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Consciousness slowly returns to you, and you feel a warm weight pressing down on your chest. You look down, and see the blonde mane of Applejack. You remember playing the piano for her, and then coming up here to gaze at the stars for a while. Then you woke up to find her on top of you. Then you fell asleep again, and now you’re awake. Again.
You aren’t uncomfortable where you are, so you just lay back, and close your eyes, waiting for Applejack to wake up. About ten minutes later Applejack begins to stir. She lifts herself up some, and you open your eyes to look at her. She has a big smile on her face, and she looks at you, and blushes. You pull her in for a hug, and she reciprocates it. After a moment you release her, and she slowly stands up, and gets off of you.
“Am I a good mattress?” She blushes even harder as you finish.
“You’re pretty good, yeah.” You laugh at that. You motion down the ladder, and Applejack makes her way down. You grab the blanket in your mouth, and make your way down the ladder as well. You casually toss the blanket on the bed, resolving to make it later. You stretch your wings out some, and Applejack starts heading downstairs.
“Ah’ll whip up some breakfast. You made dinner, so I’ll make some breakfast.”
“You also made dessert, don’t forget!” You both have a laugh at that. You head to the bathroom to freshen up while Applejack makes some breakfast. As you step out of the shower you take a look at yourself in the mirror. The face you’ve come to know so well looks back at you. It looks the same as it did yesterday, but at the same time it also seems different. You can’t quite put your hoof on it, but there’s something changed from the way it was before. With a shrug you step out of the bathroom, and head to the dining room.
The smell of apples greets your nose, and you see Applejack at the stove. She turns as you enter, and you see that she’s making apple pancakes. “Is there anything I can do to help, or are you going to take care of this yourself?”
“Ah suppose you could make up some place settings at the table. Ah’m a bit preoccupied with the pancakes.” You give a quick nod, and set about setting the table for breakfast. As you finish Applejack comes over with a stack of pancakes. She sets it down, and gives you a peck on the cheek before she sits down. The pancakes are phenomenal, and you can’t get enough of them.
“Sweet Celestia, AJ! These pancakes are great!” She blushes a bit at the compliment, and you can’t help but smile at the reaction. As you finish up you stand up, and take your plate to the kitchen. Applejack follows, and gives you a quick nuzzle on the neck. You respond in kind, and then turn to face her.
“I’d love to spend the whole day with you, but, unfortunately, I do have a job. Once I’m done, though, I’ll come by Sweet Apple Acres, and we can do things together, if you want to.”
“Sure. Ah need to get some applebuckin’ in anyway. Can’t fall too far behind, even for you.” You feign being hurt by the comment, but Applejack just gives you a look, and you both give a laugh. After you clean the dishes you head to the door, and give Applejack a quick kiss before taking flight.
Before long you spot a rainbow colored tail dangling off of a cloud. You fly above the cloud and see Rainbow Dash sound asleep on the cloud. You give her a nudge, and she opens one eye. As soon as she sees you, though, her eyes snap open, and she stands up.
“Oh, hey Storm. I was just resting up before we take care of the weather, ya know?”
You chuckle weakly before responding. “Sure, Dash. Whatever you say. Anyway, what’s the plan for today?”
“Today the weather is mostly clear, so we’ve just got to thin out the clouds a bit. Shouldn’t take too long.” You nod, and set about clearing the skies up. The monotony of the work wears you down, and you find your mind wandering.
If Applejack has this kind of reaction to me after just one day, I wonder how she’ll be acting at the end of the week. And what about the others? Are they really going to be willing to wait for you to make up your mind? These thoughts race around your head while you take care of the clouds.
Just an hour later and the skies are mostly clear, with just a few puffy white clouds making their slow trips across the sky. You admire your work, even if it is mind-numbingly simple. You drift across the sky, with no real direction in mind. Rainbow comes up next to you, and you point to a nearby cloud, and you both fly over to it. You land on it, and Rainbow Dash lands next to you.
She gives you a kiss on the cheek, and then she sits down. You sit as well, and she looks at you expectantly. You give her a questioning look, and she sighs explosively.
“So, what did you do with AJ?” Right to the point, you suppose.
“Well, we just walked through town, slept in the park, went to my house, and had some dinner and dessert. Then we ended the night with some stargazing in the small observation dome. A good time was had by all.” It was true, at least mostly. She didn’t need to know all the juicy details of exactly what happened.
She nods as you finish. You stand up, and stretch. “Anyway, I told AJ that I’d go over to Sweet Apple Acres once I finished with the weather. So I guess I’ll see you later, Dash.” You walk across the cloud, and give Rainbow Dash a quick peck on the cheek before you leap off of the cloud. You pick up speed from your fall, and you snap your wings open moments later, and speed off for Sweet Apple Acres.
You arrive a few minutes later, and you just fly a few lazy circles over the farm, looking for Applejack. Once you spot her you enter a slow dive. You land lightly, and you also spot Big Mac helping out Applejack. You give a wave to Big Mac, and he returns it. Applejack notices your arrival, and she trots over to you and gives you a hug.
“So, is there anything I can do to help out? I finished up with the weather, and I’d like to feel at least somewhat useful.” She thinks for a moment, before her eyes light up.
“Well, you could fly up around the tops of the trees and collect the apples that don’t fall off when we buck ‘em.” You give a quick nod, and with that you take off, and fly amongst the treetops. This is about as labor intensive as moving around the clouds, so your mind once again has the chance to wander.
With ponderous slowness the day progresses, and after a few hours the last of the trees in this section of the farm are picked clean of apples. You deftly land next to Applejack as she heads towards the cart piled high with apples. She gives you a smile, and you watch as she seemingly effortlessly pulls the massive load of apples to the barn. Another hour is spent storing all of the apples, and when you finally finish the sun is only barely above the horizon.
“Well, that was a long day.” You give Applejack a quick smile. “But I can think of a few good ways to end it.”
“Oh? And what would that involve?” She smiles back at you.
“Just wait here, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” You take off and head to your house. You rummage through the fridge for a moment, and pull out some supplies. A couple drinks, some bread, and daisies. You put it all in a basket, and lastly grab your spare blanket. Considering what time it is, you also grab a couple of candles. Nothing is quite like a candle lit dinner under the stars.
You grab the basket in your mouth, and head back to the barn. You land a short distance away from Applejack, and you motion for her to follow. She does so, with a blush on her face. You climb a small hill and the view from the top is great. You can see for miles. And there is an unobstructed view of the horizon and a great view of the sky. You lay out the blanket, and Applejack sits down on it. You sit next to her, and she leans into you gently.
Only a short while later, and you and Applejack watch the sunset together. A pang of regret shoots through you, but before you can fully understand it, it disappears. As the sun finally sinks below the horizon you turn your gaze to the sky, and you watch as it slowly fills with more stars than anypony could ever hope to count. You lower your gaze to Applejack, and she’s just looking up at the sky.
You raise a hoof, and gently take her hat off. She looks at you, but doesn’t stop you. You also remove the hair band from her mane, and her hair flows freely once you remove the band. You lean in and kiss her, and she practically melts in you hooves.
You savor the kiss for a minute, before you pull back. She’s smiling, and blushing a deep crimson. You reach into the basket, and pull out the supplies, and the drinks.
“Thank you, Storm.” She just says that, and then she gives you another kiss, as you turn to look at her as she spoke. This kiss has more passion than the last, and you just enjoy it. This kiss doesn’t last as long, but it made up for it with the degree of passion.
“What for AJ?” You were curious. All you had done was take her out for a picnic. It didn’t really seem that special to you, just a nice idea.
She blushes even more before she speaks. “Well, you make me feel special. Ah know Ah’m the element of honesty, and for most ponies that’d be enough. But you don’t act like some of the other stallions who’ve tried to win my heart. They’d take me out to dinner at fancy restaurants, and give me all sorts a’ fancy gifts. But you? You take me on a picnic, and just serve some daisy sandwiches. You act like yourself, and that’s the difference. You aren’t pretending to be somepony your not, and that’s why Ah thanked you.”
“Well, I figured that I should just be who I am, rather than try to be somepony I’m not. I mean, honestly, I barely know who I am, so I’d probably be pretty bad at trying to be somepony else.” She gives a quick laugh at your bad joke. After that, though, the dinner goes smoothly, albeit simply.
As you finish you both lie back and watch the sky. Applejack cuddles with you, though, and you wrap a hoof around her. A short while later, and Applejack’s breathing has become slower, and more regular. You realize that she’s fallen asleep, and so you very carefully extricate yourself from her grasp. You pack up the picnic basket, and then you gently lift Applejack onto your back. With your precious cargo secured you grab the basket in your mouth, and you head back to the farmhouse.
You enter the house, and see Big Mac in the living room, reading a book. He looks up when you enter, and he gives you a nod. You head upstairs and gently put Applejack in her bed. You tuck her in, and give her a quick peck on the cheek before you head back downstairs. As you are about to leave you hear a noise come from Big Mac. You turn to look, and see that he’s motioning you over.
You take a seat and you look at Big Mac expectantly. He makes a show of putting the book down, and then he just looks at you. Initially you feel uncomfortable under his gaze, but your confidence quickly returns, and you look back at him, matching his stare.
You see a deep intelligence in his eyes. The stare only lasts a minute, but you feel like more passed between the two of you in that minute than an hour long conversation could have accomplished.
“Eeyup.” That’s all he says before he gets up, and heads to the door, opening it for you. You walk over to the door, and give Big Mac another stare. He matches yours, this time.
“I won’t hurt her, Big Mac. I don’t think I could, if I wanted to.”
“That’s what I thought. Good night, Storm.” He may be a stallion of few words, but he doesn’t need them when he can learn all he want to know just by watching how you act.
You take flight, and a few minutes later you are back at your home. You put the basket in the fridge, resolving to take care of it tomorrow morning. You head upstairs, and crawl into your bed. Sleep comes quickly, and you soon roam the lands of your dreams.
You feel a strangely familiar tug in your belly, and you see a world forming around you…
(Hooray for Applejack, and Big Mac. MOAR DREAMS! Whoo!)
(Read me!)