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There was a chill in the air, which made working the orchard a little more pleasant than usual. Apricot was tired of the long summer days with their pitiless sun and humid air. He was glad to bid them goodbye. There was still plenty of work to do, but not so much that he couldn't take it easy in the evening and laze around the house with his cat.

In only a few more days he'd have some company to help while away the hours. The pegasus felt his heart flutter just thinking about it, and his ash-gray wings also fluttered with excitement. He'd been married for almost a year now. Putting up with all the time apart was agony, but soon his beloved would be home again after a month-long journey.

He'd made sure the house was spotless in preparation. Well, as spotless as a rickety old farmhouse could hope to be. Apricot wasn't a great homemaker, but he did his best and was learning fast.

A strange grinding noise caught his attention. It was halting and very deliberate, as if somepony was struggling with a very heavy load that they couldn't quite lift off the ground. After a few minutes it stopped, and all fell silent again.

Apricot set his paintbrush aside and took to the air, making a sweep of his entire orchard. In the past he'd had trouble with the neighbors stealing his firewood, and the noise could have been a large load of logs dragging along a gravel road. He found nothing there, and his wood pile was undisturbed.

His curiosity wasn't satisfied, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Apricot went back to work, still a bit distracted. The sun soon began to set, so he packed his tools in a little cart to haul back to the barn. His cat surprised him there, jumping down from one of the hay bales and scaring him half to death.

"I'm going to skin you alive if you keep doing that," he said, chuckling as he stroked Henry's black-and-white fur. The old tom was getting on in years, but purred like a kitten when shown the slightest bit of attention. "What are you doing this far from the house, hmm? Did you come all this way just to startle me?" The pegasus reached back to place the cat between his wings. Henry curled up there, content to snooze in his favorite spot while his owner trotted back to the farmhouse.

Another surprise was waiting for him there, and this one was much more pleasant. Apricot broke into a run when he spied a familiar pair of antlers sticking up over the back of his porch swing. "Vaelin!" he shouted, hooves pounding as Henry yowled and leaped from his back. He nearly tackled the deer to the ground in his excitement.

Between excited kisses and breathless hugs they somehow made it inside. Vaelin was tired from his trip, but he put up with the constant fussing of his husband as the pegasus set about preparing dinner. He always had a few stories to tell after his journeys, and those were best shared over a hot meal.

Apricot prepared a simple stew with carrots, potatoes, and peas. They ate, and Vaelin regaled him with stories of ancient forests where no mortal had set hoof for centuries. He'd journeyed south of the Crystal Divide, healed a rift in the fabric of the Green, made peace with a skinwalker, and a few other things that Apricot didn't understand or fully appreciate. Druids were always so secretive about their duties that the deer's stories often sounded like word salad to an outsider. That was okay, though. It all sounded very impressive.

Apricot's account of his own adventure left something to be desired. "Henry caught a frog yesterday," he said. "I also found a huge, ugly spider in the barn. That's just about the most exciting thing to happen around here. You haven't missed much."

Vaelin nuzzled him. "Wrong. I've missed everything. Besides, that's cause to celebrate. Your cat's a terrible hunter, isn't he?"

"Oh yeah, he's hopeless." Apricot looked over at the windowsill's narrow ledge where the old cat was taking a nap. "He was so proud of himself. First time I've ever seen him bring home something better than a leaf or a stick. Sometimes he brings mushrooms, too. What would a cat want with mushrooms?"

The buck helped him clean up, and after the dishes were done they snuggled in the cottage's cozy den. "Some cats like mushrooms," Vaelin murmured after a while. It seemed to come out of the blue until Apricot remembered what they'd said over dinner. "It's the umami flavor. Reminds them of meat."

"You would know that," Apricot said. "Trust a druid to know my cat better than I do."

Henry silently crept beneath them, attempting to disappear underneath the couch. The pegasus caught him and pulled him into a hug, stroking his soft fur. "As much as anyone can ever know a cat," Vaelin said. He adjusted the thick glasses perched on his nose. "Have you heard back from your father?"

"I have. He's doing a lot better. The doctor says he should make a full recovery." Apricot fought the urge to sigh. His relationship with his parents had gotten a little complicated over the last few years, but he still loved them with all his heart. "Tough old pony. I suppose being stubborn is working out in his favor for once."

The buck nodded in agreement. "I can't say that I'm surprised. You said he was a guard his whole life. Ponies don't last long in a job like that unless they've got some iron in them."

"And some titanium in his knee, " Apricot agreed. "Anyway, he was happy to hear from me. We're welcome to visit for Hearth's Warming."

Vaelin kissed his cheek and sighed happily. "That's wonderful to hear. We'll be on our best behavior. No nonsense while we're there."

"Nonsense?" Apricot raised an eyebrow, wondering what that was supposed to mean. Vaelin's warm breath against his fur and a playful nibble at his ear answered the question for him. "Oh, that kind of nonsense. You're right, we shouldn't do that when we're visiting. You...you're a little loud. Are you trying to tell me something?"

The deer made a noise halfway between a purr and a growl. "I've been home for almost three hours," he said, "and away for more than three weeks. What's it take for a buck to get a good rutting around here?"

Apricot wasted little time. He shooed Henry away and followed his husband upstairs, wings quivering with anticipation. With the way that spotted rump swayed back and forth with each step, it was a wonder they made it to the bedroom at all.

__________

Nights in the farmhouse were rarely quiet. The old building was always creaking and groaning as it settled, but tonight it was noisy for entirely different reasons. Deer and pegasus bodies were very different in some ways, but they fit together marvelously well. By the time Apricot and Vaelin took a break they were both covered in sweat and aching all over in the best possible ways.

Vaelin broke the silence first. "Wow," he breathed, his tail wiggling against Apricot's belly. "G-Guess you missed me after all, huh?"

Apricot snickered and buried his face in the buck's chestnut mane. This was his favorite place in the whole world; resting his head between Vaelin's antlers, pressed as tightly against his lover as physically possible, and trying to summon up the energy for another round. "Dear Celestia, you have no idea. Give me a few minutes and I'll prove it again."

Moments later they were joined by a third party. Apricot's cat leaped onto the bed and stalked over to sit on his pillow and glare at them. "Yeah, don't mind us," the pegasus muttered. "Go on, Henry, get. Shoo!" He extended a wing and tried to brush the cat away, but it only snapped at him and hissed. "What's gotten into him, do you think?"

Vaelin shrugged. "He's usually happy to see me. Maybe he's getting jealous."

"He'll just have to live with it, because I'm not sharing."

They both laughed, and eventually Henry seemed to get bored of bothering them. After a few more rounds and some washing up, Apricot and Vaelin turned in for the night. It had been far too long since they'd shared a bed.

When the sun rose, Apricot rose with it. His lifestyle often demanded that he get up early, but he was definitely not a morning pony. Before his first cup of dark tea he was completely useless. His fumbling around was thankfully not loud enough to wake his lover, who needed to rest.

Poor Vaelin. Apricot couldn't imagine living such an exciting, dangerous life. He was often sick with worry, and in the beginning they'd fought quite a lot about the duties of a druid. With time and patience they'd been able to work through it, but it hadn't been easy for either of them.

It was too early for such heavy thoughts. Apricot downed a second cup of tea, poured some food into Henry's bowl, and got to work on breakfast. He normally had no taste for hearty food so early, but this was a special occasion. Eggs, hash browns, and pancakes were all whipped up in short order.

Vaelin didn't join him in the kitchen until the meal was almost ready. Apricot kissed him on the cheek and poured him a cup of coffee, then piled food high on his plate. "Thank you," the buck said, and shuffled to the table. "You know, I haven't slept like that in a long time. I'm getting too used to soft mattresses. The ground just doesn't feel comfortable anymore."

"Are you sure it's the mattress and not the stallion that's spoiling you?" Apricot shot back. "I'm sure I'd sleep like a baby anywhere after all that excitement. I could have stretched out on the basement floor and been out like a light."

Vaelin snickered. "But you didn't, did you? You slept on top of a soft northern deer pelt."

"A pelt that's a bit lumpier than I remember," Apricot said as he slid another pancake onto Vaelin's plate. "I'll have to fatten you up a bit. Can't have you getting skinny from all the walking you do."

The deer rolled his eyes. "No danger of that. Speaking of things that are exhausting, what's on the agenda for today?"

"I'm painting trees!" Apricot grinned at his husband's baffled look. "I'll show you after we eat."

The meal was enthusiastically devoured, and the pair set off into the heart of the orchard. "The paint dries fast," Apricot said as they walked. "It won't hurt the trees, and it helps protect them from the frost. I put some crushed pepper and peppermint oil in it, too, which should keep the bugs away for a while. They can't stand the stuff."

"You get that I know magic, right?" Vaelin asked. "I can ask the ants to leave your trees alone. They'll listen."

"They didn't last time." Apricot nudged the deer with his hip. "Besides, magic isn't the solution to everything. Some of us don't have the luxury of asking Mother Nature to do things our way."

The thought of the orchard's insects disobeying made Vaelin furrow his brow. "Normally animals are really easy to reason with."

Apricot shrugged. Trust a druid to obsess over something as insignificant as an insect's loyalties. He went to work, chatting with his husband when the paintbrush wasn't occupying his mouth. It was another perfect day, cool and calm with only a slight breeze to disturb them. The gray paint splattered all over the trunks of his beloved apricot trees, drying there like a second layer of bark.

At around noon the air was filled with a familiar scraping sound. Apricot and Vaelin exchanged a look. "You hear that, right?" the pegasus asked.

"Yes, I do. What is it?"

Apricot shrugged and set his brush aside. "No idea. It started yesterday right before you arrived. Stay here, okay? I'm going to take a look around." He took off at a gallop and soared high above the trees. This time he was sure that somepony was trespassing. It was a long walk from his neighbor's ranch, but the unicorn that lived there was a very spiteful creature. Apricot wouldn't put it past them to go far out of the way just to rile him up.

A quick circling of the orchard turned up nothing amiss. His trees were unharmed, and the lock was still on his storage shed. His log pile was just as he'd left it the day before. Still the noise persisted, and the way that it echoed through the trees made it impossible to figure out which direction he should go.

With nothing else to go on, Apricot headed for his neighbor's ranch. Tarnation was a mean old stallion and the pegasus didn't relish the thought of a visit, but it was better than driving himself crazy looking for the source of that damned noise. He angled his wings, adjusted his speed, and glided across his neighbor's pastures until an old single-story ranch house came into view.

Something felt wrong right away. Apricot touched down in front of the door and shook some of the dust from his feathers. He rang the doorbell, but there was no answer. The gray stallion waited around for several minutes, ringing the bell a few more times to try and annoy Tarnation into coming out. No luck.

Maybe his neighbor was out in the fields? Apricot took off once more, sailing high over the empty pastures. The ranch was strangely quiet. There were no birds, no insects, nothing but the wind to disturb the silence. He dropped down outside the huge cattle barn and knocked politely on the door. It was open a crack, but he didn't want to enter without announcing himself first. After all, there were several dozen cattle living here.

Again there was no answer. If the cows weren't in the fields and none were in the barn, where could they have gone? Apricot pushed the door open and padded inside. A strange smell stung his nose. It was acrid and oily, like a sour toilet bowl in desperate need of a cleaning. It clung to everything, so thick that it made him gag. It didn't smell like anything had been living here for a long time. He pushed through a thick film of cobwebs, shivering as they brushed against his coat. He hated spiders, but these webs were very old. None had lived here for quite a while.

The stalls were all perfectly neat and tidy. No furniture was smashed, no personal effects were strewn about. Hats and scarves were hung on wracks or sitting on desks. The only things out of place were the blankets on the beds. They hadn't been made because they were still occupied. On each and every one was a perfectly clean skeleton, the bones devoid of every scrap of meat. It was so orderly that it almost looked staged.

For several minutes the gravity of the situation didn't sink in. Apricot shuffled out of the barn on unsteady hooves. His legs felt like they were going to give out on him at any moment. He stumbled to Tarnation's porch and collapsed in a rocking chair, shaking from head to hoof. Was he supposed to scream? Ponies usually screamed at times like this, didn't they?

Apricot glanced behind him, into the back window of Tarnation's home. He saw what remained of the old unicorn lying there on the floor. It was mostly just a set of bones picked clean, but they were covered in an unbroken layer of hide. He could see the cutie mark right where it was supposed to be, draped over the hip bones.

Now he screamed. Apricot fled as fast as he could, wings pumping like mad. He had to get home and find Vaelin. Vaelin would know what to do.

It only took a few minutes to get back to the corner of the orchard they'd been painting. The brushes and paint were right where he'd left them, but his husband was gone. Apricot was so panicked that he felt like he was going to pass out. He sat against one of his trees and held his breath to keep from hyperventilating.

What was he supposed to do now? He had no way to call for help and no idea what he was up against. Was it some kind of flesh-eating disease? A monster that ate beef and horseflesh? Could there be some kind of terrible curse descending on the area? Every possibility was so far out of his league that it was almost comical.

Speculating wouldn't do him any good. As he often did in frightening situations, Apricot thought of his father. What would a tough, dependable, brave pony do in his horseshoes? Vaelin was missing, and quite possibly in danger. Retreat was not an option. That meant that he'd have to fight.

He set off at a gallop for his storage shed. Apricot had built it several hundred yards away from the house, and for very good reason. Inside was a small powder keg, which he used to fill a flask with black powder. Once he had that, he headed back to the house.

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This was written with the express permission of owner of these characters. Here's his blog! Apart from Apricot, that is. Apricot is mine.