//------------------------------// // Shopping Brawl // Story: She's Having A Foal // by MaxBeezy //------------------------------// It’s a nice morning in Ponyville Park. Very few citizens of the town are taking an early morning stroll, but the atmosphere is quiet, the ducks are quacking, and a couple cloud formations float overhead in the otherwise clear sky. Matt and Applejack lay on the soft green grass, staring up at the sky, with Matt’s arm around his wife’s shoulder, holding her close. Beside them is a checkered sheet, with what used to be a basket of fruit and muffins, but are now banana peels, grape stems, and crumbs. Matt looks at the sky with a smile, but Applejack looks at it with a confused expression. She alternatively looks over at her husband, and the sky, with one thing on her mind. “Ah don’t see what the big deal is.” she says. “What do you mean?” “Ah mean, ah understand the lookin’ at the sky and all, cause I’ve done it, but it’s weird when couples do it.” “What’s the difference?” “Ah don’t know. It’s just when I’ve done it, it’s so personal and private. Ah don’t understand when ah have ta do it with a loved one.” “I’m not sure myself. I saw this kind of thing in a bunch of movies, so I wanted to try it out. Is it not working?” “It’s alright. But, are we supposed ta think about somethin’?” “Hmmm…” Matt thinks, “Well, I think when couples do this, they reminisce about how their relationship is going, their past, present, and future, or they think about how much they love each other. That, or they do this because they like the color blue.” “That’s possible.” Applejack chuckles, “Alright then, how do ya think this relationship is goin’?” “Well…we’re married…and have a foal on the way. So, I guess it’s going okay.” “Just okay?” “I’m kidding.” Matt smiles, “It’s going great. It’s hard to complain, when I’m so damn happy all the time.” “Ah hear that.” Applejack chortles, kissing Matt on the cheek. “Anythin’ else ya wanna do this fine mornin’?” “I don’t know.” Matt says, feeling her pregnant stomach, “I’ll get back to you on that.” “Don’t take too long.” Applejack grins with slyness. Matt inches closer to her lips, and meet them with his. He takes his hand off her baby bump, and brings it to her cheek. Applejack, though enjoying such a kiss, feels the need to prod his chest a little, temporarily stopping him. “Matt…” Applejack whispers, “Remember our deal?” He knows all too well about the deal they had. A couple weeks ago, was the last time that they would be intimate with each other. After that, they wouldn’t take anymore rolls in the hay, until the foal was born. Matt gives her a reassuring smile. “Of course I remember. I’m still allowed to make out with you, right?” “Sorry…” Applejack says with a hint of remorse, “Ah just wanted to make sure.” “It’s alright. I’ll tell you what, how about I give you some kind of a signal?” “A signal?” “Yeah. Like if I do this…” Matt gives her his best sexy face; eyes half closed, and a sultry smile. Applejack can’t help but chuckle at the attempt. “That means it’s time for make outs.” “Sounds good. Then, if ah wanna make out, I’ll do this…” Applejack flutters her ears, combined with her best sultry expression. Needless to say, it looks better on her. “What do ya think?” “I like it. Especially the ears; very sexy.” Matt leans over, giving her ear a gentle nibble, causing her to giggle. “I’m glad ya like it. Now then…” Suddenly, she rolls on top of him; ears fluttering, and face as sultry as ever. “Where were we?” Applejack and Matt passionately kiss. This hands/hooves travelling along each other’s bodies, as they become lost in each other. Applejack breaks from the kiss, choosing to go to his neck, and give him a hickey. Matt enjoys the sensation on her sucking on his neck. He opens his eyes as he looks off to the side… …to see Shining Armor and Cadance standing not too far away. “I think we came at a bad time.” Cadance uttered. Her voice makes Applejack stop with the neck sucking, looking over at the other couple. Both have embarrassed looks on their faces, coming in at such an awkward moment. It’s been a while since they last saw each other. Cadance’s pregnancy has progressed quite nicely, with her baby bump just a little bit smaller than Applejack’s, despite them both progressing at roughly the same time. Applejack gets off of Matt, and the two straighten themselves out, as Shining Armor and Cadance chuckle. “Good morning, lovebirds.” Cadance says with a smirk, “I see you forgot our little rendezvous, today.” “Rendezvous?” Matt wonders, “What rendezvous?” “I told you they’d forget.” Shining Armor whispers to Cadance, “Big Mac was right; these two are always lost in their own world.” “What are ya’ll going on about?” asks Applejack. “We were supposed to go shopping for the foal today, remember?” Cadance says, “We arranged a date for Saturday." “Saturday? I thought we were meeting on Sunday?” said Matt. “Nope. Totally Saturday.” Shining Armor says, “We didn’t find you at the house, so we asked your friends. Rainbow Dash said she saw you two come here, so here we are.” The memory of the event makes its way into Matt and Applejack’s brain, causing a simultaneous groan and face palm from the both of them. Cadance and Shining Armor can’t help but shake their heads wile stifling a chortle. “We’re so sorry.” said Applejack, “We totally forgot.” “That’s okay.” Cadance says, “We didn’t. If we both forgot, you would have continued making out on the grass. It’s lucky we showed up, instead of some innocent pony family that could get traumatized.” She laughs, “Won’t someone think of the foals?!” she says in over dramatic fashion. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Matt says, gathering the picnic area up. “So, where are we going?” Of all the places that didn’t have a ponified name, it HAD to be Toys R’ Us. The biggest and most popular toy store in all of Equestria, located right in Manehattan, Matt stares at the sign in wonder, almost in awe, at how it looked remarkably similar to the store he knew back in his world. The last time he ever stepped inside such a store, was when he wanted to go buy some Transformers, in anticipation for one of the live action movies. He was 19 then, and was proud of it. Now, at the age of 25, the feeling still hasn’t changed. Of course, now he’s not shopping for himself, but for the foal that will be born in a matter of months. “Why are we toy shopping for the foal now?” Matt asks, “Shouldn’t we wait until it’s born, before we start buying it G.I Joes or something?” “It’s best to be prepared.” Shining Armor answers, “Besides, this store is the perfect place to get cribs.” “Can’t argue with that logic.” Matt thinks to himself, nodding his head in agreement. The inside of the store is much bigger than the outside. It’s like walking into a massive warehouse, only that warehouse is packed to the brim with all kinds of toys, foal books, scooters, cribs, toy carriages and wagons, all kinds of things a foal would love. The sensation of being in such a store overwhelms Matt. On instinct, Matt takes a shopping cart, and starts inching his way towards the Supermare display. “Matt?” Applejack calls out, snapping Matt from his child-like delirium. “Where are ya goin’?” “Ummm…Supermare toys?” “Come here, you.” Applejack clamps her teeth on his belt, dragging him back to the group. “Ah swear, ya really are like a colt sometimes.” The group walks around the store, each couple with their own cart, looking for toys, games, and stuffed animals that both fillies and colts would like. Matt had a tendency to pick up a Transformares toy, or a Colt of Duty game, but he would always be greeted with a head shake, and a gesture to put it back. As they get closer to the cribs, Shining Armor goes over to Matt’s side, putting a hoof around him. “Hey, AJ?” Shining Armor calls to her. Applejack and Cadance turn their attention to him. “Mind if I borrow your husband for a bit? Matt and I need to discuss something.” “What do we need to discuss?” Matt raises an eyebrow. “You know…Father stuff.” “I don’t know what that means, but…sure.” Matt looks at Applejack, “Is that okay?” “Well, ah kinda wanted you here to pick out a crib.” “I’ll tell you what, if you find one you like, call out to me, and I’ll be right there. Alright?” “Hmmm….” Applejack thinks, before nodding, “Okay. Don’t be gone too long.” “I’ll be back in a jiffy.” He leans down, kissing her on the cheek, before Shining Armor drags him away. “What’s so important, that Shinin’ Armor has ta drag Matt away?” Applejack asks Cadance. “Probably wants to talk about Stallion things. You know how they are.” Cadance rolls her eyes, continuing on to the cribs. Applejack shakes her head with a chuckle, following Cadance. Matt, cart still in hand, is dragged all the way over to the Pretty Pretty Princess Pony aisle, before Shining Armor let’s go of him. Matt looks around, seeing the aisle they are in, before going back to looking at the strangely behaving Prince. “What’s going on?” Matt wonders, “Is something wrong?” “No, nothing’s wrong.” Shining Armor says, sincerity in his voice. “I just wanted to have a Stallion to Stallion talk to you. I mean…a Stallion to Man talk.” “Alright.” Matt reluctantly agrees, walking through the aisle. “Did we really have to talk about this in the Pretty Pretty Princess Pony section?” “It wasn’t my choice. It was the closest place, and I took it. Just far enough away from the wives. Plus, like you said, if AJ finds something, she’ll call out for you, and you can hear it.” “I suppose I see your point.” Matt agrees, “So, what’s so important, that you want to talk to me alone?” “Nothing all that serious.” Shining Armor smirks, “How are things with you and AJ?” “They’re fine…they’re fine. Can’t complain really.” Matt looks over at one of the Pretty Pretty Princess Ponies. He grimaces at the color and look of the figure. “Yeesh. Way too much makeup on these things. It’s like they’re selling hooker ponies.” “How are things…you know…in the bedroom?” Shining Armor says with a hint of deviance. Matt turns to see the smile on his good friends face. He rolls his eyes with a scoff, but also a chuckle. “Oh, so THAT’s why you dragged me over here.” Matt smirks, “Wow, I can’t even go a day without talking about the subject to anypony. And in a toy store, too.” “Come on, don’t be such a prude.” “I’m not being a prude. There’s just not that much to tell.” “What do you mean?” “I mean…we haven’t done it in a while.” “How long is a while?” “About two weeks. We’re holding off on the whole sex thing until the foal is born.” Shining Armor nearly goes bug eyed at the news. He stops cold in his hoof steps, as Matt moves along towards the colt appropriate toys. Shining Armor shakes himself out of his shocked expression, going back to Matt’s side. “Wait, wait…you’re telling me that you two haven’t had sex for the past two weeks?” “Yeah. What’s the deal?” “Haven’t you read any of the books I gave you?” “Of course I have. What’s your point?” “My point is that as the mare gets more and more…well…womby, her drive goes absolutely nuts!” “It does?” “Yes! Me and Cadance, we’ve been going at it like three times a week!” “Okay…” Matt gets a little further away from him, “I don’t want to talk about you and the Princess’ bedside manner at the moment.” “Come on, Matt! You’re the only guy I can talk about this with! Plus, I know you and Big Mac talk about his relationship with Twily all the time!” “I-jub-bub!!!” Matt blathers incoherently at hearing such news, “How do you know about that?!” “Twily tells me that Big Mac tells her that you are always curious about their activities.” “Yeah, but it’s always in a teasing manner! And Jesus, it’s so weird that you call your sister Twily, even when talking about sex!” “Who’s Jesus?” “I…ugh…” Matt doesn’t want to talk about this again. “Nevermind. Why me? Don’t you have a bunch of Royal Guard friends to talk about this stuff with?” “Yeah, but every time I do, they get all hound doggie, and want all the super nasty details!” “How do you know I’m not like that?” “I don’t know. Despite your teasing attitude, you’re still more of a gentlecolt about it. Now spill it, what’s going on with you and AJ?” Matt stops. He looks around the aisle, seeing if there are any stray ponies trotting around. The coast looks clear. Quickly, he grabs a Transformares figure, drops it in the cart, then turns to Shining Armor. “Okay, the reason why we’re not doing it anymore, is because she heard this story about late stage pregnant mares having sex, causing the foal to be born prematurely. She doesn’t want that happening, and decided that we stop all the funny business until after the foal is born.” “Where did she hear about that story?” “Not sure. Probably somepony gossiping around town, or something. It seems to have spread like wildfire.” “Are you okay with that? Stopping all the…you know…stuff?” “Not really…” Matt grimaces, “Look, I’m doing this because I love her, and I don’t want to do anything to mess this up, but…” Matt bites his lip, “Sweet Celestia, she looks fantastic!” “That’s obvious. I’m seeing the way you’re eyeballing her.” Shining Armor raises his eyebrows rapidly, and prods Matt’s ribs with a playful hoof. “Looks like somepony found himself a little bitty fetish.” “Eluch…” Matt sticks his tongue out, releasing an unpleasant noise out of disgust. “The word fetish sounds so icky.” “Fetish…fetish…Matt has a fetish.” Shining Armor sings. “Matt has got a big fat fet…” he stops, staring face to face with a young colt and his shocked mother. “Ummm….hey.” Both the colt and his mom gallop off to another part of the store. “Not very Prince-like of me, was it?” “Not at all.” Matt laughs. Applejack and Cadance arrive at the cribs. Being a big store, they had all kinds, with different colors, patterns and designs. There’s so many to choose from, that it could take the two days two find the perfect one. Cadance scans through the cribs with near lightning fast precision. “No…no…oh dear, no.” Cadance mumbles as she moves on. “Ya seem to know what ya want.” Applejack says, impressed. “I’m not going to have my little colt be in an inadequate crib.” “Ya know what your foal is gonna be?” “Not really. I had the opportunity to find out when I went to see the doctor, but I decided against it.” “Ah did the same thing too. But, how do ya know the foal is going to be a colt?” “A gut feeling.” Cadance thinks about what she said, “Heh…gut feeling. I’ve also been having dreams lately; about the foal’s birth. I always dream of it being a colt.” “I’ve had dreams like that, too. Only…they’re more like nightmares.” “Nightmares?” Cadance turns her attention away from crib seeking, and focuses on Applejack. “Yeah. They were pretty scary. Like bein’ in one of them horror movies.” she shudders at the memory, “Not exactly somethin’ ah would like to remember.” “I’m sorry, AJ.” Cadance says, “Did you tell Matt about it?” “Yeah, ah told him after the second one. He was so sweet. He comforted me the rest of the night.” Her shudder turns to a smile. “In his own special way, I presume?” Cadance asked with a bit of sultriness. “Yeah. You could say that.” she giggled. “That guy just can’t seem to take his eyes off of you. I bet you two are animals during the night.” “Oh shucks, ya embarrasin’ me, Cady.” Applejack blushes, “We’ll we’re n…” “Me and Shining Armor? Practically every night.” Cadance interrupts, “It’s like the pregnancy has made me more attractive to him, or something! Stallions are a weird bunch. I wonder if humans have the same feeling about pregnancy, too. Has Matt’s behavior changed, since you started to show?” “Hard to say. No matter what, he’ll always tell me I’m pretty. He’s probably being modest.” “I’m not so sure about that. We’ve hung out enough, that when he compliments you, modesty goes right out the window. If you ask me, he’s probably hiding how he really feels about your appearance.” Cadance says, turning back to the cribs. “Hey, what do you think about this one?” Applejack doesn’t answer, thinking about what Cadance said. Matt hiding something? Is what he’s hiding a bad thing? Then again, Cadance was talking about how Shining Armor has taken an extra liking to her, since she started to show; maybe that’s what she’s talking about. “AJ? You okay?” Applejack is broken from her thoughts. “Wha? Oh, sorry. What was the question?” “I was wondering what you thought of the crib?” Applejack looks over at the crib. It’s a beautiful design, made to look like the night sky; blue, with stars that are advertised to be glow in the dark. It’s impressive…if also a little expensive. “It’s mighty pretty.” She looks over at the price. “Five hundred bits?! That’s a lot!” “You want it? I’ll pay for it.” “That’s nice of you to offer, Cadance, but I’m not sure if this is the right one. Ah think it’s better suited for you.” “You think so?” she asks, looking back at the crib, “It does look beautiful.” She gives it one more inspection, before saying… “I’ll put it in the ‘maybe’ pile. Let’s see what else they got.” Matt and Shining Armor travel over to the activity section of the store, where there are many sports related items on display. Hoofball, baseball, even hockey, it’s all there. Matt travels just a bit further, where there is a container full of bouncy balls. He picks one up, bouncing it on the floor for a few moments. “You think the foal will like this?” he asks Shining Armor. “I think it will.” he answers. “Hey Matt, tell me something.” “What?” “Do you know the gender of the foal, yet?” “We had the chance, but decided to not take it. What about you?” “I don’t know either, but I think it’s a filly.” “A filly? How did you come to that conclusion.” “Well, Cadance is an alicorn, and she’s a Princess. I bet they can only produce Princesses. Plus, her stomach is a good indicator.” “Her stomach?” “Yeah. Look…” he levitates two balls up in the air. One small, and one large. “This is a little system I figured out. If a mare is having a filly, her stomach will look like this…” he floats the small ball over to Matt. “That’s the size of her stomach right now. And here…” he floats the bigger ball to Matt, “That’s what Applejack’s stomach looks like. The bigger the stomach, the bigger the foal. I think it’s likely that your foal will be a colt.” “So, you’re saying that it’s a colt, because colts are bigger than fillies?” “Yeah!” “What if it’s just a big filly, or a small colt?” “I…” he pauses, “Huh…I didn’t think about that. Well…I didn’t say my system was perfect.” He chuckles. Matt grabs the bigger ball that Shining Armor was holding onto, plucking it from his magical grip. He bounces it a couple times, before throwing it in the cart. “Filly or colt, I think it’s going to like that.” he grins. “Let’s go see what AJ and Cadance are doing.” As they make their way back to the cribs, they spot a pony in a dragon outfit, entertaining a bunch of fillies and colts. The sign above says ‘Meet Crackle The Dragon!’. The two watch, as the mascot bounces around, giving toys to the foals. “Okee dokee!” The dragon mascot said, “Okay fillies and colts; you tell your parents if they love you, they’ll buy the whole set!” The foals cheer in response. Matt turns to Shining Armor with a confused look on his face. “What the hell is that?” he asks. “Just some mascot from a television program.” he grimaces, “It’s not great.” “THANKS CRACKLE!” the foals yell. “Who loves ya foals?” “CRACKLE!” they yell back. “You know it! Now run along! Bye bye!” The foals gallop off to their parents, who are most likely in other parts of the store. Matt and Shining Armor look at each other, both with expressions of confusion, and a little bit of annoyance. The nod, silently agreeing to get away from this Crackle character as fast as possible. Easier said than done. “Hey there fellas!” Crackle gallops up to the two, “And hello to you, Prince Shining Armor! How about taking a Crackle doll for the little foal to be?!” “No thanks.” Shining Armor feigns a smile. “I’m good.” “Hey mister!” he looks over at Matt, “You’d look great in my Crackle t-shirt! It comes in extra, extra, EXTRA large!” “I bet they do.” Matt gives off an uncomfortable chuckle, “But no thank you.” Matt leans down to Shining Armor’s ear. “Let’s get out of here.” “How about one of my Crackle Loves You videos?!” The Mascot puts a hoof over Shining Armor’s shoulder, singing “Love is for…you and me…” “NO THANKS!” Shining Armor says, agitated, “Okay?” A pause. This Crackle character might have gotten the message. “WE ARE ONE BIG FAMILY!” He sings louder. The Prince has had enough. He gets right in the Mascot’s face, staring him down like Fluttershy would a Cockatrice. Matt looks at the Prince’s eyes, shocked that he could pull off such an expression. “Just SHUT UP, OKAY?!” he yells, “I’m not going to buy your damn video!” “Aww…but the foal will love i---“ “No, my foal will hate it, because they’ll think your show sucks!” Once again, Crackle is in silence. There isn’t any tell to the mask’s eternal expression happiness, to get a bead on his emotion right now, but the pony inside must be in some kind of shock. “Oh…” Crackle says with a hint of disappointment. “But…thanks anyway.” Matt says, trying to quell the situation down. “Well sure!” The Mascot goes back into a happy tone, “Hey! No hard feelings, okay!” He reaches out a hoof for a shake. Shining Armor looks at the hoof with hesitance, before giving it a reluctant shake. “Yeah, okay. Sorry. Just a little stressed, that’s all.” “That’s okay!’ Crackle says with a jaunty laugh. Matt and Shining Armor start walking away from the mascot, hoping the situation would end there. Inside their minds, the make a plan to avoid encountering this mascot ever again. “So long! You cheap shit…” Crackle says under his breath. Shining Armor heard that immediately. He turns around, nostrils flared up. “What did you say?” he asks, with intimidation. “Huh?” The tone of voice goes back to happy. “Oh gee, I said nothing Mister! You must be hearing things!” He laughs, kind of obnoxiously now. “He didn’t say anything.” Matt says, trying to get Shining Armor away from the Mascot. In actuality, he did hear what Crackle said, but he wants to get back to his wife as soon as possible. “Bye, bye! Crackle loves you!” he giggles, before…”You dickhead…” “OKAY! I HEARD THAT!!!” Shining Armor screams, catching the attention of some foals with their parents, including the ones he scared off earlier. “No, no!” Matt grabs Shining Armor, once again attempting to get away from the happy looking Mascot. “Heard what?” Crackle asks in a condescending tone of joy. “I heard what you said! Matt, tell me I’m not crazy!” “You’re not, you’re not…” Matt says rapidly, pulling his friend back to him. “Come on, Man. Forget it, forget it, he’s just a pony in a stupid dragon outfit.” The two look at the dancing and singing Crackle. “There’s fillies and colts around here!” “Yeah, yeah. Forget it. Come on, let’s go see Applejack and Cadance.” He manages to get Shining Armor back to his side. Again, they start to get further and further away… Until… “So long…” Crackle says in a menacing tone, “Ya dumb ass pussy!” There’s no stopping Shining Armor now. He turns around, eyes filled with murder. “THAT’S IT!!!!” He bull-rushes towards Crackle, whose internal expression of pride, turns to one of fright. “Uh-Oh…” Crackle says, moments before… BOOM! He’s tackled to the floor by the Prince of the Crystal Empire. The two wrestle on the floor, shouting obscenities at one another, with Crackle making crude sexual jokes about Cadance, that only makes Shining Armor’s rage stronger. The blows that he deals to Crackle doesn’t do much, as the costume softens the punches. Matt runs up to the two, trying to calm them down. “Look, guys! Stop it!” “Here’s one for the Queen!” Crackle shouts, punching Matt in the face, sending him crashing into a pile of Crackle dolls. “I’ll take both you wieners on! You, and that pussy boyfriend!” Matt isn’t bleeding, but he’s none too pleased about the direction this fight just took. “Right! You bastard!” Matt yells, as he dives into the fighting duo, turning the brawl into a mess of punches, and dust billowing in the air, obscuring any watchful eyes from seeing what is happening. All they can hear is more obscenities and various grunts and groans. It looks like it’s going to be impossible to separate them from the onslaught of violence. Until… “MATT!” Applejack shouts in horror. “SHINING ARMOR!” Cadance shouts in the same tone. “HOO-HAA!” Shining Armor is on top of Crackle, giving off his best kung fu yell. “HI YA---” he looks up to see the two wives look at them with their mouths agape in shock. He elbows the still beating Crackle senseless Matt, stopping him from his epic rage of destruction. “Oh shit…” Matt says to himself, “Uh…HI HONEY!” “Hey. Sexy wife you got there!” Crackle says. POW! Matt punches him so hard, his fist goes through the mask, and hits the pony on the inside, knocking him out cold. The four leave the store, bags of toys in hand and hooves. Matt and Shining Armor look at each other with the feeling of accomplishment, while their wives look angry and slightly miserable. “It’s a good thing being the ruler of the Crystal Empire gives you some leeway.” Matt laughs. The two Mares look at him like a young pony in trouble at school. “Uh…sorry.” “Well, me and Shining Armor need to get back to the Crystal Empire for a little talk.” she glares at her husband, who hangs his head down in shame. “I’ll talk to you later, AJ?” “Yeah. See ya two later.” In flash, the two disappear. Matt scoffs at their immediate exit. “Yeesh. She couldn’t have transported us home first?” He looks down at Applejack, who looks none too pleased. “What?” he says innocently. “What do ya mean ‘what?’ Ya know exactly what ya did!” she scolds. “To be fair, I tried to break up the fight, then Crackle hit me, and started talking smack!” “Do ya have any idea how embarrsain’ that was?! A doubt they’ll let us back in, because of that!” “Relax, AJ. Shining Armor and Cadance are royalty, and being friends of royalty got us a free pass! If anything, the jerk in the outfit is not going to be allowed back, for what he did! I have no idea how he got the job, with a mouth like that.” He sees Applejack pout, looking away from him. Matt kneels down to meet her at eye level. “Hey, hey…” he puts an arm around her, caressing her shoulder. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean for things to happen the way that they did. You’re not going to divorce me, are you?” “Divorce ya?” she looks back, “Nah, I’m not going to divorce ya! Ah know you were just tryin’ to help out, but…next time…can ya try to do it without somepony getting’ beaten up?” “I’ll give it my best shot. No promises.” he chuckles. “And don’t think ah didn’t notice that ya bought a Transformares figure.” “Hey! You like Transformares!” “Ah know, but that’s not the point! What if the foal doesn’t like it?” “Our foal will like it, trust me.” He says, holding her close. She sighs, grabbing his attention. “What’s the matter. Are you okay?” “Matt…” she looks into his eyes. Cadance's words go through her head, as she asks, “Do you think I’m pretty?” “Of course I do. What kind of question is that?” “Ah mean… do ta think I’m pretty like this?” she taps her pregnant stomach. Matt looks at the stomach, almost hypnotized by it. He puts his hand on it, slowly caressing it lovingly. He looks back, and stares deep into Applejack’s soul. “I think you’re the prettiest pregnant mare in all of Equestria.” Matt lets loose with the hyperbolic wordplay. “What brought this on?” “Just somethin’ Cadance said." “What, did she say you were ugly?” Matt jumps to conclusions. “No, no. Nothin’ like that. She was wonderin’ how ya really felt about mah appearance.” “Well, you can tell her, that I think that your appearance is super-duper-ultra-attractive, and nothing is going to change that.” “Ya know, like ah said, mah stomach going to get bigger from here on out.” “I know, and I’m looking forward to it.” He smiles, tickling her stomach. Applejack giggles at his words and his touch. “Hey, AJ…guess what?” “What?” Matt’s faces changes to a sultry smile. Applejack laughs in response. “Ah see how it is. Well then…” her ears then flutter, and one ups his sultry expression. He chuckles. “Take me home, and I’ll show you what for.” “Oh, I’m going to get it now.” He laughs, as they start walking to the train station. “Yer dang right yer gonna get it!” she chortles.