//------------------------------//
// And Maybe A Little More 
// Story: A Retirement Present 
// by Michael Hudson 
//------------------------------//

Applejack swallowed hard as she looked up at the small house at the edge of Ponyville. It was owned by the one human in Ponyville, and one of the few men/stallions she’d ever worked for in her life, and definitely the one she’d worked under the most. After all, when the harvest wasn’t coming in, a mare had to find something to do.

And so she had begun doing construction, to help with the destruction that kept coming to Ponyville, and that’s where she met Dave. A strong, able man who was hard to surprise, and even harder to hate. He had been the foreman for most of Ponyville for the past twenty years, having also done it for another twenty before then.

And now he was retired. Left alone in the house that he had built for himself. It had somewhat surprised everyone to have heard the announcement, not with all he usually seemed to do, but he was getting older, with his hair almost becoming more gray than black, and his stamina not keeping up with him like it used to.

And it was this man that she had come to see, only a week into retirement, to see about trying something. Trying to get an answer to something no one really had ever been able to figure out about him.

And it was this that made her legs shake as she knocked on the door, swallowing hard as the heat from the pie she held beat against her chest. It was a present for his retirement, since she hadn’t gotten anything for his retirement party last week, though she hoped he liked her other gift idea even better, no matter how much that gift scared her.

And then, he opened the door, smiling at her in a loose, plain t-shirt, and rugged, blue jeans. Her looked as strong and able as he ever had, with his arms folded in front of him, and one of his eyebrows, bushy and wild from lack of shaving them, raised as he took her in.

“So, why are you flashing me?”

Applejack’s face turned as red as her brother’s coat at the blunt question, having expected any sort of reaction. Anything to tell her the age old question for him: Does he even have a libido? Did he get turned on by anything? Or feel tension when presented with the female form? She supposed she had an answer now, but she didn’t consider herself unattractive, so for him to just ignore her… “Um, don’t you have anything to say to me? About me being here? Like this? Something more… kind?”

Dave rubbed his chin for a moment, a slight smile opening up his face before he nodded to himself. “You’re absolutely right. I am happy to see you here, Applejack, and especially with such a large, juicy pie for me to have! At least, that’s what I’m hoping.”


Applejack glanced down at the pie in her hands, feeling her heart sink at the words, before looking back up. This was a mistake, as she was caught off guard. She was caught with her intentions painted across her face as his face stayed only centimeters from hers, his green eyes piercing into her own pair. “Applejack, why did you actually come like that?”

She swallowed hard, drumming her fingers on the side of the pie tin as she tried to come up with something to say. Something to excuse her absolutely shameful behavior. Sure, she had taken the advice from Pinkie, and she could use that as an excuse, but… “I, uh, well, since you’re retired-”

“Just because I’m retired doesn’t mean I’ll suddenly start dating anyone, especially a gal like you who could do a lot better, a lot younger, and probably a lot less confused.”

She stopped dead in her tracks from that. Dave had always been someone open to giving advice, usually pushing kids in the right direction when they needed it. A lot of ponies thought he had magic in him that he simply told no one about, but he just claimed that if someone was more observant, it wouldn’t be so hard for them.

And now he was looking straight through her as she glanced away. He didn’t let her go so easily though, reaching forward and beginning to close up her shirt, slowly closing the buttons on her shirt as his fingers were careful not to touch her chest. “I could see how you lit up when I said I would finally be able to relax with retirement. How many more white shirts that you sweated through you wore after that. How much more time you tried talking to me, even off of the site, and how much more you would blush when I caught you looking at me.”

Applejack was silent for another few moments as Dave put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Back in my world, you weren’t the first girl that was far too young for me that tried doing something like this, and I doubt you’d have been the last. You’re a driven girl, but I can bet that there are some nights when things get cold. Get boring. Get lonely. That doesn’t mean that you have to settle for a guy at work though, or for a guy who just, unfortunately, hasn’t been interested. Okay?”

Applejack looked down, wondering if this is how a lot of the young stallions on his crews always felt, especially since they spent all year with him. Like their secrets had been figured out. Like they couldn’t hide anything from him, and somehow ending up feeling more exposed than when her shirt had been open.

But, oddly enough, also a lot warmer now for what he’d said.

Applejack looked up at him, tears at the edges of her eyes as she nodded at him. “Yeah… Yeah, I guess you’re right. If you’d been interested, you would have said something before now anyways. Besides, I probably should know you better before I try something dumb like today.”

Dave grinned at her, before putting a hand on her head and messing up her hair. “Good girl, but do remember I am retired, and I will need to find some way to pass the time, so don’t be a stranger. Especially if you keep coming with as open of a chest as today.”

Applejack’s face turned bright red, and Dave managed to grab the pie in her hands just before she began to run off though. However, his words stopped her, and she froze in her tracks. Despite everything else he had said, he had taken note of her chest. In fact, she’d guess he liked it from what she said. He’d even been staring at it before!

But by the time she turned around, the door was closed, and something told her that he wouldn’t be opening it for her again today. Not when he couldn’t deny what he said to the mare who now got to walk away with a bounce to her step, and, with a small hope that he noticed, to her chest as well.