Winter Wrap Up came and went, and, for once, nothing went wrong. There was no problem to be solved, no sense of urgency, no immediate issue to be solved before the event could progress. I moved the clouds without the use of magic, (well, not really, since natural pegasus/griffin magic is what lets us do it in the first place, but without active casting, kind of hypocritical when you think about it, to shun the use of someone's natural abilities based on tradition, Rarity forced to make baskets by hoof, a task difficult even with fingers.) and overall, the event was a success.

Thing were quiet, well, as quiet as things could be in a town like Ponyville. They were quiet for me anyways. The mane six had their usual bout of trouble. Applejack saving Spike from Timberwolves and him blowing it out of proportion JarJar Bink's style in the 'My life belongs to you' kind of way. I, of course, didn't intervene, though I did keep an eye on things so that I could if things got out of hand. Of course, they didn't, and life went on.

I got a letter from Gilda, oddly, through Spike instead of my usual, unpleasant method, a nice change, despite it's possible implications. The letter said that she had found what happened to her parents, and, in light of having accomplished her goal aboard the Possibility, would be leaving it in order to raise the child...our child, with me. The letter said she should arrive in two weeks, a month at the latest, since they had to do the usual runs, trading goods, bringing people home, that sort of thing, and it all depended on how long it took them. So, rather than me leaving to catch up with them, they would be coming to me.

I informed Rarity of the extension to my stay, and to say she was ecstatic was an understatement. Apparently in the short month we'd been living under the same roof, she'd become accustomed to being awoken by home made breakfast, classical music, and a warm atmosphere, and was dreading the day when I'd leave, saying how 'cruel I was, to give her a taste of the high life, only to take it away.' She was of course, joking, and knew that I would eventually leave, but it's good to be appreciated.

Among other things, there was the day I woke up to find a dozen or so Pinkie Pie's bouncing down the street all saying 'Fun'. I slept in that day, and made no attempt to discover her method of cloning herself, despite the possible military applications.

I flew down to market to buy some groceries with some money Rarity gave me, as well as a pie from Applejack using some of the stipend I got from Celestia for my contributions to the field of magical research. All I did is give them words. Words, their meanings, and how a few could be used together. Twilight was correct when she said that most of the spells I provided could already be performed by a unicorn. I'm sure it would be helpful to the guard for bolstering defenses and the like to make the equestrian buildings durable enough that they won't fold like cardboard at the first disaster or some such.

"Well howdy Griffin, the usual?" Applejack asked. Since I had been coming here twice a week for a month, we had gotten into a kind of rhythm, and she knew I always wanted one of her pies.

"Of course." She put one of the steaming baked goods on the counter, and I took a whiff of the sweet apple and cinnamon before reaching into my coin purse to find...

"Huh? Aww nuts, I forgot, my next payment won't be here till next week. Guess I'm not getting the pie. Sorry AJ."

"Aww shucks, tell ya what, y'all come down to the farm this afternoon and help me with a little job, and it's all yers."

"What kind of job are you talking about?" Of course, I wouldn't just blindly accept, I always need to know what I'm getting into.

"Don't be like that sugarcube. It won't take no more than a half hour, and it's easy, ah promise, it's just it's not somethin ah can do myself, and you're really the only one I can ask to do it." She looked at me with those big green eyes, and with that pie sitting there all steamy and warm, I couldn't resist.

"Alright, deal. So, seven o'clock?"

"Yeah, seven's fine."

So, I went home, dropped off the groceries, and enjoyed my pie.

"Oh, by the way Rarity, dinner is going to be a little later tonight, since Applejack asked for my help down on the farm. Shouldn't take me too long." I thought it would be best to inform her of where I'd be. She's the kind to worry.

"Of course darling. I'm busy with dresses anyways. Take your time.

So, I headed down to Sweet Apple Acres where Applejack was waiting for me. She scuffed the ground with her hoof nervously, and her face was flushed red.

"I'm here AJ, so, what do you need?"

"Follow me, here, in ta the barn."

"Alright."

I walked into the barn, and she closed the door behind.

"So, what did you need help with?"

"Well, ya see, it's a mite bit embarrassin, which is why, before I tell ya, ya gotta promise not a word to anypony, or anybody, else, ya hear?"

"Um... okay? I swear, I won't tell anyone." What, did she have mice in her barn or something? That would be awful, and could ruin her business's reputation if word got out that there were mice in the apples.

"Alright, ya see, each year, round this time, it starts gettin hotter, ya know? What with the weather changin an all. An, well, I really start feelin the heat ya know? And then, I get this... Itch, and, well, I jus can't get it myself."

"Um, okay? I mean, have you tried getting it?"

"Oh, I tried everythin, I tried using a brush, a broom handle, and it just doesn't go away. I get it every year, but this year, well, I can't take it anymore. I need somethin more satisfyin."

"Uh... okay... um... why haven't you asked someone else to help?"

"Well, seein as how in this whole town, you Spike an Zeta are the only ones who ain't got hooves. I can't ask Spike ta do it, and I don't trust that Zeta feller. I'm just lookin fer some relief is all, no strings attached. It'll only last a couple weeks, and then ah'll be alright, but right now, I jus can't take it. So, will ya help me? I mean, I know I can't force ya to, and don't feel like ya owe me nuthin, just you comin out here and swearin not ta tell anyone has more than paid for the pie."

I let out a sigh and sat next to a hay bale. I shook my head and sighed again.

"Applejack, you shouldn't lie, it's unbecoming of you."

"I, uh, wha? Are you callin me a liar?"

"You said you couldn't ask Zeta to do it because you don't trust him, but you asked me to do it, which implies you trust me. That's the lie. You don't trust me."

"Now what the hay would make ya say that?"

"It's simple, because I'm untrustworthy. I'm a lying, cheating, no good scoundrel, and trouble follows me everywhere. Upstanding folk like yourself shouldn't even associate with me. Is that why you asked me to do this? Because I'm some unscrupulous character you can just use?"

"So, ya heard about that, huh?"

"Applejack, the WHOLE TOWN heard about it. Your sister heard you, and she told her friends, and when the three of them know something..."

"Yeah, the whole town knows it. How many times I gotta tell Applebloom not ta eavesdrop?" She finished my sentence dejectedly.

"You're changing the topic. So, which was the lie, what you said then, or what you said now?"

"Neither. It's... well, that's what I thought of you, at the time. But, day after day, hearing Rarity go on about how you're 'the perfect gentlecolt' and you make breakfast in bed, and play fancy music, well, I had to look inta it. And, well, the truth is, you work tirelessly. I know you only do all that stuff cuz you're terrified that if you don't she won't like ya, and won't accept ya. Heck, that's probably why you're being so brutally honest with me now. Fact is, I was wrong." She admitted.

"You were?"

"It's true, you're a lying, cheating scoundrel, but you ain't 'no good', not by a long shot. At first, I didn't want to believe it but then, mah second cousin Maple Sugar showed up at the farm. She'd been missin Apple family reunions fer years, and nobody knew why. Turns out, she got taken, whole family did. Her husband, an her two foals. You rescued em Grif, you did. They watched you put the beat down on a hungry dragon, all while shinin like Celestia's sun, and since then she's been goin all over Equestria and tellin the family. She showed up here last week. I guess that's when ah realized, well... you've done a lot of good. Ah may not approve a yer methods, but, it ain't me goin out there an savin folk, well, beside the whole element bearer thing. An trouble don't follow you, you hunt it down, and ya fix it. It's what ya do."

I looked at Applejack through teary eyes, unaware that I had started crying.

"You... have no idea how much that means to me. I..."

"Ah know, ya don't feel appreciated. Ya work all day long an not a single soul tells ya 'good job' er nuthin. It just kinda becomes expected, and nopony realizes how much yer hurtin inside. I can see it in yer eyes, and I can tell when Rarity gushes about ya. Yer doin all those things because ya just want to be appreciated."

She knows. She understands. I didn't think she would but, she does. She knows all about it. She's been working this farm for years, raising her little sister, with only Big Mac for help, and he's not much of a conversationalist. She feels alone, bearing the weight of the world on her back.

So, I wound up hugging her. She seemed surprised as first, but then just went with it and hugged me back. After we broke the hug, her eye twitched, she scuffed the ground with her hoof, looked at me and said,

"NOW can you scratch my back?"

Author's Notes:

I had you there I did. I really did, didn't I? Come on, admit it, I got you, and it was funny. I kinda gave it away with the title though, but I think you still weren't expecting it.

The reason Applejack can't ask Spike to scratch her back is because after she went to such desperate lengths to get him to STOP doing things for him, it's be a complete mule of a move to ask him to START doing them again. The reason why she couldn't stand it anymore that year, is because that's the year Spike so desperately offered his services to her.

"I... I could scratch your back!"

"Uuuugh.. ooh, that is goood...."

And now she's all the more aware of an itch she was trying to ignore.