Applejack stood on the platform at the Ponyville train station; she had received a letter saying that a certain unicorn was on his way from Manehattan to meet her. It was the first days of summer that time, and the sun was shinning bright and hot on the town that day. The young mare was lucky to be wearing her traditional cowgirl hat to keep her under the shade during this heated season.
Despite all these, she still felt nervous; she still did not know what to say. All that kept going around in her mind was how blindly Trenderhoof fell for her and how she had rejected him. His words still struck her, and she could not really understand the feeling of it. She did not want to tell it to her friends, especially to Rarity, who, until now, is still cross at Trenderhoof.
Applejack just stood there, staring blankly into the horizon, waiting. Finally, she heard a train whistle blow, and a silhouette of a train appeared from afar on the tracks. The train came closer and closer, filling Applejack with mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness.
The train finally stopped and out came the passengers. The cowgirl looked left and right for the pony she was waiting for from the crowd of ponies coming out of the train cars. Finally, she caught a glimpse; she noticed Trenderhoof, wearing his recognizable shaded glasses and his sweater, despite the fact that it was hot that day.
She dodged throw the crowd toward him, but she did not want to call his name. She just finally arrived in front of him, who, in surprise, looked back at her. There was a moment of awkward silence; clearly both of them did not know how to greet the other. But Trenderhoof finally broke the ice, trying his best to keep his cool, and greeted her first.
"Hello there, Applejack."
"Hey, Trenderhoof." replied Applejack. "I'm so glad you came."
Another moment of awkward silence came; Trenderhoof did not know how to reply to that statement. He did not want to jump to a conclusion that Applejack wanted him back. He did not want to be the same blind fool he was.
"Well, you did say you wanted to speak to me about my article." he replied, his voice mixed with calm and nervousness.
"Yeah, that was pretty much what kept my mind busy nowadays." said Applejack, rubbing her foreleg, looking away bashfully. "I really liked how you wrote about me being hard working and all."
"All I did was write the truth." he said, hoping that his words would not screw up the conversation. "As I've said before, Ponyville is beautiful in itself, but it's ponies like you that make me admire it."
Applejack, once again felt touched by those words, but did not want to show it. She looked around and noticed that they were the only two ponies left on the platform. The train had finished boarding passengers and was ready to leave. She then asked him,
"How long do you plan to stay here in Ponyville?"
"Well it's up to you." he replied. "You were the one who invited me and I have no other business here."
"Oh, I see..." Applejack felt embarrassed. She realized that she had dragged a city pony out of his home just for a conversation that would have take only a few minutes or seconds. But it just kept bothering her that she had to do it anyway.
"Would you like to stay at my place for the night?" she said, hoping that her bringing him here would at least mean something to him. She did not want his visit here to be a total waste, and it was unethical for her, since she is a very hospitable pony.
"I'd love that, Applejack." replied Trenderhoof, containing his happiness. He was finally being invited to her house, something he thought would never happen after what had happened back then.
"We'd might wanna go through a different route then." added Applejack. "If you remember what I wrote, Rarity might get really cross at me if she at least sees you."
"Yes." replied Trenderhoof. "I feel bad for breaking Miss Rarity's heart, and I really wish I hadn't been the fool I was back then."
"You weren't a fool." said Applejack as they both began to walk. "You were just... err... umm.... not thinking straight that time."
"Yes, exactly." he replied. "I did not exactly know what I was doing. My real goal that day was to write a story about Ponyville, and I had high expectations from Rarity, which she fulfilled, but..."
The unicorn groaned, not knowing what else to say. Applejack decided to cheer him up and replied,
"That's all right, sugar cube. We do stupid things when we fall in love."
She did not realize what she had said until it had come out of her mouth. She immediately looked away, hiding her blushing face from him. Trenderhoof himself felt bashful, but he knew what she said was right. He then asked,
"Have you ever fallen in love?"
Now this question got Applejack thinking; she did not know what to say. Had she ever felt any romantic affection for another pony? Does she feel it now? It was confusing for her, so she replied,
"I don't think I want to dwell into that yet."
Trenderhoof felt like he stepped over border with that one question and backed down, saying,
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be." replied Applejack. "Like I said, you're a nice pony, but I just did not feel like I was in a ready for a relationship. I didn't say I hate you, Trenderhoof."
Trenderhoof made a relieved smile, and the two continued to walk the alternate route to Sweet Apple Acres. Evening was fast approaching, but the temperature outside was still high; this was going to be a hot summer.