//------------------------------// // Part II Chapter 1 // Story: MOAR PONIES // by wasp9277 //------------------------------// The faint scent of apples swirled in the air as I groggily opened my eyes. My brain frantically tried to distinguish where I was, as it always does when you first wake up in an unfamiliar place. As the memories of the past night came flooding back I felt a grin spread across my face and looked down at the orange pony resting beside me, still asleep. I leaned down and laid my head on hers and realized where the scent of apples had originated. She opened her eyes slowly and turned to me still in a sleep dazed state. “Well…Hey there sugarcube” I felt my smile grow even wider. I nuzzled my face into hers. “Good mornin’ to you too!” She pressed her nose against mine, smiling. We lay there for several more minutes, enjoying each other’s company and sharing a very sentimental moment until a growl erupted from my stomach and I realized that I was starving. I blushed a little as she pulled back, a bit startled. “Welp, reckon that’s my cue to get us something to eat!” she stood up and trotted out of the barn as I stared longingly after her. She was back in a matter of minutes with a large picnic basket in her mouth. She set it gingerly on the barn floor before me and opened it. Inside was a variety of apple pastries; pies, fritters, turnovers and the like. As we sat together and gorged ourselves on the tasty sweets, my mind drifted to one of our pony friends. “Mmm, Applejack! You know who would love these fritters?!” “Who’s that sugarcube?” “Pinkie Pie!” I exclaimed. Immediately after I had said this, my stomach began to churn. Pinkie Pie…she didn’t know about Applejack and I…We had to tell them… Applejack saw my expression darken and her face grew serious. “Aw no! Was there somethin’ wrong with that last fritter? A bad apple?” I shook my head and she stared back at me, understanding what I had been thinking. She sighed and put a hoof around me. “Dash, it’s gonna be okay. Ah’m sure everypony will be perfectly fine with it. That’s what friendship is about; accepting your differences and getting along” “Yeah, and in this case, our difference is that you and I like MARES! That’s not as simple as liking a different band as somepony or disagreeing with what kind of sports they like….” Her eyes met mine for a second and then drifted to the window. “Dash, Ah can’t tell ya that ah know everything is gonna be okay….but what Ah can tell ya is that Ah don’t give a hay about what anypony else has to say, not as long as Ah’m with you” Her kind words were meant to reassure me but instead they joined the jumbled mess of thoughts buzzing in my head already. I stood up in silence, approached my marefriend and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before meandering out of the barn. “Dash…If you’re free later, Ah’d like to have ya over for dinner” Applejack called after me. I looked over my shoulder at her and gave a nod as I continued on my aimless path. What the hell was I going to do? Applejack and I couldn’t just pretend forever that nothing was going on between us. Especially not after the scene we had made at the party. I felt a familiar tightness in my chest and a shortness of breath as I pondered the possibility of what I…we...would say. I didn’t have the slightest clue of what was going to happen, and that scared me. What’s wrong with me? It was so unlike me…..I usually just charge head first into things without a care in the world. I continued wandering without a true destination as I pondered my next move. I suppose I was experiencing the same lapse of consciousness as the day I went to find Applejack except instead of smashing into Big Macintosh, I found myself in a head on collision with a tree.