IV: "The farm's not going anywhere!"
You sat at your desk once more, writing down your experiences, keeping the journal that your parents asked you to keep. They’ve been dead for years, but you continue to write the journal, in honor of their memory. Finishing the entry for the day, you looked up to the shelf above your desk. On it rested almost a dozen journals, each one two hundred and fifty pages long, and each one filled to capacity with entries. With a sigh you close the journal, and put it on the shelf, upside down, and you head to bed.
The memories of the day still bounce around your head, and you can’t help but smile a bit at their recollection. The day started like any other, a quick run through town for exercise, then off to work.
And what a day at work it was. You finally had somepony that you could talk to. There was still a tiny nagging doubt in your mind, but you dismissed it. You weren’t going to let your mind get in the way of your hopes. You slowly climbed into bed, and you turned out the light. Sleep came quickly, and soon enough you were exploring the fantastical lands of your dreams.
With a groan you raise a hoof in a feeble attempt at warding off the sunlight that had managed to land right on your eyes. Unlike yesterday, you had no reason to get up so early, since it was Sunday. Still, you had a training regimen to keep, so you climbed out of bed. You walked out of your home and you breathed deeply of the fresh morning air. You attached the training weights to your legs, and you did a few quick stretches to limber up.
With your stretches done you begin your run with a smile on your face. As you run along the street you allow your mind to wander from topic to topic, and every distraction you see throws your mind down a new avenue of thought. Eventually, though, your mind settles on Applejack. This doesn’t really come as a surprise, though. Given what happened yesterday you’re surprised you didn’t come to this train of thought earlier.
What was it about her that made you comfortable enough to share that story? It wasn’t like other ponies hadn’t asked about where you were from, or what you did before you came to Ponyville. It certainly wasn’t the fact that you thought she was pretty, since many pretty faces had asked the same question. Perhaps it has to do with… With…
You wrack your mind for the right words, but they don’t seem to find you, nor you them. All you know is that you don’t know. Which, honestly, isn’t satisfying at all. Your run takes you to the outskirts of town, and you stop, momentarily, at the monument constructed outside of town. It’d been nearly a year since it had been built, and yet you had only been there on the day it had been consecrated. Then again, considering what happened there, it was no wonder you hadn’t come by again.
You turn away from it, and resume your run. You run a total of two laps around the perimeter of Ponyville before you call it a day. As you approach your home you spot a grey pegasus standing in front of your house. As you get closer you notice that it’s Ditzy, likely here with some mail. Except, today’s Sunday. There’s no mail on Sundays.
“Oh, hey,” she greets you, “I’ve got a special delivery for you. The post called me in just to deliver this.”
She holds a small letter out to you, and you grab it. “Hold on a moment, I’ll be back in a second.” You quickly dash into your home, and you grab a few bits. You rush back out, and you give them to Ditzy. “Here, go get yourself a muffin, or something. Consider it my thanks for getting this to me, despite it being a Sunday.”
Ditzy’s smile widens at your gift, and she quickly jumps up and takes flight, likely heading to Sugarcube Corner to get herself a fresh muffin. As she finally disappears from sight you turn, and head back into your home. You toss the letter on the coffee table in the living room before you head to your room to remove the training weights. Once again the strain of your muscles is all the indication you need to know that you’re still improving. A quick set of stretches, followed by a shower, finishes your morning routine, and you head back to the living room to open, and read, the letter.
You take a seat on the couch, and you take a good look at the letter. The return address is somewhere in Manehattan, but it’s not an address you’re familiar with. You ponder the address for a while, trying to place it relative where you used to live. After a few minutes you give up on trying to place it, and you flip it over and open it. You pull it out, and you see that it is hoofwritten. As you read your face shifts from the small smile that graced it due to your interaction with Ditzy, to a grim mask.
You let the letter fall from your hooves, since you found yourself lacking the strength to hold it any longer. You found your body moving of its own accord, and soon you were heading to Sweet Apple Acres. You finally reclaimed your motor control just as you reached the gate that led to the farm, and you stopped where you were. You looked at the letter once more. Could you really show this to her, considering that you only just told her what happened? Would it be right for you to heap more emotional baggage on to her shoulders when she was already carrying so much?
Before you could answer your own questions you heard a voice call out to you. It wasn’t the familiar voice of any of the farm ponies, but was instead the voice of one of your close friends. Admittedly, you were surprised to see him here on a Sunday.
“What’re you doing here,” you ask the pegasus approaching you.
“Oh, you know, just checking up on Applejack, and the rest of the Apple Family. I need to make sure my investments stay on track. Not that I expect them to stop doing what they’re doing.” A small chuckle escapes him before he continues. “That, and I wanted to see about picking up some more Cider. Rainbow goes through that stuff like its water sometimes.”
His response brings a smile to your face. “Should she really be drinking that much? It can’t be good for her.”
“You try stopping her.”
“Nah, she’s your mare, you stop her.”
“I’ll stop her when she starts drinking too much. Anyway, what brings you by the farm? They’re not doing any work today, are they?” His look takes on a more serious note. “Is AJ trying to do all the work on the farm by herself again?”
“Not as far as I know. I just came by to chat with AJ some, but,” you lower your gaze, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, now that I have time to think about it.”
“You…” He starts laughing to himself, before he stops and looks at you again. This time, his laughter is louder, and you can’t help but join in. “You’ve got a thing for AJ, don’t you? Sweet Celestia, this is priceless! You? You’re the one she’s been talking about?”
At this, you stop laughing immediately, and the pegasus stops as well. “She talks about me?”
“Well, yeah. She talks about you quite a bit, but she says that she doesn’t know much about you. Hay, from what I can tell that’s what everypony thinks about you. You’re around town plenty, but you don’t tell anypony about who you are. And if you’re hiding something grim, and terrible, about your past, trust me when I say that I’ve got you beat.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that one.”
He raises an eyebrow, but shrugs it off. “Well, if you want to come with me to see AJ I’ll make sure the conversation stays on a fairly neutral topic, so that you can have some time to work out your feelings.” He puts a hoof on your chest, and he levels his gaze with yours. “Don’t take too long, though. There are other stallions who are vying for her heart.” He then pushes a bit harder, and you swear you can see something glinting in his eyes. “And if you hurt her, Big Mac will be the least of your worries.”
He drops his hoof, and his face becomes cheerful once again. “Anyway, let’s get going.” He turns and begins walking down the road once again, heading for the farmhouse.
“I’ll be there in a minute, Storm. Just…”
“Take your time. The farm’s not going anywhere!”
You looked at the letter for a moment, memorizing the address. Two years. Two years you waited. Well, you can wait a bit more. I’ve got a life to live. And maybe a mare to win… You crumple the letter, and then you dig a small hole outside the farm property line. You drop the letter into the hole, and you quickly fill the hole up. You take your first step back still looking at the small mound of dirt, as if afraid that the letter will somehow pull itself back out. You quickly turn back around and head towards the farmhouse, not giving the letter a backward glance.
As you approach the farm you spot AJ and Storm having a chat on the porch of the farmhouse. Storm is quite animated, while AJ is just sitting there peacefully listening. As you get closer you can make out some of what Storm is saying, and you manage to put together a few tidbits to build a picture. Something about some filly jumping across a gorge, but not quite making it.
As you approach Applejack notices you, and waves you over. You walk towards the pair, suddenly incredibly self-conscious. You step onto the porch, and it’s only now that you notice that Storm stopped his story as you walked over. You shoot him a glare, and he just offers up a smile.
“So, what brings you by today? You know that we don’t work on Sundays.”
“Oh, I just came by to hang out. Maybe spend some time around here while I’m not working. I also thought, maybe, if you didn’t mind, we could continue what we were talking about yesterday.” Applejack’s face brightens almost imperceptibly, but you manage to catch it. You are certain that Storm noticed too, since the smile on his face only gets wider.
“Well, AJ. Since you now have plans with the local endurance runner, I suppose I’ll just get my cider, and head back home to Dash.” He motions for Applejack to lead, and she makes her way to the cellar. Both you and Storm follow, and you shoot him a look. He simply shakes his head in return, and he puts on a small boost of speed to catch up to Applejack. You reach the cellar door just as Applejack and Storm begin descending, and you follow suit.
You’d only been down here a few times before, and so you took the time to look around. As you expected, and remembered, there were several barrels of cider with taps stuck in them close to the entrance, and you saw labels on them listing the batch of apples, and how long it fermented. You continued through the cellar, and you took in the rest of the cellar. There were dozens of other barrels, all with the same markings as the others, and you noticed some had labels stuck on them. You approached one of the labeled barrels, and you saw that it was an order tag.
Apparently the Apple family shipped their cider to a large number of places, including a few bars in Manehattan. You could only imagine the premium that those bars paid to get the cider the Apple family produced. You wandered through the cellar a bit more, looking at all the places the Apple’s shipped to, before you found Storm and Applejack moving a few barrels. You trotted over, ready to lend a hoof.
After a few minutes of moving barrels you got to the barrel that Storm had requested. Your jaw dropped when you saw the label on the barrel. That barrel of Cider cost more than you could hope to make in a year. More than you could make in two years! You looked more closely at the label, and you had to do a double take to make certain that you weren’t mistaken.
It was a barrel of Zap Apple cider.
“Zap Apple Cider?” Your question was brief, but it seemed to be enough for Applejack and Storm to get what you were asking.
“Yup. I had to shell out quite a bit for this barrel, but it was worth it. I’ve only ever had one mug worth of Zap Apple Cider, and it was probably one of the best tasting drinks I’ve ever had. It’s a present for Dash. Birthday, and whatnot.”
“We only make a barrel every few years, and that’s only if we manage to harvest every tree that produces Zap Apples. This batch came from a real good year, so we decided to make a barrel of cider. Hay, if I remember properly we actually managed to get two barrels out of that yield.”
“And it really costs that much for a barrel?”
“Yeah. We save it for real special occasions, so we don’t want to sell it without really getting what it’s worth.”
“Well, since I’ve got what I came for, I’ll leave you two alone.” He gives a wink as he turns to go, and you feel a blush come to your cheeks.
“Storm, you’d best leave now, before I forget my manners. Or, perhaps, I’ll just let Rainbow know what you told me about her last attempt at cooking your fancy human food?”
Storm’s face turned a shade of green that reminded you a bit of summer grass. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“Oh wouldn’t I?”
“Jeez, I’m going! Can’t a stallion have his fun?”
“Not when it’s at my expense.” Storm walks out of the cellar, significantly less upbeat than how he entered. A few moments pass with neither of the two of you moving, and finally, after what feels like an eternity, Applejack turns to look at you.
“Human food?”
“It’s a long story…”
(Well, here it is. Not much happens, I know. But it's all about setting up for the future.)
(I've kept your name out of this, but I want to know if you, the reader, would like to have a name. If so, what? I can do either, but I want your opinions.)
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Oh thank god! The last applejack story i read was scorched and its amazing but i finished it a long time ago. Please reply confurming my thoughts that this is a applejack romance? I know with the pic and the discription its pointing to yes but i still want to know for sure. So please reply.
YAY it updated
im really enjoying this story, good Aj ships are hard to find.
*zzzzz-Snrk!*
huh?....wha the....How long was I out, and why am i on the forth chaptr of a story i can't remember readin?.......
*reads coments*
Well, souns good. ill read it in the-
noo not the letter
nah just leave it in second person.
well, shucks
I'm no shipper of any sort but this is good. I feel like that letter is gonna come up soon.
BTW is Scootaloo...?
No name. Keep it in second person.
Very good story, BTW.
It got featured man! :D
i46.tinypic.com/dxhjpc.png
Howi, my man. Congrats on being featured. I knew this was going to be great. Now look at it, just full of interested ponies everywhere. Keep it up pal!
I'm never a fan of this writing style where it says you. Links I'm in the story. But the story is good. Kinda wish I knew the character's name.
OC second-person with a canon character as the story pic and the only tag is romance? I have a feeling that this will eventually end with sexytimes (Yes, I call it that, because very few of the "sex scenes" in any fanfiction deserve the proper name), though that could be my cynical/troper side speaking. BECAUSE ALL STORIES DO!
>Read the letter in second person
>Reader doesn't know what the letter says
Doesn't that strike you as... I dunno, odd? If "we" read the letter, but don't even know what it says, it sounds like it should shift more toward third-person limited rather than second person.
The only thing i can say about this story is... It's beautiful! have a moustache
I love this story so far, can't wait for more.
Oh oh oh I see what you did there, I see it real good. Does this speak of foreshadowing elsewhere my good sir? If so while predictable and dissapointing I think I can support it given the circumstances.
I don't really understand the human food bit and Storm. Was he a human or something? Does this link to another story?
Anyway, still an enjoyable chapter. Must be building up to something...
835079 May all your questions be answered.
836259
Aaaaaaah, ok.
Didn't read it but I got the gist
Tons of replies to make... Well, I will do my best to reply to all of you.
833936 You've got it. It's an AJ ship. I like AJ, so I figured that I'd do a ship with her.
833989 Yes, it most certainly did. And what an update it was.
834044 Did I miss something? Hate to be the confused/uninformed author, but did I do something that I'm just not seeing?
834048 This is sadly true. I noticed that, so I went about changing that situation, and, well, here I am.
834146 I submitted the chapter at 2 in the morning. I know how you feel.
834153 Yes! The letter!
834180 I intend to... When was it suggested that it may shift from the current perspective? I just wanted to know if 'you' having a name would be a problem.
834296 That letter will be coming up soon. I'd say more, but that would be a spoiler. And what do you think Scootaloo is?
834325 Of sorts, yes.
834332 Thank you. I aim to please.
834405 To a degree, I agree. And thank you.
834448 AWWWWW YEAH!!!!!
834451 I will continue shortly. I aim to get a few chapters done on my other stories first, but this will be seeing more very soon.
834476 To each their own, I suppose. I've always been a fan of second person. And there's no name yet because I can't name characters for crap.
834479 There won't be any sexytimes. And I need to update the tags.
834493 Have you never heard of suspense?!?! Where would the fun be if I just told you what the letter said? Now you have to wonder just what that letter said.
834538 Very much thank you.
834630 You won't have to wait long.
834798 The vagueness of the foreshadowing will keep you in suspense. And like it wasn't obvious who Storm was going with?
835079 Melancholy already took care of this.
835133 Still? I rewrote that chapter twice to get it right. Ah, well. Can't be perfect, I suppose.
835492 Yes you are. And it's a great thing.
835554 Things and stuff.
835602 I know, right? What a shocker! Too sarcastic?
836259 Thanks.
836270 Goodski.
836338 Well yea, I'll grant that it was blinding obvious, didn't stop me hoping though could it? While I've been improving my relationship with her Rainbow is still pretty low down on my list of preferences.
Still, it's the journey which is the fun part, and it's still set to be wild and brilliant ride.
Oh yea, Colour of Apple is pretty good too.
836394 The journey isn't even close to done. I have so much time left till -SPOILER- happens.
836413
NOT -SPOILER- ! ANYTHING BUT THAT!
836425 Yes! -SPOILER- It will happen! And when it does, consequences will never be the same!
836338 Yay.
DEAR GOD! What fic is Storm from?!!! TELL ME! I MUST KNOW!!
841669 www.fimfiction.net/story/13445/Rising-Sun My longest running fic.
841933 Good, that one was already on the read list. If your going to reference one story in another you should link it so people can research the reference. I was about to go "Lesson Zero" up in here!
841964 Yeah, I meant to put a link in there, but I forgot. And I've been busy with other stuff, so editing the story has fallen a bit by the wayside... I will fix it now.
854514 I'm glad you like it, and I agree, to a certain degree. I know it came a bit fast, but, again, as you said, I can't do anything about that now. Anyway, there's still more to tell, and there's still plenty of unclaimed emotional baggage.
Forgotten question mark.
834146
Ditto. I've lost count of the times I've done just that.
Oh, and ZAP APPLE CIDER?
834448
I know you made this comment 6 weeks ago... but DAMN do you favorite everything haha?
Storm....with Dash...bad past....you read the same story I did by Cerulean didn't you? Fuck I'm going to get so confused now...
I'm sure it's too late, but a name? Hmmm...Marathon!
Being a pegusai, rainbow would pass out after only, like, a single mug. It's just the way a pegusai works.
Please cancel my prev comment. Just too lazy to delete my missread