//------------------------------// // Give My Regards to You... On Bridleway. The Street. // Story: Apple Seeds // by StageQuill //------------------------------// Coming out of the theater and into the cold night air was one of the best parts of a night on Bridleway for Scarlet. She looked at Red Mac. Scarlet giggled at the look of awe on her- Well, her coltfriend's face. "Never seen a Bridleway show before?" Scarlet asked as they walked down the Bridleway street. She smiled. Red Mac had sobbed for most of the second act. So had Scarlet, but that was expected of a sophisticated Manehattanite. Scarlet hadn't realized just how sensitive and caring the big farmpony could be. "Well, shoot, how was ah s'posed ter see one in Ponyville?" Red Mac answered. "Ah aint seen one 'til now." "And? you liked it?" Scarlet prompted. "Darn tootin'!" Red Mac smiled at Scarlet. "That there endin'- Aw, shoot. Ah'm tearin' up again." Red Mac looked sternly at Scarlet. "Not a word. Nopony in Ponyville hears how ah cried lahk a filly durin' that show." Scarlet laughed. "Not a word." She promised. Red Mac nuzzled her gently. It sometimes surprised Scarlet how gentle Red Mac could be. She'd seen him buck trees- His strong legs could shake apples from the highest branches, his head could knock down dead trees, and he could pull large wagons on his own. With Scarlet, he used the same amount of force as a butterfly. Or a cat. As Red Mac pulled his head away, Scarlet felt his lips touch her neck for one tantalizing second. From the look in his eyes, she could tell it hadn't been on purpose. She doubted he had even realized that he'd touched his lips to her coat. Scarlet looked in her purse for bits to hide her blush. "Let's go have a bite to eat. I'm starving." Scarlet looked around. "there's a good ice cream place nearby... Inside Scoop..." Red Mac nodded. "Awright. Ah could go for some vanilla ice cream right now." Red Mac never ate apples that weren't grown on Sweet Apple Acres. He claimed they didn't taste right. Scarlet led the way to the ice cream shop, through the bustling crowds and cold air that she both loved about Manehattan and hated. "There it is." Scarlet hip bumped Red Mac playfully. She looked at his lips when he smiled. Scarlet ducked into Inside Scoop and Red Mac followed her. The store was small and busy, late on a Saturday night on Bridleway. Scarlet expertly dodged ponies as she got into line, used to the crowds. Red Mac looked around, interested. "There're so many ponies in Manehattan!" Red Mac exclaimed softly. "Ah wonder what it would be like to have so many in Ponyville." Scarlet laughed. "Yech. Let Manehattan have all the ponies and Bridleway shows. I love Ponyville the way it is." "Y'all love Ponyville?" Red Mac asked Scarlet, surprised. She considered a moment. "Yeah," She said, a smile spreading over her face, "I do." Looking around at the bustle and dirt of Manehattan, Scarlet imagined the green fields and thatched-roof cottages of Ponyville. "I do. I really do." Red Mac nuzzled Scarlet again. He pulled away as they stepped forward in line. Scarlet caught a glimpse of his lips again as he faced the front. She had to tell her heart to slow down. "Next." The ice cream counter pony said. Red Mac and Scarlet stepped up. "Ah'll be havin' a large vanilla in a bowl, not a cone." Red Mac told the pony behind the counter. She lifted an eyebrow at his accent, but took the order. "I'll have the same." Scarlet said. They moved over a step to wait for their ice cream. Scarlet was very aware of Red Mac next to her. When the ice cream pony slid their ice cream across the counter, Scarlet and Red Mac went to find a seat that hadn't been taken. They found one in a corner, set off from the rest of room by a large plant. The ponies at it were just getting up. Scarlet and Red Mac slid into the seats before anypony else. "That show was amazing, wasn't it? I wish I could sing that well." Scarlet took a spoonful of ice cream. "Mmm!" "Ah'm sure y'all can sing." Red Mac reassured her. Scarlet laughed. "You've obviously never heard me sing." She licked her lips, getting all the ice cream off. Then she took another bite. "Ah'm sure you can sing- Some things." "I can sing nursery rhymes." Scarlet twirled her spoon in the air. "Lullabies, the ABCs, that kind of thing. Anything more complicated than 'Mare-y Had a Little Lamb' is beyond me." "Maybe you can sing fer me sometime and ah can be th' judge of that." Red Mac smiled. He had ice cream on his lip. Scarlet had the urge to lean forward and kiss him right on the tiny patch of vanilla. "Maybe I can. If you don't mind losing your ears." Scarlet smiled, suddenly shy. Why could she not stop thinking about how Red Mac's lips would feel on hers? Soft and strong and perfect- "Y'all cain't be that bad." Red Mac leaned in closer. He leaned closer, almost like- Like- Scarlet didn't think. She leaned forward and kissed him. He tasted like vanilla and apples and sun. Red Mac pulled away from her. Scarlet's heart dropped. Had she gone too fast? She looked down, gulped, and forced herself to look into Red Mac's eyes. And he kissed her. The world melted away like ice cream on a hot summer day. Scarlet pulled away. "That's something you don't get every day with three foals to watch." Scarlet joked. "Ah can give it to y'all every night." Red Mac joked. He smiled. Scarlet stood up. "I promised Applejack that I'd check on her in ten minutes ten minutes ago." She said. "She's probably asleep. It'll be quick." Scarlet trotted into Applejack's room on the upper floor, treading as lightly as she could on the old, creaky wood. She did not want to wake Apple Bloom. She'd barely started sleeping through the night. Scarlet silently pushed Applejack's floor open. "Mother?" Applejack sat up. "Ah cain't sleep." Scarlet walked over to sit on her daughter's bed, closing the door and turning on the bedside lamp. The lamp filled the room with a soft glow. "Why, sweetheart?" As Scarlet sat down, Applejack snuggled into her mother's side. Scarlet laid her hoof on Applejack's head, stroking her small ears. "Ah dunno." Applejack looked into Scarlet's eyes. Scarlet melted, like she always did when her foals did something that reminded her that they depended on her, needed her, loved her. "Ah just- cain't." Applejack hugged her mother hard. "Don' go, mother. It's awful dark at night. And the floor creaks." Scarlet gathered Applejack onto her back. "Why don't we go downstairs and you can stay up a while with Pa and I? It's not as dark downstairs." Applejack nodded, holding on to Scarlet's ears. Applejack gave her mother a little kiss on the head. "Ah love ya, mother. Yer th' best mother in Equestria." Scarlet melted again. Scarlet smiled as she trotted downstairs. "And you're the best five-year-old filly in Equestria." As Scarlet entered the living room, Red Mac looked up from the paperwork he was doing. He smiled when he saw the filly on Scarlet's back. "Is Applejack visitin' with us t'night?" Red Mac patted the space beside him on the couch. "C'mon, AJ." Applejack slid off of Scarlet's back and climbed onto the couch next to her father. She put her head in his lap and he petted her mane. Applejack sighed contentedly. "She couldn't sleep." Scarlet told Red Mac. "I think AJ just needs some time alone with her mother and pa." Red Mac gave his daughter a gentle poke in the stomach, making her laugh. "That's fine with me." Red Mac looked at Scarlet. "You're th' one who's picky 'bout bedtime." Applejack grinned at Red Mac. Scarlet sighed. "I just want them to get enough sleep. We have apple fritters in the fridge. Why don't we have a little midnight snack?" Applejack nodded. Scarlet trotted off to the kitchen to grab the fritters. Applejack, snuggled against her pa, thought that she had to be the luckiest filly in the world.