Macarena could hardly find the time to be content in her life. Day in and day out, there was always something for her to worry about. The trees needed to be tended, or the fence needed mending, or the barn needed to be reroofed, and, of course, there were the bills. Always those damned bills, always looming over her family, always waiting to be paid. Macarena constantly found herself going from one of these problems to the next; managing and maintaining Sweet Apple Acres.
She never minded it though. Keeping their family’s orchard up and running was what she was fated to do. She had a passion behind it. She enjoyed watching the sun rise over the top of the trees every morning; that pink and orange sky welcoming her to another day of life. She relished in the sound of her hooves connecting with the sturdy trunk of an apple tree; the reverberation of that connection shooting through her muscled legs; the sweat dripping down her forehead and off of her muzzle and rewarding her with the knowledge that her work mattered.
But most of all, she loved that slight aching feeling in her limbs when she climbed into bed at night. That familiar tenseness that was the signal of a hard day’s work. She wouldn’t trade of it for all of the gold in Equestria.
But such work meant that Macarena had very little time to herself. She could only carve out a precious few hours every now and again to relax and indulge in herself a little bit. To pause and just absorb life in for a little bit.
Today was one of those days. Today she was deep within the depths of the Everfree Forest, far from any prying pony eyes. Walking along the edge of a hidden lake, allowing the warm late springtime sun to dry her crimson fur after having soaked in the cool water for the past hour. Occasionally wandering back in to wet her hooves, and enjoying the feeling of the water dripping off of her unshorn fetlocks as she exited the pool.
There was so much to do at the farm that was waiting for her when she got back. The garden had to be mulched and the hay loft needed to be cleaned and the trees needed to be tended before they started sprouting in earnest. So many things to be worried about and fussed over. But none of that mattered to her in those moments. None of it crossed her mind or troubled her heart.
Because, in those moments, she was with him.
Butterscotch had brought her out to this place more than once before, and was now on her right side, slowly circling the edge of the lake alongside her. Butterscotch was talking as they walked. Something about the different species of plant-life that were native to the Everfree, and as the yellow pegasus gestured and talked excitedly, she nodded politely and pretended to listen, but her mind was focused on other things.
Had it really been over a year since she had met this stallion? Had it been more than a year since her demure Butterscotch had flown into the Apple family’s barn and found the hot mess of mare that was residing there? That she had…borrowed him, for those two weeks. Two weeks where they had gotten to know one another in every possible intimate way a pony could.
She hadn’t forced him to stay with her. She hadn’t bound him, or threatened him, or commanded that he stay with her…well…not after that first day at least. And after he had flown out of the window that following morning she had been afraid that he would tell Applejack everything that had transpired in that barn the previous afternoon. Or maybe he would tell some of his friends and that she would receive some visitors that night. She would have been powerless to resist them in the state she had been in, but she hadn’t wanted everypony in Ponyville to know about her condition.
She hadn’t expected him to return. But that evening as she lay on her makeshift bed, trying to resist her burning desires for the second dozen time that day, she had heard a sound of fluttering wings and a light treading of hooves. When she opened her eyes Butterscotch had stood before her, glancing nervously over his shoulder as if somepony was going to walk through the barn door and find him there. In one hoof he carried a plastic bag with some much needed protection in it, and without many words passed between them they had spent the night together.
He had come back the next night as well. And the afternoon after that. Each day he had returned; staying with the imprisoned mare within that stuffy barn for longer and longer stretches of time. They had had a few close calls, where Applejack or Apple Buck would nearly catch them in the act, but they managed to keep their meetings a secret.
As they had spent more time together, the two of them spent less time trying to satisfy Macarena’s near unquenchable appetite, and more time enjoying one another’s presence. Near the end of Macarena’s heat cycle, she would only need two, sometimes three, sessions to tide her over for the day, but still he did not leave her. He would stay and let her lay her head in his lap while they talked in hushed tones. There was no need for secrets between the two of them at that point and so they held nothing back from one another.
She particularly loved hearing the same stories her brother told, but coming from another pony’s perspective, but she would listen to anything he would talk about. She just wanted the company.
When her cycle was finally over, and Applejack permanently let her out of the barn, she was certain that the previous evening would have been the last time they would spend that kind of time together.
The next day still he came back to Sweet Apple Acres. He had come under the guise that he had been looking for Applejack to ask about purchasing some of their upcoming harvest, but the way he kept glancing over at her during his conversation told her his true motive. When Butterscotch passed by her, he accidentally tripped over his own hooves and bumped into her; brushing one wing against her barrel to balance himself as he did so. The feathery appendage sending a small cloud of butterflies alight in her stomach.
He apologized and she took the opportunity to tell her brother that she would help the blushing pegasus with…actually she couldn’t remember what he had needed. What she did remember was that she needed him. To be alone with her secret lover again.
So the two of them walked off together, exchanging pleasantries for Applejack’s sake before they were well out of his view. When they were deep within the orchard, Macarena had pounced on her prey. Pinning him to the ground in a way that was all too familiar to the both of them, before lowering herself down next to him and resting her head on his chest.
They lay like that for a long time, discussing what their next best step would be; Macarena relaxed, just breathing him in as he brushed a hoof through her mane.
Solaris help her, how she loved the way that he would pet her mane whenever they were together like that. She had grown her hair out just so there was more of it for him to touch. Long, gentle, repetitive strokes that never failed to lull her into a drowsy stupor. The way he would occasionally take a small patch of the fiery hair, lazily curl it around his hoof and let it fall back onto her muzzle, just to brush it away sent her heart pattering in her chest.
Being with this stallion brought something instinctively feminine out in Macarena. She had always considered herself to be rough around the edges. Spending long days outside working would do that to anypony. Being twice the size of the average pony didn’t help much either. And for the longest time, she had been fine with fitting the role that was expected of her and being a bit tomboyish.
But whenever she was around Butterscotch something changed inside of her. Whenever she was with him she wanted to be the mare that he would protect. The kind of mare that could giggle at his jokes, and act a bit girly whenever the two of them went out together. But Macarena wasn’t the kind to pretend to be something that she wasn’t, no matter how much she wanted to. But still, she couldn’t help but feel regret at her size whenever they lay together. She wished that she could curl up into his stomach and fall asleep with his body wrapped protectively around her. But they still managed to make do; with the quiet pegasus covering her barrel with a gentle wing as he pressed himself as tightly as he could against her.
What could she say? Whenever she was with him she just felt so…different.
Those feelings had been coursing through her as strongly as ever as they lay basking in the sunlight filtering through the thick apple blossoms. The two of them agreed that they should keep how they met a secret they would carry to the grave; and that if they weregoing to have something serious between the two of them, they would need to make it seem gradual to any onlookers.
So from then on, Butterscotch would find any excuse he could to come visit Sweet Apple Acres. And whenever he came around, she would find any excuse she could to help him out. He would stop at their cart to buy apples whenever she was there, and she would always be sure to visibly flirt with him. After a month or so the two of them began engaging in more traditional courtship. Butterscotch would take her to restaurants and movies, and Macarena would treat him to home cooked picnics For the most part, their relationship blossomed for all of their friends and family to see.
But at night, the two of them would steal away from their homes to meet in secret and continue to satisfy their most carnal needs. On those warm summer nights they would meet under the stars and have their fill of one another. In the icy winter months, they crept back into the barn to warm each other under a thin blanket in the dim, flickering light of an oil lamp. Taking things slowly and gently, more of an exploration of one another that yielded far more telling results than their previous sessions.
Macarena was pulled from her thoughts when she realized that the two of them were no longer walking. Her little Scotchy was bent over, talking with a momma duck being trailed by her babies and Macarena smiled down at the sight.
She had never really considered having children of her own. There was so much else to worry about that the thought never had the time to cross her mind. But now, looking down at her coltfriend and listening to the way he spoke with the animals under his charge, the thought did cross her mind.
Macarena thought that she would be good at it. She had basically raised both of her brothers and they had turned out alright.
The red apple farmer took a moment to close her eyes and lean against Butterscotch, imagining what a life with children…his children…would be like. Visions of little winged Apples dancing behind her shut eyes as a wide grin formed on her muzzle.
She was vaguely aware that he was saying something to her as she slipped into her fantasy, but she was too far gone to hear him.
Macarena could see herself laying in her familiar bed as she cradled her first newborn bundle of joy. Rocking it back and forth slowly as sweaty tangles of her mane fell across her vision. She could already feel the love welling up in her for this tiny foal, swaddled in old bedding.
Butterscotch’s voice was coming in slightly louder now, but she didn’t care as she envisioned handing her little foal over to its father. Her beloved’s tear streaked face as he took it and held it close to his own chest.
Macarena could see their little fillies and colts playing in the yard in front of the homestead, running in between the trees in the orchard, bucking at the trees trying to see who could knock out an apple first- Then eventually growing up into strong young stallions and mares, taking a little after their mother and a little after their father in turn.
Her heart beat faster as she thought about how she would eventually pass responsibility of the farm over to her children, and she and Butterscotch could grow old with one another and...
*WHUMP*
Macarena was jolted from her happy future as her body suddenly made heavy contact with the ground. The wind being knocked out of her for a moment as she processed what had happened.
“Oh my gosh, Mac are you alright?” Butterscotch asked as she rolled over from her side onto her back. Macarena was greeted with her coltfriend’s sapphire eyes staring down at her in a worried look that she had grown all too accustomed to. “I tried to keep you up, I really did, but you’re just so much bigger than me, and I…”
Butterscotch’s words were cut off as the crimson mare reached a tender hoof up and brushed it against his cheek.
Ever so gently, Macarena pulled down his muzzle to hers and kissed him softly, feeling the heat radiating off of his cheeks as she did so. Even after all of the things they had done together, this still managed to put a blush on that face that had become so precious to her.
As they separated once more, Macarena couldn’t help herself as she felt that passion well up from deep within her once again.
“Ah love you, Scotchy.”
For a moment, Butterscotch looked down at her with a stunned expression. As if he were searching for the proper words to say in return.
Then a smile filled his face and he leaned over her and brushed his muzzle against her. “I love you too, my sweet apple mare.”
Macarena held him there for a moment, staring deeply into his eyes. “Ya promise?” She didn’t know why she asked; she could see it in his eyes. Those deep blue pools that she could drown in for eternity told her exactly what she wanted to know.
Butterscotch placed a hoof on her cheek and whispered back, “Forever and always.”
And in those moments, Macarena finally felt contentment.
…