The snow whirled loudly around the outside of Sugarcube Corner, contrasting starkly against the warm interior. The smell of baked goods fresh from the oven drifted lazily around the bakery.
The bell rang as the door opened and sudden rush of cold air swooped through the room, disrupting the warmth and sending shivers down several ponies' backs. Red Mac quickly stepped in with the wind and shut the door, shaking off snow that quickly melted on the ground and restoring the bakery to its calming warmth. His eyes darted all over the bakery until he found the mare he had been looking for. He took a step forward then stopped, his stomach filling with a mixture of excitement and sudden, unbidden shyness.
Scarlet looked at him and waved him over to the corner of the bakery she has grabbed. She smiled nervously as he got closer.
Red Mac took off his coat and sat down awkwardly on the loveseat next to Scarlet and looked at her, biting his lip.
"So." Scarlet kept listening, so he continued. "What do ya usually do on a first date?"
Scarlet's brow furrowed. "I- I don't know. Talk, I guess. Maybe-" Her mouth seemed to hover between shaping the sound 'k' and the sound 'h', then decided on the latter. "Hug?"
Red Mac nodded. "Awright. Should we order something?"
Scarlet opened a bag next to her on the seat. "I ordered frosted scones and chocolate cookies for both of us, actually. I didn't know-"
"That sounds real good." Red Mac said, glad for something to do. He picked up a scone and bit in. He chewed and swallowed. Scarlet watched him nervously.
Scarlet smiled at him. Shoot, That mare smiled like nopony else. Red Mac didn't know if it was the way her eyes lit up even if it was a nervous smile, or if it was the way she stuck her teeth out a tiny bit, but her smile never failed to bring a mirroring one out on Red Mac's face. Scarlet took one for herself, blushing.
"These taste good?" Scarlet asked. Red Mac nodded. He opened his mouth to say something, then changed his mind.
"Gosh darn it, we know each other too well to be sittin' here like nervous schoolfoals. Come on, Scarlet. D'ya have yer coat?"
Scarlet stood up. "Yep."
Red Mac grinned devilishly as he put on his coat and Scarlet put on hers. "C'mon along then, Sugarcube. Follow me."
"Where are we going?" Scarlet asked as she picked up the bag of still-warm baked sweets and followed Red Mac out the door.
"You'll see." Red Mac turned to look at her, then trotted out the door.
The view from the top of the hill was cold and clear. Snow scratched Red Mac's and Scarlet's cheeks. Scarlet shivered.
"This had better be fun." She challenged Red Mac.
"Oh, this'll definitely be more fun than sittin' in a bakery fer two hours." Red Mac grinned at Scarlet again and ducked behind a large bush. He emerged with a big, beautiful sled.
"Oh my gosh!" Scarlet exclaimed. "Where did you get that?" She trotted to look at it, running her hooves over the edges and admiring it from several angles. Red Mac dropped it on the snow, keeping his foot on the sled to steady it.
"Mah brother, sister and ah have been comin' up here in the Winter fer years. Bein' the youngest and havin' them go off ter the far corners of Equestria, ah didn't think 'bout this too much, 'til now." Red Mac sat on the sled and looked at Scarlet. "Y'all comin'?"
Scarlet sat on the sled behind Red Mac. "Don't kill us." She put her chin on his shoulder and her arms around his middle. "Ready!"
Red Mac let go of the hill.
Scarlet's scream was left on the hilltop beside the cookies. She hugged Red Mac tightly as he steered the sled away from a cluster of rocks, then around a tree. The snow hit their faces and the wind swept their manes out straight behind them.
At the bottom of the hill, Red Mac turned to face Scarlet, half afraid that she would run away from him. She was panting hard. She licked her lips.
"That was amazing!" Scarlet yelled. "We have got to do that again!"
"Come on up." Red Mac gave Scarlet a smile as they trudged up the hill.
"Y'all havin' fun?" Red Mac asked, reaching for another scone.
"That was the best first date a mare could ask for." Scarlet smiled at Red Mac and bit into a cookie. Their eyes met and warmth spread down to their hooves. Scarlet sighed.
"What?"
"We should do this more often." Scarlet looked at her hoof, then at Red Mac. "I don't know how often my parents'll let me come here."
Red Mac bit his lip. Then he brightened.
"Ah could take a day trip to Manehattan. Ah'll go on a day when mah parents kin handle the farmwork. Ah kin take a train at night and sleep on it, then spend a day in Manehattan, then come back and sleep on the night train to Ponyville!"
Scarlet smiled. "That's brilliant!" She leaned forward and hugged Red Mac tightly. "Red Mac, you're the best."
Red Mac looked at Scarlet, who was preparing Big Macintosh's lunch for school.
"It's almost sleddin' season." Red Mac said, looking at a picture of them sledding that had been taken later, when the whole Apple family had trooped over to sled. "Should we show them the hill this year?"
Scarlet added a layer of cheese to Big Mac's sandwich, thinking.
"I guess Mac's old enough. To tell the truth, I think we could've shown them last year, just to play. I just-" Scarlet bit her lip. "They're growing up so fast. Mac already knows most of his alphabet." Scarlet sighed wistfully, looking at Red Mac. "I mean, I know Applejack's still a baby, but seeing Mac go to school every day- He's so grown up."
Red Mac nodded. "Ah know, sugarcube. But they're still real young. We'll have them fer years an' years ter come. And remember-we still have one on the way."
Scarlet finished making Mac's sandwich and looked at her bulging stomach. "You're right. They'll still be our babies for years. I guess- I can't help wishing they could stay at this age forever."
"They cain't, sugarcube. Ah'm sure we'll have a bushel of fun watching 'em grow." Red Mac got up off the loveseat and walked over to his wife. "Watchin' them develop into adult mares an' stallions- With them comin' to us with their li'l problems so we kin help..."
"You're right." Scarlet put Big Mac's sandwich in a bag and wrote his name on it.
"Ah'm always right!" Red Mac exclaimed and Scarlet snickered.
"Oh, of course. And that time you thought sugar would help Applejack fall asleep faster? That was right?"
"She fell asleep, dint she?"
"Four hours past her bedtime." Scarlet laughed and gave Red Mac a kiss on the nose. "It took up all of our alone time."