I struggled to reach up and climb into bed. It has been four days since I started working on the Apple farm and I still had to crawl my way home. The only difference, the past three times were that Ditzy didn’t come to fly me home. Luckily, Twilight successfully taught me the Muscle Relaxant spell yesterday. After I climbed onto the bed, I started the spell. Immediately my legs left the hot and cold sensation. I kicked out my legs and they felt refreshed yet again. I lay down on my bed and thought back to the past few days.

I visited the club again, but my cutie mark still didn’t appear. I even practiced in my room, but my talent just didn’t form as a cutie mark. Was raving not my talent? Did I even have a special talent? Yes, I had to. If I was that good at swinging sticks around, then I had to have another more important talent.

I also managed to collect a total of 300 bits. The past few days have been pretty much the same. Wake up and buck the apples for eight hours, relax, go to the club, sleep. I was making a good profit, but I was getting really tired.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was bringing in my fifteenth cart filled with apples. After this was my lunch break. Two cupcakes. I was too afraid to eat any other foods like hayburgers or daisy sandwiches. Maybe this was why I was so tired every day.

As I was getting ready to eat, I saw a Pegasus with a mailbag land on the barn grounds. She looked over in my direction and started coming my way.

“Hey Rave! Remember me?” The Pegasus said.

I squinted my eyes to check who it was. It was only until I saw her eyes did I recognize the mare.

“Hey Ditzy Doo! How could I forget eyes… I mean… a Pegasus that helped me out by flying me home?” I was about to mention her eyes until I realized it would be completely inappropriate of me to mention them as a way to identify her.

Ditzy Doo smiled. “What are you doing here at the Apple family’s place?” She asked.

“You know when you picked me up a few days ago? I was actually coming from here. I work here.”

A look of understanding appeared on her face. “I can see why you were so tired that day.”

I chuckled. “Yeah. So why are you here?”

“A new house is being built in Ponyville, so I had to change my route. Construction zones are strict no flying zones. So, I’m going to be stopping around this time for the next few weeks.”

“That’s cool. You know this is around my break time maybe we can… oof!” An apple hit me in the back of the head. I turned around to see old Granny Smith.

“Yer here to work, not socialize ya little filla! Every minute ya spend talkin stead a workin is another bit lost! Now git on back to work!” The old pony said as she came over to shoo me away.

I shook my head. “Sorry, Ditzy. Maybe we can continue our conversation tomorrow?”

Ditzy shrugged. “Sure. See you tomorrow!”

For the next few days, Ditzy would come to the farm around my lunch break. We would talk for a while before Granny Smith would drop in our conversation and tell me to, “Git on back to work ya lazy varmint!” or something along those lines.

I was considering on asking Ditzy Doo to have lunch with me sometime, but I couldn’t just leave the farm, especially since Applebuck Season started rolling. But for some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about the way her golden mane reflected the sun and the way her eyes gave her just the most adorable look. Was it normal for me to like ponies like this? I guess since I am a pony now, it should be acceptable. Still, the Apple family won’t mind if I extend my lunch break for one day right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How are you today Ditzy Doo?” I asked.

“I’m doing just fine. The Weather Team is planning a rainstorm later on today. but I think I should be able to finish my mail route by then.”

“That’s good to hear. Hey, I was wondering…” How should I say this? I thought to myself.

“What do you need Rave?” Ditzy said, giving me a quizzical look.

“Do you want to… you know, have lunch with me tomorrow?” I said hesitantly, “I mean, if you don’t have anything planned.

A smile appeared on Ditzy’s face. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“I guess so,” I replied. My cheeks were burning, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“I would love to go!” Ditzy replied. My eyes opened wide. She said yes? No words could describe the happiness I felt at that moment. “I’ve never been asked out before,” Ditzy started, “I’ll meet you here at the same time tomorrow and we’ll head out to town?”

“That sounds great!” I exclaimed.

“I see, doin nothing again ya lazy varmint! Why I should git Big Mac to kick ya out right now!” Granny Smith yelled as she slowly walked over.

I rolled my eyes. “Well see you tomorrow, Ditzy!”

Ditzy gave me a warm smile and waved good-bye as she took off into the sky. Everything went better than expected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I brought in my fifteenth cartload of apples for the day. Hmm… should I wash myself first so that I don’t smell like sweat? I sniffed my leg. I smelled like a combination of apples and sweat. The sweet smell of apples was fine, but I should probably wash off. I searched the sky above me.

“Aha!” I exclaimed as I found a lone tuft of cloud. I concentrated the magic in my hooves until I could feel a good amount of magic flowing in them. Next, I focused my mind on the image of me on the cloud. A flash of light appeared around me and I found myself on a soft pillow of cloud fluffiness.

“I’m getting better,” I said to myself. I jumped on the cloud. They were like giant water beds. I laid down on the cloud and began to roll around, making sure to absorb as much moisture as I could. When I felt my body had taken in enough water, I looked up to see Ditzy flying in place giving me a weird look.

I chuckled. My cheeks were on fire from the embarrassment. “I’m just… washing up before I go out to eat.”

Ditzy just shook her head and smiled. She landed on my cloud. She paused and leaned in to smell me. “You smell like apples.”

I smelled myself as well. The salty smell of a long morning’s work had been washed off. “Yeah, you know, apple farm and stuff.”

Ditzy giggled and landed on the ground below. “C’mon! We should hurry before your break is over!” Ditzy said.

I teleported myself off of the cloud. I trotted into the barn to pick up some bits to pay for lunch. I went back to Ditzy and we started our stroll to our very first date.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’ll have a daisy sandwich,” Ditzy said.

I didn’t know what to pick. I never ate any of the food the restaurant served. Hayburgers, daisy sandwiches, daffodil and lime salads? This was the first lunch I’d have that wasn’t cupcakes.

“And your choice, sir?” The waiter asked.

“Umm… I’ll just have whatever she’s having.” I said, unable to make a decision.

“Very well. I will be back with your food in a moment,” the waiter replied.

“Are you ok? You seem a bit nervous,” Ditzy said with a look of concern. “I hope I’m not making you feel awkward.”

“No. It’s just me being me.” I said. Mentally, I gave myself a facehoof. Yes, that was obviously the best thing to say.

“Oh, ok.” Ditzy said. We stayed in an awkward silence until the waiter returned with our food.

Ditzy took a bit out of her sandwich. “Mmm… the food here tastes great, but it’s not as good as muffins.”

I took a deep breath. Time for the moment of truth. I lifted the daisy sandwich with my magic. I’m a pony now, so I should have taste buds like a normal pony right? I took a small bite out of the sandwich.

Immediately, my mouth was filled with the taste of the sandwich. The sweet delicateness of the daisy matched great with the crunch of the crispy bread. The moisture inside the daisy petals counteracted perfectly with the dryness of the bread for an unbelievably delicious sensation. I thought of all the times I could have eaten these, and instead decided to eat cupcakes.

I took another satisfying bite out of my meal. After I swallowed I asked, “So you like muffins?”

“Muffins!” Ditzy replied. “I love all kinds of muffins! Strawberry muffins, blueberry muffins, chocolate muffins! Oh, and banana muffins!” Ditzy began a long conversation concerning her many muffin interests.

I merely nodded and gave a few words of my opinion. When she finished, I asked, “If you’re so into muffins, why is your cutie mark bubbles?”

Ditzy put on a big smile. “It’s a bit of a long story. It starts out when I was just a little filly. Both my parents were mailponies and I wanted to follow in their hoofsteps. Every day after school, I would help my parents out by walking to homes in Ponyville and delivering their mail. Mostly letters, I was too small to carry packages with me at the time. I would always wonder what my cutie mark would be. My mother’s cutie mark was three envelopes and my father’s was a box. I thought my cutie mark would be something like theirs.

Then one day, my parents decided to let me take out a letter to Cloudsdale. It was the first delivery I would make that was outside of Ponyville. I was so excited! My route to Cloudsdale was easy. The Pegasus city wasn’t too far away. But what I didn’t know was that the Pegasi planned a heavy storm for that night. On my return trip home, the storm hit. The rain was coming down so hard on me that I could barely see. The wind was disturbing my flight and I couldn’t stay on course.

I landed on the ground to stay away from the wind. It was too dark see much of anything. I was wet. I was cold. And worst of all, I was lost. I thought I was going to die unable to find my way back home. My tears mixed in with the pouring rain on my face. I stayed where I was for a while until I looked up to see a group of bubbles. The bubbles started to float away and I followed them. I must’ve been walking for hours. But when the sun just began to rise, the bubbles had led me to Ponyville. I was so happy to have found my way home. And from that moment on, I had these bubbles as my cutie mark."

My mouth hung open in amazement. “That’s such a great story! I would never have thought. But that doesn’t explain the muffin thing.”

Ditzy finished the last of her sandwich. “It’s just my favorite food. Anyways, once you get a cutie mark, it’s permanent. I can’t just change mine to a muffin.”

I bobbed my head in agreement.

“What about your cutie mark?” Ditzy asked.

“I don’t know. I expected it to be… I mean, it was glowsticks, but I ate a flower called White Blanksprout.” I said, sticking to the story I told Rainbow Dash. “It’s supposed to come back after a few days, but it hasn’t. I even raved a few times at Vinyl’s club, but nothing.”

Ditzy gave me a surprised look. “That’s weird,” she said, “Why do you think it hasn’t returned?”

Because I never actually had a real cutie mark or ate a flower, I thought to myself. “I don’t know. Maybe I have a new talent?”

Ditzy shrugged. “Maybe.”

“That will be 15 bits, sir,” the waiter said, taking our plates.

I took out the right amount of bits plus a three bit tip. I handed them to the waiter.

“Thank you very much, sir.”

“Well, I should probably get back to my routes. I had a good time, Rave,” Ditzy said.

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we should do this again sometime.”

“I would love to.” Ditzy said. She then walked up to me and hugged me. I hugged her in return and nuzzled her.

We shared a blush as my eyes met hers. Her wall-eyed expression fine-tuned by her eyes that shined like gold.

We waved good-bye to each other. Well this had been a very successful first date.

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