A gazebo stood in a remote part of the Sweet Apple Acres farmland. It was positioned in the ripe spot that if you were to sit underneath it, you would have an excellent view of the orchard and of Ponyville off of the distance.
Inside the enclosure of trees sat a quartet of wet benches and a table. Meanwhile, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were giving the pointed, wooden roof a fresh coat of paint.
Well, they were trying to, anyway.
“Hey Applejack, look over here! I drew the sun and some birds!”
“That’s great, Pinkie,” replied Applejack, applying some maroon paint from the other side. “Now could ya please focus? With all your horsing around, ah’m just amazed we got the benches done!”
“Sorry, Applejack,” she apologized. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately!”
“Yeah… so ah’ve noticed,” she said, trying not to stare at the splotch of yellow on Pinkie’s nose and the tip of her mane.
“So, why didn’t you just ask Caramel to do this?”
“Ah’ve told y’all this over three times now Pinkie, pay attention!” Applejack closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. “Caramel said somethin’ about seeing a ‘friend’ over in Dodge Junction, and he’s going to be gone ‘till Sunday. As a matter of fact, I wanted to have this gazebo refurbished with a new roof as a little surprise for him when he gets back, so we can sit here and look at the sunset together. And well… all our o’er friends were too busy, so that’s why ah ended up asking y’all.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Pinkie, suddenly standing next to Applejack. “So that means I was your backup plan? Cool, I’ve always wanted to be somepony’s backup plan! Like…” She started imitating a gruff male voice. “‘Sir, there’s nopony else we can turn to! We have to use our backup plan! SEND IN PINKAMENA!’ And I’d show up with a background of shining light behind me, and they’d be all, ‘Pinkie! Are you sure you can handle this dangerous task?’ And I’ll just say…”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s great and all, Pinkie, really,” Applejack interjected, shoving her hoof into Pinkie’s mouth. “But can we just focus on painting this gazebo? Ah’m sorry for sounding snappy, ah just wanna get this thing done.”
“Right, sorry!”
Pinkie hopped back over, and they continued painting the two sides in silence for a little while. But after a few minutes, Pinkie struck up yet another subject.
“Hey Applejack, what do ponies do when they’re in a relationship?”
“Beg your pardon?”
“You know, like you and Caramel. What do you two like to do when you’re all being mushy-wushy lovey-dovey together?”
“P-Pinkie! That stuff’s… kinda private, y’know.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Oh, you mean that? Wow, I didn’t know you guys liked to do that stuff! So, is he good in bed, then?”
“What th— NO! Consarnit Pinkie, ah didn’t mean that!” Applejack put her hat over her face as it turned a deep shade of crimson.
“So he’s not good in bed, then?”
“CAN WE PLEASE JUST DROP THAT SUBJECT NOW, PINKIE?” Applejack snapped, placing her hat back with an angry scowl on her red face.
“Oh! Hee-hee, sorry! So, what kind of stuff did you mean?” she asked, tilting her head.
Applejack sighed. “Not much, really. Goin’ out to dinner, buckin’ trees together, lookin’ up at the stars at night… We’ve only been dating for a few days now, haven’t made much of anything out of it yet.”
“I see…” Pinkie was writing down everything on a little notepad.
“Pinkie, are you taking not—”
“Say, I wonder what Twilight’s doing right now!” said Pinkie, perking her head up. “Maybe I should go hang out with her sometime.” She flipped the notebook and started scanning the notes she just took.
“Well, can ya forget about Twilight for a min’ so we can just…”
But she was interrupted as Pinkie started giggling from the other side.
“Aww, what now?”
Pinkie was now getting distracted by a small brown butterfly, the same one that Fluttershy had earlier identified as a gemmed satyr. She got up on her hind legs and was dancing around and laughing as the gemmed satyr flew around her in circles.
“Hee-hee! Oh, wow! Aren’t you just a silly little butterfly? And such a cutie, too! I think I’m going to call you… Chocolatey! Ha-ha, whoops!”
Before she could react, Pinkie tripped on one of her hooves and landed into the bucket of pink paint, splashing it all over both herself and the gemmed satyr.
“Wh-hh-hoops! Sorry about that! Now you’re a silly pink butterfly! Now I have to call you Pinkie! Oops! I can’t, because that’s my name!”
She kept laughing to herself as the gemmed satyr perched on her nose for a second before flying away.
“Pinkie, what are y’all doin’ over there?” asked Applejack.
“Oh, nothing!” Pinkie replied, popping out from behind the roof. “Sorry, Applejack! But my mind’s all cleared up now, so let’s get back to painting this bad boy!”
“Right…”
Am ah seeing things, or were her eyes gray for a second there?