Title:           The Unseen Reunion
Author:          Anonymous
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/WpYc9866
First Edit:      Wednesday 30th of October 2013 04:51:07 AM CDT
Last Edit:       Wednesday 30th of October 2013 04:51:07 AM CDT

 He was sweet, like that first bite into an apple pie that's been freshly baked. I think that's the real reason I stayed after.
 
The reunions were always messy affairs, a blur of hurried work to get the Apple homestead ready for the mass of cousins, aunts, uncles and others who would pour in like so much salmon returning upstream.
 
Living in Manehatten had its advantages, like having access to a good transport system. I wasn't a well-to-do rancher from out on the western frontier but I could spare enough bits to take a carriage to Ponyville. Rumbling along the stone and later dirt roads it was always a chore to contain my excitement. Red and green, like an apple orchard ripened just before the harvest season; I relished the thought of tasting such a juicy Apple.
 
I'd never told anyp0ny--and certainly none of my relatives, Celestia knows what they'd say--but I kept a little photo of him at home. It was from one of the reunions--which one wasn't the important part--where I'd snagged him away from some doting elders. Polite to a fault, he'd never dream of trying to excuse himself. Or was it that he knew I'd be there to save him.
 
Looking back, I think I should've taken my chance sooner. It wasn't for want of opportunities, there were plenty of times where we'd walk through the homestead and just talk. Or he'd talk and I'd listen, watch, admire, adore... pine. There were sleepless nights where I hugged my pillow and sighed and others where I hugged my pillow and wept bitterly. Everyp0ny grows up but we don't outgrow everything.
 
Celestia smiled upon me that day, though, for her sun shone as bright and crisp as if it were midsummer. Clouds dotted the sky like apples on a tree and there was just enough of a breeze to keep it all from feeling close and humid. I still wound up having to wipe the sweat from my brow after helping with the barn. Again, later when Cinnamon had helped me.
 
But at the time I didn't know about any of that, I was just content to even see him. With his maroon coat he blended well into the rest of the gathered family unlike my own dirty, dusty grey.
 
"Say Cinnamon, did ya bring any of those pies?" No matter how much we ate I always kept a slice for when I got home. It was like keeping a little piece of him, just for me.
 
Apple Cinnamon smiled and stepped aside, showing off the table of goods he'd made. Fritters, crumbles, cobblers... and a few pies. Then he leaned in close to me, whispering with mock subterfuge.
 
"Ah did but there's one Ah'm keepin' aside just for us." He winked and nudged my withers, leaving me chuckling and trying not to lean over against him. "Seems like they're always takin' 'em all, so I thought we should take one for ourselves."
 
The gesture set my heart ablaze with desire for him but I settled on a quick neck-hug, storing away that energy to fuel my resolve later.
 
"You're awful kind to me, you know that? If I didn't know better I'd say you were just doin' that to keep me coming to the reunions." A part of me sincerely hoped he did. As much as I knew it was untrue I so wanted to believe that he wanted me for me and not just for everyp0ny else.
 
He didn't have the kind of worries I did, it seemed that way from how he leaned over and nuzzled against my neck. The soft skin of his nose rubbing me just right made me tingle in places I knew had no place tingling out in the open like that.
 
"Ah'd just hate if Ah didn't get to see mah favourite cousin."
 
Appearances be damned, I didn't care if Apple Brown Betty herself saw me leaning over and pressing myself into his neck. I didn't care for anything except how soft his coat was and how his mane tickled my nose. And the way he smelled a little like cinnamon, sharp and sweet.
 
When he withdrew, I wanted to cry. I could've just closed my eyes and pretended we were back in Manehatten, snuggling on my bed but there were other ideas from other ponies stopping us.
 
"You boys enjoyin' the reunion?" Apple Rose looked just as dessicated as Granny Smith And just as pretty.
 
"Yes, Granny Rose." We both replied in unison and laughed at that. I snuck in a peek at how Cinnamon's whole body shook when he did that, from his tossed mane to his waving tail.
 
"Alright then, jus' remember we've got-"
 
She never got a chance to finish when a loud crash rang out through the homestead and the ground shook like there was a quake. I was petrified, ready to bolt off into the woods and hope I might escape. I wanted to but then I felt the warmth of Cinnamon's body next to my own and it was like it didn't matter. He'd protect me.
 
Thanks be to Celestia, it wasn't a quake but it was something just as bad: the barn collapsed. It'd stood for a long time as a symbol of the Apple family's hardiness but even in days before it'd had to be replaced. We were sentimental but we weren't impractical.
 
And I'm sorry to say it--for cousin Applejack's sake--but I'm awful glad it happened.
 
She was running us ragged before then and that chat with Cinnamon was the only one I'd had a chance for all day. Oh I'd seen him, going about and talking with the others hurriedly while Applejack ordered us around. I barely had time for a 'hello' and she'd set me to work too, somewhere... off from him.
 
But rebuilding the barn was a slower, more intimate affair. It was rebuilding a piece of our family, pouring our love into our ancestral home. I think that was the point when I realised my love for him couldn't be held in any longer.
 
Or maybe it was when he'd slapped his paintbrush against my cheek.
 
"Ah'm awful fond of yer mane, how's about Ah paint the rest'a you that colour!" And I'd started giggling, dropping my own brush while he'd snickered, slathering paint across my cheek. I even tried batting him away but he'd pushed forward, knocking us as I'd gone to do the same.
 
We crashed against a bale of hay, the breath knocked out of both of us in the blow. But I wasn't really thinking of getting my breath back. It'd been stolen as much by the sight of those green eyes as soft as his mane; by the beating of his heart as his chest rose and fell against my own.
 
It was like we were colts out in the woods all over again, young and unsure but still unable to resist that force that sought to drive us together. Only this time Cinnamon was stronger than it.
 
He stood back up, pulling me along with him so that I was kept pressed right up against him. Even when we stood, our noses were touching and I felt his hot breath wash over my face. I could've spent the rest of the day just standing there appreciating all the beauty that only I could ever see in him.
 
The painting was done in a flurry after that, a quick line up made for a family photo before we ran off laughing. Somewhere along the way we got lost in the woods again and wound up following a stream, hoping it lead us somewhere safe at least.
 
When we stopped it was in a clearing, with the mottled sunlight playing over his coat and making him look like he was covered in the freckles that adorned my nose. They were awful cute, he'd said all those years ago.
 
"You know, your... um... your freckles are awful cute." We were just sitting, watching the water flow when he said it and I didn't look up. I was afraid to in case this was some dream and looking at him would break me out of it. "Ah mean... with your mane all done up fancy like, ya look a right handsome colt."
 
My heart was thundering in my chest. I couldn't even look at him I was shaking so hard. It was a dream; I'd tripped on a rock on the way out here and I was unconscious, dreaming all of this.
 
"Did... Did ya see the way Apple Honey was lookin' at ya? Hah, that little filly'd be lucky if she nabbed herself a colt like you." His voice wasn't all brash and confident, it wasn't the Apple Cinnamon I'd heard back at the farm.
 
That was what made me look up and at him and finally see that he was staring just as had down at the river as I'd been. I couldn't be sure if he was blushing but I think he was, the light reflecting off the water shone on his face, illuminating his cheeks. The patch just under his eye looked a little darker than the rest.
 
"Ah mean... anyp0ny would. Yer a fine feller, Half Baked." He smiled. He wasn't even looking at me but he smiled when he said that and I knew my own cheeks had lit up far more obviously than his own.
 
"Do ya..." My throat was as dry as the Appleloosan plains but I had to push on. "Do ya really think my freckles are... cute?"
 
Out here, away from prying eyes and whispering voices I think he felt safer to look up at me and let me see all the love that shone in those eyes.
 
"Ah'd say yer just an awful cute colt." Out here, it was okay for him to move over to me and put a hoof on my chest. "An'... An' Ah think Ah'd be the luckiest one around if Ah had the chance to-"
 
I couldn't stop myself. He'd had the courage to say those things, why couldn't I have the courage to act? So I did, throwing myself at him and crushing my lips against his. Hot tears stung my eyes but I kept myself atop him.
 
The tears flowed freely when his hooves moved around my back and tugged on me, when his lips worked against my own with a more gentle passion than I could manage.
 
The real reason I stayed after was him. It was because under the cover of those trees and with only the whispers of the water I felt safe to show him just how much I'd always loved him. And he showed me that my hope for all those years had not been in vain.
 
I didn't need to wait until reunions to see him after that. My own farm always did feel a little big for just one pony.