Ow, my head. I was lying on my back, and it was all starting to come back to me as I heard familiar voices. I heard Fluttershy's soft voice first say "Oh, Applejack, it's so beautiful!" followed by Rarity "It's so... shiny!" I took a deep, conscious breath, and my eyes started to flicker open. I raised my hand and rubbed eyes a little, and I opened my eyes to see Applejack's smiling face looking down at me from just a few feet above, with her friends looking from behind. The light from the sun was now shining brilliantly through the stain-glass windows in the hall of the castle, indicating that the thundercloud and the dark magic were completely gone.

"Did we... did we win?" I said. Applejack looked as though she was hyped up on sugar, and she held out her hoof and helped me up.

"We sure as sugar did! Ah'm so proud of you! Ain't no one done anything like that for me before!" she said, running around me adorably in excitement. Rarity walked up and smiled at me.

"You haven't noticed it yet," she said, looking me in the eye and then seemingly looking right under my chin. I looked down, and around my neck was a pure gold necklace, but my heart fluttered when I saw what was in the middle of it; there was a beautiful gem in the shape of Applejack, with apple cutie marks and everything. I looked up at her, and she stopped running and stood a few feet in front of me, smiling like an angel. She started to walk towards me with a look of deep affection, and it looked as though she was going to kiss me.

"Um, Applejack? Are you sure you wanna do that in front of your fr-" before I could finish, she closed her eyes and her ears went down, and she lifted her right arm and grabbed me from behind me so I was unable to move. She put her lips right on mine and kissed me long, causing my eyes to go wide open and my cheeks to turn bright red. My heart relaxed and I peacefully enjoyed it before long. We hadn't kissed since our wedding, and it felt like my first one with her. All of her friends were smiling, even Rainbow Dash. Spike even looked at Rarity with a look that said "hey, me next, right?" When she finished, she stepped back smiling and put her hat on me.

"I guess they could get used to it," I shrugged. I didn't intend for that line to be funny, but Pinkie Pie thought it was hilarious and she fell on her back giggling and laughing while shaking her legs around in the air. I took a deep, disappointed gasp, and Applejack hit on me on the shoulder with her hoof.

"What's wrong, sugarcube?" she said. I looked down and rubbed the back of my head with my hand.

"It's nothing. I was just foolishly hoping that maybe I might, you know, come back as a pony or something." Applejack looked surprised to hear me say that, and then she placed her head on my chest.

"Mr., what did ah' tell you our first time at the waterfall?" she said, and I squinted my eyes and thought back to that particular moment. "Ah' told you it didn't matter how ya looked. Ah'm glad you ain't a pony, this is who you are and ah' love you," she said.

I was so deeply touched by her words that I felt bad for failing to show her anything but happiness. How can you be disappointed when you've got someone as great as Applejack? I lifted her head back and stared right into her eyes.

"Applejack. You are amazing."  I brought her head back into my chest and rested my head on top of her mane. I had forgotten how soft it was, and I shut my eyes in content, ready to fall asleep. I like to think I gave her a pretty great gift by stepping in front of her and taking all of the torture from the evil one. At that moment, she gave me a better one.  

"Bring out the pie, Granny Smith!" said Apple Bloom. We had just finished dinner at the table when Granny Smith got up to get to get the pie out of the oven. Applejack and I were sitting right next to each other, and Big Mac and Apple Bloom were directly across from us, and Granny Smith's seat which was temporarily empty was at the head of the table, as it had always been. We all waited eagerly as she set the pie down in the center of the table. Eyes watering, Apple Bloom reached in for the first piece, but not before Granny Smith slapped her back with her hoof.

"Be patient now, youngin! Ah' need to, uh, divide it equally!" said Granny Smith.

"Well hurry up, ah'm huh-ngry," said Apple Bloom, her voice cracking.

"Why er' you so hungry? You hardly worked none today!" laughed Applejack.

"Eenope," said Big Macintosh, playfully pushing his little sister. Apple Bloom started desperately thinking of something she did that day.

"Well, ah', uh... ah' helped AJ! Ah' brought him some water!" she said, and everyone at the table starting laughing. Granny Smith placed a peace of pie in front of me, and I smiled at Applejack whilst she got her peace. Earth ponies didn't use silverwear, so naturally, they didn't have any. No problem, I just used my hands. Applejack looked at me and went to pick up her piece with her hooves to try to replicate me.

"There's nothin' to this, uh, eatin' with yer hooves thing," she said, and dropped a piece of pie right on her belly and the floor. I put my hand on my mouth to stop me from laughing.

"Oh for pete's sake. Winona!" she yelled, and the collie came running in and started eating the piece she dropped. Applejack looked up at me, who was still ready to laugh, and smiled.

"Hehe, ah' see, you think it's funny! We'll how 'bout you try eatin' with yer face for a change!" she said, and she put her hoof behind my head and pushed me right into my peace of pie on the table. Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom all sat silently waiting for my reaction, while Applejack laughed. I pretended to look mad at first, then smiled and playfully shoved some of my pie in Applejack's face.

"Food fight!" yelled Apple Bloom, and with that, food started flying in both directions from every which way. Granny Smith dodged some, only to be hit right in the face after that. Having the time of my life, I dodged food and threw it as quickly as I could, with me and Applejack teaming up on Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom.

The laughs and the fun were nonstop until everything settled down. Applejack and I offered to clean everything up, since we started it. When we finished, Applejack wiped the sweat of her forehead and put her hoof on my shoulder.

"Whew! Ah' think that's enough games fer one day," she said. We looked at each other and could tell that we weren't ready to call it a day quite just yet.

"Race you to the meadow," I said, pulling off her hat and putting it on my head. She lowered her eyebrows and smiled.

"Oh, yer on!"

Being much faster then me, she beat me to the door and took off outside through the orchard laughing all the way, with me not far behind. I picked up a rope that was on the ground and lassoed her successfully for the first time, revenge from when she did it to me.

"Trussed up like a turkey!" I laughed as I ran by. We ran out through the orchard off the property and into the grass meadow, where she collapsed from fun and exhaustion. She rolled over on her back and looked up the stars as I lay beside her.

"Oh mah', those stars sure are beautiful," she said, panting.

"Not nearly as beautiful as you," I whispered, resting my head on her belly. My head went gently up and down as she breathed softly, and I opened one of my eyes and smiled as she looked at me adoringly. Then I drifted away under the stars on the warmest, softest pillow in all the land.

The End

This story is dedicated to Applejack and anyone who has a special place in their heart for her. I hope you enjoyed it, as that was it's only purpose. Thanks for reading.

AJ.

*There is now a sequel available to any who are interested.* Thanks again.

AJ