//------------------------------//
// Knee Play 5  
// Story: Einstein on the Beach 
// by 7th Partial 
//------------------------------//

	The day, with all its stress and complications, has come to an end and the night has barely awoken. With it’s tranquil demeanor and soothing scenery, the night should be a time of peace and serenity: a time to relax and be calm.  

It is in this time of vulnerability that we are in need of a story to vanquish the hardships of the day into the abyss of our minds; freeing them from their troubles and their weary spirits. 

And what sort of story shall we hear?

But of course it would be a familiar story: a story that is so very, very old, yet so very new. 

It is the old, old story of love....


***


Two lovers sat on a park bench with their bodies touching each other. The held each other’s hooves in Luna’s moonlight. The night’s heavenly torch glistened upon the silvery blades of grass illuminating the park with its charming glow. The air was mild and tamed acting out of sheer fate as a foil to the day’s harsh sky. The stars decorated the dark velvety purple sky with their twinkling presence making the scene all the more magical. 

There was silence between the two lovers. So profound was their love for each other they simply needed no words to express it. They basked in each other’s existence, clinging to it for refuge from their relentless universes, taking solace in the fact that the other one was right there with them in the vicinity of compassion; needing nothing else but each other. And so they sat in silence on a park bench, with their bodies touching, holding hooves in the moonlight. 

Finally one of the lovers spoke. She was a unicorn with a coat as pure as the first snow of winter and a mane as vibrant as the violet sky after a light spring shower. She turned to her lover, whose coat was as bold as the orange dusk of a summer night and a mane as bright as gold, and asked, “Do you love me, Applejack?” Her voice chirped as happily as a blue jay coming home from a long journey home after a long winter. It was regal yet it had a tone of humbleness that coated her question with sincerity and passion. 

The orange mare turned her head to face her companion in arms. She responded with a song of innocence and jauntiness. “That’s a silly question to ask, Rares. You know I love you, Sugarcube.” Her voice was one of tamed exuberance. The mare by nature was molded to be taciturn when it came to speaking the language of pathos, but the unicorn gave her the strength necessary to break down her stoic walls and sing the music of the heart. It was a skill she would be forever grateful for. “I told you before. I love you more than I can possibly say. You are the light that rises in the East and sets in the West. You are my everything.” Once again there was silence between the two lovers. They sat on the park bench, with their bodies touching, holding hooves in the moonlight.

The night’s ballet continued as the couple stood still. The wind glided across their manes setting them dancing joining the night’s scherzo. The white unicorn once again turned to her lover and asked. “How much do you love me, Applejack.?” The wind subsided giving way to the dying rustling of the tree’s young leaves. The mare named Applejack once again turned to the Unicorn named Rarity and gave a hearty smile.

“Do you honestly expect me to recite that poem I wrote?” The orange Earth pony asked. The unicorn’s gentle smile gave an answer that words could not fathom but could be read as easily as any foal’s fantasy tale. The orange pony begged. “Come on, Sugarcube. That was awhile ago. I don’t think I can remember it all.” The smile beamed slightly from the Unicorns face and was accompanied by the subtle batting of her eyes. It was a duo made in perfection’s bliss. It was simply irresistable. The Earth pony happily sighed and closed her eyes bringing forth a poem from their past written for the love of her life. 

“Rarity,” The moonlight seemed brighter as if nature itself aided her in the retelling of their confessions for each other. Instead of the night being dynamic and the couple being static, it was now the night’s turn to freeze in its own place in the universe making way for the two lovers. In that moment, it was now just the two of them. Nothing else mattered. The mare named Applejack continued on.

“If you were to count all the apples that ever existed on my family’s orchard; measure all the water in a creek with one of my Granny’s thimbles; count the number of blades of grass in all of Equestria and add them all up, that is how much I love you.” As the last word left her lips, the night’s moment crept up to its former speed. The evening’s symphony of sounds left it’s cesura and entered a beautiful serenade. The music of the night gently caressed the two lovers on the park bench lulling them into a heightened sense of tranquility. 

“But Applejack,” the white Unicorn spoke with the same peaceful tone that she had used in all her questions. “That’s impossible.” Despite her words, the Unicorn knew exactly where the current caused by her lover’s recitation was heading. She relished it and craved it; needing it as if it were her next breath of air. She longed to hear the words that would proceed her own. The anticipation, almost too intense to bear, consumed her. The night once again became subdued and made way for the orange mare’s next words.

“It is impossible, Rarity.” The moment Rarity had waited for since they began talking was nigh. As each syllable was uttered the pleasurable anxiety that built up in her began to boil. The orange mare continued. “Just like how it is impossible for me to say how much I love you.” The Unicorn was filled with untold joy and bliss. To be validated by another’s affection, to be worshipped as a relic of happiness is a feeling that is sought after by each generation but only a few can say that they really have captured in the palm of their hooves. Rarity was one of the few. 

The mare named Applejack continued. “My love for you is higher than the clouds, deeper than the gates of Tartarus, and broader than all of Equestria.” A gust of wind picked up making their manes dance in the night once more as Applejack proceeded. “It has no limits and no bounds. Everything must come to an end...” The moonlight that lit up the magic of the park faded behind a dark grey cloud; illustrating her point. “...except my love for you.” As the moonlight returned from behind the cloud, there was more silence as the two lovers sat on a park bench, with their bodies touching, holding hooves in the moonlight. 

Once more Rarity’s voice was heard, “Kiss me, Applejack.” She implored. Leaning over, Applejack pressed her lips warmly to hers in a warm act of love.