Big MacIntosh watched Cheerilee's tail as it beckoned him to sit beside her. "Talk?"

"Mm-hm."

"Why?" He couldn't remember the last time they'd had a conversation longer than a few sentences. With one rather significant exception... but he could barely remember most of that day, anyway.

"Well, I..." Again she gestured with her tail to the spot beside her, but Mac hadn't moved. "I thought it would be nice to catch up a bit."

"Somethin' prompt this?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said easily, although she wasn't exactly looking him in the eye. "I just thought you could stand to blow off some steam."

His left ear twitched back, but that was the only sign of emotion on his face. "AJ sent ya t'lecture me, didn't she?"

Her smile snapped into a gasp; then it turned into an embarrassed titter. She'd never been able to bullshit very well, especially around him. "Guilty as charged."

He finally lowered himself to the ground beside her. "Well, don't waste yer time. I already made up my mind."

"In that case," she said, letting her tail stroke gently across his side, "It wouldn't hurt just to hear me out, would it?"

Big Mac moved his half-frown to the other side of his mouth. "I s'pose not."

They sat in silence, watching Flim as he went about whistling and gathering up the unsellable apples. Every now and then he'd look over to them and flash a grin, making Mac's jaw set harder.

"You don't like having him around, do you?" She said it in a whisper, not sure whether or not they were within Flim's earshot. It was a safe bet he knew they were talking about him, anyway.

"Nope."

"Well then, do you really want to be tied to him for the rest of your life?"

He tried to glance away, but with Cheerilee to his left and Flim to his right, he didn't have anywhere to look aside from down at his hooves. "I'll live."

"Really? Because you already look like you're a heartbeat away from popping a blood vessel." It was probably nothing he hadn't heard before, so... "Will you really be able to live knowing that that stallion's going to be resting his head on your sister's pillow for---"

The memory of Applejack's rumpled bed flashed through his mind in all its wince-worthy glory. "That's enough, Cheerilee!"

"That's what marriage does, you know," she added, her voice dropping. "It... ties ponies together."

He just snorted.

"...But not forever," she went on. "Look, we both know what those two are like. Trying to tie Flim to Applejack would be like nailing a will-o'-the-wisp to the ground."

"Y'know, my Pa used to say that I could do anything I set my mind to."

Cheerilee delicately placed her hoof over his. "How long do you think it'll last?"

She wasn't surprised when he yanked his foreleg away, but what really shocked her was the look on his face when he finally met her eye and shot back "You really don't know much about marriage, do ya?"

"I..." Wow. That cut her a little too deeply; just yesterday a smugly-grinning Diamond Tiara had asked her, voice full of put-on innocence, why she was an 'old maid'. She swallowed, reminding herself that Mac's nerves were flayed raw, and he was bound to say some tactless things. "Um. Well, maybe not. But do I know that my parents have been together for almost forty years now. I also know---as does anypony who's ever met them---that they should've divorced long before it got toxic."

Reading Big MacIntosh's guarded face was a fine art, but years of practice made it easy for Cheerilee; the way his eyes unfocused slightly let her know that he agreed with her---albeit reluctantly---at least on that point. Neither of them needed to remind the other of the first disastrous dinner he'd had at her place, back when she was living with her family.

Then he turned his head again. "In places like Sire Flanka an' Marerashtra, most marriages are arranged. An' those types a'marriages almost never end in divorce."

"You've done your homework," she remarked, trying to keep from sounding snide.

"Eeyup."

"But what you apparently skimmed over was the part where it said that arranged marriages are usually betweenv older stallions and young fillies, and that the reason they don't often end in divorce is because of societal taboo---"

"DAMMIT, CHERRILEE!"

It took him a few heaving breaths before he realized that he'd shot up to his hooves, and was now glaring down at his friend. And he'd seen that quick fear that had jolted across her features. Pulling a long, shaky breath, he took a step backwards; he couldn't stand how effortlessly intimidating his size made him sometimes.

"I'm sorry," he said once his heart had stopped pounding enough for his tone to return to normal. "I jes'... you got no idea what I been goin' through here." Then his ears folded back. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that Flim's startin' t'be a bad influence on my sister. The way she's been actin'..."

"And you want her to marry that bad influence?"

"Once she's married, she's..."

Cheerilee just nodded and sat there patiently; she could tell by the way he was moving his lips that he was trying to think of how to put his thoughts into words.

"Once she's married," he finally said, "She'll start a new part a'her life. Sure, she'll still be on the farm, but we'll build her a nice lil' place of her own, y'know, fer... her an' her husband an' the foal." His eyes were beginning to look tired. "She'll have her own family, an' even though she'll always be my baby sister, I won't haveta... always be worryin' about her an' lookin' out fer her..."

He had paused for so long that Cheerilee thought he was finished, but as she was opening her mouth to speak, he managed to get the last thought out: "She wants me t'see her as a grown mare. An' I want that, too. I want her t'be able t'have that. To be happy." Then he flashed her a tight smile. "In the meantime, though, she's been drivin' me crazy."

"Mmm." She brushed a hooftip over the moss. "As much as I love my family, there have been times when I'd have switched sisters with you in a heartbeat."

His smile faded. "I thought Berry was doin' better."

"Yes. Was."

"Oh." All he could think of to say was, again, "I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "It's not your fault."

A soft breeze blew between them, and she lifted a hoof to tuck her mane back in place. After a moment of silence, she began to speak again. "I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean to upset you."

He didn't know what to say. Cheerilee was the youngest of her family; she'd have no idea what it was like to have to take the lead. And she'd never had to make a deathbed promise to take care of the little ones. Even though their relationship was strained, at least her father was still alive.

No, she'd never truly understand.

"I..." he began, his voice trembling. "I nearly k-k-k-killed him."

"What...?"

"I... I..."

His throat felt hot and tight. "He... I nearly killed him."

He couldn't look up. He couldn't---not into her calm green eyes. There was no way he could tell her about the rage he felt; he knew how much it scared her. He wasn't sure if she knew it scared him, too.

"More'n once," he said. His pupils were slowly shrinking, as if the gravity of the situation was dawning on him for the first time. "I... Cheerilee, I almost killed another pony!"

She touched his arm as he took his head in his hooves, pressing his eyes closed. "I coulda landed myself in jail...!"

"Shh, shh." She nestled her muzzle in the space between his yoke and his head, and gave him a peck on the cheek. "The important thing is you didn't."

He remembered the way his sister's scream rang in his ears when he had Flim pinned to the wall. "I came really damn close!"

"But you didn't," she said again. "You're a good stallion, Big MacIntosh. Better than you think. I know that, at the end of the day, you'll do what's right."

He nodded.

"So..." she prompted, "Does what you're doing feel right?"

That caught his attention, and the agonized look on his face fluttered away, turning back into his usual stolid expression.

"Cheery," he said carefully, "I know yer heart's in the right place, but... so is mine. This is jes' somethin' I gotta do."

"I know," she replied as she rose. "Trust me, I know you think marriage is the only solution to an unplanned pregnancy."

"Not the only way," he corrected her, "But it's the best."

Cheerilee tilted her head to the side, squinting up at him. "Really? Was it the best idea sixteen years ago?"

She kept her eyes locked on his, but in her peripheral vision she sensed that Flim had stopped moving. He was a good ten yards away, so chances were he couldn't hear them, but she lowered her voice anyway.

"It didn't work so well that time, did it?"

The back of Mac's mane ruffled up along his neck, and a particularly sour look went across his face. She saw that little flicker between his eyebrows that always signaled she'd pushed it a bit too far.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

Cheerilee knew he'd dodge the nuzzle, but she managed to get her lips up to his ear. "I know you want to right what's wrong, Mac," she sighed. "I've always loved that about you."

When she pulled back again, his eyes shot away from hers---Oh, no. Losing eye contact was not a good sign.

Placing her hoof on his broad barrel, she went on: "I know you want the best for your sister, but... what's under that, Mac? What's underneath all of this?"

He didn't answer.

"It's not going to fix what happened."

His head turned slightly, and saw her looking up at him with a soft sort of sadness he hadn't seen on her face in ages.

"Mac," she said as she touched his shoulder, "This isn't going to bring back the one we lost."

And, just like that, he jerked away. "Enough."

"Hey---!"

"Cheerilee," he pushed out in a sore, tired voice, "You gotta leave now."

She began to speak, but the words seemed to die on the way out. Still staring down at the moss beneath his hooves, he heard her whisper her goodbye, and then closed his eyes as her hoofsteps retreated.

Damnation. The harder I try, the worse it keeps getting...

When he finally lifted his eyes from the ground, they landed on the face he least wanted to see right then. Flim, standing in the pigpen, had folded his forelegs over the fence, his chin resting on top, and he was eyeing Mac with an inscrutible look on his face.

"She seems nice," he said.

"Piss off."

Flim didn't have to look behind him to know that most of the pigs had stopped to listen to the conversation, too. He watched as Big MacIntosh lumbered away, but not back to the apple trees he was harvesting; he stopped at the foot of a yew, a small, slender sapling that couldn't have been more than a few decades old...

When he saw Mac sit down by the daisies at the tree's base, the realization hit him like a slap upside the head:

Sixteen. That tree is sixteen years old.

Applejack hesitated at the bend in the road. The bell had sounded noon as she was packing up to leave, and the amount of unsold wares that had to be put away made her almost ten minutes late to meet up with Flim.

If he's still there.

She scuffed a hoof against the ground, willing herself to press onward. Little by little she was learning to tell the difference between the baby's movements and the nervousness lurching in her stomach...

What if he's not there? What'll I do then?

She licked her dry lips. You'll march yerself on home, that's what you'll do, Applejack. If he's gone, he's g...

He was there.

Applejack couldn't help but grin, especially when she saw him tapping a hoof impatiently against the ground. His mane had gone from wavy to damp and frizzy, which she found strangely endearing---he must've left whatever gunk he used to keep it in place back at the hotel, and in its absence he was beginning to look like a scarecrow.

She must've laughed out loud, because he suddenly looked her way. "Well, it took you long enou---"

SPLAT.

It took them both a few moments to realize what had just happened: one second he was addressing her, and the very next, there was a tomato splattered on his face.

"That must be Ponyville's welcoming committee," he grumbled.

Applejack looked over her shoulder, but the road was deserted. "Where'd that even come from?!"

Wiping the gunk off, Flim pointed up in the air. "I'm guessing it's from your little friend there."

As soon as she saw the shadow bobbing on the ground, her ears curled up against the sides of her head. "Oh no," she whispered. She didn't have to look into the sky to know who was up there.

"I got plenty more where that came from!" Rainbow Dash hollered, readying another tomato. "You sure got some nerve showing your ugly mug around here!"

"I'm the one who shouldn't show my face?" he shot back. "Weren't you the one eating cider out of the dirt?"

That took her aback, but only for a bit. Flushing with anger, Rainbow pointed at the huge bulge in her saddlebag and said "I got a watermelon in here, too! You want that to land on your face, smartass?"

"Hey," Applejack said as she stepped between them.

"You just got lucky on the first shot. Pegasi like you, well, you're like lightning---you can never strike the same place twice!"

"You wanna bet?"

Applejack nervously shifted her eyes from one to the other. "C'mon, now..."

"I sure do! You caught me off-gaurd, but now that I know you're there, I bet I could dodge anything you throw at me!"

"Oh, you are so on!" She hefted the watermelon over her head. "Get ready, 'cause I'm gonna give that shiner of yours a new friend!" The fruit lowered a little as she eyed up her target. "AJ, move outta the way."

Flim scoffed and tossed his head. "Yes, do move aside. A bumbling klutz like her needs as clear a target as poss---"

"STOP IT!"

They both froze as Applejack turned and gave Flim a light smack on his barrel. "You watch what yer sayin' about my friend!"

"Ha!" She tucked the watermelon back in her bag. "You tell him, AJ!"

"An' don't you go flappin' yer lips, either!"

She sighed and readjusted her hat, listening to the sound of Rainbow hovering to the ground. "Look, we're all grown-ups here. Ain't no reason t'go about squabblin' like foals on the schoolyard."

"She started it." And he actually stuck his tongue out.

That almost made her laugh, but all she'd allow was a small smile as she nudged him with her elbow. "C'mon, sugarcube. Let it roll offa yer back."

Rainbow took a stumbling step backward. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"What?"

"Did you just call him..."

The blush hit her like a hard slap. Whoops.

"You just called him 'sugarcube'!" her friend said, her face slack with shock.

"I didn't..." She wasn't sure how to end that sentence. There seemed to be a void in her brain where words usually formed.

Rainbow shoved an accusatory hoof at Flim. "Applejack, I heard you! I heard you say that!"

"I-I didn't mean anything by it," she mumbled to the ground. "It... jes' kinda slipped out..."

The tip of a hoof caught her by the chin, and her head was firmly turned around so she was eye-to-eye with Rainbow. She was expecting some sort of rebuke, but instead the pegasus tilted her head from side to side, carefully examining her face with a theatrically-confused frown. Before Applejack could ask what she was doing, Rainbow dropped her hoof back to the ground and smirked. "Nice try, Chrysalis, but the real Applejack would never say something like that."

A noise of disgust left her nostrils. "Don't even joke!"

"I... think I may have missed a step there," Flim said as he refolded his handkercheif.

"I wasn't talking to you!" She folded her forelegs and turned back to Applejack. "So, you wanna tell me what this is all about?"

"I---" She noticed Rainbow's eyes dart off behind her as Flim's magic crackled, lifting the harness off her back. "I... uh..."

"Okay, let's start with the basics: what is he doing back here?"

She looked to Flim for help, but he just shrugged as if to say 'You're on your own'. She decided to creatively edit out her brother's less-than-legal role in this whole fiasco. "He, uh, he... heard I was pregnant, an' he's... um... he's workin' at Sweet Apple Acres fer the time bein'."

"Uh-huh."

She pressed her lips together. "Y'know I ain't lyin', Rainbow Dash."

"So, what you're telling me is, he just..." Rainbow frowned and waved a hoof as she searched for the right words. "Decided, out of the goodness of his little black heart, to come and work for the ponies who were responsible for his public humiliation?"

Even without looking back at him, she could tell he was trying not to laugh. "Well, it does sound stupid when ya put it that way."

Rainbow began a slow, sly walk up to her. "There's something you're not telling me, Applejack," she said with a grin. "And that means it's gotta be juicy!" She prodded her shoulder. "C'mon! Details!"

"Sorry, Rarity, but there ain't nothin' 'juicy' 'bout this whole situation!"

"Oh yeah?" She took a step closer, eyeing her up and down. "Then why are you blushing?"

Oh, Celestia fucking damn her poker face.

Rainbow watched, amazed, as her friend and one of her many sworn enemies exchanged an awkward, knowing look.

"Why are you blushing?" she repeated.

Applejack crossed her hind legs.

She wasn't allowed enough time to respond; Rainbow's face went from being twisted in confusion to a sudden, sharp realization. She quickly looked from one face to the other, and had to choke back her giggles. "Oh... my... gosh!" she gasped, and slammed both front hooves over her gaping mouth. "You're totally shtupping him, aren't you?!"

"RAINBOW DASH!"

It was too late---she was already on her back, kicking her hooves up and cackling with laughter.

"It's. Not. Funny," she groused, pulling her hat over her face.

"Man oh man," she wheezed as she rolled onto her side, "Sleeping with stallions is bad enough, AJ, but---this one? Ew!"

Applejack glanced at Flim, and for a split-second he looked angry; then his eyes went wide, his mouth curled up, and he burst out laughing.

Rainbow, on the other hoof, had stopped. "Hey, genius, that was a dis. You're not supposed to find it funny."

"It's... not... that!" he managed between snorts of laughter. By this point he was laughing so hard he had to press his shoulder against the side of the cart to keep from collapsing. "I just---Bahahaha! I just figured something out!"

"What...?"

"Why didn't I think of it sooner?" he said, mostly to himself, draping a foreleg over his face. "Of all her friends... Of course it was the rainbow one! Of course it was! Hahahaha!!"

"Great. I'm gonna be hearin' about that later," Applejack said under her breath.

Her friend was gawking at Flim. "Is he making fun of me or is he just crazy?"

"Both. Now, look, I gotta get goin'---"

Again, her face was pulled back around, but this time the look in Rainbow's eyes was one of concern. "AJ," she said quietly, "Talk to me."

"Okay," she said.

"C'mon."

"I'm talkin', ain't I?"

"Yeah, but not enough!" The pegasus looked over her shoulder and frowned as she watched Flim daub the tears out of the corners of his eyes. He was still chuckling to himself. "What in the name of Celestia's holy pink pucker is going on here?"

Applejack grit her teeth. The noonday sun was baking the back of her neck, and her back hurt, and she had to pee, and her little mistake was trying to do yoga inside of her, and she was fucking embarrassed beyond belief. Despite her Earth pony pride, at that very moment, she would have given anything for the ability to teleport somewhere else. Anywhere else.

"Fuck," she muttered.

Flim passed her the canteen, and after a drink, she gave Rainbow the Colt's Notes version. She mentioned the part about her sister's behaviour at school, but skipped Berry's visit, opting instead to recount how Mac had dragged her suitor back to face the music. Using very loose, vague terms, she acknowledged the more physical aspect of their relationship... but was sure to include the part where Flim got doused the morning after. When she was done giving the basics, Rainbow was sitting cross-legged, her chin propped up on a hoof, shaking her head.

"Wow," she said. "You sure are in deep shit, AJ."

"Yer tellin' me."

"Okay. Jeez. I have so many questions I don't even know where to start. One thing I've never understood, though..." Rainbow got back on her hooves, if only to fling one up and down in Flim's direction. "You wanna explain why that's worth getting in trouble over, huh?"

He passed a hoof over his scraggly mane. "It's called raw charisma, featherbrain. You should try it sometime."

She puffed her chest out. "Hey! I got more charisma in my left tit than you do in---"

"Knock it off, now!" Stamping a back hoof made everything slosh around inside her, but she had to make her point. "I am not gonna have you two fightin' like rabid cats out here in the middle of the road!"

"Whose side are you on, anyway?"

"I ain't on a side," she said, rubbing a hoof against the sweat beading on her temples. "I don't want there t'even be sides here."

Rainbow tapped a hooftip against the ground. "Time was, you'd be over here with me throwing rotten food at him, too." She'd been holding it back, but let her mouth crack in a smirk. "Guess things have changed now that you have a crush on him!"

She hadn't stopped blushing, and it just got hotter. "Oh, Rainbow Dash. Really? Sometimes I wonder if yer ever gonna grow up."

"But I'm right, aren't I?"

Applejack quickly looked away, but she'd seen Flim's ears perk up in interest. "He's... growin' on me," she mumbled.

"I'm sure that not the only thing he's doing..." She paused, eyes bugging, as if something had just struck her; it wasn't until she'd lifted her snout to sniff the air that Applejack realized, with a sinking horror, what her friend had noticed.

"Aw, man, AJ!" Rainbow said once she'd caught the scent, "You got it bad!"

"No! No I don't!" she cried. "T'aint nothin'! I'm jes'---That ain't because a'him!"

"Sure it ain't," she said with a snicker.

"Argh!" She ripped her hat off and flung it to the ground in frustration. Some days she could stand Rainbow's teasing, but today she'd long since lost her patience. "I saw Pokey in the market, okay?! That's why I'm all riled up!"

Her jaw snapped shut, but what she'd just said hung ominously in the air. She slowly turned to look at Flim, and met his surprised look with an apologetic expression. "I-I'm sorry, sugarcube. I jes'..."

"Hey!" Rainbow pressed her shoulder against her friend's. "You don't have to apologize to him. He doesn't own you, y'know."

"Flim," Applejack said with a strained smile, "Couldja maybe start headin' on back?"

He returned Rainbow's glare. "Gladly."

"I'll catch up."

He reached up to his head, remembered he wasn't wearing his hat, and turned the gesture into a half-bow instead. Rainbow was shaking her head as she watched him leave, and waited for Applejack to dust her hat off and replace it before starting the trot towards Sweet Apple Acres.

"So... this is really happening? Big Mac's not letting up with the whole marriage idea?"

"Nope," she said gruffly.

"Jeez. I always thought he was easygoing," she remarked. "I had no idea he'd stick to his guns like that. I mean... Heh." She grinned sheepishly. "Guess that wasn't the best choice of words."

"Speakin' a'which, can y'keep that part between us?" Applejack said. "I really don't want him gettin' in any trouble."

"AJ, right now, everypony's in trouble." She landed in front of her so they were facing, forcing Applejack to stop. "Have you tried talking to him about it?"

Wow, thanks! I never woulda thought a'tryin' that! What a great idea! She squeezed her eyes shut. No. This wasn't the time for sarcasm. "Yeah. Nothin' I say'll change his mind."

She nodded, tapping at her chin, and floated beside Applejack as she began to walk again.

"I mean, I've seen him actin' stubborn before, but this has gotta be a record or somethin'. He's been drivin' me crazy!" She clucked her tongue as she frowned at the dirt trail. "When he gets an idea in his head, it's like a boa constrictor on a stuck pig---there's jes' no gettin' it back out. He figures this'll be good fer me, an'---dammit, he's got no idea what I'm goin' through!"

Once she was sure the little rant was over, Rainbow asked "Has he picked a date?"

"Uh-huh. As soon as the courthouse opens."

"Oh wow. No dress? No cake, no flowers, nothing?"

"I got a dress," she said reluctantly. "But aside from that, it ain't gonna be much of a party. Pinkie's gonna be cryin' fer all the wrong reasons."

"Y'know, I always pictured you to be the type who'd want a big wedding." She was looking at the sky with a strange smile on her face. "You'd invite your whole family, and there'd be a huge buffet with all these Apple family goodies on it, maybe hire a band, have a hoedown---"

Her ear twitched at the quiet noise that came from Applejack's pinched throat. Judging from the pained look on her friend's face, she'd hit it a little too on the nose.

"So, uh---Think he'll listen to me?"

"Nope." She wasn't even sure if the two of them had had a conversation before. "I asked Cheerilee, an' if she can't get him t'change his mind, nopony can."

"This sounds like a job for Cadence."

"Fer a second there I thought you were gonna say Daring Do," she said with a wry grin. "I thought a'that too, actually. But..." Twilight's explanation had already popped up in her head. "Candence's magic can't force two ponies t'fall in love; she jes' brings out the feelings they already had."

"But you do have feelings for him, right?"

"Not gonna marry him," she said flatly. "But unless we can figure out howta change my brother's mind, that's what's gonna happen."

The conversation lulled there for a few long minutes. They'd almost caught up to Flim when Rainbow suddenly broke the silence, loud and sharp enough to make Applejack jump, and clapped a hoof on her shoulder: "Wait!"

"What? Jeez, what?!"

She was rubbing her front hooves together as if she was plotting to take over Equestria. "...Maybe we don't have to change his mind."

"I don't follow."

"You've been to a lot of weddings, right?"

Considering the size of the Apple family, there was at least one a year. She couldn't travel to all of them, but she'd made the majority. "A'course."

"Well, what does the official say right before they pronounce them married?"

"Uh, I think it's called an officiant, and..." It took her a few seconds to scour her brain for the answer. "It's somethin' like 'If anypony present knows why these two should not marry'---"

"'Speak now, or forever hold your peace'! Bingo!" she said, and pounded her hoof in the air. "That's it, babe! That's your ticket out!"

She hadn't noticed her hindlegs had buckled until her rump hit the ground. "Wow," she breathed.

Rainbow did a triumphant loop. "See? Isn't it brilliant?"

But suddenly the warm happiness blooming inside her went cold. "I can't do that," she said with a dejected sigh. "My brother'll never forgive me."

"You don't have to do it, dummy. I'll do it."

Applejack shook her head. Sometimes she thought that hope was a dangerous thing, because the pain was worse when it was snatched away than when it was never there to begin with. "No, you can't either. If you tell a whole courthouse what Big Mac did, he'll get arrested."

"Oh, AJ." She chuckled and gave her a reassuring nuzzle. "I wouldn't tell them that."

"But you gotta have a better reason than jes' 'They ain't in love'! It's gotta stick!"

"This is Flim we're talking about," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure we can find some dirt on him."

There it was again, that flutter of hope. She tried not to cling to it too hard. "Is it legal? I mean, would that get me outta marrying?"

"I dunno, but I'm seeing Twilight later---she'd know, and even if she doesn't, I'm sure I'll leave with a huge pile of law books."

Before Rainbow could move out of her reach, Applejack's foreleg shot out, and she caught her friend's hoof with her own. "You'd do that?" she whispered, her eyes shining. "Fer me?"

Her free hoof came to rest on the side of Applejack's head, and she gently stroked the blonde mane. "Of course," she said, "But it's for the rest of us, too. Celestia knows we don't wanna become 'The Elements of Harmony... and him'."

Applejack laughed as she was pulled into a hug. "Aw, thank ya so much, Rainbow!"

"Anytime. Listen," she said, her hooves on Applejack's arms, "I got some stuff I need to do, but if I think of something, I'll swing by and let you know. Sound good?"

She beamed. "Perfect."

Rainbow leaned forward and reached around her again, but instead of another hug, her hooves worked down to Applejack's belly, which got an affectionate pat. "Cool. See you two later!"

Her mane and tail billowed back from the gust the sudden takeoff left in its wake. Watching her friend's signature colours streak away across the sky, Applejack raised a hoof to her cheek and smiled, touching the warm spot left there.

"Is she gone?"

She glanced at Flim, and immediately stopped smiling. Even though it had only taken a split-second, she was sure he'd seen Rainbow kiss her. "Yeah, she's gone."

"Good."

"So long as y'stay here, I don't want you fightin' with my friends," she said curtly as she trotted up beside him.

He laughed. "I'm sure I can find it in my 'little black heart' to be courteous to her."

Applejack chewed on her lip. "Aw, shucks. I'm sorry about that. She can be kinda... blunt sometimes."

"No wonder you two get along so well." His eyes lit up. "Speaking of which..."

She groaned through her teeth. Here it comes.

"How far did you get with her?"

"I already told you. Nothin' happened. A'n even if somethin' did happen, I wouldn't tell you!"

"Hey," he said playfully. "If you get to fantasize about somepony else, so do I."

The tips of his tail stroked across her cutie mark, and Applejack's blush deepened. He had her there. Well, might as well let the baby have his bottle.

"I..." She cleared her throat. "Okay, look. After you, I was so put off stallions---any stallion---that I was willin' to try anthying."

"Oh?"

"She... We were jes' talkin'..."

The memory flooded back over her, and Applejack felt a little shiver go up her spine. She couldn't believe she was actually saying this, let alone with a stallion gawking at her. "She was lyin' next t'me on my bed, an'... she started kissin' my neck..."

Despite herself, she felt a couple of winks squeezing against her clit. Rainbow had been so skillful... and gentle...

"At first I thought she was jes' jokin' around, but then she lay herself on top a'me an', um, I could tell..."

"You could tell what?"

"That she was already, uh, really excited," she said without meeting his gaze. "She bit my ear, jes' how I like it, an' then moved down my body, pressin' little kisses against me, an'... I, uh... I was kinda embarrassed 'cause, I mean, I hadta admit it did feel good..."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Flim's gait change from normal trotting to a kind of loping. Apparently he was enjoying the story. The slap of his member against his belly snapped her out of her reverie, and she shoved him. "You pervert! Gah, why am I even tellin' ya this?!"

Flim kissed her cheek. She didn't stop scowling, but she didn't pull away, either. "Because I asked you nicely, and you're indulging me."

"Well, that's it. Storytime's over."

"That's where it ended?" He sighed. "You're right. That was disappointing."

"Uh, not exactly..."

"Really? Well then, keep going!" he said, his voice dripping with enthusiasm.

She could still remember the way her chest was heaving as she stared up at the waterspot on her ceiling, her hooves gripping painfully at the sheets to keep them from moving to caress Rainbow's mane. "So, she was kissin' my belly, an' I could tell she was headin' fer the Diner Down South... y'know, most a'the time, I woulda felt funny about that. But I didn't make a move t'stop her." She paused, looking over at him. "Is that weird?"

"Not in the slightest."

"But---I hadta stop her a minute later."

"Why?"

Applejack looked him in the eyes. "She rubbed my stomach and said 'Hey there, kiddo!'. I was two weeks in, an'---it... scared the daylights outta me."

Sweet Apple Acres was on the horizon, and they came to a stop a few yards from the property line. Putting his arm around her, Flim said in a surprisingly compassionate tone "Would you have let her keep going if she hadn't done that?"

"I dunno," she said as she moved her tail away from where it had gotten matted against her hindquarters.

The action wasn't lost on him. "Are you getting... how did you put it? 'Riled up' again?"

"Are you kiddin'?" she said with a toothy grin. "I been 'riled up' since nine this mornin'."

He nipped at her ear and whispered "You must introduce me to this Pokey fellow."

"Why? You gonna fight fer my honour or somethin'?"

"Maybe I just want to see what kind of stallion turns your head."

"Flim," she said before she could stop herself, "You turned my head."

The blushed in unison.

"...Really?"

She rubbed the spot on her belly that had just been kicked. "Now I know yer fishin' fer compliments."

"No I'm not! It's just... I'm surprised you'd find me attractive." He smiled ruefully. "It's not like I've never looked in a mirror, sweetheart."

"Well, you got raw charisma," she said with a laugh, and ran her hoof through his mane. "Although yer lookin' kinda frizzy at the moment."

"I had to have another dip in the river before I came to get you," he explained. "The W---your brother made me clean the pigpen."

"You better be glad it wasn't the outhouse." After checking to make sure the coast was clear, she held a foreleg up to their left. "Y'see that tree over there, the one with a big scar on the South side where a brach snapped off?"

Squinting, he put a hoof over his eyes to block out the sun. "The one by the clearing?"

"Uh-huh."

Flim let out a gutteral noise when he felt a light scrape of teeth against his throat. The pinching little love bite ended, and a grinning Applejack added "Meet me there after you put the cart away. An' make it snappy, buster!" That last word ended with a slap to his cutie mark.

"Yes, ma'am!" he said, saluting.

"Hmm... I like it when you call me that," she said over her shoulder.

His eyes were on her ass as she sauntered away. "I bet you do."

Once he'd made it back to the indicated tree, he saw that Applejack had opened a trapdoor that hadn't been visible from his earlier vantage point---and she was giggling as if there was buried treasure under her hooves.

"C'mon," she said as she headed down into the cool, damp air. She was used to the creaky staircase, but it took Flim a little longer to navigate the unreliable wooden boards. When he got to the bottom, Applejack was almost bouncing in place, her tail swishing back and forth in excitement.

Scanning the dusty walls, he tried not to frown in disappointment. "I must say, I've never seen anypony get this worked up over a few jars of jam before."

"This here's our root cellar."

He took a step towards her and nearly tripped over a protruding root. "And?"

"Granny does most of her preservin' in the Spring," she said as she trotted back and forth, her tail still twitching, "An' we don't usually need 'em 'til the Fall."

"So?" he said as he watched her increasingly-erratic movements.

"So..."

She turned her back to him and, folding her forelegs, dropped her front half to the dirt floor. "Nopony comes down here in the summer." She kicked her hind hooves as far apart as she could, and purred "Down here, well... It's real private."

Flim grinned when her tail flagged up and over her back. "My, my! Are you trying to seduce me?"

She pushed out a hard wink. "That depends. Is it workin'?"

Instead of answering, he grabbed her by the cutie marks and pressed his muzzle into her folds. With a shriek of laughter, Applejack pushed back against him, her hips jutting up and down, and keened when she felt his wet tongue-tip sliding back and forth across her clit.

"Aw, yeah!"

The smacking sound his mouth made when it parted from her pussy made her shudder. "How do you want it this time?" he said, his breath blowing against her sex.

"Rut me," she moaned, rubbing her cheek into the floor. "Oh, Flim. Fuck me."

"As you wish," he said under his breath, and slowly ran the flat of his tongue up from her thick lips to her ass. The ring of muscle twitched a bit under the flickering caress, and then she felt a whoosh of air seperating them. Before she could complain, the air eased out of her lungs as Flim's weight settled on her back.

"Rough?"

"Please."

He snagged a clump of her mane in his teeth, and pressed forward. His flare snuggled itself between her wet lips, and with a fluid thrust, he was inside her.

"Hnng!" Applejack threw her head back and wrapped her tail around his body. "Yeah, jes' like that!"

Loathe as she was to admit it, sometimes she did fantasize about other ponies when she was making love. This wasn't one of those times. The hard, brutal thrusts inside her were so hot they burned her mind bare, and all she could do was lie there, dribbling and moaning more wantonly than when she was in the worst of her heats. Pokey's chiseled physique might have gotten her wet, but the only stallion on her mind now was the one atop her...

"Flim! Please!"

"Argh, dammit!" he said, letting her spit-soaked mane fall back to her neck. "Oh, Applejack, you have the sweetest pussy I've ever..."

He didn't get a chance to finish. "Ooh..." That came out between giggles. She grabbed one of the legs wrapped around her waist and brought it around to the bottom of her belly. "Feel that?"

Flim pressed his frog against her hide, and gasped. How could he not feel it? Her whole abdomen was quivering, undulating in and out from the flurry of kicks.

"I don't think the baby likes this much!" she laughed.

"Ha!" He tried to soothe the foal by rubbing up and down, but the onslaught continued. "Feels like it's having its first temper tantrum!"

"You should feel it from my side," she said, and pressed back against him when she felt the movement of his hips get jerky and erratic. As close as she was, she made a concerted effort to keep her grip on him slack---no way would she let him finish before her. Not again.

Flim's hoof moved from her belly to her teats, which made her head whip around. "Ah! C-careful! They're real tender!"

She let out a squeak when his hooftip brushed against her button---no, not quite on it, but just grazing over the hood. Her first lover, that clumsy oaf, had been a pegasus, but every colt and stallion she'd had between him and Flim had all been Earth ponies; her body was more attuned to the feeling of direct contact than it was to magic, and knowing he'd chosen to do that, to touch her so intimately, made her coo with pleasure. Even the fierce kicking inside her couldn't take away from that, and she let out a throaty moan when he took her ear between his teeth. Flim's cock slid back out, and then he slammed inside her so hard the foal jolted forward.

"Ah, piss!" she swore. "Y'made her move inside me!"

"What?"

She lifted a hindleg. "Argh, she kicked me in the lungs!"

He pulled out halfway. "Wh... 'she'? It's a 'she'?"

Closing her eyes, Applejack let out a long, keening breath.

"It's a 'she'?" he repeated.

The cock teasing at the edge of her body was making blood pound in her ears, but Applejack willed herself to suck the air back in her lungs. "Eeyup."

He pushed forward, but not enough to satisfy her. "How do you know?!"

"A... friend a'mine told me." That sounded weak, so she added "She's got a gift fer that kinda thing."

They stayed like that for a full minute, his prick pulsing against her, and finally, finally he slid up inside her again. "Oh, sweetheart," he hissed against her ear, "We're having a daughter?"

"We got ourselves a filly," she answered, and let her laugh ring out when he began tickling his hooftip across her side.

"A little girl..." he murmured.

"Tell ya what," she said with a push against him, "Howsabout we go back to focusing on me, hm?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said, and snatched her tail with his magic; he draped it over his shoulder, brushed her mane to the side, and sunk his teeth into a spot he knew she could easily hide. That made her smile---that first night together he couldn't have cared less about how many visible marks he left on her.

With one hoof he pried her cheek to the side, and then rubbed the underisde of the other against her ass. He couldn't penetrate her there, of course, but the kneading pressure against her muscle was enough to send shivers up her spine. She grinned around the lip she was biting. Maybe she'd let him in back there sometime...

The side of her face was getting gritty from rubbing on the floor, and as she was moving to switch to the other side Flim yanked up on the scruff of her neck, making her lift her head. "Hhng!"

"You 'ike 'at?" he grunted through the furry mouthful.

"Ye-e-e-e-ESSS!" She could feel him grinding his teeth, and the tiny spikes of pain rippled through the pleasure.

He let go, and laved his tongue over the reddening spot. "Think your friend would like to join us?"

"Don't make me haveta hurt you." It was hard to try to snarl when laughing.

"Oh, don't be such a---Ah!---stick in the mud," he said, nibbling along her jawline. "Mmm...I'd love to watch you preen her. Do you think she...unh... has sensitive wings?"

"You have no idea."

Applejack chortled when she felt him startle. "Wh---I was kidding! You've actually preened her?!"

"Naw. But she got loaded at a party a few months ago... Oooh." She could tell by the twitching in her pussy that she'd have to get this thought out fast before she lost the ability to speak normally. "Hah-aah! An' she told us about how this old friend a'hers would... mmm... groom her, an'... They ended up bein' way more'n jes' friends---"

"Ooh, oh shit. Tha-that's it," he panted, "I'm not gonna last long!"

After a quick snap of magic, he began frantically pulling on her clit, and Applejack giggled into her folded forelegs. Good boy. She arched her back so that his chin was resting on her head, moaning as she felt his chest heaving against her, his breath making her bangs flutter. Remarkable---he still was able to focus enough to time his movements, pulling up on her clit when he slid back, then dropping it so that his balls would slap up against it the next second. It was definitely having the desired effect.

"Nnng, ah, AAH!" Her knees were getting rubbery. "H-hold me close..."

His arms went around her and he hugged her from behind, tucking his head around so that he could kiss her on the corner of her mouth. The sides of their faces were pressed together as she began trembling violently, slipping around in his sweaty embrace, crying out through her climax. It wasn't the brain-melting multiple orgasms he'd given her before, but it was lovely---the warm, aching release of half a day's worth of pent-up frustration. A few seconds later he came too, letting his tense neck slump down against her.

"Applejack..." he breathed.

"You sure... know..." She squirmed a little when she felt his semen trickling down her leg. "How... howta show a gal... a good time."

And with a crash, a jar of Zap apple jam flew from the shelf.

"Gyah!"

She jerked her hips forward, jolting him loose. "What didya do that for?!"

Flim had frozen in place, staring at the smashed glass. "I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

"No, I didnt!" he insisted.

As she flopped down to the ground, Applejack set her jaw and turned back towards him. "I know y'did, Flim!"

"Did you see my horn light up?"

"I had my back to you, stupid!"

He stomped in exasperation. "Well did you hear a crackle? Smell ozone? See my magic on the jar?"

"No, but..."

Sitting down weakly, he pushed the stray strands of hair off his forehead and snapped "Then how could I have done that?"

She had to pause to catch her breath. True, she hadn't seen his aura around the jar, but there had been something: out of the corner of her eye, she'd seen a spark. Not a green one, but a spark nonetheless. "I don't care how y'did it---I jes' know you did! Yer the only unicorn here!"

When she rolled onto her back to look at him, she was surprised to see how wide his eyes were. It looked like something amazing had just dawned on him.

"You know, sweetheart," he said, "I... don't think I am."

"Huh?"

"I don't think I am the only unicorn in this room," he finished, beaming.

"What d'you mean by---"

With impeccable timing, a tiny hoof jolted against her stomach.

Applejack's eyes shot down to where her foal had kicked her, and then, slowly, very slowly, they traced back up to meet her lover's.

"No," she whispered.

"Yes!" he said triumphantly, and bent down to hug her. It was easy to pull her body up to meet his, since she'd gone as limp as a ragdoll. "It's---she's a unicorn!"

"No! It can't be!" She yanked back and grabbed his shoulders, her face full of terror. "Flim, no! I can't---I can't do this!"

"What do---"

"I don't know how to raise a unicorn!!" she wailed, and crumpled in his arms. He quickly began to shush her, but she was already bawling.

"I d-don't know how..." she sobbed. "An' she... she's already castin' spells, I... what..."

He rocked her back and forth, slowly stroking her mane. "Ssh. It'll pass soon."

"What'll pass?!"

"The pre-natal casting. It'll pass. It's just a phase the fetus goes through when the horn is forming, that's all."

She snuffled, and leaned back so that her nose wouldn't drip on his chest. "How do you know?"

He chuckled. "My sister told me what our mother had to go through when she was pregnant with us. That's how they figured out she was going to have twins---each fetus tends to do something different, and one of us kept slamming the doors, while the other cracked glass. We never did figure out who did what." Moving his hoof to her belly, he added "This one likes throwing things around, I guess. I just didn't know it would happen this soon."

Applejack nodded numbly. She recalled how, a good two years ago, Pinkie had excitedly told her that Sugarcube Corner was "haunted". Glasses and bottles kept tipping over and spilling. At the time she'd written it off as Pinkie being Pinkie, but now it didn't seem so crazy after all. Had Mrs. Cake known this about unborn unicorns?

Then a horrible thought hit her, hard. "Flim, what if she teleports? What if she teleports right outta my body?! She ain't big enough t'live out here on her own! She'll d---"

"No," he interrupted her. "No, that won't happen." They'd been facing each other, but now he moved her so that he was cradling her body, her head resting on his shoulder. "Trust me, teleportation is a spell you have to learn how to cast, and it's so difficult a lot of adult unicorns aren't able to do it. She'll stay safe in here," he reassured her, patting her rounded stomach.

Her hoof joined his on her swell. "Really?"

"Really."

"But... I don't know how to raise a unicorn," she repeated.

"And I don't know how to raise a filly, but we'll figure it out."

She blinked the last of the tears out of her eyes, and let him wipe them off her cheeks. "'We'?"

"Yes," he said. He kissed his lover, then where his daughter was resting. "We'll figure it out together."

Author's Notes:

Again, I did some research for this... Guess what a yew tree symbolizes!

Oh, and part of this chapter was inspired by this image: