"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"What? You think I'm a liar?"

"Well, you're not an element of honesty are ya?"

"...Shut up."

Anon chuckled as he relaxes his arms behind his head. The afternoon sun spills its rays over the Everfree, where lines light drop down from the gaps that the leaves from the trees miss. Everything felt calm and collected, which brought about a pleasant mood for the human and the mare.

"What are we gonna do when we get to Fluttershy's again?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"The same as always: throw some carrots and meat around, then just pet the animals until they've had their share. That's obviously the best part." Anon said. "You get to pet cute animals, isn't that a thing with mares in general?"

"I think so."

"You think so?"

"I'm not really into those things, it has to be exciting and something that makes your heart beat...otherwise my brain just goes dead." She emphasized the last part by making a 'play dead' face. Anon chuckled at statement.

They were pretty close to Fluttershy's home by now. Anon briefly named her: 'The landlord' on his first few days here, but he stopped when he realized that it seemed to give a more strict tone to the carefree mare that he knows.

"Have you ever thought of living somewhere on the floor?" Anon said.

"Living on something that isn't a cloud? Dear goddess no! I'd turn into one of you!" She jeered.

Anon rolled his eyes.

"I've heard from the others that your wings slowly die if you touch the ground!" She says as she floats along the floor, being mere inches from it.

"Right." Anon sighed."Try to ask a serious question and she just shoves it off."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Let's hurry up." He said as he quickens the pace. His arms soon lose their happiness and eventually lower and hide back into the dark pockets of his trousers. Rainbow Dash soon tries to catch up to Anon, managing to get a glimpse of his face as she does so.

"You alright there, bud?"

"Mm." He grunts.

"Thanks for helping me out Anon! Oh, and you too Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy nuzzles the both of them, giving a simple hug as a reward. Anon smiled and petted his landlord, earning a squee in return. "Gosh, that always gets me." Fluttershy giggles.

"I've been told that my hands feel like magic." Anon smiles.

"Was it from Lyra?" Fluttershy said.

"Who's Lyra?" Anon questioned.

"Oh, well if you do meet her, She'll be one happy mare." Fluttershy lifts her head to Anon's palm once more, cherishing his touch on her head.

Rainbow Dash enters the living room from the garden door, panting. Her mane was ruffled and bits of fur clung to her teal body like small hair extensions.

"I never knew you had....a bear..."

"Oh! That's teddy! I met him when he wandered near my house starving and with dirty fur. He can give the best bear hugs." Fluttershy hugged herself.

"Yeah, that furball held me like a vice. It was like getting wrapped by a rug!" Rainbow Dash attempts to remove the stray fur by shaking herself, which fails.

"Want me to take you to the nearest lake?" Anon suggested. "I don't want to be cleaning bear fur off our shower for the next 2 days."

"Alright." Rainbow dash agreed.

She flew to the entrance, waiting for Anon who was getting his keys. Fluttershy wandered off upstairs, shouting at them to 'take care', though her shout was pretty much inaudible by the time she disappeared from Anon and Rainbow Dash's sight.

"How far is the lake?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"The Apple's farm." Anon replied.

"I don't think there's a lake there."

"There isn't."

"So why are you taking me there?"

"Well, I have work to do over there, and I'm sure they will let you shower that bear fur off you. And then as a present, you can leave them with hair clogging!" Anon yawned. "I'm killing two birds with one stone."

"We're going to kill birds?!" Rainbow Dash recoiled back in horror.

"It's an expression."

"What kind of expression is that?"

"You-....ugh. Just leave it, it's a human thing."

And so, they began their third excursion in the falling afternoon to their final destination. Fortunately, this time the two had finally engaged in some light conversation. Though not frequent and lengthy, the times at which they spoke were enough to keep the awkward tension away.

Rainbow Dash had contemplated on whether to just leave Anon and take a bath back at her house, but for some reason, she never mentioned it.

Upon entering the Apple's property, Anon shouted at a nearby Big Macintosh as a greeting. The red stallion simply tips his head, continuing with his last rota as he kicks one of the few trees he has yet to do. Applejack is seen exiting her home, wearing an small apron that seemed to serve no purpose, as it looked more like a bib.

"Well howdy! What took ya so long Anon?" Applejack holds her stetson, waving it as a greeting.

"Rainbow Dash got bear hugged and is turning into an animal! Is it fine if she takes a bath at your place?" He points down to the pegasus, who glared at him in embarrassment.

'Who does he think he is, making me take a bath in someone else's home rather than his.' She thought.

"Anyways, are you still in need of a cook?" Anon shouted.

"Darn tootin' we are! Ah still haven't gotten over those apple fritters that you make!" Applejack replied.

"You can cook?" Rainbow Dash whispered.

"Barely." Anon replied. "But what I do make, they love, apparently." He snickers.

The two went in the house, Rainbow Dash having to go to the bathroom to take care of her furry problem. Anon washed his hands and greeted the elder of the house: Granny Smith, right before taking a full body hug from the young filly that was Applebloom. The old mare simply nodded off to sleep like a switch once the greeting was over.

He was sent to the kitchen to work with AppleJack, who was working on something of her own.

She was cutting pieces of an apple off, making them into small, rounded diamond shapes and smoothening the fleshy insides so that it could sit upright with the ruby red apple skin showing itself at the front.

Though, from what Anon could observe, she was having trouble.

Her hooves lacked the proper fingers to hold the small apple pieces still so that she could cut and make a flat base on the fleshy insides of the apple piece. It was proven further from the small cuts around Applejack's hooves that she had been doing this for a while.

"Making dessert?" Anon said. Applejack jumped, slamming the knife down in the middle of an apple piece that she was working on, ruining it in the process.

"Uh, it's more of a dessert fer tomorrow." She smiles half-heartedly.

Anon observes the 'finished' pieces that Applejack managed to create.

"Oh cool, they look like jewels. Rubies, to be precise." Anon peered at the red snacks.

"Really?" Applejack's face lit up like a bulb. "Do they really look like jewels?"

"Absolutely, polish that apple skin and it'll shine like a jewel." Anon chuckled. Applejack laughed alongside him, pleased at his compliment. She took a second to smile at him, at which he smiled back.

"So who's it for?" Anon asked.

Applejack's smile quickly fades, with it being replaced by a shade of red on her cheeks. So red that it almost resembled the apple skins that were right next to her.

"It's uh...for a special sompon- some....some...." Applejack ponders.

"Somepony?" Anon answers.

"Somedragon." Applejack looks away.

Anon's eyes widen and his mouth opens slightly in surprise.

"Spike?" He answers again.

Applejack nods, smiling a little at the mention of his name.

Anon is taken back by this large surprise, not only for the fact that the element of honesty had a thing for the Spyro-lookalike, but for the effort that she went through to try and impress him. From the looks of her injuries on her hooves, it seem that she spent quite a lot of hours to make something that resembled what Spike liked to eat: jewels.

And even then, she only managed to make 2 or 3 apple jewels, all of which seemed rather tardy in appearance. It came as a shock to the human to see his favorite chef become so...inexperienced.

"You've been spending quite a lot of effort on this, haven't you?" Anon brushes off the cutting board and the apples from the mare, who is hiding under her stetson.

"Ah might have." She replies meekly.

Anon holds her hooves tenderly, lifting her stetson before he does so. he takes a knee to level himself to her face. Smiling, he lifts Applejack up and onto the kitchen counter, prompting her to sit there.

"You really want to impress Spike, don't you?"

"Maybe." She retreats into her stetson.

Anon chuckled as he continued her work, managing to fare much better in making the apple jewels due to the great ability of having 'fingers'. He was able to make one in a minute whilst his favorite chef observed quietly, her eyes never leaving the cutting board.

"Say, is he going to be your date for hearts and hooves day?" Anon asked.

"Ah hope so. If my patented 'Apple Jewels' won't get to his heart, then mah own self will!" She defiantly smiled.

"That's the spirit." Anon lifted his left hand and petted her on the head. She was taken aback by this gesture, mainly due to the fact that this was the second time he had done it. "The best way to get to a man is through his stomach, after all." He said.

"And if that doesn't work, then your looks will charm him instead." He rubs her blushing cheeks, looking back at his work so that the knife won't cut up any more pieces lying around.

Applejack looked longingly, feeling his soft fingers rub across the silky fur on her cheeks before it finally leaves so that he can work on the Apple jewels.

"Thanks Anon...ah really needed that." She stares at her favorite chef.

"Glad to be of help. Because from now on, I'm going to do everything in my power to help you get the dragon of your drea-ah! Shit." He hisses as his finger gets cut. Applejack giggles as he sucks the bleeding finger.

"You're not really gonna help me, are yah?"

"Of course I will! Think of me as an element of...matchmaking?"

"Ah guess that fits!" They both laughed.

"Hey! Dash!"

"WHAT?"

"We're going to be wingmen for Applejack!"

"WHAT?!

"Forget it! I'll tell ya later!"

"What's with all dis racket! Ahm tryin' ta sleep here!" Came the voice of an annoyed grandma.

"...Sorry Granny Smith!"

"...Sorry Granny Smith!"

Next Chapter: Don't say that you have a date. Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 13 Minutes