Chapter 5 - With an Apple-Flavored
With an Apple-Flavored
Dusk woke up with a huge headache, he didn't understand why, everything was blurry in his mind. As he lay there, he slowly raised a hoof to his head and tried to open his eyes with effort, his headache was huge and prevented him from even seeing well, he could just make out a figure in front of him.
"Mom... Mom, is that you?" Dusk asked with effort, trying to open his eyes to focus better.
"Shh... There, there, now, just relax." A gentle voice of a mare replied, who approached Dusk and gently pushed his head back so that Dusk can continue lying. "You've been asleep for almost one hour."
"I... I had a horrible nightmare..." Dusk continued talking, trying to remember what had happened. "I dreamed that the Princess exiled me from Canterlot and... I was in a horrible town... I was being chased by a bear and wild ponies..."
"Well, it was just a nightmare, you're safe and sound, here now at Sweet Apple Acres." The voice replied cheerfully.
"SWEET APPLE ACRES!?" Dusk repeated loudly, completely opening his eyes and standing up suddenly.
Dusk wasn't in his room of Canterlot as he thought, he was lying on the ground of an orchard under the shade of a tree, with a blanket over him and a pillow under his head. And who was speaking with him wasn't his mother, but a young mare with an orange coat and blond mane tied with a red holder at the end, her face was adorned with beautiful emerald green eyes and a few freckles on her cheeks, she was wearing a nice stetson hat that fitted perfectly on her head.
"That's right!" The mare replied smiling. "My name is Applejack and this is the farm of my family.
Dusk stared at her for a while, then he grabbed his head and began to remember everything, but while his ideas and memories returned to settle in his head, there was a word that involuntarily came out of his mouth, the only word that came to his mind for an associative process when the mare in front of him mentioned the word 'farm'.
"Sexy-Mare...?" Dusk said softly, still with a headache.
As soon as Dusk said the word, the mare widely opened her eyes and blushed. At the same time, the common sense returned to Dusk and kicked his brain to quickly re-arrange his ideas and realize what he had just said.
Immediately, Dusk also blushed and began to quickly move his forelegs.
"N-No... No! I wasn't saying sexy-mare to you, I mean, you're cute but..." Dusk goofed again and the mare blushed even more. "No! It’s... it's just that the hit against the tree left me confused, I... I was just remembering a farm name, a farm name that I read in an erotic novel and-"
Dusk stopped immediately, he realized the follies he was talking about, so he covered his face with his hooves totally embarrassed, he looked down and wished the ground swallowed him for admitting to read an erotic novel in front of a mare. Meanwhile, the mare also had blushed and had to look away to avoid a possible gaze at Dusk.
After a while, the mare slowly stops blushing, she glanced at Dusk and decided to act as if she hadn't heard anything.
"So... How's your head?" The mare asked him.
"It's... okay, although it still hurts a little." Dusk said sheepishly, thankful that the mare talked about another topic and not the nonsense that Dusk had said earlier.
"I'm glad, it was a strong blow that you had back there." The mare smiled. "You threw all the apples from the tree with your head! I guess you invented a new method of harvesting for the Apple family, haha."
"Apple Family?" Dusk asked and immediately he remembered something the mare had said when he awoke. "You... you said your name was Apple... Apple..."
"Applejack! It's a pleasure!" The mare said cheerfully, approaching and offering a hoof to him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too." Dusk said, answering the greeting and waving their hooves. "My name is-"
"Dusk Shine, your partner already told us your name." Applejack interrupted him, who at the same time pointed her view to one side.
Dusk followed the gaze of Applejack to see that not far away from there was Spike, happily eating what appeared to be a pie while he was listened closely by a small yellow filly and an old mare of light green skin.
As Spike realized they were being watched, he looked at Dusk and saluted, then he began to walk towards him, followed by the two mares.
"Dusk! I'm glad you woke up! I was very worried, in fact, I was already thinking about going to a hospital." Spike said when he arrived, words that Dusk didn't believe much since he had seen him happily eating pie just seconds ago. "If it weren't for the good care of Applejack, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom..."
Dusk looked at the old pony and the filly, there could be no doubt that the first should be Grandmother Smith and the filly was Apple Bloom.
"I'm glad you woke up, son, I don't want to imagine how hard you had to beat yourself to faint." Grandma Smith said kindly. "And after all the tragedies that you have already suffered..."
"Eh... yes, it was a heavy blow..." Dusk said, who wasn't sure what Granny Smith was referring to with 'tragedies they had suffered'. "And about yesterday, well... more than a tragedy, it was a chaotic day but nothing to regret."
"But not only yesterday, you hadn't eaten for days! And all while you were being chased by an army of minotaurs!" The little filly said looking with pitying eyes at Dusk and Spike. "You roamed the great desert and faced a terrible monster, only to face a squadron full of furious griffins! It's so noble that you say that wasn't a tragedy!"
"We... What?" Dusk said, not understanding what the filly was talking about.
"Yes, it was horrible, horrible!" Spike said pretending to cry and approaching to hug Dusk.
As soon as Spike hugged Dusk, he whispered in his ear.
"Play along with me."
After Spike stopped hugging Dusk, Applejack took the floor.
"Yeah... so you guys have been through a lot of hardship, right?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow and looking straight at Dusk in his eyes.
Dusk was mesmerized by the mare's eyes, it was as if they were digging into his soul, as if she had an x-ray vision that analyzed him until the last strand of his tail. He didn't know what to say or do, he didn't want to admit that Spike was lying, they were brothers, he couldn't leave him as lying, besides he knew Spike was doing it for his sake, probably his brother was lying about his origin because it would be frowned upon that a colt and a dragon that were practically of the nobility, treated like princes in Canterlot, were stealing apples from a humble family, Dusk simply couldn't admit that they were lying. Yet Applejack's gaze was as penetrating... as if it were unimaginable to lie to her when she looked at him like that. Finally, Dusk chose the coward's choice.
"Hmmm..." Dusk just kept quiet looking away, he chose not to lie or tell the truth.
Spike was surprised to see that Dusk hadn't supported him with his story, but he immediately came up with a better idea.
"Look at my poor brother! He doesn't even dare to remember for all he has suffered!" Spike said theatrically and again came up to embrace Dusk.
Before this gesture both Grandmother Smith and Apple Bloom began to cry and also joined the hug, saying "poor baby, poor..." Only Applejack stayed where she was, staring at Dusk who was just trying to show his poker face.
"If... *Sniff *" The dragon wiped away his false tears. "If only we could eat more of Granny's apple pie! *Sniff*"
"Sure, honey." Granny Smith said, tightening Spike's cheeks. "Let's go to the house, there you can eat everything you want."
Then Granny Smith and Apple Bloom started walking toward the house, followed by Spike, who, when no one saw him except Dusk, he raised his thumb up with a smile as sign of success. Dusk just covered his own face with his hoof and said to himself "you're going too far, Spike..."
When Dusk touched his face to hide himself of the embarrassment of what Spike did, he inadvertently touched his forehead, just where he was hit on.
"Ouch!" Dusk said softly.
"Are you okay? Let me see." Applejack asked, who, like Dusk, had stayed right where they were.
Applejack came over and looked at Dusk's forehead.
"You have a bump but you'll be fine, it doesn't look like you need bandaging." Applejack said after examining Dusk.
"I hope so..." Dusk said, who had been somewhat nervous about having a mare so close to him. "So... that's your family..."
"Yeah, they are Granny Smith and my younger sister, the little Apple Bloom." Applejack proudly said watching them walk away with Spike. "And Big Macintosh, of course."
"Big Macintosh?" Dusk asked.
"Yes, my older brother." Applejack pointed to the other side of where they were looking.
In the distance, Dusk could see the huge red stallion that had come chasing him before he crashed. The big stallion looked at him from afar with a stern look on his face as he piled a few wooden logs.
"Usually he's very kind and easygoing." Applejack continued talking, a little embarrassed. "But he doesn't like intruders and less ponies who eat our apples without asking, so... I think it would be good if you keep your distance from him at least for today."
Dusk looked back at the red stallion, who again looked at him, but this time the stallion took a small wooden log and pulverized it with only his hooves. This made Dusk have cold sweat and he swallowed loudly, he would actually take heed of Applejack's warning seriously.
"All right! Time to get back to work." Applejack said suddenly, and she turned and started walking toward the apple trees.
Dusk watched her walk away. Now apart from all the problems he already had, he couldn't get out of his head that Spike was lying to Applejack's family to save them, for Dusk, that lie was necessary but that didn't make him feel better about himself. Finally, he decided that he could still try to do the right thing without telling the truth.
"Wait Applejack!" Dusk shouted running until he reached the mare. "How... How can we pay you for the apples we ate?"
"Don't worry, it's not like we're running out of apples because you ate some of them." Applejack answered, then she smirked. "Besides, after ALL THOSE TRAGEDIES that you had to overcome... I think you can consider that a gift from us to you for your unparalleled courage."
Applejack's last words had struck like a thorn in Dusk's heart, Dusk wanted to tell the truth, but he couldn't.
"Yes... but still, I'd like to pay for them." Dusk said seriously. "If necessary, I'll work to pay for them."
Before Applejack had a chance to say something, Dusk raised his hoof, touched Applejack's chest and stared at her. "Please."
Applejack looked away, slightly blushing as she adjusted her hat.
"Well... if you insist so much... come, join me," Said the mare, walking towards the apple trees.
"Today we are harvesting extra apples, since we are in charge of the food for the Summer Sun Celebration." Applejack said once they had arrived in front of the first apple tree. "What you should do is hit the center of the tree with your back legs so that the apples fall into the buckets."
Dusk thought all this was pretty basic and archaic, but he decided to say nothing about that and just follow the instructions, so he approached the tree and got in position to hit the apple tree.
"Now strike with all your might!" Applejack said expectantly.
Dusk took a momentum, raised his hindquarters and struck the apple tree with all his strength, hoping not to break it in the process. However, to Dusk Shine's disappointment, the tree shook but only dropped three or four apples.
"Looks like the apples are too firm in the tree." Dusk said, thinking aloud.
"It's not that, it's just that you didn't hit correctly and not hard enough." Applejack said, approaching the apple tree. "Look."
As soon as Applejack was in position, she took a momentum and with extraordinary strength, struck the apple tree in the center, causing dozens of apples to fall precisely into the buckets, leaving the apple tree totally free of apples.
"See?" Applejack said, with a smile on her face and crossing her hooves.
Dusk was impressed, although it was known that the earth ponies normally had more physical strength than the unicorns, Dusk couldn't believe that a mare of almost his same age could hit so hard. It was true that Applejack's angle and technique had been different from Dusk's striking, which should definitely be an important factor, but still the decisive factor was the strength in Applejack's hindquarters.
Dusk Shine was intrigued by this revelation and stared at Applejack's hindquarters, right where her cutie mark lay, which were three red apples. This was her talent, which was another important factor, but apart from that, her hindquarters shown enough musculature, the fruit of the work of harvest in the farm, and yet they still maintained their feminine form, an elegant curve of both thighs where in the middle lay her cute blond tail, hiding the forbidden.
"Ahem!" Applejack coughed to bring Dusk back to reality.
Dusk looked at her and saw that she was blushing, at first he didn't understand why, but then he realized that he had stared like a perverted fool at the butt of a mare! Dusk immediately blushed and began apologizing.
"I-I'm sorry! I-I just wanted to see where you got your strength to hit so hard!"
"Yeah ... sure ..." Applejack said still blushed. "I think... it's better to move on..." Applejack started walking towards the next apple tree while Dusk again hoisted a hoof to his face to hide his embarrassment of what had happened. Finally, Dusk decided that just like his first talk with Applejack, it would be best to pretend that nothing had happened and move on.
Before Dusk walked behind Applejack again, he glanced sideways at Big Macintosh, who now looked at him with a murderous look, which made Dusk tremble completely.
"Celestia, why have you forsaken me..." Dusk said tragically to himself, who at once had a mental image of how his mentor would be laughing at him if she saw him in this situation.
The day went on, and after Applejack was satisfied with Dusk's technique for hitting apple trees, she decided that Dusk could do the work on his own, without her supervision, which was a relief to him who had realized that Applejack no longer approached him as much as before, which was understandable for Dusk after what had happened. With this he also would stop having that chill that he felt when having Big Macintosh's stare on him for being close to his sister.
Applejack commissioned Dusk a row of apple trees for him while she went to work in another row. This was how Dusk began the hard work of hitting with his legs to harvest the apples and pay for what he and Spike had eaten without permission.
The work turned out to be quite hard for the poor unicorn, since he had never done this type of work that required great physical effort, besides unlike Applejack who threw down all the apples of a tree with a single blow, Dusk had to give two and even sometimes three blows to each tree to get all the apples to fall. All this was slowly frustrating Dusk, who was beginning to regret having offered to help, only his sense of doing the right thing prevented him from following the same path of Spike and go to the Apple Family's house to rest and eat.
When Dusk was at the sixth apple tree, he decided to rest a little, because the sweat was already in his eyes and his hindquarters felt very tired. As soon as he did it, he looked at the row of apple trees that Applejack was harvesting, unbelievably she had harvested more than twice the apple trees that Dusk had harvested! Dusk couldn't help but feel his male pride hurt, as he was losing in front of a mare.
"It's not fair, she... she has more experience with this..." Dusk thought, trying to justify what happened. "Besides... she's an earth pony! It's known that the earth ponies have a greater connection with land and crops..."
As soon as Dusk thought about it, a brilliant idea came to his mind.
"It’s true! She is an earth pony and she uses her natural talent to harvest." Dusk said to himself, looking at the apple tree in front of him. "I'm a unicorn, and as such my natural talent is magic, not brute force!"
Then Dusk concentrated on every apple he could see, and in the same way he did when he ate the apples without permission, his horn lit up and with his telekinesis, he removed every apple he saw and he placed them gently in the buckets.
"That's how a unicorn does it!" Dusk told himself confidently.
It was so that Dusk Shine began to harvest the apples much faster than before, he was even faster than Applejack, and the best of all was that this way he didn't have to make any physical effort, only mental.
After the twentieth apple tree, Dusk was finished with his work, leaving in sight a row of apple trees without any apples in their tops, every apple was placed in their respective buckets on the floor. While Applejack still didn't finish and is at the last two apple trees. Dusk decided to rest and wait for her to finish, with a face of pride, because despite everything he had, he succeeded in beating the mare in her game.
The more Dusk looked at Applejack, the more he was surprised, he really couldn't understand how the earth ponies could live without unicorn magic, it was a heavy life to have to carry their whole life with heavy physical work... It was with this thought that Dusk's smirk disappeared and he got up to go to where Applejack was, it wasn't fair that him, a unicorn, to make fun of a mare who worked hard despite her limitations.
Dusk thought the right thing to do would be to give her help, for no matter how strong the mare was, it was impossible not to be exhausted after hitting so many apple trees. However, Dusk couldn't avoid his surprise when approaching and seeing that although Applejack was sweating and looking very exhausted, she continued to smile while working, she... seems to be enjoying it...
"And this is the last!" Applejack said cheerfully after hitting the last of her apple trees, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
"You... Aren't you tired?" Dusk asked incredulously.
"Yeah, of course, isn’t that obvious?" Applejack smiled.
"Then why are you so happy?" Dusk asked confused. "I mean, this is a grueling job, where you probably strain your body to the fullest, and you'll have to do this job all your life, how can you be so happy about it?"
Applejack stared at him for a second confused, but finally she closed her eyes and gave a small smile.
"It's certainly a grueling job, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it." Applejack said before approaching the apple tree that she had just hit. "This apple tree is Tommy 44..."
"The apple tree has a name?!" Dusk asked in surprise.
"Of course!" Applejack replied, touching the bark of the apple tree. "It is from the fifth generation of 'Tommys', I have planted them, watched them grow and bloom, and there is nothing that fills me with more happiness than cultivating what I have seen grow, it's a great cycle."
"Feel the soil in your hooves..." Applejack continued, stooping to take some soil. "As everything connects on earth to give life... All this is a long, tiring process, it's true, but..."
Then Applejack turned to look at Dusk.
"But it's no problem because I love what I do!" Applejack finally said with a huge smile.
Faced with Applejack's words, Dusk couldn't help but remember Fluttershy with her animals, and then to himself when Spike didn't understand why he was so passionate about his studies. Now he understood, it wasn't because Applejack was an earth pony and was forced to do farm work, she loved what she did, as much or perhaps more as Dusk loved to study magic. Dusk couldn't help but feel foolish to remember how he had felt superior in front of Applejack's passion.
"Wow! I can't believe you're done!" Applejack said, looking at Dusk's apple trees, pulling the unicorn out of his thoughts.
"What…? Oh, yeah, I'm done!" Dusk replied quickly, following Applejack as she headed toward the apple trees that Dusk had harvested.
Dusk was in a predicament, now he didn't want to admit that he had been faster than Applejack just because he had the advantage of using magic, but he didn't want to lie to her, and less to this particular mare that when he looked at her, it was impossible to lie. He finally decided he would tell the truth, but without mocking that he had done better than Applejack.
"I... I finished almost at the same time as you..." Dusk said timidly. "But it was all because of your teachings! Besides, I could use magic, so I could do it a little bit faster than you..."
Dusk did his best not to offend Applejack's pride and use the right words, but Applejack didn't respond or move, she just stared at the apple tree.
"It's wrong." Applejack finally said.
"Wh-what? What do you mean? "Dusk said, surprised by Applejack's words.
"I said you harvested badly, there are still some apples left in the tree, and I think in all the other apple trees as well." Applejack said looking at Dusk's apple tree row.
Dusk couldn't believe his ears, Applejack wasn't accepting his work! Even though he had done it better and faster than her! Now it wasn't Applejack who felt her pride hurt, it was Dusk.
"How can you say that, look!" Dusk said slightly annoyed, pointing at the apple tree. "There are no apples! How can you say that there are still apples that I’ve missed!?"
"I don't know, I just know." Applejack shrugged. "If you had done it like I told you and you hadn't used magic, maybe you would have done it right."
This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Why couldn't Applejack admit that his method of harvesting by magic was better than her method?
"You'll see!" Dusk said angrily. "I'll show you there's no apples left in the tree!"
Immediately, Dusk began to jump to grab a branch and start climbing the tree. This obviously was very complicated for any pony due to their hooves, more so for Dusk who had never climbed anything in his life, but with the help of his magic he got to climb up to the treetop. Once on the top, Dusk held tightly with his hind legs on a thick branch and with his front legs began to look for some apples that might have remained in the tree.
After several minutes, Dusk was relieved to see that there was no apple. However, to his misfortune, when he was about to stop searching and tell Applejack that she was wrong, finally his hoof came across an apple, one that was very hidden in the middle of the apple tree and obviously he couldn't see from below because of the leaves. Dusk banged his head gently against the branch and let out a sigh as he smiled.
"How dumb can I be? She's been doing this for years, obviously she knows what she's talking about, I should have trusted her word..." Dusk thought as he released the apple from the tree.
"And…? Was I right or wrong?" Applejack said from below with a triumphant tone in her voice.
"Yes, you were right..." Dusk said resignedly.
"Heh! I usually have it." Applejack said playfully.
Dusk accepted his defeat, he held the apple and started climbing down the tree, backing slowly to be adjusted to go down. However, as soon as he stepped on the lower branch with his hind leg, it broke, causing Dusk to lose his balance, without having time to grab something, Dusk began to fall staring at the ground. Applejack could only hear the rustle of a branch and Dusk's scream before she looked up and saw a great shadow.
"WAHHH!" Dusk shouted as he fell, only to see Applejack standing just below him.
Due to the rapidity of the fall, Applejack failed to react and only remained still when Dusk fell just above her, however the blow wasn't as hard as they both thought. Applejack fell backwards, her back and head totally down, and her gaze looking up. Dusk on the other hoof, got to stretch his legs and settle on the ground before his head fell and hit the ground, but the inertia of the fall was stronger and Dusk couldn't prevent his head down and meet with Applejack's own head precisely in a point that neither of them got hurt. Both Applejack and Dusk's lips met together, achieving an unexpected and deep kiss between them.
Neither Applejack nor Dusk reacted immediately, both stayed like statues totally blushed in the position they are in, with their lips together, one on top of the other. After a few seconds when Dusk's mind reacted again, Dusk pulled his head back slowly, breaking the kiss. In front of him was Applejack, totally blushing, with huge, green eyes looking directly at him, for the first time since Dusk had saw her, it seemed that the mare had lost all her confidence and now she didn't know how to react. Dusk was in a similar process, in which he didn't know what to do or say.
"I... I..." Dusk stammered, trying to get his voice out, which didn't help much because a strange noise distracted him.
Dusk turned his head to see what the noise was, all his blood froze when he saw a furious red stallion running towards him, like a raging bull, with mad eyes of fury and smoke from his nose. Big Macintosh had seen how Dusk had fallen on his beloved little sister and kissed her, this was beyond what an older brother like him could bear.
Dusk didn't think twice and started running, seeing the mood that Big Macintosh was in, it would be pointless to reason with him.
"WAAHH! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! AN ACCIDENT!!" Dusk Shine shouted as he ran trying to escape from Big Mac.
For her part, Applejack had stayed exactly at where she was, she took more time to react than what took Dusk. Applejack was absorbed about everything, she slowly got up and stared at the horizon with a lost gaze, then she lifted a hoof and touched her lips.
"My... my first..." Applejack said slowly, but she didn't finish the sentence because a few shouts made her come back to reality.
As soon as Applejack turned her head, she saw Big Macintosh frantically following Dusk around a tree, both running in circles one after another.
"Hey! You guys, stop!" Applejack shouted, running towards them.
The little that remained of the day passed very quickly.
After Applejack explained to her brother that everything had been a misunderstanding and that the kiss had been an accident, Big Mac decided to stop pursuing Dusk, however he didn't want the unicorn to continue working near his sister, so Big Mac took Dusk with him to help with plowing the land.
That's how the last hours of the afternoon was spent as Dusk was pulling the plow with Big Mac. At first, there was a total silence between them, however in spite of Big Mac’s anger, the stallion was willing to teach him the correct way of plowing and he corrected Dusk whenever it was necessary to help the purple colt, causing Dusk to realize that in fact he wasn't a mad or evil stallion. Rather, he was just too overprotective with his sister.
Finally, the sun begins to set and Apple Bloom with Spike arrived with some juice and apple snacks to celebrate the end of the work day. After this they all chatted as they walked towards the Apple family's house, on the way even Dusk achieved to make a fleeting smile at Big Mac when he told a joke he had heard from a guard in Canterlot, although Big Mac quickly hid it to not admit that he had laughed at something the unicorn had said. Everything was fine, until they came in front of the house...
"Ahh... I'm exhausted... I just want to sleep." Dusk sighed heavily.
"Yeah, me too." said Spike, which caused Dusk to glare at the dragon, because unlike him, his brother had enjoyed the whole day eating apple cakes.
"Granny Smith said you could spend the night here." Apple Bloom said, grinning at Dusk.
Then Apple Bloom went through the door of the house, followed by Spike and Applejack, but as soon as Dusk was about to pass, a huge hoof crossed the portal of the door, blocking the passage, it was Big Mac.
"You'll sleep in the barn." Big Mac said, looking seriously at Dusk.
"What are you talking about, Big Mac!?" Applejack said from the other side of the door into the house.
"It isn't right for a colt and a mare to sleep in the same house without being compromised." Big Mac replied, who blushed slightly and looked away. "He could sneak into your room at night."
Now it was Applejack's turn to blush.
"That will not happen!" claimed the mare, however, Big Mac didn't move from where he was.
"It-it's okay, I have no problem sleeping in the barn." Dusk said, who didn't want to be the center of a new conflict.
After Dusk's words, Big Mac lowered his hoof and for the first time he looked at Dusk in the eyes without an expression of hatred. Meanwhile, Applejack left the house annoyed and told Big Mac that she'll show Dusk the barn, the red stallion immediately thought to complain, but the look of Applejack made him repent and keep quiet, usually both siblings were very quiet, but when they were angry, Big Mac always thought his sister was much more terrible than him, besides Big Mac had already made sure that Dusk won't be sleeping near his sister, it couldn't hurt him that this time he gave in.
So Dusk followed Applejack to the barn, which was right next to the main house. There, Applejack showed him the place, which was much less frightening than what Dusk thought it would be, in fact, it looked quite cozy, all made of red-painted wood with a thatched floor and a rather high ceiling. Together, they stacked bales of hay for Dusk's bed and Applejack found a pillow that Dusk could use to sleep.
"It's not a five-star hotel, but it'll work." Applejack said.
"Don't worry, it's more than we deserve, thank you so much for letting us stay on your farm tonight, both me and Spike."
"It’s nothing, after everything you've been through, it's the least I can do." Applejack said, thinking how exhausted Dusk must have been after so much physical work he wasn't used to.
However, with Applejack's words, Dusk thought about the lie that Spike had told them. This still was like a thorn in his heart, but this time, unlike the afternoon, he decided that he could no longer bear it, no matter what the consequences.
"Applejack, I..." Dusk said timidly. "I must confess to you... that what Spike said was a lie, we... we haven't gone through any of the tragedies that Spike had mentioned..."
"I know." Applejack simply said.
"What!? How?" Dusk asked in surprise.
"Well... I always know when some ponies lie, or in this case, dragons." Applejack said with a shrug. "In addition, Spike's story was a bit fantastic, I guess only Granny Smith and Apple Bloom could believe it."
"So, why didn't you say something?" Dusk asked.
"Because I was hoping YOU would tell me." Applejack said staring at Dusk and touching him with her hoof on his chest. "Tell me, how do you feel now that you've told the truth?"
"I... I feel good." Dusk said shyly.
"Don't you see? If I had made you admit that you were lying, you would have felt even worse with yourself." Applejack said, turning around to leave the barn, but her gaze was still on Dusk. "I had confidence in you, that's why I thought I waited for you to say it on your own."
Then Applejack walked slowly out of the barn. Dusk stood where he was.
"Thank you." Dusk finally said slowly, with a smile.
As soon as Dusk relaxed, it was like a signal to Dusk's muscles and they all coordinated to sound the alarm, Dusk's body tensed and his entire body felt sore from a long day's work. Dusk immediately settled himself on the bales of hay with his head on the pillow. Dusk felt it, he knew that at any moment he would fall asleep, but before falling asleep, he lifted one of his hooves and touched his lips.
"It tastes like sweet apples..." It was the last thing Dusk whispered before falling soundly asleep with a smile.
It had been almost a couple of hours when a shadow sneaked out of the Apple family's house and headed for the barn. In the moonlight, Applejack carefully entered the barn.
"Dusk, are you awake?" Applejack whispered.
Her question was answered by the soft hum of Dusk's snore.
Applejack looked at Dusk for a second, who slept peacefully on the bales of hay. Then she took with her teeth a blanket she carried on her back, stretched it over Dusk and then she tucked it with her forelegs to properly shelter the unicorn.
Applejack knew that the barn wasn't too cold, but she had worried about Dusk anyway, she hadn't gone to sleep since she had been lying down thinking about this, so she had finally decided to go and give Dusk a blanket.
After fitting the blanket and covering it correctly on Dusk, for some reason, Applejack, instead of leaving, just stared at him while he slept. Applejack couldn't help but think on how tender he looked right there, sleeping peacefully, snoring gently with his mouth... with... his lips...
Little by little, Applejack's gaze focused on Dusk's lips, those lips that had unexpectedly kissed her that afternoon. The more she looked at them, the more she remembered them, and her cheeks couldn't help blushing at the thought that the culprits were there.
"A fleeting kiss, an accidental kiss, a surprise kiss, a kiss..." Applejack's thoughts flew fast as she unconsciously lowered her lips to Dusk's own.
"Sis?" Said a voice.
Applejack straightened up quickly at the tender voice behind her, it was Apple Bloom that was right at the barn door.
"Shhh!" Applejack said softly to her sister, to not speak so loud and wake Dusk.
Applejack carefully stepped out of the barn and closed the door behind her.
"What are you doing here?" Applejack asked her sister, still a little nervous.
"Well... I saw you leave, so I wanted to know where you were going." The filly answered innocently.
"I... I just came to deliver a blanket to Dusk, but he was already asleep, so I just put it on him." Applejack said quickly.
Apple Bloom looked at her sister somewhat confused, it wasn't normal that she was so nervous. Then she looked at the barn and a revelation came at her, Apple Bloom looked back at Applejack with a mischievous smile.
"I see, you're very worried about Mr. Dusk Shine..." Apple Bloom said, looking mischievously at her sister. "Perhaps he interests you in a more... romantic way?"
Applejack wrinkled her nose and looked away.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Applejack said without letting go of that expression of bad poker face, then without looking at Apple Bloom, she began to walk towards the house. "I-It's really late right now, it's bedtime."
Apple Bloom stood staring at her sister as she walked away.
"Hmm, big sis... you're good at almost everything..." Apple Bloom whispered to herself. "But you're a terrible liar..."
With this, Apple Bloom began to walk, following her sister to the house.
#End of chapter 5
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It was nice to see an other chapter of this story so soon, I hope to see the next one soon. I wander how Dusk will be able to explain that he is the representative of the Crown to make sure that the SSS is ready in time.
7853270 I'm glad you like it :) I hope to can translate the next chapter soon =)
thanks for commenting and following my fic ;D
7853910 Thanks, I'm glad you like it :)
About Dusk, well, everything will be known at the right time, little by little we'll know more about the past of Dusk, but we'll need much more time to discover him completely :D
thanks for commenting ;)
Loved the chapter. I can't wait to see who will be next, I would think it would be Rainbow Dash next since you're following the same steps as in the show who Twilight meet first, but I have to wonder how that will work...
I guess I'll to wait and see!
Also, did Dust kiss Fluterrshy? I don't remember... Oh boy, Rarity is going to be crazy in love with him soon!
7873925 I'm glad you like it ^^
and no, Duks didn't kiss Fluttershy... yet xD
thanks for commeting ;D
First fluttershy then applejack who next
7885318 I agree, make Fluttershy cry is a crime against humanity.
thanks for commenting :)
7885322 We'll have to wait to find out, I hope to upload a new chapter soon.
Thanks for commenting.
This story is fantastic! I can not wait for the next chapter
8004468 Thanks, I'm gald you like it :D
Currently I have ready until chapter 10, but in Spanish, so it is delayed to translate and correct :( anyway, the next chapter is ready, only missing correction (which unfortunately is delayed ^^; )
thanks for commenting :)
Throughout this chapter, I was getting furious with Spike in how he has been abusing the Apple family's hospitality. I hope he experiences karmic justice in the future.
As for Dusk Shine.............he has gain my respect for volunteering to pay the penalty for his previous offense with manual labor. I like him again. Also, the awkwardness between Dusk and AJ is very humorous and cringy at the same time. It was quite the predicament Dusk found himself, especially with an overprotective brother he has to worry about.
Overall, this chapter brought a huge smile on my face.
8039926 thanks, I'm glad you like it
thanks for comment :)
Been enjoying the story just have an issue with the idea of Celestia sending Dusk off to a strange place for almost a week without arranging for shelter at the least
8090023 Maybe Dusk will ask Celestia when he sees her, we'll have to wait and find out :)
I'm glad you like my fic =D
thanks for comment ;)
I love the beginning it's from my favorite film
Can you name the movie?
8157704 Haha, yes, you perfectly understood the reference ;D
thanks for commenting :)
8090023
I would find it funny if dusk already has a room reserved at the Inn
8157704
"Back to the Future" With Martin McFly & Dr. Emmeth Brown
8802373
yup =D
I hope you like the chapter
thanks for comment :)
The art makes the story, too.
I like the comics in this.
9077055
=D I'm glad you like it ;D
thanks for comment :)
You mother f***er you just made a back to the future reference.
9316630
yup hahaha
Big Mac: *shatters log between hooves*
Dusk: "...Meep."
9549214
I suppose that would be a 'this is your junk if you cross the line' kinda threat? Certainly makes a point.
The say earth ponies have a connection to the land unmatched by the other tribes. This is clearly untrue, as here we see a unicorn digging a hole at hypersonic speed.
10811598
haha
hahaha I think you are absolutely right
thanks for commenting
You didn't have to add the comics, but they add just a little more to the story.
11128378
Thank you, I'm glad you like my drawings
Her Apples ripen at Dusk.
11133982
11133982
That line is so cheesy that you can make fondue out of it.
I really want to like this but it's just so cringe, and the way spike behaves in this chapter is simply the worst.
11608103
haha but don't worry, karma says that every bad action has consequences 
I think Spike has done worse things in the tv show
I hope the next chapters are more to your liking
So far, Applejack's chapter is my favorite! 😁
I have big hopes for Rainbow Dash's chapter.
So far, so fun ! 👍
11611782
I'm glad you liked the chapter
I hope you also like the Rainbow Dash chapter
Dear Celestia,
Today I learned… that Apples taste good.
-Dusk Shine
**
Celestia: Wait. What? … how is this a friendship lesson?
11621458
It would have been fun for Dusk to write a letter like that