It was the end of the first week that Butter and Applejack had been together, or rather, it was a few days since they’d gotten together. It just happened to fall on the end of the week, and Butter was surprised to see that his new girlfriends growth spurt was not finished. Although Applejack had been taller than he expected when they first crossed paths again, he had at least looked sort of normal against her. As normal as he could when he was more or less level with her shoulders that is. In the few days that they had been together however, Applejack had grown a further four inches, leaving Butter now shorter than her shoulders and slowly dipping toward her armpits. He said he wasn’t bothered when they were out together, though he was fully aware that people were staring at them wherever they went. He was more concerned about how Applejack was feeling at these moments. After all, she hadn’t seemed the most confident when the pair had laid eyes upon the other again. She’d seemed to be quite the opposite in fact, which defied everything Butter knew about her in the past. She had always been stubborn, full of comebacks, eager to get out and do whatever she could with people. Now that he had enough time to see her in her natural environments and how she moved about, he realised that the old her was gone. There were traces of it here and there, but for the most part, it was like he was dating an entirely new person.

Applejack, on the other hand, thought Butter hadn’t changed much at all. He was still the same fun, silly, optimistic yet snarky creature that he’d always been. He didn’t even seem to be bitter about the way they had parted either. She hadn’t brought it up with him though, for fear of bringing back bad memories for the both of them. The last thing a relationship this far into its infancy needed was someone digging up the bad things of the past. So she had resolved that if Butter wanted to speak about it at any point, then they would discuss it and put it to bed. For now, if neither wanted to talk about it, then that was how it was going to be, after all, if that was the case it clearly wasn’t as big an issue as she thought. Other than that one little niggle, the few days that they had together had been some of the best she’d had in recent years. Butter was keen to show off the skills he had learnt in Manehattan, cooking all the meals at their respective times; introducing her to dishes she hadn’t seen or tried before along the way. He clearly enjoyed the way her face lit up when she discovered a tasty dish that she otherwise might never have touched before. She often asked for seconds, which Butter was only too happy to provide, albeit she never let on that it was because the ‘average’ portion size just didn’t fill a woman of her stature.

Other than food, the pair had taken to long walks in the orchards, spending time with Applejack’s friends, and cozying up together in the Apple family homestead. Granny Smith and Big Mac had been a little bit wary of the sudden relationship between the two, remembering some of the things Applejack had said after they split up in childhood. They quickly saw that it was the result of her anger for the most part and not actually true. Butter was charming to her relatives, even spending a little time with Apple Bloom when her friends were busy. It was like playing stepfather to her, as though she was a child of Applejack’s. She wasn’t, but the essence of a familial bond was certainly present between the two. So Butter was accepted into the family with open arms, at least as a friend. If he wanted to be accepted in the other way then a little more time needed to pass. For now he was content with the special friendship the two had.

On this particular day, or rather, what was left of it, Applejack and Butter were preparing to turn in for the night. They’d had a long day exploring the fields on the outskirts of Ponyville, looking for a certain type of herbal ingredient for another of Butter’s cooking recipes. They had found more than enough, but by the time they got back to the homestead, both of them were more inclined to sleep than cook. So that’s exactly what the pair had decided on, leaving the ingredient in the kitchen and retreating upstairs to their shared room. Although they both slept in the same room, they had yet to invest in a double bed, instead being left with two singles. They pushed them close enough together to simulate the effect of a double bed, but the void in the middle did threaten to swallow them up at times; Butter more than Applejack. It was a somewhat misshapen bed, with Butter’s bed standing a little shorter than Applejacks. Even with the extra space that Applejack had, her feet still pressed up against the board at the bottom of the bed. She often woke up complaining about how her feet and legs were cold all through the night, as her large feet propped up the end of her blanket like a tent pole. Still, at least it was better than sleeping on the floor.

Given the tired state of the pair, they got dressed into their nightwear, back to back to avoid revealing too much to the other. Then they hugged for a little while and climbed into their respective beds. Butter slept on his side so he could fall asleep knowing that Applejack was before him, whilst Applejack slept on her back, the only position that allowed her to fit on the bed itself. The pair didn’t even manage a simple ‘goodnight’ as no sooner had they got themselves comfortable, did the sounds of light snoring filter into the air. Mostly those sounds were coming from Butter, but Applejack did chime in with her own unique brand of snoring now and again. That was that; they were off to another little adventure in dreamland, allowing their minds to rest and process the day’s events. Though in Applejack’s case, her ‘rest’ was about to become anything but, as her dreams were due to take a wild twist.

In her dream state, Applejack painted a picture of Ponyville, standing herself on a somewhat sketchy and skewed landscape. The main elements of Ponyville were there, restaurants, shops, even the town hall, they were all there. She looked down at the floor to see that like reality, she had grown again, another quarter of an inch if she had to guess. She shrugged and looked back towards the town hall, surprised to find that Butter was now standing there, watching and waving at her. She wasn’t in control of her dreams; she wasn’t one of those lucky people that could become self-aware and control the world around them in their heads. Still, at least this appeared to be a pleasant one, with just her and Butter hanging out together in her dreams. Something was a little off though as she walked towards Butter. His waving seemed to slow and his body language seemed to change. But if she took a step backwards, then things resumed like normal, and he was waving happily again. Applejack felt herself wanting to walk away from Butter, but something was compelling her forwards. She was forced to watch as her lover became more despondent and frustrated the closer she got.

There was something else that was wrong though; the closer she got to Butter, the more the world seemed to grow around her. It was unusual seeing things revert to how they had been when she had been a child. Though it didn’t stop there either. She watched in horror as the world around her continued to grow, far past even her diminutive childhood state. Even Butter, the one she had come to love wasn’t immune from this strange phenomenon. Slowly but surely, he reached the same height that she was in reality. There was something about seeing a creature that big and that angry that unsettled her. She was no stranger to seeing oversized creatures; she and her friends had seen more than enough in their lifetimes, though very few matched her for size currently. But this, this was something else. As she got close enough to hear Butter talking to himself, she realised that he was talking about her. He mumbled something about how Applejack had been the cause of so much difficulty in his life. He recited comments about how she was costing him an arm and leg in food, making him pay extortionate amounts of money to feed her when they lived on a darn orchard. Applejack protested that it would never get so bad; she was only seven feet tall, it was hardly like she was going to grow into some giant monster. Unfortunately for her, she was only as big as Butter’s smallest toe by this point, leaving him looking like a giant to her.

He continued on, talking about how the townsfolk hated him because his girlfriend was causing so much damage. He recited places she knew well, such as Quills and Sofas; explaining how on one visit there, she had flattened several sofas and even teased the owner. He called her a rebel, something that he needed to get some distance from before the entire town turned on him like they had Applejack. She didn’t know what to think; what was this nightmarish situation she was in? She willed herself to wake up, to get her out of this scenario and back to reality where she could hug Butter and make it all go away. She even closed her eyes and tried to imagine an entirely different scenario, hoping that she could end up in a field of fluffy bunnies instead. When she opened them, she found herself still shrinking and still being forced to listen to the booming voice of her boyfriend. He went on to talk about how Applejack, fuelled by the power that her size brought, had rampaged through the streets of Canterlot, culminating in an intense battle with the Princesses. At this point he heaved a great sigh, rubbing his temples as he recounted that they had lost, bowing to the superior strength that Applejack showed.

Then the ground began to shake, with Applejack being rocked onto her backside as panicked screams began to ring through the air. Butter continued to stare down at the floor, his head sinking just a little lower so he was now looking at the smaller Applejack. The thumping grew louder for a few seconds before falling into silence, leaving just the sound of panicked residents fleeing the scene. Butter rubbed at his temples again, as a shadow fell over him and the rest of the town. Applejack looked up at him, saddened that he felt this way because of her, even if it was all sort of blown out of proportion. She wasn’t going to grow into some massive beast was she? She had been so sure that it was just a thing while she was growing up, like a wish come true, but if it didn’t stop, then it would certainly become a nightmare. Butter would struggle to look after her and then he’d, well he’d get like this, out on his own with no-one to stand by his side and comfort him. Where was she? Was she off sauntering around the other nations, looking for new ways to intimidate people? An even greater, booming, voice gave the answer to her question and it wasn’t good.

“What’s th’ matter, Sugahcube? Ah thought ya liked big, powerful women?”

Applejack craned her neck back to find herself staring up at what could easily have passed for a mirror. It was her face, so much bigger and fierce. She towered over the town; even Twilight’s castle only came up as far as her ankles. By now the town was empty, with everyone fleeing north away from the giant Applejack. The only people left were the minuscule Applejack, Butter and the massive Applejack, the only background noise coming courtesy of a howling breeze. Butter refused to look up, seemingly content to just stare at his feet and listen to the monstrous Applejack avatar mock him in public. It was all so wrong, everything about this whole scenario. Applejack wasn’t like this; she was kind, friendly, willing to help people out when they needed it. She didn't have an evil bone in her body, especially not when it came to Butter. She could never intentionally berate Butter to the point where he was experiencing some kind of alienation breakdown. It just wasn’t her, this wasn’t her, and it could never be her, could it?

“Oh that’s right; ya only like ‘em to a certain height, doncha? Suddenly ah wus too big fer ya, wasn’t ah?”

Applejack raised her foot up and hovered it over the smaller Applejack and Butter. This time Butter did look up, staring at her taking in that twisted and scorned face. The smaller Applejack shouted as loud as she could, trying to get his attention, telling him that they should run for some kind of cover. He still couldn’t hear her, heck, the only things that were likely to hear her now were the insects that roamed around. The larger Applejack brought her foot down on the pair, with li’l Applejack crying out as she did so. There was no audible crush though, no searing pain followed by a wash of nothing. She opened one eye, then the other, to see just what was going on and was surprised to see that everything had reset to how it was. The sketchy environments, the Ponyville locale, even Butter standing and waving to her off in the distance. She felt that same drive to walk forwards returning to her, pushing her along the set path, despite already knowing what was at the end. She couldn’t bear the thought of going through it all again, listening to how she had disappointed Butter and ostracised him from his friends. It was the very thing she had been fearing for a long time, made real right before her eyes.

This time though, as she stepped towards Butter, he didn’t stop waving at her, at least, not right away. He seemed happier at first, his waving only getting faster and more frantic the closer she got. The world around her was changing too, just like before but instead of her shrinking, it was the landscape. She watched as Butter seemed to shrink away before her, slowly, in quarter inches, much like she was growing today. The houses and homes began to reach lower and lower with each step, starting off standing well above her. Then, bit by bit her various body parts began to rise above them, starting at her head. Up and up she sprouted, her feet spreading wider and wider into the streets, threatening to push up against the homes and smother Butter in due time. She heard that voice from before, reciting the same comments to Butter and she could just about see his face begin to fall. It was happening all over again, except this time, she was going to play the part of giant Applejack. Her feet grew wider and longer, her toes digging into the dirt as she tried to keep them from reaching Butter, who was now staring up at her with his mouth agape.

The clouds overhead began to turn dark and grey, symbolic of a storm brewing. She could already see what was coming her way; she was going to become the beast from her previous situation. It seemed her dream was trying to tell her that no matter what she did or how she acted now, she was always going to grow into this creature. Yet, she just couldn’t bring herself to believe it, she was going to stop growing eventually, that had to be the case, she couldn’t keep growing forever, it would just be impossible. Yet, here she was, with no definite height, gradually outgrowing this dream world inch by inch. She mumbled how she was sorry under her breath, but nobody seemed to hear it; even with her immense size, it was like everyone was pre-recorded. When she moved her feet to better avoid running someone down, they simply moved to the new spot near where her foot would fall. She couldn’t escape it no matter how she tried. Even trying to walk away from the populated area resulted in the whole thing being moved forwards or backwards, like it was on a conveyor belt, to meet her. Swinging her arms about in panic, she took the tops off houses, sending them flying through the air and crashing down near some poor unfortunate home, or even into one. Some of the townspeople fled, but even they weren’t able to outrun her shadow, growing up to the heels of some before it encompassed them completely. The whole town was slowly falling under her and she didn’t even have to move; each movement, no matter how gentle was resulting in some untold misery.

Her feet alone were filling up the street now, both of them side by side was more than enough to have the entire width of the street to themselves. Applejack fought with her dream state some more to allow her to rest one foot on top of the other, freeing up space and leaving her wobbling and swaying with the breeze. She watched how, as she grew, the world seemed to jerk and distort around her, seemingly like she was breaking it. The destruction she had caused compared to her size was rather minimalistic, not what her dream had in mind. She could feel it trying to will her forwards, to make her become the monster that she was trying so hard not to be. A sudden blast of cold air whipped past her, circling around her and dragging her in many directions. Lightning crashed across the sky as she saw and felt the storm begin to take hold through the distorting clouds. The wind nipped at her feet, causing her to lose her balance, and making her tumble down towards the floor. She fell straight forwards onto the town hall, right where Butter stood. She tried to prop herself up with her arms as she fell, but they seemed restricted, like they were no longer a part of her body. She could only watch as they flailed about like noodles in a tornado, leaving her to crash against the floor.

The moment she was able to, she began to get up, checking beneath her to find Butter and see if he had finally moved. He hadn’t; he’d simply remained standing there, though for the most part he seemed alright. There was a slight distortion over the left hand side of his chest, which drew Applejack in closer. The distortion was like the static from a television, fizzling and cracking over the breast pocket of his chef jacket. Then, a ripping and tearing sound echoed through her head, the distortion fading away as it did so. In its place, was a slowly forming tear over Butter’s jacket. It wasn’t the material that was tearing, it was simply a projection of a slowly forming, black tear. The projection seemed to pulse in a familiar rhythm as Butter resumed looking sad again. Before Applejack had a moment to get upset about it though, she too felt herself being split apart. Like something was being forcefully pulled from inside her, tearing her apart on a molecular level. She survived the procedure, although physically drained for moment as a result of it. Getting back to her feet, she saw that once again, she was no longer the only Applejack around.

Now there was a ghostly apparition of Applejack, racing around the town and kicking, stomping, sitting on, and generally destroying the town that she held dear. Applejack was distraught, as there was nothing she could do, and this ghostly apparition of her was wrecking the town, destroying everything for no good reason. Even as she tried to stop the apparition, she was becoming an accomplice to the destruction. Just as the ghost’s feet crashed into the buildings and tore holes in the streets, so did hers. Giant footprints littered the streets and dwarfed some of the wreckages and it only stopped when an even bigger shadow loomed its way onto the scene. The ghostly AJ disappeared, fading away along with the rest of the town, until it was just the real Applejack and the shadow. She turned around to look at the owner of the shadow and was surprised to see Princess Luna, standing at a height that was almost ten times as big as Applejack. She looked down at Applejack, dressed in her own midnight blue robe which sparkled like the stars.

“Princess? Wut are ya doin’ here?” Applejack asked in surprise, feeling relief as a sense of control finally seemed to come over herself in the diarch’s presence.

“This is my realm, Applejack. I watch over and protect those that experience these night terrors, easing their mind of whatever problem is ailing them.” She snapped her fingers and shrunk both of them down to a much more manageable height. Luna still towered over the farmer, but only by a couple of feet instead of hundreds. “From what I can see, I wold seem you’re having a similar problem to what Celestia and I had growing up.”

“Ah am?”

Luna nodded, snapping her fingers again to transform the blank environment into the interior of Canterlot Castle, revealing both Luna and Celestia as youths. “We were both rather large at such a small age, especially in comparison to those around us.”

Luna fast forwarded the memory to the point where Celestia and Luna were a little bit more grown up, already bigger than the doorframes and constantly needing to duck under them. Luna was already as big as Applejack was currently, whilst Celestia was around four feet bigger. The pair were sitting in a shared bedroom, Luna having an arm around her sister, talking to her and appearing to be comforting. The audio to the memory allowed Applejack to hear of Celestia’s apparent worry that they were going to keep growing forever, always going to be the outcasts, even though they were royalty. Luna reassured her that as bleak as it might have looked, they would eventually stop when they reached adulthood. Celestia continued to wonder about what would happen if they didn’t though, they might even end up growing into the sun. Luna retorted with a comment about even if they did, at least they’d still have each other. Then the memory ended and Luna and Applejack were alone together once again.

“As you can see, you weren’t the only one that experienced growth spurts at a near continuous rate. Both of us were worried about what would happen to us in the end, just as you appear to be in your dreams. There’s no magic button that makes you stop - you have to accept it first, and then you can begin to build your life back up around it. That’s what we did, bouncing our worries and problems off each other until we felt better.”

“Ah think ah see wut yer gettin’ at…”

“And if I’m not mistaken,” Luna snapped her fingers to bring up a projection of Butter, swirling it around with her fingers. The smile on his face was warm and soothed the farm mare’s troubled heart. “This is the one who fills my place, following my example that is, yes?”

“Yeah, ah never thought o’ him like that, but ah guess he is.” Applejack whispers, reaching out to the projection to make it stop spinning.

“Well then, if you take a moment to talk with him, you might find that you’ll begin to feel better and begin to sleep a little easier.”

“Ah should do that, yeah. It’s better than...this”

“Applejack, you’re always going to end up facing difficulties, I won’t lie to you about that. Some of them are ones you can avoid, whilst others are a little out of your control.” Luna giggled to herself as she finished her sentence.

“Wut’s so funny?”

“Well, I just reminded myself of an example of a problem out of one’s control…” She snapped her fingers and brought up an image of Celestia, with a rear so big she was unable to sit in her throne. “This is my sister’s mind right now, currently worrying that she has a rather large butt, as you can see.”Snorting in an un-ladylike fashion, the Lunar Princess leaned in toward Applejack conspiratorially. “I’ll let you in on a secret though - it’s a harmless little prank I’m working on, as a playful revenge for the being trapped in the moon thing.”

Applejack snickered as she was explained the basis of the prank. “Heheh…aw shucks, thank ya Luna, ah’m grateful we had this chat.”

“As I said, Applejack, it is my duty. Now, I’ll leave you in peace to hopefully sweeter dreams…” replied the Princess as she began to fade away.

The next morning, Applejack awoke feeling refreshed and revitalised. At some point during the night, her panic had reached a level where it had woken Butter. She couldn’t be sure of his intentions, but if she had to take a guess, it was to calm her down. He had climbed up onto Applejack’s stomach and was laid out on her, hugging her tightly. He was flat out when she woke up, but Applejack appreciated the sentiment. She wrapped one arm around him and lay there with him, not wanting to move until he woke up of his own accord. Thanks to Luna, she felt a sense of relief and was ready to have a long talk with Butter when he woke up. She needed to get her thoughts out in the open and get some feedback, before her dreams turned into something far worse...