gonna tell Granny, say sorry for all the mistrust, make a new beginnin' with the human I love."
Matt smiles at her, as she looks up.
"Mah human," she grins, and Matt's heart bounces around in his chest. If they weren't trying to keep their hands and hooves off of each other in case Apple Bloom was watching, he'd have grabbed her for an epic kiss.
Applejack seems to be thinking the same thing, but it's her turn to shake her head and get back to the business at hoof. "Ah was all fired up ready to spill the beans. Now, we're right back to square one again."
"Not exactly. We did have an amazing first date last night, remember?"
"Ah surely do," she giggles. "OK, maybe we'll call it square two, ah suppose."
"We could tell Apple Bloom? I mean, we can still make our announcement at dinner, just with a smaller audience," he muses.
AJ thinks it over for a moment. "Nope," she says, firmly. "Ah decided we were gonna tell everyone at the same time. Ah can't ask mah little sister to hold on to a secret from Granny and mah brother, just because you and I couldn't keep it to our own selves."
Matt nods in silent agreement. She's right; it wouldn't be fair to dump this on Apple Bloom.
"Well," he says, "I reckon you and me can wait just a little bit longer. We can do it at dinner tomorrow, or something. Whenever you're ready. Like I said, it's not the end of the world."
The royal guards stand down as commanded, and troop from the bedchamber, leaving Princess Celestia at her sister's bedside.
"Do you think it was a prophetic dream, sister?", asks Celestia, tenderly. She softly strokes Luna's brow as her sister's breathing subsides and her heartbeat returns to normal.
"I am not certain", says Princess Luna, still shaky. "I cannot say for sure what I saw, but... I feel the storm is gathering. I fear we will not have much time to complete our preparations."
Princess Celestia thinks silently to herself for a moment, and then clasps Luna's hoof to her chest. "Whatever the threat, we will face it together," she smiles. "Neither of us need confront danger alone any more."
Princess Luna looks up at her sister and gives a weak smile. "I am glad you are here with me, sister," she murmurs, as she drifts back to sleep.
Applejack goes upstairs for a shower, as Matt helps get the table ready for dinner. He smiles at the cupboard, set lower in the wall than he'd find in a human kitchen, as he fetches three big dinner plates. Having lived with Twilight for a little while now, he's getting used to doing things on a pony scale, but the constant reminders of his new world never cease to make him feel glad about where his life has headed of late.
He realises he's standing there with a goofy grin on his face, and turns to carry the plates to the table... almost running smack into Apple Bloom, who's been standing there looking at him.
"Are y'ashamed to be seen with mah sister, or somethin'?", she asks, with a hint of anger.
"What?", asks Matt, as nonchalant as he can muster.
"Ah may be just a kid who hasn't found her cutie mark yet, but ah ain't dumb, Matt."
The echo of what he said to Big Mac and Twilight back at the library that morning would usually have prompted a little inward chuckle from Matt, but he's frozen to the spot right now.
"Ah see the way you look at her. Ah seen you two lookin' at each other, when you think I can't see. Ah saw you comin' down the stairs that day, and ah know the look I saw on your face."
Matt looks at Apple Bloom, her eyebrows locked in a disapproving frown. She looks a lot like her sister when she's angry. She looks way older than the little filly who knocked him over on his first visit to the farm.
"Ah asked you a question a couple weeks ago, Mister Human, and you never did give me an answer. Ah'm gonna ask it again now."
"Shoot", says Matt, finding his voice, taking a deep breath.
"You like her, don't you?"
"I do," says Matt, surprised at how forceful his own voice sounds, unable to stop the words coming out. "I like your sister very much. Apple Bloom, I'm in love with her. I'd do anything for her. She's... She's everything to me."
Apple Bloom's reaction isn't what Matt expected. Well, he isn't quite sure what reaction he expected, but this wasn't it. Instead of continuing with her questions, or congratulating him, or rolling her eyes in disgust, or whatever else she might have done, the filly simply looks at him quizzically for a moment, and then turns around and walks over to the stove.
Matt doesn't move from his spot. He isn't sure whether he's meant to say something else, or wait for Apple Bloom to ask another question, or whether she's doing the stoic Apple thing and pretending this conversation never happened, in which case he should be carrying on with dinner preparations. He's kind of impressed with himself for not dropping the plates.
"So," she says, without turning back to face him. "A human is in love with mah sister, huh?"
A knot forms in Matt's stomach. He'd figured Apple Bloom wouldn't care about the whole species thing; he'd met her plenty of times already, worked alongside her, shared laughs and pastries, been called an honorary part of her family. Did she have a problem with him being human?
"And mah sister is in love with a human", Apple Bloom continues, thoughtfully.
This time, Matt does lose his grip on the plates, but luckily manages to steady himself before they fall.
"She... You know?", says Matt, agape.
"I had mah hunches," she says, finally turning to face him. "Matt, ah ain't gonna pretend you're what ah ever pictured when ah used to dream about the pony Applejack might fall in love with, the pony she might marry -"
There go those plates again. It's all he can do to catch them.
"...Why don't ya put those down on the table?", says Apple Bloom, and her smile takes all the weight off Matt's mind. "Ah know Granny likes you an awful lot, but ah reckon she'd be less happy if she came home to find you'd smashed up her crockery."
Matt smiles, and stacks the plates neatly on the dinner table. Apple Bloom starts up talking again while he's busy putting them down.
"Ah never pictured her very special somepony might not be a pony at all," she says, as she picks up some napkins with her mouth, dropping them neatly on the table. "But ah need to say, Matt, if ah were gonna be able to choose somepony to be mah new brother..."
She looks into his eyes, with a broad smile.
"...Ah reckon ah could never have made a better pick than Applejack has," she says. "Ah've waited so long to see her happy, Matt. Ah've seen her be treated wrong. I may be a filly, but ah knew it was wrong when she'd be cryin' in her room over some dumb stallion."
The glimpse into AJ's unseen past catches Matt off-guard, stinging him. It's not that he minds hearing about her past relationships, but hearing Apple Bloom talk about his marefriend being so hurt... it hurts him too.
"...And then along comes the only human in Equestria, and starts workin' on our farm, and he's real nice, and he's kind, and he's funny, and she's back to her best, back to the Applejack ah know. I can tell, clear as day. She's crazy about you, you know that?"
Matt smiles. "It's mutual", he says.
"Ah figured," says Apple Bloom, with a huge smile. "So, ah guess mah question now is, what are you doin' sneakin' around? Why haven't you told everypony that you've asked her to be your special somepony?" (Her eyes narrow.) "You, uh, have asked her to be your special somepony, right?"
Matt hesitates for a moment, unsure if he should be telling Apple Bloom things she doesn't know for sure. But he looks at the filly's wide, questioning eyes, sees the same rugged determination he sees in AJ when she's not going to let something go. He really likes Apple Bloom, he thinks; more and more these days, he finds himself thinking of her as his surrogate little sister, full of ideas, perceptive way beyond her years, never taking any crap from anypony. He doesn't want her thinking for a second that his feelings for Applejack don't run all the way deep.
He makes a decision.
"Apple Bloom", he says, and again, the clarity of his voice takes him a little by surprise. "I have asked her. And she said yes. I am dating your sister," he states.
"I am... dating... Applejack," he repeats to himself, thinking out loud. "I am in love with Applejack, and we're a couple." He looks at the ceiling, and laughs. "Applejack and I are dating. She's my marefriend, I'm her coltfriend, and I love her more than anything in the world."
He looks up at Apple Bloom, realising he was drifting off course for a moment there.
"She's my special somepony", he says, with a grin.
"Finally", says Apple Bloom, with a mock-irritated roll of her eyes, followed by a huge smile. "Ah was startin' to wonder what was takin' you so long," she smirks. "So, why have you two not told everypony?"
"It's complicated," says Matt. "I didn't know if you suspected, or Big Mac, or Granny, but it wasn't my place to say. You said it yourself just now - why have we two not told everypony? It's not for just me to go around blurting it out. I'm not ashamed, not one bit. But I have to think about how AJ - how Applejack - is..."
"You can call her AJ, ya know," she grins.
"...I'm not a pony. Obviously. And I don't know how other ponies will feel about it if Applejack and I make our feelings public. I don't know what that would do to her personally, to you guys, to the farm, to her friends, to the Elements of Harmony. We've been wanting to tell you this whole time, and it's a great feeling not to have a secret from you any more - but I owe it to Applejack to talk it over first, before the news goes any further."
Apple Bloom nods in agreement. Matt exhales deeply.
He needn't have, because in the next split second, Apple Bloom has burst into tears, leaping into the air and joyfully tackling him with an asphyxiating neck-high hug.
"Ah understand. Ah understand completely", she says between sniffles. "And you don't need to worry about me tellin' anypony. Ah promise. Cross mah heart and hope to fly," she says, as she holds Matt tightly.
"Bloom... Oxygen..." gasps Matt, struggling for breath.
"Oh! Ah am so sorry," she giggles, releasing her grip a little. "Ah forget you ain't built like us ponies. But that's a good thing. Ah don't see you as a pony or as a human, ah see you as Matt. Our Matt," she burbles, happily.
"We were going to make a big announcement at dinner today", chuckles Matt. "But I guess it'll have to wait now. I don't know if AJ will be ready to reschedule it any time soon; I know she got a bit worked up over this plan already."
Matt releases himself from Apple Bloom's tight clinch, as she wipes away snot bubbles with her foreleg. "Ah'll have to wash up again 'fore dinner," she says, looking at her hoof. "What are you gonna do?"
"About washing up for dinner?"
"No, silly," she says, with a roll of her eyes. "Ah mean, what are you two gonna do? You can't just pretend this ain't a thing."
"It doesn't matter," says Matt. He braces himself for how cheesy he's about to sound. (That happens a lot these days.) "As long as I'm with Applejack, every day is an adventure."
Apple Bloom gives him a look, as if to say: really?
Matt glances at her with a smirk, and then purposefully ignores her expression. "I'll just take it at her pace, and when she's ready, we can tell everypony".
There's another pause, as Apple Bloom puts her hoof to her chin in thought.
"No," she says, loudly, firmly, catching Matt off guard. "No, that ain't right. You two deserve to be together. Ah don't believe anypony will give you both a hard time just on account of bein' human. And ah feel kinda bad for you both thinkin' that way, not bein' able to tell me and Big Mac and Granny about how you were really feelin', on account of some fears y'all don't ever need to have been holdin'," she says, looking Matt straight in the eye.
Matt is too stunned by her unexpected maturity to reply, so he just nods.
"So, ah tell you what," she says, stamping her hoof on the floorboards. "Ah'm gonna talk to Applejack. Ah'm gonna sit her down 'fore we turn in tonight, and just... have a talk with her. Sister to sister. Ah'm gonna tell her what I already know, and ah'm gonna tell her it's OK. And we're gonna make sure we tell the family. All of us together.
Matt kneels down and takes the filly's hoof in his hands. "I'm glad you're on my side, Apple Bloom," he jokes, and then adopts a more serious expression. "I never had a little sister, but if I had to choose..."
Apple Bloom laughs. "Thanks, Matt. I'm awful glad we had this talk."
She fixes him with a determined look. "An' I'm gonna help make this right. Ah'm gonna fix it, Matt."
The sound of Applejack's hooves on the stair breaks the moment, and they resume setting up for dinner.
"Oops," says Apple Bloom; "ah almost forgot. Best wash up now. An' you might have to go clean up too. Ah think I got snot on your shirt there."