#i think that fluttershys cottage was past sweet apple acres?

[ashen--dreams]

interesting and ironic to me that fluttershy lives next to the everfree forest. i always imagined her cottage being tucked away in the direction that the river flows up north of the town, not far from the area shes introduced and that clearing past the western bridge

[hoofclid]

Appled Mathematics - Part 6

"Wait three days before making contact after a date" was a rule Braeburn had heard once. But he only had a week in Ponyville before he had to go back to his work in Appleloosa, so he'd decided that three days was way too long. In fact he decided that even one day would be too long.

So it was that after lunch he asked Applejack if he was needed on the farm that afternoon and was promptly sent packing. He had waited until after lunch because he thought the unicorn would need to catch up on some sleep. He was not wrong. Hoofclid had in fact slept in so long that he had reclassified lunch as breakfast, and had only just finished it when he heard the knock. He sleepily dragged himself to the door and opened it to find a huge smile looking back at him. Most of Hoofclid's tiredness seemed to melt off him when he recognised it.

"Afternoon, partner!" boomed Braeburn, slightly louder than he had meant. Hoofclid blinked back. Perhaps he was trying to work out if "partner" was a friendly Appleloosan greeting or meant something more. Truth be told, Braeburn was a little unsure himself. But a little playful ambiguity couldn't hurt for now, he decided.

"Wanna go for a walk? We only saw the town when ya showed me round on Monday, I'm sure there's some great countryside round here!"

"Ducks."

"Pardon?"

Hoofclid's slowly awakening brain realised that he hadn't managed to get out the entire sentence.

"I mean yes. There's a lake I like where there are some ducks. I could take you there."

It was a beautiful lake, although Braeburn couldn't immediately see any of the promised ducks. Appleloosa had no lakes. How many moons had it been since Braeburn had gone for a swim? Too many. Grinning, he stripped off his jacket and slung it over a branch, before hanging his hat next to it.

"Comin' in?" he said to the slightly puzzled unicorn before trotting into the water up to his fetlocks. It was a little chillier than he had expected—one of those 'ok once you're in' sorts of temperatures. Hoofclid had paused at the water's edge thinking things over. Or more accurately, Braeburn decided, overthinking them. He aimed a splash of water at the unicorn to break his train of thought.

"You're gonna get wet anyway if you stand there, you may as well come in!" Another splash.

Hoofclid smiled and bounced into the water a few feet away from the earth pony and aimed at tame little splash at him.

"That the best you got?" taunted Braeburn, prancing indolently.

Hoofclid grinned wolfishly. A flash from his horn was quickly followed by a small tidal wave which totally drenched Braeburn and carried straight on past him. A loud and annoyed quacking indicated that there were in fact ducks on this lake. Who had until now been having a nice nap.

"Sorry, was that a bit much?" Hoofclid smiled sheepishly and blushed. He was half way through a second apology when he discovered that years of applebucking made for legs that could deliver a mighty splash of their own.

The two stallions played happily in the water for a few minutes until they were interrupted by a veritable cascade of quacking from the bank. The ponies looked over to see that one of the ducks—who still looked about as furious as a duck could manage—had brought Fluttershy down to the lake.

"Um, Donald says that you've been disturbing his nap. I don't like to point hooves, but maybe you could play a little more quietly please?" Fluttershy was as quiet as ever, but perhaps a little firmer to indicate that there was no disobeying the request. Hoofclid and Braeburn trotted shamefacedly out of the water.

"Sorry, Fluttershy,." they chimed in unison. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. Understanding immediately, the stallions turned to the duck.

"Sorry, Donald."

The duck started to rant again, but the eyebrow turned on him in a very obvious ‘They apologised, now go back to your nest’ signal. Donald flapped off.

"Would you two like to come back to my cottage for some tea? It's not far."

The sun was strong that day and the stallions dried off quickly on the walk to Fluttershy's place. They sat down in the garden together as Fluttershy busied herself making the tea—all offers of help being gently refused. Braeburn drank his cup slowly. Appleloosa was not really a place for hot drinks and he wasn't accustomed to them. Hoofclid meanwhile gulped down a large mug as Fluttershy took tiny sips from a much smaller cup.

As the conversation progressed, Braeburn noticed Hoofclid becoming quieter and quieter until he finally dozed off. The unconscious unicorn slipped over a little until he came to a stable position with his muzzle resting on Braeburn's forehoof.

"He must really like you..." said Fluttershy in a tone even quieter than usual—though Braeburn found the notion that Fluttershy's normal voice would ever wake anyone up faintly absurd.

"I wouldn't say that..." Braeburn hesitated, "...I just don't think he's got much sleep the last few days."

"It's more than that," replied Fluttershy after another tiny sip. "Hoofclid often sleeps badly, but I've never seen him take a nap like that before. He told me once that he's usually too nervous to fall asleep in a new place, or with other ponies around. You must make him feel really safe."

Braeburn couldn't think of a reply to that. Part of him wanted to argue, but he supposed Fluttershy knew Hoofclid far better than he did yet. He looked over at her. The pegasus was just

smiling at them from behind her teacup. Evidently she had said all she was going to on the matter.

He looked back down to the snoozing unicorn, who was smiling gently. He looked so peaceful it made Braeburn feel sleepy too. Maybe it couldn't hurt to just rest his eyes for a minute. He laid his head down on his hooves next to Hoofclid's,  with every intention of carrying on talking to Fluttershy. He found he had no ideas for what to say next. The clearing was silent except for the slow sipping of Fluttershy's tea.

"You sure know how to show a colt a good time, huh cuz?" Braeburn blinked up at the sight of Applejack standing over him. He tried to work out what time it was. Early evening maybe? Hoofclid's eyes were open too, though he hadn't moved his head from its position resting against Braeburn. The earth stallion lifted his head up to look around, making the blanket slip off him slightly.

Wait. Blanket? Fluttershy, he guessed. Braeburn hadn't spoken to her much on her trip to Appleloosa, but he was rapidly appreciating that the Element of Kindness well deserved her reputation.

"You'd better come on back to Sweet Apple Acres. Big Macintosh is cookin' dinner and you know how partic’lar he can be about timings," explained Applejack.

The two stallions' ears flopped down in unison.

"OK cuz, I'm a-comin'," said Braeburn slowly.

AJ smirked. "Hoofclid's invited too of course."

The ears perked up again.

Hoofclid scrambled to his feet, his natural dislike of being late (coupled with hunger) overcoming his sleepiness at last. Using his magic to fold up Fluttershy's blanket as he trotted inside, he called back, "Well we don't want to keep everypony waiting, do we?"

Braeburn watched him go as he slowly came upright. Then he fell over again. It turned out that having a pony resting on your leg for hours on end sent it quite firmly to sleep. Applejack helped him up.

"Oh, by the way." Applejack grinned. "I took the liberty of snappin’ some pictures while y’all were sleepin'. Lookin' forward to the next reunion."

[mushroompone]

Forgotten

A Tragic Twijack Ficlet

This was a request from @myu6155 . It��s been quite a long time since I’ve written a tragic romance, so I hope you enjoy it!

Summary: Twilight and Applejack are getting old. They have a final conversation.

Word Count: 922

Twilight, bless her little heart, had been getting a might forgetful.

To be perfectly fair, my own mind was slipping away from me at times. A name here, a memory there. Certain things fading into obscurity with seemingly no rhyme or reason.

My mind was the least of the things I had lost by now, of course. Friends and family gone. Pets. Eras. Life is loss, and you’d be a fool not to accept that truth. That doesn’t mean you have to be happy about it, though.

Some days were good. Some days, Twilight would remember a dear old friend and begin to make plans for the future.

“Applejack! We should go see Pinkie Pie sometime soon!” She would say. “We could bake some cookies and catch up… oh, wouldn’t that be fun?”

She would talk about this and that, her thoughts a jumbled mess of memories that may or may not have truly happened. The strangest thing was that she never sensed these gaps. To her, nothing was missing. This was simply how the world was, and she was alright with that.

Eventually, having exhausted what delicate fragments of happiness she could recall, she would turn to me and say, “When should we meet her?”

Some days I could grit my teeth and lie. I could convince her that Pinkie was still there, still baking cupcakes and pies at good ol’ Sugarcube corner. “We can head down tomorrow if you’d like!” Hopefully this, too, would slip her mind.

Other days were harder. I’d sit her down and remind her of the difficult truths we had faced these past few years.

“Don’t you remember, darlin’? Pinkie passed away last spring.”

She would snort sarcastically. Her laugh hadn’t changed, just like her face and her body hadn’t changed. “That’s not a very funny joke, AJ.”

“It isn’t a joke, sugarcube.”

I have long wondered what particular force has allowed me to hold onto difficult truths for so long. Sure, they’ll pass in and out. I’m sure there are many treasured details I have lost, but tragedy seems stuck in my min; holding on with a tenacity I cannot fathom. I still haven’t decided whether this is a blessing or a curse.

I’m sure it all ties back to my gotdang honesty.

“Where is Twilight?” I asked. “She said she was on her way.”

The nurse looked over to me, a condescending sympathy in her eyes. “I haven’t seen any sign of the Princess, honey.”

I growled softly. “That filly is always getting confused… do you have a phone? I have a feeling I know where she’s gone.”

“Of course.”

The nurse left the room for a moment, returned hastily with a phone sitting in its receiver. The beige wire trailed behind her and down the hall.

“Do me a favor and dial Sweet Apple Acres? It’s Ponyville-226.” I cleared my throat, a rattle threatening to choke my words.

She did as I asked and the line rang gently. It had been years since I had lived at Sweet Apple Acres, but to a pony like Twilight so many years were a blink of the eye. She had forgotten many times.

“Hello?” Her voice crackled. Terrible hospital phones were an annoyance I would never overcome, it seemed.

“Twilight?” I croaked. “Darlin’, why did you go to Sweet Apple Acres? I told you, I’m--”

I broke into a fit of coughing, and the nurse put a hoof on my shoulder.

I waved her off.

“I’m…” I sighed. “I-I’m with Fluttershy. At her cottage.”

Perhaps now was a good time to lie.

“Oh, silly me. Sorry, honey. I’ll be over in two shakes, okay?’

“Wait!” I took a deep breath. “Just… hold on a minute, there. Can’t we talk for a bit? I miss your voice.”

The nurse was doing her best to distance herself from the conversation, staring down at the tiled floor while she held the phone against my cheek.

Twilight giggled. “Aw, what a sap.”

“You’re the sap, cutie pie.”

Twilight sighed gently, wistfully. “When is Big Mac gonna fix these cabinets, huh?Seems like they’ve been crooked forever…”

Big Mac, gone before his time. An accident with some harvesting machinery. So it goes.

“I’m sure he’ll get to it soon, that lazy son-of-a-gun.”

“I don’t think I’d call him lazy. Just…” Twilight thought for a moment. “Forgetful.”

“Aren’t we all?”

Twilight was quiet. “You sound different. Are you feeling alright?”

I hadn’t been feeling alright at all, not for quite a long time.

“Yes, dear, I’m doing fine.”

“You’re sure? Because I bet I could bring you something to make you more comfortable if you’ve got a sore throat or--”

“I’m alright,” I said. “I promise. Everything will be alright.”

So many lies. It hurt so bad to lie, especially to her. The ache in my chest clenched ever tighter.

I couldn’t let my last words to her be a lie.

“Twilight?” I barely whispered.

“Yes, Applejack?”

“You know I love you, right?”

“Of course I do,” she said. Her voice was soft. Comforting. There was a twinge of sadness there, like the very fringes of her mind remembered where I was, what was happening. A memory which fought to be remembered, and a mind which fought to forget. “You tell me nearly every day, sweetheart.”

“I sure try to.”

Twilight grew very quiet. I could barely even hear her breathe. “I love you, too.”

I smiled.

“I’ll see you soon, okay sugarcube?” I whispered.

“Okay. See you soon.”

Twilight hung up.