The Blue Moon Harvest Festival
Saturday came faster than Applejack had wanted it to. It was a good thing dressing out for the festival wasn't required, because just having Thorny attending the same celebration as her was enough to make her blush in itself. It was all so weird to her. For the longest time of her life, she couldn't even imagine talking to a boy outside family, and now she both couldn't wait to talk to one and wished that the very same colt wouldn't come near enough to talk to her again.
"Ah jus' don' get it", she said to her reflection. "Ah'm s'pposed to be the roughest, toughest cowgirl around. Ah can't stay like that if Ah let a colt get in the way…"
"Or can ya?"
Applejack stared back at her reflection. She sighed in frustration. "Now Ah'm goin' crazy."
"Or are ya?"
Reflections that replied a second time came to her as something more than just a stressed out mind slip. She watched her smiling reflection carefully, wondering just why it was so cheerful when she wasn't. There was something about the smile that seemed oddly familiar. She gazed into the mirror until the Applejack on the other side giggled.
The Earth Pony recoiled in anger. "Pinkie Pie!?"
"Heehee! Yup, the pony of ultimate pranks!" She hopped out of the window she had turned into a very detailed room using a little Pinkie Pie magic. "Betcha wonderin' how I did it, huh?" she asked, removing her Applejack wig and scrubbing off the fur dye from her face.
"Not really, Pinkie Pie", Applejack replied with a huff.
"So", the pink pony said in a way that suggested she was still on a quest to tease Applejack, "you like Thorny, eh?"
"Wha—no!" Applejack exclaimed. "Now how in tarnation did ya come up with that idea?"
Pinkie Pie smiled widely. Using a bit more imitation, she said in Applejack's voice, "Ah can't stay like that if Ah let a colt get in the way."
Applejack's cheeks became rosy red at the hard evidence. "Now, stop that, ya hear!?" She quickly left the bathroom and the giggling Pinkie Pie for the kitchen. Outside, the day was slowly turning into evening. "If Ah didn' know better, Ah'd say Princess Celestia was hurryin' the day along on purpose…"
"An' why is that a bad thing?"
Applejack bit her lip with a deep breath before turning to face Thorny. His face was soaked with sweat, a clear indicator of how hard he had worked through the day to get everything as perfect as he could before the big hootenanny. Being the Element of Honesty, she chose her words carefully to avoid lying. "Ah never said it was, Thorny. It's jus' movin' by so fast."
He nodded in agreement. "Ah was comin' t'tell ya that ever'thing's ready. Granny Smith wants ya t'get yer tail to the barn before everypony starts showin' up."
She decided to take the opportunity to leave instead of messing up any attempt to make a side conversation with him. Applejack left the house and was across the yard before Thorny could even think of walking with her. If she was lucky, Pinkie Pie would have broken out of the bathroom by now and distracted the colt with her antics. A small feeling of guilt did poke at her conscious. It wasn't right to leave Thorny so fast, but she only barely thought about it when she walked into the brightly lit barn.
Granny Smith waited for her near the large table full of food and goodies she and Applebloom had spent the last two days getting ready. She was just setting out the last of the apple pies when Applejack approached her. The older pony turned to the sound of hoofsteps and smiled upon seeing her granddaughter. "Ah was jus' wonderin' when you were goin' t'get here", she chuckled.
The orange mare smiled sarcastically. "Granny Smith", Applejack said with a shake of her head, "Ah didn' take that long."
"Ah was just wantin' t' tell ya like Ah told Thorny y'all did a good job on the barn."
"Shucks Granny Smith, it needed t'be done", she replied.
Applejack was too busy looking away modestly to notice the hint of teasing in Granny Smith's eyes. "You an' Thorny make a great team, did Ah tell ya that already?"
A blush appeared slowly across her nose. "Yeah, a couple times, Granny Smith…"
Granny Smith laughed under her breath, and kept going with her teases. "Ya know, Ah think y'all work better together than even me an' yer granddad."
"There anything else needin' done, Granny Smith?" Applejack asked in a desperate attempt to fight the embarrassment.
"Naw, Thorny already got to it all."
"Well, Ah'm goin' t'get ready then." She turned a one-eighty and galloped back to the kitchen, which was thankfully vacant. She tried not to think about where the colt could have gone, but her curiosity wouldn't stop wandering the plains of her mind in search of a probable explanation. Applejack climbed the stairs to her room. The festival was only an hour away, which didn't give her much time to think over what she was going to do when it started. Usually she didn't have to think about it, but with Thorny being there, she was worried about what was going to happen. The last thing she wanted was Granny Smith trying to play matchmaker.
She flopped down on her bed, sprawled out. Everything filling her head became more and more complicated the more she thought about it. The roaring fire of frustration turned her ears pink with anger. "Why can't everything just be easy?" she huffed. She closed her eyes, and drifted off into a nap after her hard day of work.
T
Meanwhile, Thorny was on his way back from grabbing up his sisters from home. He and the two fillies trotted through the streets of Ponyville. The only reason they weren't wrestling was because Thorny was wearing his nicest rancher's vest. He even switched out his hat with the black one that his dad had given him right before moving out. "Y'all pick it up, now. We need t'get there so y'all can meet Applejack."
"Ah can't wait!" June Berry cheered.
"Yeah, me neither, ya made'er sound so fun, Thorn", Apple Sprout.
Thorny grinned. "Cuz she is."
"Ah'll be the judge o'that!" June Berry declared, taking obviously large steps.
The sky overhead was darkening into violet, revealing the stars on the other side of the thick atmosphere. The streetlights were beginning to light up the path ahead of them, casting warm light on the cooling evening. The darkness gave Thorny's filly sisters plenty of reason to stick closer to their brother. Crickets hidden in the grass somewhat eased the tension with a song for them. The trio kept trotting until the barn of Sweet Apple Acres came into view. It lit up the whole yard and even some of the orchard trees.
Thorny let his sister run for the barn, knowing that the distance between them was safe. Ponies littered the yard and all made their way to the barn, making the rancher wonder just how long the girls had taken to get themselves ready, especially since they had nothing to do but comb their manes. He shrugged. There was nothing that he wanted to do before everypony else arrived, he was just hoping to get inside to be the first at the food table. Social gatherings typically brought hungry ponies, and he hated to lick the crumbs from the plates of all of the good stuff they managed to get to first. He was sure that he and Granny Smith had managed to bake enough goodies for everypony to enjoy and if not she did let him have some of her recipes.
"Wonder if Applejack'll eat mah cookin'", Thorny thought aloud. When the stars didn't answer him he chuckled and said with a sigh, "Guess Ah'll jus' hafta find out, heheh."
The inside of the barn was brightly lit with strings of colored lights that Thorny brought from home. He told Applejack that he was going to use them for his porch, but decided against it when he read that it was against Ponyville regulations of housing. He didn't care that he couldn't put them up so long as they got used in some kind of way. He saw the best way as using them for the Blue Moon Harvest Festival.
He inspected the roof, where the lights hung from the rafters. He double checked his work from earlier to make sure what he had planned wouldn't go awry when he pulled out his surprise for everypony. He walked around aimlessly until he heard Applejack loudly greet some of the guests. He saw her laughing at something a colt had said. He blinked in shock and jealousy. "What in tarnation?" He quickly crossed the room to go meet up with her and hopefully find out what was going on. When he was close enough to hear what was going on, he stopped to eavesdrop.
"Ah tell ya", Braeburn was saying, "Them buffalo never win a pie flingin' fight! Not once since we started it!"
"Who could ever have known that a battle to save an apple orchard would start an annual tradition", Twilight Sparkle asked the group.
"Ah never coulda told ya that Ah tell you what."
"Got that right, Fuji", Braeburn agreed.
What they were talking about set Thorny's mind at ease. They were all just friends. "Howdy, y'all!"
"Oh, howdy, there!" Fuji greeted. "You gotta be Thorny. Granny Smith made a big deal 'bout meetin' ya."
"Heh, she did, did she?"
"Said somethin' 'bout you an' Apple here fixin' up the ol' barn, Ah tell ya. Ah'm Applejack's cousin Fuji", he replied giving the rancher a hefty hoofshake.
Braeburn exchanged shakes next. "Braeburn. Say, that's a mighty fine vest, Thorny."
"Thanks, you too."
Applejack let the colts talk and hopefully forget about her and attempted to slip away. Twilight saw her escaping and put up a magic barrier just on the other side of the cowgirl's rump, keeping her in place. Applejack glared at her fellow Element, but with Twilight's challenging expression she knew the unicorn had the upper hoof.
"How'd y'all manage t'pull it off, Thorny?" Fuji asked. "Granny Smith told me an' Braeburn that y'all got the barn ready in just three days."
"Ah did a lot of it a couple days before Ah even heard 'bout tonight", he explained, "But after that, Applejack helped out whole lot. Probably woudn' even be done right now if it wasn't fer her."
Applejack didn't say anything despite the room for a boasting comment. She attempted to back up again, but Twilight's force field was still firmly present. When Braeburn said her name for the second time she finally responded. "What, Braeburn?"
"Ah said, 'is Thorny tellin' the truth, or did he do all the work hisself?"
"Ah worked too. Mostly paintin' and cleanin' since Thorny's no good at it, but yeah, Ah helped."
"Y'all did a good job", complimented Fuji. He opened his mouth to go on, but caught side of his girlfriend waving him over and didn't get the chance. "Sorry, y'all, gotta go." He briskly left the conversing ponies for the green mare.
"Since when did Fuji start carin' bout mares?" Applejack asked curiously.
Thorny jumped right into the tease pool. "'Bout the same time you started carin' 'bout colts."
Instantly, Applejack felt the urge to sock him for such an insult but refrained from embarrassing them. Her cheeks turned red, a fact that Braeburn decided used as a diving board for the same pool as Thorny. "You ain't blushin' are ya Apple?"
Thinking quickly, Applejack said, "Y'all hear that, Ah think Ah can hear somepony callin' fer me. Ah'll be a minute." She turned and managed to get around Twilight's magic wall by catching the mare off guard and walking straight instead of trying to go backwards. The far wall of the barn seemed like a good place to hide out while her face cooled down. Thorny had straight out embarrassed her right in front of family. And Braeburn had turned right around and embarrassed her even more in front of Thorny! Anger was definitely present in the mare's scowl at the floor, but melted away as the band on stage started to play.
"Ah guess if there's one thing t'make me feel better", Applejack said with a smile, "It's a good hoedown!"
Upon her last words the banjo started up followed immediately by the rest of the band. Everypony having anything to do with country music formed up into a huge circle. Hooves stomped in tune to the music while they waited for the feedback from the microphone to clear. "Alright, folks", the pony on the mic announced, "We're kickin' tonight off with a little square dancin', yeehaw!"
"Yeehaw!" most of them cheered in unison.
The fiddlers jumped right to their song. Looking around, Applejack grabbed the nearest colt for her partner. The stallion happened to be somepony she hadn't thought to see.
"Howdy, Applejack!" he greeted with a laugh.
"Howdy, Cortland!" she replied to her cousin.
He smiled and held up his hoof for her to take for the starting positions. She put her hoof on top if it and looked around their square to find that they were couple number two. She looked around the barn to find Thorny had paired up with filly half his height whose red and pink braided mane almost hit the floor. In that same circle was Cortland's little brother Cameo paired with a pinker filly with a purple and pink mane held down by a bow at the end.
As long as he's all the way over there…
"Everypony join all hooves and circle to the left", the caller on stage instructed.
Everypony followed by spinning counterclockwise. They reversed the direction when it was called and spun high and low followed by a promenade. "Now spin fellas in, and once more then back again!"
Applejack spun around and around then brought it home with her old friend. They broke off on a left corner turn and exchanged partners to find herself dancing with Big Macintosh. "Corner off one more time and all align facing the head. Now move to the middle and back to the barn. Centers, right hoof in star."
She and three others danced to the center of their square and put their right hooves in and danced in a star like shape. "Once around, corner right, turn it tight. Corner once more through and through, now you got a new partner full and true."
Applejack turned her head around from the last corner to find she was partnered with an ear-to-ear-smiling Thorny. She blushed hard, but had to be impressed with the way he promenaded with her. "Two steps around now side couples forward to the middle and back and low, then one more time and do si do!"
Thorny couldn't be more overjoyed to be dancing with Applejack. He happily showed off his best square dancing for her and he had a pretty good idea she was doing the same. "Now Ah want y'all t'swing her high an' swing her low. Promenade around if takes a year or even ten. After and now there's no more so that's the end!"
"Yeehaw!" Thorny whooped. When he calmed down he looked to Applejack and found that they were still holding hooves. He smiled in embarrassment and gently let hers go to the floor. "Ya got the heart of a square dancer in ya alright", he complimented.
Before she could mutter thanks, the two fillies she saw in his starting circle galloped up and grabbed his front hooves in a big hug. "Gotcha Thorny!" the one with the braided mane cheered.
"Y'all know somethin'?" Thorny asked, squeezing them together.
"What?"
"Y'all said y'all wanted to meet Applejack, so why don' y'all say howdy, already?"
They both turned in unison to see Applejack looking down at them with a look of realization. "Y'all gotta be Apple Sprout an' June Berry. Thorny talks about y'all all the time."
"Thorny you ain't say nothin' embarrassin' did ya?"
"Nothin outside you suckin' yer hoof 'til ya was four." Applejack chuckled.
Apple Sprout blushed. "Thorn! You promised!"
"Oops", he chuckled.
Formal introductions followed a small argument between Thorny and his siblings, but cooled down to Applejack having a discussion with the three. The addition of the girls made it easier to talk to Thorny, mainly by keeping her eyes locked on them.
Sometime later, Cameo walked shyly up to June Berry, offering her an apple tart. "Ah, uh…was wonderin' if you was gonna play horseshoes t'night…"
She took the treat. "Ah was plannin' to. Why?"
Cameo looked down and scraped his hoof along the ground in front of him. "Ah, was just wantin' t'know if you would play with me…"
"Sure thing, Ah'll play", she replied with a mouth full of apple tart.
His mouth formed upwards into a big smile. "Let's go then!" He took the lead and they bounded off to go play.
That left only Applejack, Apple Sprout, and Thorny. The older sister pushed her braided mane to the other side of her head. "What in tarnation just happened?"
Neither older pony could answer due to embarrassment, but it didn't matter until she saw a few ponies having a contest near the door. "They ain't doin' pushups are they?" she asked Applejack, forgetting all about her sister.
"One o' the contests Ah set up", Thorny answered.
"Yeehaw, Ah'm in!"
They watched her gallop to where the colts were busy trying to lift themselves up more than the others. Thorny laughed heartily, "That filly's about t'put'em all t'shame!" He exclaimed.
Applejack said nothing in return. She was way too uncomfortable now that the sisters had taken off. She let her eyes wander to the desert table, and right after said the dumbest thing she could. "Ya want some cider, Thorny?"
The green stallion jumped all over the offer. "You bet yer tail Ah do!"
Why in the world did Ah jus' ask'im that!? She screamed in her head.
She let him guide her to the cider barrels. He grabbed two pint mugs and filled them to the brim. He hooved one to her and grabbed two nearby seats at one of the smaller tables for them. Applejack hesitantly sat across from him. She mulled over possible ways she could get as far away from him as she could, but everytime she came up with a good excuse, her body refused to move.
"Ya like mah sisters, Applejack."
She nodded. "They're a lot like me when Ah was a littlin'."
"Were you a hooffull, too?"
"Ah guess ya can say that", she replied uncertainly.
Thorny sipped his cider. A blush crossed his nose, but quickly drained from his face as he decided against saying what he wanted to. Applejack took a small sip, then figured that she might have a small chance to tease him. "Why are ya all quiet?"
"Just tryin' t'figure somehtin' out…"
"Like what?" she smiled at him teasingly.
"Heh, Ah guess Ah better just show ya", he chuckled lightly.
Just as she was asking what he was doing, Thorny stood up and walked over to where the lights were hooked up to the fuse box. He opened it and flipped one of the breakers, dimming the lights considerably. Everypony stopped to stare and murmur at the ceiling the second their pupils started adjusting to the lack of brightness. Thorny continued with his plan by untying the rope that was intricately knotted into a bow on one of the thick hooks attached to a pillar. At the highest point in the ceiling of the barn, the two halves of the roof split apart.
Applejack couldn't see the pivot points and brackets through the dark , but what she could see was the blue moon of the Blue Moon Harvest Festival at its largest size directly over the barn. The midnight blue light filtered down and cast a peaceful atmosphere over the ponies in the barn. As if the roofs stopping was their cue, the band played a gentle, slow song. Applejack turned her head to look at them, but was met with Thorny right in front of her. He was holding out his hoof and smiling warmly.
"Applejack", he said, "May Ah have this dance?"
All rhyme and reason left her cowgirl mind as she took his hoof and walked with him to the center of the floor, where many other couples slowly spun around them. The blue falling on Thorny's face hit a string deep down in Applejack's heart. Burning rose to her face when she finally thought with the smallest of all smiles, He sure is good lookin'…