After eating breakfast and having four fillies wash up after getting syrup all over themselves (including places that made no sense. "How did you get it around the base of your wings?"), the seven ponies left the cottage and made their way.
The first place they went to was Sweet Apple Acres. It was the closest place to the cottage where a friend lived, and it where the four fillies were going to be playing for the day. Apple Bloom had mentioned she found an old clubhouse in one of the older parts of the orchard. Her plan was that they could fix it up and use it as a place to hang out during the summer. As soon as they reached the grounds, Apple Bloom took off, followed shortly by Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Luna.
Shining Armor stared at the place in wonder. Having spent nearly his entire life in Canterlot, he had never seen an actual functioning farm before. It did not look like how he imagined. It did have some of what he expected: cows grazing, pigs lying around in their pen, and crops of wheat, corn, and tomatoes growing. It also looked very different from what he had seen and imagined. For one, there were hills. All the pictures he had ever seen of farmlands had them long and flat. That was not the case here. The entirety of Sweet Apple Acres that he could see was covered in rolling hills. For another, there were trees. Lots of trees. Every one of the previously mentioned hills seemed to be completely covered in them.
"Wow," he said softly to himself before speaking up. "How many ponies work here?"
"Mostly just two my brother and I," a voice answered, causing the stallion to jump. "Though, Granny helps where she can."
Turning, the three found the older apple siblings approaching.
"Shiny," Twilight Sparkle said, "this is Applejack and Big Macintosh. Applejack, Macintosh, this is my brother, Shining Armor."
"Nice to meet you," Applejack said with a grin, grabbing Shining Armor's hoof and shaking it vigorously. "Any friend of Twilight and Fluttershy is a friend of mine."
"Nice to meet you as well," Shining Armor sputtered out. His front leg was being shaken so vigorously, it was affecting his entire body. It was a surprise for him. She was stronger than some of the other guards he worked with.
He then noticed Big Macintosh. He had to be the biggest stallion that Shining Armor had seen. If Macintosh's sister was any indication, the red farm stallion was probably incredibly strong as well. If there were stallions like him in the guard... it would really have no effect since they don't have much in the way of war and few wish to harm Princess Temporal, actually. Still, it would be quite an intimidating figure to see outside the doors.
"Hello?" a raspy voice called out. "Who's this young fella."
Looking at the group from the house was an old green mare with white hair. Moving slowly toward the group, she stared at Shining Armor.
"This here's Twilight's older brother," Applejack stated.
"Ah," Granny Smith said with a slight nod. "Came to visit her then, did ya?"
"Yes ma'am," Shining Armor replied. "Your granddaughter was just telling me that the three of you run this whole place by yourself."
"Ah." she gave a wave of her hoof. "The two of them do most of the hard work. I just do a little cooking and cleaning when I can." She smirked. "You know, we could always use some extra hooves around here... Also wouldn't mind seeing a couple more of the little ones running around to take over and help out someday too.
"You wouldn't happen to be single, would ya?"
"Granny!" Applejack yelped. Her face turned as bright red and her brother's coat. Shining Armor's own was not far off from it either.
"Calm down," Granny said with a gentle pat. "I'm just asking is all. I already know those two fillies are single for Macintosh if he would just ask one of them out."
It should have been impossible for the mentioned stallion to turn any redder, but somehow, it happened.
"I think," Granny continued, "he should go with that Flutterbat one."
Fluttershy let out a squeak, hiding behind her mane.
"Got a nice pair o' hips on her," Granny stated with a grin, "and you already know she good with foals, what with raising a princess and all."
"Speaking of," Fluttershy nearly shouted, "she and the others are off looking at some old clubhouse that Apple Bloom said she found."
Applejack grinned and let out a chuckle.
"I forgot about that old place. Don't think I've been out there since I was about Bloom's age. Somepony should probably keep an eye on them just to be sure they don't get hurt."
"Eyup," Big Macintosh said as he turned to walk off. It was a bit strange for some of the others to watch. The pace itself seemed slow, more of a casual saunter. At the same time, there was something about it that seemed urgent. It was like he wanted to get away from something as quickly as possible, but not make it clear that was what he was doing.
Applejack smirked and shook her head. One of her metallic hind legs shifted.
"Well," Twilight said, moving forward, "we'll leave you to your work. I'm going to show Shining Armor around town and introduce him to the others."
"Alright," Applejack said with a smile. "Y'all have fun. I'll come by later and see how it went."
She took a step closer to Shining Armor, her cheeks turning pink.
"And... uh... pay no mind to Granny Smith. She's been a bit like that for a while now."
Shining Armor smiled.
"It's fine," he stated. "I'm sure if she were here, Mom would be trying to fix Twily and your brother as well."
"Shiny!" Twilight shrieked, eyes going wide as her pupils shrank to pinpricks.
"She would," Shining Armor insisted.
"No she wouldn't," Twilight replied. "Even if I wasn't already in a relationship, mom never really cared about things like relationships and stuff. For crying out loud, last time I talked to her, she was considering having another child with dad."
"That reminds me." Turning to his sister, Shining Armor narrowed his eyes. "When am I going to get to meet this mare that you're dating?"