Here on your cloud perch, you could see the entire beach and the waters below. You were supposed to be keeping an eye on all the beach-going ponies, but you couldn’t focus on your job. Your mind kept wandering.

Why did that feel so weird? I mean… She wasn’t trying to kiss me. She was stopping the bleeding…

Your reasoning didn’t stop you from blushing when you remembered how warm her breath was against your face. You try to shake the feeling out of your head and bury your face in the cloud.

I am not interested in Applejack! So what if she’s strong? And her accent is so adorable? And she’s super talented? And cute? And strong? And… And…

“Oh dear Celestia…” you mumble into the cloud “I’ve got a crush on her...”

You could feel the blood rush to your face as you finally accept the fact; you were in love with another mare.

Rolling onto your back, you look up to the sky, wondering what do next.

Okay, so I’m interested in AJ. But what now? I mean, she didn’t seem like she was into girls… But then again I didn’t think I was... Maybe I should ask her.

Playing back what you just thought you put a hoof to your face and sigh heavily, just now realizing just how complicated things could get.

And how am I supposed to find out? ‘Hey AJ, do you like candy va-‘

You’re cut off mid-thought by a high pitched screaming, immediately setting off alarm bells. You scan the waters quickly and find the source of the screaming; a little pink filly had drifted too far out and got caught up in the current. Jumping off from your cloud, you dive towards her as fast as you can. Halfway into your dive bomb, the filly’s head goes under the water. Prepared for this kind of situation, you tuck your wings in, streamline your body, and brace for impact with the water.

The water breaks and allows you passage with ease.

It only takes a second for you to find your bearings and catch a glimpse of the tiny unicorn flailing to get back to the surface. Reaching a hoof out, you just barely grab a hold of her and begin to drag her to the surface. You falter for a second when her flailing causes a hoof to connect with your chest, almost making you breathe in saltwater. Finally breaking the surface, you take a deep breath and turn to the filly.

“Calm down kid, I got you! I got you!”

The filly stops splashing and looks to you in wild eyed terror. “DON’T LET ME GO! DON’T LET ME GO!” she cries as she wraps her hooves around your neck.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” you sputter out, her grip just a bit too tight.

Paddling to shore, you see the sight that made this job all worthwhile: the mother and father of the little filly, holding each other in tears of happiness. As soon as you touch sand, the filly lets go and rushes to her parents, who are just overjoyed to see their child safe.

“Oh thank you!” the mother cries.

“You were off like a shot at the first sign of trouble! We can never repay you!” the father says as he shakes your hoof.

“It’s no trouble at all, really,” you say bashfully “it’s my job, after all.”

You wave goodbye as the parents and child take off towards the Coco Cabana Hotel.

“Still one heck of a job, sugarcube! How’d you learn to swim like that?”

All at once, that familiar southern drawl makes you melt and lose every once of social grace you had.

“O-oh! AJ! Hi! Y-You saw that, huh? I-It’s nothing special, really. I-I just sort of taught myself as I went along,” you say as you look down and away, feeling your face go flush at the praise.

“That’s really somethin’!” Applejack says as she creeps on you. You take a tentative step back, hoping she didn’t notice your blush.

“Well...Yeah, I guess it is.”

“So uhh... Can I ask you for a favor?” she asks with a nervous smile.

“W-What kind of favor?”

By now, your heart is beating in your chest and a lump is forming in your throat.

“W-Well... It’s kinda embarrassing, actually... I... I never learned how to swim,” she says, sounding quite ashamed.

Your ears perk up and you manage to regain your composure. “Oh really? Well, we can’t have that now, can we? I could teach you.”

Applejack’s eyes light up “Would’ya please? Big Macintosh has always teased me how I never learned and it'd be sweet payback if I could show him up next time we’re at the swimmin’ hole.”

“Sure, I’d be happy to!” you say ecstatically “Meet me at my secret spot in like half an hour! I need to grab something.”

“Alright-y then! I’ll see ya there!”

Springing yourself into the sky, you make your way towards your own little grass hut, grinning from ear to ear.

Oh boy, oh boy! This is great! I can spend some quality time with her, one on one! And I know the perfect way to find out if she’s interested...

Landing on your doorstep, you burst in and rush towards your dresser and fling open your special drawer. “Where did I put it... Where... A HA!”

Holding up the piece of clothing, you couldn’t help but smile.

If she’s interested... She’ll look

Hovering over your secret spot, you try your best to contain giddiness when you see Applejack approach from the forest.

“Oh, hey Applejack~” you say as you touch down in front of her.

Applejack doesn’t notice you as she hangs her hat up on a nearby branch. “Oh hey-” she stops dead in her tracks when she finally gets a look of what you’re wearing; your old athletic swimsuit. It was just a single blue one piece suit that covered your torso and had two holes in the back for your wings. You’ve grown a bit since you last put it on and it’s become quite a tight fit, but that was the point. It hugged and clung to just the right places to drive the boys wild. And maybe even her wild.

“What do you think AJ? I managed to find my old bathing suit I wore in swim-school and what do you know? It still fits.”

“Are you sure it’s not a little...tight?” Applejack asks as you walk by her, making sure your tail just barely touches her chin.

Is she looking? Oh, I don’t want to look back and catch her looking or it could get really awkward.

“Oh no, not at all.” you say as you tug at the hem of the swimsuit. Truth be told, it was a tad tight, but you couldn’t back out now “So! How about those swimming lessons?”

“Sure! Where do we start?”

With a flick of the tail, you toss Applejack a pair of goggles. “First, put these on.”

She looks at the goggles quizzically, then to you. “What are these fer?”

“The sea has salt in it and can really hurt your eyes. The goggles help.” you say as you snap on your own pair.

“Make sense.” she says as she puts them on.

“Alright, now that’s out of the way, how strong a swimmer are you? Can you horsie paddle?”

Applejack shakes her head “I’m ‘fraid not. Truth be told, getting in water above ma head sort of freaks me out...”

“Well, we’ll have to start right at the beginning then; floating.” climbing into the water, you start to wade out into deeper waters, but stop when the water comes up to your withers. “Come on in, the water is fine!”

Applejack slowly makes her way into the water and wades up in front of you. “Okay... This ain’t so bad.”

“Well, we haven’t even gotten into the good stuff yet. Grab a hold of me.”

“Beg pardon?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.

“You gotta get the feel for floating first. Just put your hoofs on my shoulders.”

“I...I don’t know about all this...” she says, glancing back towards shore.

Putting a hoof on Applejack’s cheek, you bring her to face yours. “Do you trust me?”

Applejack opens her mouth to say something, but instead closes it and draws close to you. Slowly, she puts her hoofs on your shoulders and gives you a nod. Taking a deep breath, you unfurl your wings and beat them under the water. Slowly, you begin to move Applejack into deeper waters, much to her displeasure.

“W-What happens if I can’t keep ma head above water?” she asks nervously.

“You’re less than a foot away from a lifeguard, you'll be fine. ”

Applejack lets out a nervous laugh as soon as she realizes she isn’t touching bottom anymore. “Promise?”

“I promise.”

You and Applejack float like that in silence for a few moments, until you finally speak up.

“Are you ready to go under?”

Applejack’s jaw almost unhinges. “U-U-Under? As in, under the water?”

“Where else? You ready? One...”

“Listen sugarcube, I’m starting to have second thoughts about all this and-”

“Two...”

Applejack enters full freak-out mode at this moment. “Wait! Wait! Lemme just-”

“Three!

Drawing your wings back in, you’re no longer buoyant enough to support yourself and Applejack, causing you and her to dip underneath the water. Only after a second under the water, you unfurl your wings again and kick your hind legs, bringing you and Applejack back to the surface.

“W-Wh*cough*Why did ya do that?”

“To get you used to being below the water. You ready this time? We’re going deeper.”

Applejack starts to protest, but before she can, you take her below the water again, this time for two seconds. You repeat this process until you’re under for so long, you and Applejack touch bottom. Looking to her, you hoped she would enjoy the beauty of undersea life as much as you did. As soon as she opened her eyes. She must haven’t been too keen about being at least ten feet beneath the water. You start tapping her on the shoulder until she finally opens her eyes and looks around her. The light filtering from above was more than enough to illuminate the ocean floor and all of its wonders. Applejack stared on in amazement as a school of brightly colored school of fish swam around you, occasionally stopping to inspect you before swimming off. Tapping her shoulder again, you point up and she finally notices the sea turtle swimming over head. A strained look comes across Applejack’s face and she begins pointing for the surface. You forget that not everypony had the lung capacity you do and begin to make your way to the surface with her. As soon as you hit air, she takes a deep breath and laughs. “That was amazing! I mean, there were fishes and turtles and all these weird plants! It’s like a whole ‘nother world down there!”

“I take it deep water doesn’t freak you out as much anymore?”

“Not at all! What do we do next?” Applejack asks enthusiastically.

“You do know what the horsie-paddle is, right?”

“Just kicking your hooves, right?”

“Good!” you say as you grab a hold of her front hooves “Just start kicking.”

“W-wait, what are you doing?!?”

Slowly, but surely, you push yourself away from Applejack and towards shore.

“Come on, you can do it! Just kick your hooves!”

Applejack starts to flail violently as she learns she no long has anything supporting her. “Wait! Wait! Th-Th-” Her head goes under water for a second, making your heart skip a beat.

“Are you okay?!?”

“Yeah! Yeah! I think I’m gettin’ the hang of it!” she says as her kicks start to become less frantic. You started to smile proudly as Applejack slowly, but surely gets the hang of the horsie paddle. Some called this kind of teaching cruel, but it was the most effective. Every creature naturally knows how to swim; it’s the threat of drowning that teaches them.

“Hey, this is actually fun!” Applejack says as she begins to paddle around you.

“Congratulations AJ, you can swim now!”

Applejack stops paddling when the realization hits her, causing her to sink for second. “Well shoot, yer right! I didn’t even notice. Just feels so natural, ya know?”

“Yeah... It does, doesn’t it?” you say as you switch to floating on your back.

Applejack watches you do this and attempts it herself, only to get a snout full of water when her face goes below the water.

You do your best to stifle a laugh. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine... But I think I’m done fer today.” she says as she makes her way towards shore.

Your heart sinks a bit. You really did enjoy your time with her today.

“You comin’?” Applejack asks as she shakes herself dry.

Your ears ears perk up. “Uh... Where?”

“Well, I’m hungry now and feel like hittin’ up someplace fer some grub. I hoped you’d join me.”

You start grinning from ear to ear and hop out of the water. “Sure! I know of this awesome outdoor bar and grill that sells these kabobs that are to die for!”

“Sounds good, sugarcube!”

“Oh and we definitely need to get a mojito while we’re there!”

“Sure, whatever those are.”

Applejack tries to stop giggling as she tells her story, but she just can’t. “And flying her upside down, me still tiny, me and Rainbow crash through Zecora’s front door and tore through her house! I mean, I still feel awfully bad for treatin’ her like I did ‘fore I got to know her, but I still crack up when I think of what it must of looked like to see a pegasus flying upside down around your home and an inch high pony tryin’ to wrestle yer ear!”

You stifle a laugh as you swallow what’s left of your grilled veggie kabob. “Glad there’s no poison joke around here... Or parasprites. That would definitely put a damper on all this summertime fun.”

The bar was mostly empty, being just a little too early for the usual crowd.

“That it would. Mighty peaceful ‘round here... Hey, what’ya call this thing again?” she asked as she held up her empty glass.

“Mojito. It’s white rum, sugar cane juice, lime juice, sparkling water and mint.”

“Not bad, not bad... I gotta remember that when I get back home. ‘Cept hard cider instead’a rum.”

You droop a bit in your seat at the mention of AJ leaving. It’s only been a couple days and she was already thinking about home. “Yeah... Ho-ow many of those have you had, AJ?”

“Oh, not that much. Three... Maybe four.” she says with a giggle.

Upon closer inspection, you begin to notice she looked just a little tipsy. “Uh, Applejack? I think it’s time we head out...”

You reach for your purse to pay the bill, but find it absent. Oh no, I didn’t grab it because this swimsuit doesn’t have pockets.

“Uh, just put it on my tab, okay?”

The barman gives you a nod. “Sure, sweetheart. I know you’re good for it.”

“Thanks.”

You reach a hoof out towards Applejack for support. “Lemme take you back to the hotel.”

“Aw horsefeathers!” she says as she gets off of the barstool “I’m fi-”

As soon as her hooves touch solid ground, she topples down in a heap, cursing under her breath. Helping her up, you don’t say anything and settle for just a stern look. Applejack just stares back, but finally lets out a defeated sigh.

“Fine, fine. Let’s go back.”

The sun sets as you walk along the dirt road to the hotel. At first, you’re walking by her side, but when Applejack almost stumbles into a palm tree, you figure the best way to stop this is to fly directly above her and guide her when she veered off course. It took twenty minutes more than it usually takes to get back to the Coco Cabana Hotel. As soon as you get to the entrance, you let her go and watch to make sure she makes it inside. Applejack stumbles towards the front door of the hotel, but stops and walks back towards you.

“Thanks sugarcube... Fer everything. You’ve been real sweet to me. So in case I ain’t said it already, thanks.”

You watch on in surprise as Applejack draws closer to you and plants a kiss on your cheek, making you blush deeply. Applejack doesn’t seem to notice in her drunken haze and makes her way back to her hotel room.

“Goodnight!”

She yells as she walks into the lobby.

“Goodnight...”

Just as you turn around, you find yourself face to face with a bluish-purple unicorn, who was looking at you sternly.

“Oh! Uh, hi Violet.”

“Hi,” she says flatly “how was your break?”

“My break? Oh, it was-” you realize in all of a moment that you walked off from your post without a word. “OHMYGOSH VIOLET, I’M SO SORRY, IT’S JUST MY NEW FRIEND AJ WANTED ME TO TEACH HER TO SWIM AND I DID AND THEN WE WENT OUT FOR SOME FOOD AND DRINKS AND I AM SO SORRY!”

Violet chuckles at your panicked display and puts a hoof on your shoulder. “It’s no biggie. I can’t stay mad at you. If you wanted the day off, you could have at least said so.”

“Oh Violet, I’m so sorry. You had to cover mine and your shift! That must have been brutal! I gotta make it up to you! I’ll cover your shift tomorrow so you can have the day off. Fair is fair.”

“Great! Just as long as we got everything squared away.” Violet says happily “You heading home?”

“Yeah.”

“Mind if I walk with you?”

“Sure.”

You and Violet walk back the way you came for around five minutes in silence, leaving you to relive Applejack’s sweet goodnight kiss. That is, until Violet speaks up.

“So, that Applejack seems like a great pony.”

“Yeah... She is.”

“You know, there’s supposed to be a concert featuring that band you always go on about... Maybe you could take her on a date.”

Your jaw hangs slack at the news. “Sublime is here in Summerset Keys?!? When?!?”

“Tomorrow night. You should get some rest. You’ve got a big day ahead of you. See ya later.” And with that, Violet takes her leave.

“Oh my gosh Sublime! This is going to be awesome and I can take Applejack on a date and-”

Glancing at the direction Violet went, it finally dawned on you. “How did she know?”