Hello again.

Still not much for talking are you? Don't matter, I got a lot to say anyhow. Been a while since we talked, a month at least, I reckon. But it's only on account a me not really havin' anything to say. Course, yesterday was different.

Yesterday, she-

Wait, wait. Hold my horses. I'm gettin' ahead a myself.

Y'see, first off you should know yesterday was the Summer Sun Celebration. Was the second one we had since Luna came back from the moon, an'...

Well you know that story. Point is that we stay up all night to watch the sunrise and eat and dance. Course, I usually don't partake in any of that, busy running the apple tent.

You see we set up at the festival over in the town square. I swear, you would had a ball, if you even liked one thing about fairs. There was about fifty tents all set up there, sellin' snacks an' offering games for the fillies, Applebloom even won a little goldfish at the hoop toss. Applejack was taking her around to enjoy the fair while the rest of us were running the Apple tent. I have to say we really pulled out all the stops this year, Granny Pie had called my cousins Apple Fritter an' Apple Bumpkin out to help with the baking. We'd been going on for about three days prior, boiling, baking, cinnamon coating, an' the whole Acres still reeks a batter today.

Apple dumplings, candied an' caramel apples, an' if I remember correctly the hot apple crumble was without a doubt the favorite a the night. I was dishing our cider by the barrel when Applejack came back with our little sis in tow. She was half asleep, little darling.

"Hey Big Mac," Says Applejack, "How's business?"

I just sorta grunted, too preoccupied with the mile long line ahead of us.
"Well, get moving!" She said, "I'm taking over your post!"

Didn't make any sense to me, so I said, "Sis, what are you talking about? If you're here, what I am gonna do?"

"Go have fun, of course!" She started nudging me away from my spot, leading Applebloom behind her, "Your little sisters have been running around all day having fun and you've been stuck here, and that ain't fair, is it Applebloom?"

"No sir!" She says, helping her sister push me away.

I tried and tried to get them to leave me be, but no luck. They were gonna get me away from the stand if it was the last thing they did.  And they did. And on top of that, they slipped some coins into my saddlebag when I wasn't looking. Talk about crazy. I don't understand either of those girls, I mean all I was trying to do was try to help our family with our time honored tradition a sellin' apples and apple products.

Ah whatever. So long story short I ended up having to take a hike from the apple stand to frolic like some little filly on her first day at preschool. Just silly.
I ended up meeting a couple of my pals, Cherry Coke an' Blues, by where everyone was dancing. Now those two have to be my best pals, really. Not to say anything  rude about my fellow ponies, but those guys are alright in my book. Blues is somepony I can relate to, you know? Smooth, don't talk much, but he's a good worker. Me an' him had a contest last winter wrap up to see who could plow the most snow. Never got to finish that little game, but I think I had it in the bag.

Coke on the other hand, he's a little different. There's only two Cokes I know, and that's Happy Coke and Twitchy Coke. Fella's got a problem with soda pop. He's always drinking it, an' when he does he's riding a sugar high like no other. Course, when he doesn't have a bottle to suckle he starts gettin' ornery,  like he can't trust nobody.

"Hey Mac!"

Thankfully, he had plenty a soda today.

"You closing up shop already? We still got a good two hours before the sun rises, don't we Blues?"

"Hmm?" Blues wasn't paying attention. He was sorta bobbin' his head to the songs they had playing. He had a habit of doing that, spacin' out when somepony was playin' music.

"Cherry Coke was just saying how the sun's going to be rising soon, right Blues?" I says, an' Blues kinda nodded. First it was like he was nodding to agree with me, but then I was pretty sure he was getting back into the music.

So I ask 'em, "What are you fellas doing for fun around here?"

"You're kidding right?" Coke started giggling, probably lightheaded from all the fizz he'd been downing. "Just do whatever you want, right Blues?"

And Blues jus kept bobbin' his head over there.

"We got music, we got games, we got dancing, and of course," Coke holds up his bottle, "We got soda! What else could you want?"

I looked around a little bit, an' then I says to Coke, "I dunno, jus' seems like this is mostly for the kiddies."

An' then Coke gets this look in his eyes that I don't like even one little bit. An' his smile gets wider an' he leans in waaaay to close.

"Ah, I getcha, you're not here for the little things are you? Well the main event is right over there!" He points over to field where a bunch of ponies were dancing. An' wouldn't you know it, it was a group of Applejack's friends.

I says, "What are you getting at?" even though I can sort of guess exactly what he's trying t' say.

"Hey, don't blame me, but Blues here saw you walking out of the  Carousel Boutique with that little Mare over there wrapped around ya, right Blues?"

"Hmm?" Blues had his eyes closed, still loving that music, "Yeah, yeah. Rarity was her name right? She was all over you."

An' I didn't take too kindly to that, I says, "Watch yer mouth you… you beeboppin idjit!"

"Whoah whoah!" Blues had to take a step back cause I was so close to him I coulda bit his nose clean off, "I didn't mean anything big guy, I was just saying,"

"Well maybe you ought not to say anything like that again." I says. I was breathin' steam, and he was sweating.

"Hold on Big Mac," Coke got between me an' Blues, "All we're saying is maybe if you like that Unicorn girl so much you should just go and talk to her! Maybe spend the rest of the night with her, I mean it is a special holiday and all."

An' then I says, "Well, maybe I will. I will! I'll go over an'  me an' Rarity'll dance an',"

"Excuse me?" I nearly jumped outta my skin when I heard Rarity's voice, "Big Mac, is that an offer for a dance?"

I don't know where she came from, considering she was a good twenty feet away from us not more than a minute ago. Are all women like that, jus appearin' out of nowhere at the worst time to make ya look like a chump in front of your friends? Well anyhow I was trapped, so all I could do was shake in my horseshoes an' nod.
An' she wrapped around me like a noose made of ribbons, gigglin' an' blushin', she dragged me out on the dance floor, talking the whole time,

"Big Mac, I would have never taken you for such a romantic! How ever did you get the chance to come out and see me? Weren't you busy with the stand? Oh my goodness you just took off from there didn't you? Just to see me?"

She was wearing this big gown, white and blue an' purple with sequins all over. Made me feel kinda dinky in my apron stained with caramel an' cider. But she didn't seem to care all that much. She just led me to a nice little corner of the dance floor an' started swaying back and forth to the beat. I have to be honest, I don't know anything about dancin', so I just sort of hopped from one hoof to the other. Rarity must have thought I looked funny, because she started giggling, and I blushed. But that just made her move a little closer.

I wanted to get out of there, I mean I really wanted to get out. It was just embarrassing, I mean she must have known I looked dumb. Then, to make things worse, I kid you not, a slow dance song started playing.

"Well," I started edging away from her, my knees knocking together like a newborn, " I figure that's enough dancing for now…"

And she looked up at me with those eyes. Those dog gone eyes. What I ever do to deserve that?

"But you can't! This is such a lovely song!"

"I… I really," Dang it Big Mac! Why I couldn't I say something?

"Oh please," She just put her head on my shoulder, "Just let me lean on you, and sway with the music. It's not too hard…"

I still wanted to move away, but my muscles just wouldn't let me. Like she was stuck to my coat like glue.  We just kinda danced, just rocking a bit above the air like we was flying. Like I could almost touch the stars.

I ain't no romantic, no way, no how. She mighta been enjoying the feeling, maybe, but I was going crazy. The song couldn't have ended sooner.

"Oh Big Mac, that was lovely," She pecked me on the cheek so quick I didn't know what was going on, "Would you like to walk, just for a bit?"

An' dang it, you know what I said, "Eyup."

So we just started walking, her right next to me, leaning up against my side. We walked through the crowds of people, over past the Apple Stand, where I stopped for just a moment. I told Rarity I was thirsty, and I left her for just a second to go ask Apple Fritter for a drink.

"Hey, who's she?" Fritter asked, passing me the cup of cider.

"Nopony you need to know about," I said, downing the whole cup.

She smiled that same smile I always see on Applejack, "Jus wait until I tell your sister."

"Please do it when I'm outta earshot, will you Fritter?"

And then I went to walk with Rarity some more. It was the weirdest thing, she never said a single word. She just had that kind of dreamy look in her eyes. Almost like Blues when he hears something he really likes. She was just kind of, happy. Real happy. And I couldn't figure out why.

But anyway, we just kind of kept walking, together, until it was almost time for sunrise. Around that time everyone  gathers up on the hills towards the east part of town and waits for the first sunrise of the solstice. It's usually something that you do with your family, but I didn't think Applejack would mind too much if I didn't spend it with them. She did want me to get out more.

Me an' Rarity just sat down on a nice spot near the top of one of the hills. An' I don't know why, but somehow I figured that it was the best time to ask the question that was eatin' away at the back of my head.

"Rarity?"

"Yes Big Mac?" She didn't take her eyes off the horizon. The sky was just starting to turn grey from the rising sun.

"Why did you, I mean me? What's the big deal with me? I mean, out of all the people you could be spending your night with, why in tarnation did you pick,"

"Oh hush," She moved a little closer to me, "Why do you have to chose now to start questioning things? You're cute, don't over think things."

"But I,"

"Shhh, I always liked the quiet guys. They always had the most to say." She leaned in an'… An' I did too. Like Celestia was watching over us or something, because the moment our lips touched I felt a warm beam of light hit my face. I opened my eyes an' looked at her, Rarity was glowing.  Absolutely glowing in the morning light. I pulled away.  She smiled.

She leaned up against me, closed her eyes an' just, just sort of drifted off.

Well, that's really it. I came back home a few hours later. Rarity didn't say anything, but she still had that calm, pretty smile on her.  Apple Fritter never told, which I'm thankful for.  Figure I'll have to tell Applejack eventually, but maybe that can wait. Maybe, I should just keep quiet. Apparently, it's what I'm good at.