An itch in my hooves woke me up that morning. The rooster had crowed bright and early as usual, but failed to rouse me from the depths of my slumber. I'm sure Applebloom had knocked at my door many times to see if I was awake yet, but at the moment, I didn't really care. Not until I got some coffee.
I set my forehooves down on the floor, the itch in them tempting me to raise them back up and scratch them against the bedpost. But I ignored it. I knew trying to scratch an itch in your hoof was a waste of time. I stood up, taking care to stretch my tired muscles before the day's work. It had become a sort of therapy for me. Out in the orchard, there were no numbers. There were no ponies to bother me, no numbers to watch tick dismally downward. But most of all, I had time to think about what had happened in the past week. I had been saved by the Hero, I had become a Hero, and I had made a firm choice to remain a Hero. I could see numbers, nay, I could see time. I could see life drain from ponies like water from a leaky bucket. I could see the direct effects of actions on the clocks of a pony. Smoking, drugs, exercise, eating habits, medicine, even things as simple as having fun with friends and enjoying one's self. Every action I had seen had a direct effect on the clock of the performer. I meditated each action as I bucked a tree, forty or so apples falling from it. I bucked each tree with every ounce of strength I had, letting loose a rain of apples from each one. But I wasn't bucking the trees for my family, or my farm. Nay. I was doing everything to keep my sense of identity clean.
I was a Hero, but I was a farmer first.
---
I had meditated on why Rarity could possibly be more timid than a jackrabbit around me, and resolved to confront her about it. The whole idea of somepony acting that way near me didn't quite sit right in my stomach. Especially Rarity. My best friend in the group acting weird near me where she'd normally be solid definitely rung a bell in the back of my mind. Something was up with Rarity, and I wanted in.
I trotted through town, paying attention to the numbers I saw but not focusing on them. I had a different task in mind than being a vigilante that day. I passed by the numerous shops on the way through town, the owners inside waving through the windows at me. I responded with silent nods, tipping my hat in their direction. Groups of foals ran by, playing tag or other games, laughing and squealing with delight. Laughter trilled through the bright, cloudless spring day, not a hint of anything out of place. Everything was set for a perfect day.
After ten minutes of walking, I finally reached my destination. I knocked at the door twice before entering. The stuffy atmosphere inside was humid with dust, and tasted stale. I could guess that it had been more than a year since a window had been open in the old library. I looked around, and froze as my eyes gazed upon something that I wish desperately that I could un-see. On a red sofa, Twilight lay on her back, her lips locked to Fluttershy's, who was laying flat on top of her, her left forehoof resting on the unicorn's chest. I watched them, paralyzed with shock, for maybe five minutes. I screamed at myself to look away, walk away, do something, but to no avail. My hooves were as attached to the ground as a cutie mark was to a pony. After another four minutes of urging myself to move, I finally managed to snap my jaw shut. I shook my head vigorously, hoping to erase the image from my mind like an Etch-A-Sketch. Sadly, it didn't work.
"Um. Hi?" I said, feeling like Fluttershy did in front of new ponies.
The two ignored me, continuing their make-out session. I grinned like Discord, an evil thought entering my head. But that's just a bit harsh.
So what? They're makin'-out right in front of ya!
And who am I to interrupt?
I brushed the evil thought from my mind, going for a more acceptable method of interrupting the two. With extreme care, I poked Twilight and Fluttershy in the cheek. The two shot apart faster than two magnets held north-to-north. They both stared at me with expressions similar to that which I made when I saw the two in the first place. I put on as best an innocent smile as I could.
"Well howdy," I greeted awkwardly.
"Hey, Applejack," Fluttershy greeted, climbing off Twilight as the unicorn pulled herself to a sitting position.
"I'll get straight to the point, so y'all can go back ta whatever it is y'all were plannin' on doin'," I teased, semi-serious. "Rarity's been actin' a bit weirder than she usually does around me. And it's only around me. Either of ya know what the hay is goin' on with 'er?"
The two mares before me looked at each other, and I swear I saw a devious glint in their eyes. Seconds later, both of them exploded in laughter as though it were a coordinated prank. I raised an eyebrow at them, wondering if they had suddenly gone bonkers. They stopped after a while, looking at me with knowing grins. "It's about damn time you got curious," Fluttershy of all ponies berated me. "You're more dense than Twily here." She shrunk slightly, "I'm sorry... Was that too much?"
Twilight blushed, rubbing the back of her head with a sheepish grin on her face. I looked at Fluttershy funny. It was definitely not in her nature to act this way. But then again, it wasn't in her nature to make out with Twilight so far as I knew. I found myself once again praying that this was just a drunk dream from a night of Granny's hard cider.
"Rarity's been flirting with you, Applejack," the pegasus continued. "Her feelings for you are possibly greater than mine are for Twilight."
It made perfect sense. Shyness, stuttering after certain comments, which now that I look back on must have teased the daylights out of her, and most of all: her visits to the farm. She hated getting dirty, and what worse place to go to stay clean than a farm? The questions then started rolling in like fog.
"Any idea where she is now? I haven't seen her in a while," I asked. "Which now that I think about it, is really strange."
"She's on her way back from a Seamstress' Guild meeting in Manehatten. She should be coming back this afternoon," Twilight answered. "Trains from Manehatten arrive at the station at two, four, and seven this afternoon. She'll be on one of the three."
I looked around for a real clock. I saw a grandmother clock on a wall, reading one-fifty in the afternoon. "Well, if that's the case, I'll be at the station all day if y'all need me."
I turned and walked to the door of the library, hearing the two... lovers... behind me reposition themselves. As soon as their breathing got heavy, I got out of that library faster than a mouse from a snake-hole.
------
As a new habit, I wore my brown cloak just about every time I went out in public. The media had long since abandoned the effort of trying to find the Hero that saved whatever-the-colt's-name-was from dashing off a cliff, but I didn't want to be recognized for any future actions. Rarity described the Hero that saved that colt as a cloaked pony, even though that was an outright lie. But I insisted on making her lie the truth. That's what best friends are for... Right?
I sat on a bench at the train station, watching ponies go about their business. Leaving, arriving, picking up relatives, dropping off friends. I watched an elderly mare arrive with a solid twenty years left be escorted from the station by what I could only assume was her daughter, who I recognized as the pregnant mare from a few days before. I smiled. The elderly mare would see her grandfoal graduate high-school, and maybe. Just maybe, she'd be able to send the foal off to college.
I saw a middle aged stallion with his son, both carrying a large load of bags to a luggage cart. The stallion was near tears, but he didn't show it. As his colt turned slightly, I saw the emblem of Hoofard University on his jacket. I smiled. The stallion was sending his son to one of the most prestigious universities in Equestria. It was a miracle his pride hadn't liquefied and overflowed from his eyes. If I were his parent, I'd drown the station with proud tears.
I watched Cheerilee and a group of other adult ponies leading an amorphous blob of young ponies onto a train for what I assumed to be the Canterlot Gardens field-trip. I smiled, remembering Applebloom and the Crusaders had gone there a few months earlier, but Discord escaped and ruined the trip. That was likely a make-up trip.
I watched the crowd, my eyes peeled for Rarity among them. The clock across the platform read two o'clock. After the passengers had gotten off and I saw no Rarity, I sighed and sunk back into deep thought, primarily of the unicorn I was waiting for. Something was stirring in my chest, but I didn't quite understand what it was I was feeling.
Why me? Why would somepony like Rarity develop a crush on me. I'm as far from similar to her as it gets! Plus, she knows how conservative my family is! But the stirring in my chest roared in protest. Something about her...
The clock across the platform struck four as another train pulled into the station. With a loud screech, the train stopped, blasting forth a wave of steam onto the platform. Passengers got off the train, trotting off to their business, unawares of their ticking clocks. I saw a colt from Manehatten University arrive with nopony waiting for him. He looked around, as though expecting somepony. But he grinned when he saw no one waiting for him. I grinned with him, realizing that he was planning to surprise his folks. They probably had absolutely no idea he was here.
The train pulled up after the passengers had done whatever maneuvering they needed to, be it get on, get off, or move up a car or two. It halted once more, freight cars now waiting at the station. A crane that I had not noticed roared to life, plucking a massive steel storage crate from one of the flat-bed cars. The train moved forward as the crane moved the crate to a storage yard behind the station. Twelve crates were plucked from the train before it left with four remaining crates, bound for the next destination. Seeing no Rarity, I plunged back into my thoughts of her.
Three hours passed in the blink of an eye. The clock struck seven, waking me from a nap I didn't know I had taken. As the train pulled into the station, the crane roared to life once more, plucking a crate from the storage yard to place on the train. I looked around, seeing Rarity stepping off a car. A baggage colt was busy gathering some of her belongings from a different car, placing them on a baggage cart. She looked around a little bit, but did not see me. I smiled.
Her number skipped downwards by nearly twelve years each hop. I looked up, seeing a crate hovering over her. The cable by which it was suspended was frayed slightly, and I saw it coming. I dashed forwards, knocking innocent ponies out of the way forcefully. I slid beneath one that was too tall to leap over, and bounded over two young foals, covering the twenty meters to Rarity in something close to three seconds. I barreled straight into her, knocking her out of the way. My hooves found their way around her as I pulled her close and took the fall for our landing. The wind created by the falling crate frazzled both of our manes, and crushed her luggage entirely. I heard screams of terror immediately after the crash of steel on concrete. Some panicked and ran away like they were on fire. Others stood frozen to the ground. One pony dashed straight to us.
"You ponies alright?" the stallion asked. I unclenched my eyes, revealing the cobalt stallion.
"We're fine," I replied, letting go of Rarity and standing up. I pulled the paralyzed unicorn up to her hooves, giving her a reassuring smile. "Can't say the same 'bout her luggage."
"You should get her to a doctor to treat her for shock. Leaving that untreated is a bad idea," he said, giving a derpy smile before trotting off at a relaxed pace, whistling a happy tune as though nothing had happened.
I smiled, casting my eyes back to Rarity. "You're okay, Rarity."
Her face stared on past me, eyes wide in shock. I could tell she was seeing numbers. I sighed, almost chuckling to myself. I nudged her forwards with me, guiding her in the direction of the hospital.
It took nearly an hour to reach the hospital. Her reaction to the numbers had been more like the Hero's, as he had told me when I visited him. She was easily distracted, still trying to overcome the shock. She walked up to ponies, trying to touch their numbers. She made huge scenes as we made our way to the hospital. Ponies stared at her for a bit, judging her as a loon, but I knew better. I could see what she was seeing now. Of course, my reaction had been a lot more controlled, but everypony's different. As we finally arrived at the hospital, we saw a patient being rolled hurriedly to a different part of the building. An elderly stallion lay upon the gurney, oxygen tubes sticking out of his nostrils. Above his head was a disheartening 8.33. Rarity watched as they rushed down the hall, his number descending closer to zero. She froze, seeing the same red 0.00 that I had the elderly mare at the market a few days earlier. She watched it flicker from existence, no doubt making the same comparison in her mind to a candle being blown out that I had. She had just witnessed death.
"Rarity needs a check-up. She's in shock," I said calmly to Nurse Redheart at the front desk. She smiled, hailing a doctor without a word. The middle aged stallion of about forty years helped escort Rarity to a quiet room with a window. "Just treat the shock, nothing else."
------
As I walked Rarity home, she was a lot more controlled, but virtually dead silent. It was good that she wasn't running up to ponies, trying to touch their numbers, but the silence made me uneasy. She looked around, watching numbers like I did. She looked up at the one above my head that I couldn't see. She opened her mouth to say something, but I stopped her before she could start, "Don't tell me my number. I'm sure you wanna tell me, but I don't wanna know."
She closed her mouth. I smiled at her gently, "I want to treat ev'ry day as though it's my last. I don't wanna know how much time I have, 'cause I don't wanna start sayin' 'I got time, I can do that later.' I wanna make my time count, like I did today."
"Applejack..." she started after a moment of hesitation. "What... What happened today..."
We stopped in front of her home, the sun now below the horizon. I watched her intently, knowing what she wanted to say. "Tell me anything. I swear I will never give you anything less than the absolute truth," I whispered to her, smiling weakly.
"I've been... meaning to tell you something... Would you mind coming inside for a moment?" Her voice was quiet as Fluttershy's but retained the quality that made it hers. It made my heart lurch a bit. I followed her inside.
"I already know, Rares," I said as the door behind me closed. "Took me long enough to notice, and I had to ask Twi an' Fluttershy, but I finally did."
She breathed a sigh of relief. She got closer to me, her eyes just a hoof away from mine. She stared into my eyes, seeing every aspect about me. She stared into my soul. She moved forward, pressing her soft lips to mine for a moment before pulling away. "That makes it a bit easier to explain why I kissed my savior."