Chapter 2: Sweet Apple Pie

As the rooster crowed in the early hours of the morning Applejack dragged herself out of bed. Despite being the working pony that she is she always found it hard to wake up at the crack of dawn. After she got out of her bed she headed downstairs, being drawn to the kitchen by the smell of fresh oatmeal.

"Ooh, boy, that smells good" Applejack moaned as she sat down at the table, the smell of Granny's special apple cinnamon oatmeal making her mouth water. As Applejack prepared to dig in there was a knock at the door, getting everypony's attention.

Knock

"Who in tarnation would show up this early in the mornin'?" Applejack asked, annoyed that who ever it was stopped her from digging into her oatmeal. After giving her a shrug Big Mac stood up, making his way to the door. When he opened it he got a hoof right in the face, obviously opening it right as the pony outside went to knock.

"Oh, sorry about that..." a stallion said from outside, "Big Mac, is it?"

"How do you know my name, and what are you doin' here?" Big Mac grumbled as he rubbed his nose slowly because of the hit. He watched as the strange stallion walked into the house, passing a scroll to him. Big Mac grabbed the scroll and opened it, his eyes widening as he did.

"She can't be serious" Big Mac said in a surprised, yet worried, voice.

"She is, and we have to along with or else" the stallion said, "So where's Applejack?"

"I'm right here" Applejack said as she walked up to Big Mac, turning to see who he was talking to. When she looked she was surprised, since it was none other than Soarin of the Wonderbolts. Applejack may not be interested in the Wonderbolts, but thanks to Rainbow Dash constantly talking to her about them she knew who they were.

"What do you need me for?" Applejack asked, trying to look at the note Soarin had given to Big Mac. Big Mac kept moving the note away, and eventually she gave up, looking flatly at Soarin.

"I'm, uh, here on Princess Celestia's orders" Soarin said, a small blush coming to his cheeks.

"Why did she send you?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow to the blue Pegasus when he handed her a scroll with his name on it. She opened it up and started to read it...

By the order of Princess Celestia, you are to become wed to the Element of Honesty, Applejack, a local farmer from Ponyville. You are not able to object to this or you may face jail time as this is being enacted under the Engagement Act from 64 BNMM. You must go arrive in Ponyville by tomorrow evening or you will be persecuted

Royal Equestrian Guard

"What does this mean?" Applejack asked, looking at Soarin confusedly. He sighed before taking the scroll back.

"I have to marry you or I could be stuck in jail for the next ten years" Soarin said, sighing sadly. It was obvious that he didn't want to be forced to marry her.

"When was 64 BNMM?" Applebloom asked, having come out of the kitchen after Applejack didn't return.

"It was 64 years before Luna became Nightmare Moon," Soarin said in a sincere voice, "So, BNMM means, Before Nightmare Moon"

"Huh, that's cool" Applebloom said, her attention focused on the note now, "What's that?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about Applebloom, go back and finish your breakfast" Big Mac said, nodding towards the kitchen table, but Applebloom just pouted.

"But I wanna know what it is" Applebloom pouted, but Big Mac just stared at her. After a few seconds she gave up and went back to the table and started to finish off her oatmeal. When Big Mac looked back at Soarin he was gone, and so was Applejack. He looked around for them, and saw them walking off towards the barn, and knowing that he couldn't do anything about, whatever, they were going to go do he decided to go and get ready for his job...

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Applejack led Soarin into the barn, wanting to talk to him alone without anypony interrupting them while they talked about the order. Soarin didn't know what was going on, but it was quiet clear that he didn't want to go into the barn alone with her. When they finally got into the barn Applejack turned around, looking at Soarin.

"So, is this serious?" Applejack asked, nodding at the scroll Soarin had on his back. He looked back at it and then looked at her.

"Sadly, a royal guard brought it to me this morning with Celestia's seal on it" Soarin said sadly, "They also gave me your brother's orders"

"So does this mean he's going to be forced to marry somepony as well?" Applejack asked, looking back at the house worriedly. After a few moments she saw Big Mac making his way out of the house, his hair cleaned up and brushed nicely. She watched him worriedly as he slowly trotted towards Ponyville, looking up at the sky the entire time.

"Yeah, sadly" Soarin said, having been following Applejack's gaze the entire time.

"Do you know who he's going to get put with?" Applejack asked worriedly.

"I was told that if I opened the letter I'd get put in jail for 5 years, and still have to marry you" Soarin said, thinking back to what the guard had told him at his house. He shivered as he remembered everything about the conversation they had, ending on the guard describing some of the weird things that happen in the Canterlot jail...

"Hey, you okay?" Applejack asked, putting a hoof on Soarin's shoulder. He looked up slowly and smiled sweetly.

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks for worrying about me" Soarin said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. They stared at each other tentatively before embracing in a hug, surprising each with how nice it felt. After a few long seconds they broke apart and smiled at each other.

"That wasn't that bad, right?" Soarin asked while winking at Applejack.

"Eenope" Applejack said back, giving him a wink back. Before they could do anything else Granny Smith went out of the porch.

"Applejack and whoever you are, I have some apple pie in here that needs to be eaten today!" Granny yelled, making Soarin's ears perk up.

"Did she just say apple pie?" Soarin asked, sounding like a foal on their birthday.

"Eeyup" Applejack said happily, "This is some left over from last night though". In a split second Soarin was gone, flying into the house and was ready and waiting for his pie. Applejack laughed and started walking towards the house herself, and when she looked back into Ponyville she could have sworn she saw her brother flying towards Rainbow's cloud house...

"Applejack get in here, she won't give me pie if you're outside!" Soarin shouted from the kitchen, snapping Applejack back to reality, and she quickly made her way inside and sat next to Soarin, laughing as he devoured his piece of pie. After she finished her pie the two of them headed outside. Applejack was going to get to work on bucking the trees, and Soarin was in charge of taking Applebloom to school today. As Soarin and Applebloom said their goodbyes Applejack pulled Soarin away, giving him a quick kiss before she ran off to the orchard.

"She tasted like apple pie..." Soarin mumbled as he watched her run off, being pulled back into reality when Applebloom poked him in the ribs. They quickly ran off towards the school house, the entire time Soarin was thinking of how Applejack tasted...