Planning to spend the rest of the evening relaxing with your friends, you wash up, then regroup in the bedroom. Your pony friends sit comfortably on one bed while Smoke sprawls across the other.
 
You unequip Star Hairpin.
 
After a few minutes of chatting about this and that, Apple Basket is casually brought up in the conversation. You find that you do not know much about his past, and decide to ask him about it.
 
Apple Basket: “Me? Uh, well, shucks! Now I gotta figure what’s worth retellin’.
 
I was born an’ raised in Greenhoof Grove, on an apple farm jus’ a stone’s throw away from Saddleshire. I grew up with mostly family as my neighbours, and like most of ‘em, I found my callin’ in harvestin’ the fruits of our labour. Guess that’s all there is to it, really.
 
Oh! Uh, here’s a story. On what must’a been my eighth summer, I recall it’d been a real bountiful year. An uncle o’ mine — Uncle Sugarloaf, I think y’all met briefly —, well, he treated us to a week’s stay in Amblerta.
 
I remember it like t’was yesterday. First time I’d ever laid eyes on the ocean, water as far as the eye can see, an’ ships sailin’ off into the wide blue yonder. Made me realize jus’ how small our farm really was.
 
I reckon that really got me dreamin’, and my uncle caught wind of it, so we spent the summer together, and he taught me how to sail a boat. At first, I was jumpin’ outta my horseshoes with excitement, but after months of findin’ nothin’ short o’ saltwater, it wasn’t as fun anymore.
 
So that’s when I started adventurin’ in the wilderness ‘round the Grove. I thought, why stay in an empty sea when I got two pairs o’ land legs? Well, a few years down the road, that’s how y’all found this fish outta water.”
 
Moonflower: “Heehee… and now, look at ya! A real adventurer!”
 
Moonflower playfully nudges the colt. You ask him if he always ventured out on his own, or if he had a party of friends with him.
 
Apple Basket: “One o’ my cousins came sailin’ with me, and sometimes she’d follow me ‘round the farmlands, too. We had lil’ swords made outta sticks. But there was no goin’ into the woods with her. Said it was too dangerous, and rightly so, but I was too stubborn an’ went in by myself anyway.”
 
You say that it was good luck that you found him that one time, and ask if your current adventure has been anywhere close to what he had been dreaming of.
 
Apple Basket: “And then some! I realize now how unprepared I was. Ever bein’ in danger, hungry, cold, or even far away from home — none o’ that even crossed my mind. On the other hoof, y’all have been better friends than I could’a asked for.”
 
Moonflower: “Awww! An’ gettin’ you on board was a super good call.”
 
You concur, and join Moonflower in giving Apple Basket a big hug.
 
Apple Basket: “Oh, uh, h-heh… I sure am glad y’all think so!”
 
You look over to Smoke who hasn’t said much, and find her already fast asleep. You figure that getting to know more about her will probably have to wait.
 
And with that, the time has come for you all to settle in bed. After kissing each other goodnight, your turn off the lamp, and fall asleep snugly wrapped in your friends’ loyal embrace…
 
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