There were times when some people wouldn’t want to be caught outside. Often these times resulted in something unfortunate happening to someone when least expected. A sudden downpour being fairly common, but also the least hazardous. It held the power to ruin an outfit, or night of fun, but otherwise was not a true disaster. Those were things like thunderstorms, lightning flashing across the sky and scorching the ground. Or when hail suddenly began to strike roofs and scrambling travelers alike. The wind during such events was also a problem, since in sufficient force it could blow folks and objects around, leading to injuries.

On their own, these things were little more than a distraction, but together? They could be a force to be reckoned with. Thankfully such extreme conditions were not sanctioned by the weather factory as it could, in certain places, prove to be a rather fatal occurrence. That didn’t stop the conditions arising for those three things to happen together however. It was thanks to the Everfree Forest that surrounded one side of Ponyville that the intense weather front came to be. Weather scientists had been trying for many years to try and figure out just what was going on in the forest that could cause it. Though, without sending in a team for research, they were never going to get any kind of real result. It was incredibly tough to find people to go into the forest without some kind of magical protection. The only people capable of doing such a thing were the Princesses and even they were a little reserved about putting folks into danger. Sending the Princesses was completely out of the question as well, what with them being public figureheads. So the research went on without any real conclusions and people were forced to suffer the onslaught.

There had only been three storms of that calibre in the entire history of Ponyville, but each time brought with it the same kind of trouble. In fact they were about due for another of the storms, but when Butter had left the homestead earlier in the day, things had looked fine. The sun had been shining and the birds were singing. There wasn’t even a breeze, it was just simply quiet and peaceful. He had left Applejack on her own so as to fulfill a small favor for a friend and get some time to think by himself. Oddly enough, the two things went hand in hand regarding the subject. Pinkie Pie needed something from him down at Sugarcube Corner, and she was the mare that was on his mind lately.

Having talked to Applejack about certain beliefs and rumors over a month ago, Butter tried to put the subject away along with the games they had played. But the question had lingered, until Applejack had grown suspicious again of her friend and little stallion. It didn’t help that Butter also was starting to see that perhaps the rumor wasn’t unfounded. Not that there was ever going to be a good reason for him to leave his wife for some other mare; Applejack was perfect in his eyes, no matter the size.

But Pinkie Pie was another matter entirely. Having always been open, friendly and affectionate it took Butter incredibly long to pick up on just how much more she was, to him alone. How her eyes always followed him, or the way she teased and tried to stay in contact with him more than even her best friends. Then there was the fact that she was always inviting him, alone, to Sugarcube Corner for things. Simple tasks like helping her carry supplies from one locale to another, or helping her prepare sweets and treats for a party she had coming up. Always with endless talks about how was your day, what was his favorite food, did Applejack do this or that for you? Perhaps in hindsight the in-depth questions should have tipped him off.

It had taken a bit of convincing for him to be allowed to come over this time. Applejack had felt especially protective of him today, looming over the stallion, blocking the door until he confirmed that nothing untoward was going to happen. She then implied that she would be out looking for him if he was gone too long. Butter had tried to treat it as a joke, smiling and hugging her goodbye, but the lack of humor in her tone suggested it was a serious promise. So he came up on Sugarcube Cornor without the usual gusto, moving to the counter without a word as he pondered the situation. Pinkie Pie wasn’t standing there like usual, and neither were the Cakes. He found out why as he reached it though, when suddenly he was presented with the party mare’s wide, curvaceous backside. Just under the top of it kneeling down, he was transfixed as the yellow shorts swayed back and forth. She was humming a nameless tune, pushing things around in a cupboard to make room, casually busying herself while just so happening to give him a show. As far as ‘not falling for her advances’ was going, this was decidedly a big step back. But, he reasoned, since Applejack wasn’t here and he still had blood in his veins, he could at least admire what any stallion besides him would.

Pinkie soon sensed that someone was standing at the counter, waiting to be served. She finished up with the cupboards and popped up to greet them in her usual bubbly demeanour, only to quickly abandon it in favour of a much more intense and flirty kind of greeting upon noticing that it was Butter who had come knocking. Butter found it hard to resist her usual brand of charm and friendliness, but he assured himself that he was going to get through this. He sighed and explained what he was there for; A friend had contacted him a while back hoping for assistance in finding a rare ingredient. Since his suppliers were having difficulty in obtaining it, he’d sent a letter to Butter since he was known to live close-by to where it was found: The Everfree Forest. As it just so happened, Pinkie Pie had obtained some of the last of it for the next few months just earlier in the week, just after he got the letter in fact, and had invited him over to come pick it up today once she learned of his dilemma. She seemed unfazed at the oddly timed coincidences, but then again she didn’t seem to be focused much on his words either. Her head was tilted just so that Butter assumed she was thinking other thoughts, and simply was waiting for him to finish before she went with her own ideas.

When Butter finished his story, Pinkie did reply in her own way. Inviting him to stay and help around the bakery, but also saying that she’d get the ingredient right away even as she bounced off to the basement. Butter politely declined her offer, tucking the package under one arm, and the eager mare seemed to deflate slightly. Then she nodded, saying that she knew Applejack was waiting at home for him. With a few more cryptic words and hints she bid him farewell, a last hug crushing his ribs until he finally slipped free and ran. But as he opened the bakery door, he found it doing so on its own as a powerful gust of wind blew into the shop. Pinkie Pie squeaked in surprise as she hastily grabbed at things flying up into the air and Butter, taking the brunt of it, nearly fell flat on his back. Looking outside he could see that the sky was dark and gloomy, the weather having turned dramatically for the worst in the short time he’d been inside the shop. Rain began to fall in an approaching curtain, until it was hissing and splashing over the front step, blowing sideways whenever the gale winds kicked up again.

Butter truly did not want to walk out into such a horrendous storm. He knew well enough that this must have been caused by the Everfree and that storms like this were better weathered indoors than out. But Applejack was waiting, and he needed to get back. So despite the cry of Pinkie Pie to wait he stepped outside, and made it only a few feet before the storm decided that was enough. A hail stone as big as his thumb struck the same appendage, causing him to yell out in shock, and he dropped his package onto the ground. More of the frozen chunks of water began to fall amongst the rain, all of them pelting him fiercely like a thousand stinging ants. By the time he could gather his wits to retrieve his package, it had already become soaked and damaged enough to ruin the fragile container inside. Dismayed, he did not react to Pinkie’s cries for him to come inside, so she took matters into her own hands. Butter didn’t protest as she dragged him back, in fact he was a little relieved to be warm again. She pushed him over to the counter, making him sit in a conveniently placed chair, and then went to close the door.

Drenched to the bone and dripping it all over the floor, Butter knew he had to get out of his clothes soon before he came down with something. Looking at the mare, she was also soaked yet still her mane remained vibrantly bouncy, if a little stamped down. A small part of him niggled against asking, but still he opened his mouth to make the request. “Hey Pinkie Pie? Do you have any towels I could use? I need to get out of my clothes and dry off before I get sick.”

Pinkie Pie didn’t turn around, but her body did shiver a bit and she bounced in place for a moment. “A towel? Oh, sure I can get one from the linen closet. Why don’t you head upstairs and use the bathroom? Can’t have you catching a cold while I get one, can we, Nutty?”

“Uh…no, I guess not. Where’s the bathroom again?”

Pinkie swung around and bounced over to him, a devious smile on her lips and innocence in her eyes. Grabbing ahold of his shoulders, she said, “Go up the stairs, take a left, then a right, then spin at the end of the hall and tadaa! You’ll be right there.”

Baffled, but shoved off by her, Butter started climbing as she giggled and went off somewhere else. He wasn’t sure where, since he thought she would need to go upstairs as well, but she vanished when he turned his sight away from her for a second. Shrugging it off as just another thing she did, he followed her instructions and climbed the stairs. Pinkie Pie was never one for a straight answer, a straight anything really. She was always doings things in an almost magical manner that would baffle the unenlightened to the strange mares quirks. To her friends, it was better left as just something that occurred. Before recent events Butter had liked that aspect of her; hanging out with the excitable party thrower was never a dull moment. Now however, with questions of affection and illicit intentions lingering all around, he wondered if her strange magic would drive him mad.

As he walked the halls upstairs, Butter followed Pinkie’s instructions, eventually ending on a dead end with no doors. Confused, he nevertheless spun at the end of the hall, and sure enough he found himself standing in front of a door. When he spun back to face the end of the hall, it was gone, and when he spun again, there it was. Head already starting to ache, he stepped inside and discarded the oddity along with his clothes. The loss of soggy weight was a relief to him, a bit of water wrung out from his tail as well. Folding them as best he could in the sink to drain, he looked around for anything to begin drying off with. Sadly there were no towels, in fact there was a strange absence of any kind of absorbent material that he could use. Pinkie Pie was also taking longer than he expected; it had taken him at most two minutes to arrive and she still wasn’t here yet with a towel. A nagging thought began to poke at him, but he dismissed it.

When Pinkie did eventually show up it wasn’t in the capacity that he was expecting, and there wasn’t a towel in sight. In fact, there wasn’t a shred of material left on Pinkie’s body, for she was completely naked. Butter took in the entire sight of her bouncing front before squealing and turning away. Not so much in disgust or horror, but rather shock. This was even before he realized he too was naked before her, and then a terrible blush overcame most of his body. Pinkie’s giggle chased him into the bathtub, where he crouched and tried to hide himself by pulling on the shower curtains to veil his body. But they were merely opaque, not solid, and he watched as the nude mare’s silhouette walk over and tried to peek around the edges. He responded by tugging more on the curtains, cocooning himself in them, and she laughed as finally his tugging started dragging the whole thing down on top of him. As he rubbed his bruised noggin from the pole clonking it, Pinkie took the time to inspect his outline and obscured anatomy. A pleased ‘mmm’ or two were murmured, making Butter’s blush grow hotter as he looked up and saw her naked glory again close-up.

“P-Pinkie! What in Equestria are you doing?!” Butter cried, closing his eyes. “Why are you naked? Where’s the towel? W-What…”

“I’m getting one, silly Nutty!”

“That doesn’t explain anything!”

“I got wet too silly – of course I have to change out of my clothes too. And the linen closet is empty, so that means I have to get them from the upstairs linen closet. But I figured I’d check here, in the bathroom, first.”Turning, Pinkie bent over and opened the small cabinet doors under the sink. Butter dared to peek one eye open to see what she was doing, and shut them a second later when he saw her bare profile once again up close. “Mmm, nope! Guess I’ll have to check the closet after all.” Agonizing seconds for the stallion passed as he heard Pinkie walk out of the bathroom, though curiously she seemed to stop very soon afterwards. This time, when he dared peek, it was to the sight of Pinkie Pie standing across the hall in front of an open door. A door that, much like the bathroom, had not previously been there to his knowledge. His gaze did not shy away this time from staring, but although Pinkie’s bouncing rump was in almost full display to him, he was more baffled over the logic of this house. How could Sugarcube Corner have such illogical logic as well? Butter closed his eyes before she turned back and brought with her a single towel.

“Whoopsie, looks like there’s only one in the whole house that’s dry. Isn’t that strange?”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Butter sighed, feeling a certain kind of dread settle on his back. Tugging on the shower curtain, he said, “I guess I’ll just stick with this for now, can you just…cover yourself please? I’d like to open my eyes sometime and get my clothes drying.”

“Aww, what’s the matter Butty Nutty? It’s not like you haven’t seen a naked mare before, right? Oooh, or have you and Applejack never…you know? Oh wow, should I invite her over? We could have a sleepover!” Pinkie gasped. “We could even do a little body exploration when she’s here! Just you, me and her all getting close and personal and naked and wouldn’t that just be great I bet if we invite the rest of the girls over and a few cute stallions they like too-”

“NO!” Butter squeaked, eyes flying open to stare at her. Too late, he realized she was leaning over the bathtub, chest mashed between her arms and dangerously close to his face. Instead of closing them, he kept his eyes firmly locked on her bright and eager ones. “N-No, no uh, let’s not…do any of that. I’d rather not have AJ show up at all really, especially not…in this weather. T-This is far, farfrom appropriate and I think we need to just carry on now. Could you please cover yourself, and step back so I can get up, please?”

“Okie Dokie! Sure you don’t want to stare a little more?”

“Pinkie.” Butter not quite moaned.

Giggling and snorting, the conniving mare stepped back and finally did as asked. Wrapping the towel around her curvaceous form, it barely hid anything of concern for the stallion. The towel reached as far as her upper thighs on the bottom, while the top struggled to be tied off around her bountiful chest high enough to be decent. In some ways it was far worse than remaining bare, and was incredibly distracting to Butter. The longer he stayed near her, he was finding it more and more impossible to stay true to his intentions. Suddenly all of Applejack’s concerns were beginning to seem valid, despite his core not wavering once in his love of the farmer. Pinkie herself was relishing every moment this opportunity granted. It spoke well of her hopes to enjoy this alone time with him, blessed earlier by a bout of Pinkie Sense as well. The weather outside was frightful, and she now had company that was so delightful. She would milk this for all that she could.

Blowing the trapped stallion a kiss, she finally bounced out of the room to let him leave as well. Once again Butter had to consider his choice of staying at the bakery until the storm passed. The weather could chill, soak, possibly even batter him about. The alternative was the possibility of Applejack discovering all of this and growing scorned. Before he left the bathroom he checked again for anything decent to cover himself, but true to her words there was nothing. He wandered out to the landing, curtain crinkling and dragging as he walked, forcing him to waddle down the stairs. Pinkie Pie was once again missing from his sight; there was no telling if the mare was here, there, or elsewhere in the building. The wind was still howling and shook the walls, a stark reminder of what he would face if he didn't stay. Making his way over to the counter once more, he yelped as Pinkie appeared from behind it like a pink jack-in-the-box, her towel holding strong thankfully. In her hand was a pack of cards, and when she flung aside her towel there were suddenly clothes on her once more. Butter tried to find the towel to use himself, but it was gone.

Pinkie took the stallion by the shoulders and guided him over to a carpeted corner of the floor. Her surprising strength shoved him down to his knees, bundling up the curtain over his lap and tearing it in some places. As he hurriedly tried to fix his cover, she plopped herself down across from him with a coy smile and began shuffling the deck. Her eyes never rose higher than his chest, admiring all she could see of her companion.

“Ok! So, seeing as how we’re going to be here for a while, I thought we could play a game! And talk!”

Butter nodded wearily. "Sure, I'm just glad you finally have some clothes on again."

Pinkie finished shuffling the cards and dealt out two to each of them, before laying the deck down in the middle of the pair. She then dealt out three different cards and lined them up one next to the other. Butter knew the game was poker, albeit a seemingly sped up version of the popular gambling pastime. Whilst they looked over their cards, Pinkie put down another card to the line of three, leaving just one more to be drawn before the round could be ended. Butter stared at his cards, then up at Pinkie to observe any tells she might have. Finding that out though, was going to be trickier than your average poker player. Most of them decided to hide their true expressions behind a stony expression. Not Pinkie though, she was giggling to herself and looking at her cards, replacing that stony expression with one of pure joy. Butter wasn’t sure if she actually understood the rules of the game, or if this was one of the most ingenious poker faces he’d ever seen.

“Sooo, whatcha been doing with yourself?” Pinkie asked.

“Uhm, mostly just spending time with Applejack. Helping her with the last harvest, playing board games, going on err, walks. Day to day stuff, you know?”

“Boring!" She rolled her eyes. "Didn’t you do anything interesting? Like, make a cake! Or-or, go on an adventure! Isn’t that better? Maybe we should hang out more - I’ll show you what a fun time really is!”

Butter wasn't sure anymore what definition she was using for fun. "Every day's an adventure with Applejack. I mean, it's not every day your wife is, what, four times as big as you right? We have all sorts of fun..."

“I guess! Mark my words though - if I ever get to be as big as AJ is, you won’t be playing boring old board games and sitting around being all stuffy and boring. We’d be out roaming the lands and pulling all sorts of pranks!”

Butter pressed his cards to his chest and gave a tight smile. "That sounds unbelievable for sure. Applejack would be more than happy to have fun as a friend too, big or not. Maybe we could plan something later on in fact, the three of us together.” Pinkie's reply smile was just as open and excited as always, leaving Butter feeling that his point had failed to land. "Want to deal the final card now?"

Pinkie picked up another card and placed it next to the other four, making a total of five cards now. In order of the draw, there was the ace of spades, the seven of clubs, the king of hearts, the king of clubs, and the three of diamonds. Butter and Pinkie laid their cards out on the floor, looking to see who the winner of this one was. Butter had the remaining two kings, whilst Pinkie had what was essentially junk. She pulled all three sets of cards back into the deck and shuffled them again, dealing out another set to each person. Really, they were going to be playing this game for quite a while, over and over, considering how few players there were. Ideally a few more of them would need to be involved. Applejack would surely enjoy a couple of rounds of poker, but Butter still didn’t want her to show up here and see this whole thing unfolding. The round progressed as normal, with Pinkie laying down the three cards and then drawing two more. On the draw of the fifth card, Pinkie and Butter laid down their cards once again, and once more Butter won it. This time however, Pinkie didn’t collect the cards up and shuffle the deck before dealing again. Instead, she slipped her arms out of the blue dress she was wearing and lifted it up over her head, casting it aside. Underneath was a straining purple, white polka-dotted bra, practically bursting at the seams. After casting the dress aside, she dealt out the next hand, leaving Butter to stare agog.

“P-Pinkie!? What are you doing, why did you...?”

“Huh, didn't I tell you? We're playing strip poker silly! I lost two hands so I lost a big piece of clothing." Her smile turned sly again, eyes smouldering. "Maybe you'll get lucky and keeping winning hands, which means I'll have to take more and more pieces off. I wonder how far I'll go before it's your turn~"

“Somehow, I don't think I'm winning no matter which way this goes." Butter mumbled, looking at the lone piece of 'clothing' he had on.

“Heehee! So, Nutty, what’s it like living with Applejack, huh? I bet it’s real cosy at night. Are you a fan of snuggling? Can you even do that with Applejack? I mean she is pretty big now, can you get your arms around her? I'm an excellent cuddler, did you know? Want me to show you?”

Pinkie slid her way around the deck of cards to Butter’s side, leaning into him and pressing her chest against his shoulders. Her arms latched themselves around him, even as Butter tried to slip away from her, but she was like glue. She clung to him, purring like a cat as he tried to get away from her, but she stayed as his side as they scooted an entire circle around the deck and returned to their starting positions. Pinkie drew the remaining cards from the deck and placed them down against the floor, before placing the cards in her hand down as well. Before Butter could put his own cards down, Pinkie already screeched about how she had lost again. She jumped up and wiggled her way out of the yellow shorts that Butter had been introduced to when he first walked in. The panties Pinkie were wearing had become barely visible, her thick rump stretching them wide and thin to leave untold inches of pink rump bare. They offered protection from prying eyes, but thanks to the plush nature of Pinkie’s flesh they constantly flashed in and out of visibility. When the display was done, she plopped back down beside him and latched on with an affectionate nuzzle of his sweat-strained cheek.

“See Butty Nutty? Nice and soft, really cushioned! Isn't this nice?" Butter's entire face was lit up, and he uttered a noise in reply that was illegible. "Hm? What's wrong, you're not getting embarrassed are you?”

“H-H-Hardly, ahaha! You uh, you have to try really hard to embarrass me anymore! I mean, Applejack-" Butter, trying to bolster his confidence and control, cut himself off with a squeak as Pinkie's face suddenly filled his vision.

“Oh really?” Pinkie inquired, leaning into Butter some more, quickly reverting him to a less confident state.

Butter was really struggling now, finding it hard to cope with all the signs Pinkie was giving off. She clearly wanted him all to herself, or she wanted him and Applejack, it was hard to tell which applied. He couldn’t give in, but yet at the same time he didn't seem to have the energy to tell her no. If he was going to get out of this he would have to hurry home soon. The time for his safe return had passed minutes ago, meaning Applejack was going to hurry out into the storm to find him. Which meant she was going to come here. Which meant she was going to see Pinkie in her scantily clad state, and she was going to make the worst assumption possible. In a way, he kind of hoped that the weather might put her off going to search for him by herself, but then she wasn’t exactly the average person. The wind probably wouldn’t able to lift her in its current state, so that wouldn’t be a problem. The heavy rain would be like standing under a shower at her size, the hail barely worse than a sting, and although lightning was a concern the thunder certainly wasn't. As he looked out the window, Pinkie squeezed him in closer, hugging him tightly to her bosom.

“Can you do this with Applejack? Is she soft and squishy like me, huh?” She murmured.

Butter tried to wrestle himself free. “Sh-she’s uh…not this p-plu-plush, no. And th-the best I could do is hug h-her shin, or ankle, or t-toe…”

“Hee! Toe hugs? You like her feet that much huh?”

“What? Who said I liked feet?” Butter gasped, the blush deepening on his cheeks.

“You did, silly! Just then! When your face goes that red and you stumble over yourself like you are, it’s pretty obvious!”

Butter opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the door crashing open again. A rumble of thunder and flash of lightning illuminated a large orange leg, standing outside the door barefoot in the mud. Butter tried to turn and look towards the door, but found himself turning into Pinkie’s flesh more, which didn’t really bode well for him. Pinkie leapt up, catching his chin on the front of her bra and tugging his head up with her. He flopped backwards, effectively being given an uppercut by a pair of breasts, giving him an upside down view of the door. Pinkie bounced on over, her bottom jiggling and swaying freely as she made her way to the door. Despite no doubt knowing what had interrupted her time with Butter, she still called out to identify it.

“Hello! Can I help you?”

“Ya c’n start by tellin’ me where mah man is, Pinkie Pie." Came the high up, southern twang growl. A rumble of thunder and more lightning punctuated it all.

“Oh, hiya Applejack! Wow you're really soaked too! Oooh, are you running through the mud barefoot? That must feel nice."

"Pinkie."

"Hm? Oh, you mean Butter? He’s in here with me! Come on in and I’ll help ya dry off! Oooh! We can play some more special poker together! I’m sure you’d like that Applejack!”

The larger mare gritted her teeth, rain dripping over her flared teeth as she heard Butter’s name being used in conjunction with Pinkie’s home and place of work. She sighed and crouched down, eyeing up the door and how it didn’t seem to be big enough to fit someone of her proportions. Her head alone was wider and nearly taller than the doorway alone, to say nothing of her lower extremities. Pinkie pulled at her arm all the same and as Applejack began to be pressed up against the front of the bakery, it looked like she was about to take the whole thing down. Then, somehow, by the miracle of Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie, Applejack managed to still squeeze inside. Compressing a twenty-five foot tall mare into a normal sized room, all without destroying the front wall of the bakery nor the doorframe itself. As Applejack adjusted to being inside however, the effects began to grow notable as to just why this was not a good idea. Beyond dripping water and mud over every surface, the giantess was forced to remain on her hand and knees even as her back bent the roof in a shower of dust and timber. The floor groaned under her immense weight, bowing around her knees, while her limbs bumped and crashed into objects as she shifted slightly in place. Her feet squashed overtop of the door, effectively locking the three occupants in. Butter found his vision completely overtaken by his love as chest, head and mane all fell overtop of him, her grunts of discomfort blasting him with her breath as Pinkie Pie giggled and skipped back to his side.

Surprise became overtaken by terror though as Applejack remembered the reason for her coming here. Looking down, angry eyes narrowed further under the wet brim of her hat, taking in his appearance. The lack of clothing, a barely useful shower curtain it appeared as all that he wore for decency. Pinkie Pie in her underwear and nothing else. If Butter wasn't dressed so strangely, she would have already erupted at the possible adultery at work here. As it was, he was on thin ice, and Pinkie even more so.

“Hey Applejack! Want me to dry those clothes off by the ovens for you?” Pinkie asked.

“Ah’m not plannin’ on stayin’ Pi-” Before she could actually finish, Pinkie zipped her way over to Applejack and just about tore the clothes off her back in a pink whirlwind. Both Applejack and Butter blushed as the house groaned anew as she flopped down closer to the floor to try and cover herself. Pinkie moved off to the kitchen dragging the giant pile of wet clothes. Then Butter realized something.

“Wait, are my clothes by the ovens as well? When did you do tha-”

“Want some soup, Nutty? Applejack?”

“Soup? When did you make soup? We’ve been sitting here playing strip po-” Butter froze at the sounds of nails scraping over wood behind him. A heavy snort blasted his back as he realized what he almost said. “Strip po...po...I've got nothing. Soup sounds nice Pinkie Pie.”

Whilst Pinkie disappeared with her arms full of clothes and possibly about to come back with some kind of soup. Butter made Applejack the focus of his attention; there was a lot he needed to explain and it needed to be said in the best way possible. There was no chance of a slip up this time, as one wrong word and any number of things could happen to him, the primary thing being the immediate termination of their relationship. Turning around, he looked up and stared back at the angry, suspicious eyes watching him. This was it, the do or die moment, time to set the record straight.

“Look, Applejack." He began. "The storm hit us before I could leave. I was wet, Pinkie offered to dry my clothes, and I went upstairs alone to the bathroom. Then she walked in...and I covered myself...t-the curtain fell on me and there were no towels except the one she had to use..." Applejack's teeth were starting to grit together, but Butter held on. "I tried to keep things decent, and thought we were playing just a normal game of cards. It...nothing about all of this is normal I know, but I swear. I swear Applejack nothing was initiated by me, and I only had plans of staying here until the storm passed so I could get back to you safely. Even if I had to run back in nothing but a curtain."

Applejack’s teeth remained gritted, grinding across each other as she listened to Butter explain himself. It wasn’t exactly going well so far, though Butter remained positive that he could pull it off. After all, he wasn’t in the wrong here at all, that was Pinkie, and she was the one acting like they were up to no good. It was essentially a one-sided relationship, but she was trying her hardest to get him to participate in it with her. So to calm her down he decided to cheat a little. Standing up, he walked closer until her muzzle was just off to the side of his. He reached up, hands holding her chin, and pressed his forehead against it in an odd hug. It wasn't exactly the best plan to put her at ease, but he hoped it would help get his point across. What he got was a brief upturn of her lips as the stress left her, his gesture taken for what it was as a show of his love.

“You know I love you, Applejack. There’s never been anyone else, and right now there’s nothing I want more than to be with you. Preferably on the couch together, watching something to pass the time while the storm rages. I mean it.”

Sighing, Applejack finally tilted her head to rub her muzzle against his own. “Butter, ah wan’-”

“Alright guys, it’s time to paaar-tay! We’re gonna get wild and blow the night away! Whoo!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, suddenly popping up between them. Still sans anything over her undergarments, she gave Butter a spine creaking hug and hugged one side of Applejack’s arm.

Butter looked up at Applejack, concerned his efforts had just been blown. But all his wife did in return was smile resignedly; the look on her face was familiar to anyone who knew the pink party mare. Even if she still had words she wanted to say, her head was back on straight and for now, she could handle Pinkie Pie. It still didn’t stop her from yelping though as a hand playfully slapped her rear, prompting a blush from the couple. For now they would stay together in this and face what Pinkie brought to bear together. If all of this really was a one-sided ploy from her dear friend, then it would take more than even her two hands to handle what was dished out. As the night played out in the cramped front room of the bakery, this would prove to be true, but always Applejack would still prevail. It helped that she filled over two-thirds of the room, but nevertheless the challenge was now brought. Butter and Applejack weren’t certain for sure just what she intended for them, but at least it would be taken on together.

All the while, the storm continued to rumble and howl outside. A portent, perhaps, to the future ahead…