“What time is it?” Sketch asked once the movie finished.

“It’s about… five minutes to seven,” answered Lightning Star. “By the way, weren’t you supposed to call AJ?”

“Aw, shit!” yelled the unicorn. “I forgot!”

“You know what you should do?” said the pegasus, “You should show up without calling. She’ll be so surprised!”

“Or she’ll freak out,” Sketch retorted.

“Yeah, if it were anypony else,” Lightning said, “but this is you we’re talking about. She wouldn’t care if you broke into her house. Applejack would still be happy to see you. She obviously likes you.”

“You’re just assuming things,” Sketch denied. “I doubt she feels that way.”

Lightning rolls his eyes and Sketch leaves the house, with his sketchbook and his knapsack, as usual. He thought about taking his motorcycle; he hadn’t touched it since it came in the mail, but he decided to walk instead. After about ten minutes, he reached Sweet Apple Acres. As he was about to knock on the front door of the Apple Family home, a loud crash made him jump in surprise. Wondering what it was, Sketch walked in the direction the crash came from, and found the Cutie Mark Crusaders on the ground, covered in dirt.

“I guess hang gliding isn’t our special talent, girls,” said Scootaloo.

“Didn’t you guys try that already?” asked the stallion.

“Oh, hi, Sketch!” the three girls said in unison. “What brings ya t’ Sweet Apple Acres?” asked Apple Bloom.

“I was supposed to meet up with your sister today,” he explained. “You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you?”

“Oh, she’s in the barn. Follow me!” the young filly said, and Sketch followed her to the barn, with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo tagging along. Once they got there, the southern filly shouts something that makes the unicorn stallion blush.

“APPLEJACK! YOUR COLTFRIEND IS HERE!!!”

“Wait, what!?” Sketch said, flustered. The three fillies began to giggle amongst themselves.

The barn door swung open, and Applejack stomped out, looking frustrated. “He AIN’T my coltfriend, Apple Bloom!” she said sternly. “He’s just a friend!”

“Well, that proves it. She doesn’t have feelings for me,” Sketch thought, oblivious to the blush that was on the southern mare’s face. “Don’t mind them, AJ. They’re just being kids,” he said.

“Alright,” she said, calming down. “So, how was Canterlot?”

“It was… something…” he answered. “I’ll tell you when we get to… where are we going, exactly?”

“Ah was thinkin’ we could go to the Ponyville Pool Hall,” she suggested.

“I didn’t know there was a pool hall here,” he said. “Twilight must have forgotten to mention it when she gave me and Lightning a tour of Ponyville.”

“Oh, yer gonna love it!” she said. “They got the best drinks… well, next to my family’s cider of course.”

“Well, lead the way,” he said, letting Applejack do just that. Just as they were about to leave the farm, though, the three fillies called out to them. “Have fun on your date!” they yelled. Applejack was going to run after them, but Sketch convinced her otherwise. “It’s not worth it,” he said.

The two ponies arrived at the pool hall after about fifteen minutes of walking. “You know,” said Sketch as he opened the door to the establishment, “I could have taken my motorcycle and we wouldn’t have to walk. In hindsight, that would have been a better idea.”

“Nah. Ah’m perfectly fine with us walkin’,” said AJ. “Yer fun t’ talk to and havin’ a roarin’ engine in our ears would ruin that.”

“Well, when you put it that way…” he said, finding a vacant pool table and putting some bits in. “You can break,” he said.

“Thank ya kindly,” said AJ as she got cue sticks for her and Sketch. “So, what happened in Canterlot?”

“Well, Twilight, Lightning, and I went there to find a book that Twilight didn’t have in her library,” he explained as AJ sank a ball.

“Ah reckon Ah’m stripes, then. Anyways, what made you and Lightnin’ want to go with her?” she asked.

Sketch hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he should tell Applejack that he and Lightning were from another universe. Then again, what would be the harm in telling her? It’s not like she’d think of him any differently. Was he worried that she wouldn’t like him? Wait, why would he be worried about that? He doesn’t have feelings for her, right? Regardless, it’d be best to stay on the safe side.

“She didn’t want to go alone, and we didn’t have anything to do, so we decided to go with her,” he said. “Anyway, when we got there, we saw these thugs robbing a jewelry store. Lightning wanted to be a hero and went after them, and Twilight and I tagged along so he wouldn’t be alone.”

“That stallion just loves trouble, don’t he?” AJ asked.

“Pretty much…” Sketch answered. “So, we ended up stopping the thieves and the owner of the store let us each have a piece of jewelry from his store, free of charge.”

“Well, that was mighty nice of ‘im,” said the mare.

Sketch suddenly remembered that he had gotten a necklace for Applejack from that store, and he never took it out of his knapsack when he got home, so it must still be in there now. “One second, Applejack,” he said as he reached into the bag for the velvet box that contained the necklace.

“I know you’re not a jewelry kind of pony,” he said as he held the box in front of the mare, “but I got this for you from the store.”

Applejack gingerly opened the box and gasped when she saw the necklace inside. “Do you like it?” Sketch asked nervously.

“Ah think it’s gorgeous,” she answered, and the stallion gave a sigh of relief. “I thought you weren’t gonna like it,” he said.

“Now why wouldn’t Ah like somethin’ that you went through so much trouble t’ get for me?” she asked as she put the necklace on. “How does it look?”

“Beautiful,” Sketch said without thinking, then he snapped back to reality. “The necklace, I mean. It looks beautiful on you.”

“Ah know what ya meant,” the mare said with a chuckle. “Now, let’s get back to this game while you tell me the rest of yer story.”

“Alright then,” the unicorn said as he lined up his cue for another shot. “So, Twilight, Lightning and I snuck out the back door of the jewelry store…”

Several minutes later…

“Well, Ah’ll be darned. Looks like y’all had a pretty eventful day,” Applejack said.

“I know,” replied Sketch. “That’s why I plan on staying home all day tomorrow.”

“Ah know Ah would if Ah had a day that hectic,” she chuckled.

“Oh, and one more thing,” he said.

“What?” the mare asked.

“I win,” Sketch gloated as he sank the eight-ball

“Ah let ya win.”

“I thought you were the element of honesty.”

“What makes ya think Ah’m lyin’?”

“You’re doing that thing with your eyes.”

Applejack sighed. “Okay, maybe ya did beat me, but A’ll get ya next time. Fer now, why don’t we get somethin’ t’ drink?”

Sketch and AJ went to the bar and ordered some ciders, which came in two large mugs.

“Bottoms up!” the mare said as she downed half the glass in one gulp.

“Damn,” said the unicorn. “Losing must make you thirsty.”

“Real funny, sugarcube,” she said. “My granny says I have the appetite of a full-grown stallion.”

“Gee, I wonder why,” he said sarcastically as he took a sip of his cider. “Wow, you were right. This stuff is good.”

“Just you wait ‘till cider season. My family’s cider will make ya do backflips!” Applejack boasted.

“We’ll see,” Sketch teased.

Once their cider was finished, the two ponies left the pool hall and headed back to Sweet Apple Acres. As they walked, Sketch looked at Applejack’s necklace, admiring the way the moonlight reflected off of it. Once the two got to the farm, she calls him out.

“What’re ya starin’ at my chest for, tiger?” said Applejack with a smirk on her face.

“Huh!?” Sketch said, flustered.

“You didn’t think Ah would be that ignorant, did ya?” she asked.

“N-no! It was nothing like that! Not that you’re not pretty or anything, but I was just looking at your necklace because it looked really nice in the moonlight and-”

“Simmer down, Sally,” the mare chuckled. “Ah’m only pullin’ yer tail.”

The unicorn sighed with relief. “Don’t do that. I get nervous when I get put into situations like that.”

“Is that so?” she laughed. “Yer pretty jittery, ain’t ya?” She then calmed down. “But seriously, though… you think Ah’m pretty?”

“Oh, man…” Sketch thought. “I walked right into that one.”

“Well, I mean… yeah…” he admitted.

The mare chuckled again. She was really in the laughing mood tonight. She wrapped and arm around his and leaned in close to him. “Well, Ah think that yer quite the catch, yerself,” she said softly.

“R-really?” Sketch asked. “I don’t get that a lot.”

“There’s a first time for everything, ain’t there?” said Applejack, her voice no louder than a whisper, yet she was so close that Sketch could hear her clearly, her sweet, southern voice making him lose some of the tension he had. He turned his head to say something, but found Applejack’s face mere centimeters away from his, her eyes closed, and her lips puckered. Before he could even register what was going on, her lips met his and her arms wrapped around him.

Sketch was in total shock at what was happening. He couldn’t believe that he was being kissed. The fact that the one kissing him was an anthropomorphic pony didn’t seem to reach him, at the moment. The only thing that was a surprise to him was being kissed at all. Applejack’s lips were soft, softer than he would expect from a mare like her. They also tasted like apples, which wasn’t a surprise to him, but he also tasted a hint of cinnamon, as well. As the seconds passed, all of Sketch’s inhibitions seemed to fade as Applejack kissed him. He even built up the courage to kiss her back, an action that she gladly accepted. After what felt like hours, but was only a minute in actuality, the two ponies separated, and looked into each other’s eyes. Applejack’s were full of passion, while Sketch’s eyes were glazed over.

The mare chuckled yet again and said. “Ah’ll see ya around,” before walking to her house.

As the unicorn walked home, he didn’t know how to feel about what just happened. He had convinced himself that he didn’t have feelings for Applejack, that she was just a close friend, but if that were true, he wouldn’t have let her kiss him, at least not for as long as she did. Maybe he let it happen because he didn’t want to upset her? No, that’s a stupid idea. It’s obvious that he enjoyed it, even if it was just a little. Maybe he really did have feelings for AJ, and all it took was a kiss for him to finally realize it. He wondered what she’d say the next time they met. Would she want a relationship? A serious one? Sketch felt like he’d have to say yes. He wouldn’t want to friendzone the only girl that’s ever liked her, especially when he knew what it felt like to be in that position. He knew it very well.

Sketch decided that he was thinking about it way too much, and continued on home with the only thought in his mind being sleep.

When he finally got home, he saw that all the lights were turned off. “That’s weird,” he thought. “It’s only nine o’ clock. It’s not like Lightning to go to sleep this early. Our trip to Canterlot must have tried him out more than it did me.”

It was still light enough to see, thanks to the moon, so Sketch made his way upstairs and saw that the light in Lightning’s room was switched on.

“Oh, I guess he is awake then,” the unicorn thought. He approached the door and knocked, but there was no response. He knocked again, but there was still no answer. He then opened the door slowly, in case his friend was sleeping and just forgot to switch off the light.

Inside, he saw Lightning Star, wide awake, reading some scrolls. There was something different about him. He seemed to have a frustrated, no, an angry look on his face.

“Oh, sorry, man. I didn’t know you were reading,” said Sketch. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m back.”

“Whatever,” the pegasus replied.

This was odd. Sketch expected Lightning to ask him a million and one questions about how your outing with AJ went, but this time he didn’t seem to care.

“Everything alright?”

“I’m fine. Why do you care?”

“Because I’m your friend. That’s how the whole ‘friendship’ thing works.”

“Well, I’m just fine, so you have nothing to worry about, so just go away.”

“What’s your deal, Lightning?”

“It’s nothing. Mind your own damn business!”

“Dude, calm down!”

Lightning got out of his seat and turned around to face Sketch. “Don’t tell me what to do! I said I’m fine, now get out!” he yelled, grabbing a nearby throwing knife and chucking it at Sketch. Luckily, he was so mad, it threw his aim off completely, and he missed by several inches.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go!” said the unicorn. “What the fuck, man?” He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. As he walked to his own room, he wondered: what could have happened to make Lightning so angry?