>Be Limestone.
>That weird Anon guy had been living at your rock farm for a while now.
>Mom found him out in the fields starving and took pity on him.
>She also didn't want any funny business, so you and Marble got kicked out of the house at night and slept in the barn.
>You weren't jealous!
>Dad wanted grandfoals, though, so he left the door unlocked at night.
>Too bad for him, though. Marble was too chickenshit to do anything.
>And you.
>Well.
>You knew better than to hope for nice things, so it was better to just be angry about losing your bed.
>You weren't interested in a freeloading male anyway.
>Guy couldn't even chew rocks, so you'd have to go out and buy...
>uuugh
>You'd have to buy vegetables and stuff for him if you married him.
>No, your mind wasn't trying to tell you something when you thought about marriage.
>You were a practical girl, and you were just assuring yourself all the reasons not to bother with him.
>That was all.

>Well, it turned out Anon hadn't been freeloading.
>He just wasn't working on your part of the farm.
>He was digging through Maud's old mine.
>None of your family had been able to do anything down there since she left because the rocks were too stubborn to mine without her ridiculous autism strength.
>You found out what he'd been doing when he accidentally tunneled up too far and the ground collapsed from underneath you.
"What the f-"
>"Hey there."
>Among the rubble he held you in his arms.
>"Come here often?"
>And that was when you learned you had a thing for colts covered in sweat, rocks, and dust.
"N-no, I'm not embarrassed!"
>"I didn't say you were. C'mon, let's head to the house and see about getting your dad to look at our injuries."
>He picked you up and crawled out of the sinkhole.
>To your shame he didn't put you down after he reached the surface. He carried you all the way back to the farm house.
>By Celestia, how strong was this colt?
>When you arrived dad was stoic as ever, but you knew him. You saw the subtle smile in his cheeks.
>"Welcome to the house, honored guest, daughter."
>It didn't take your dad long to realize something was wrong, though.
>"Honored guest, why hast thou carried my daughter with a limp? What are her injuries?"
>"Ah, don't worry about it. I've walked off plenty of sprains before. Tunnel collapsed on us is all that happened.", Anon said.
>"The tunnel colla-" Your dad cleared his throat before he let his emotions get the better of him. "Regardless. I'll get the medicine kit. Sit on the davenport while thou waits."
>Anon finally set you down next to him, but he kept his arm around you.
>You were starting to suspect he was a slut, but you weren't going to insult him with dad around.
>Dad had no objections to spanking you even though you were an adult.
>The thought crossed your mind that Anon might be a good disciplinarian, too. He had the strength to make the hits sting, after all.
>WAIT, NO.
>Hold it together, filly.
>Keep up the lie, don't fall for the first male you met in years.
>Don't be the beta mare.
>He wasn't even a pony.

>You and Anon got the day off after you dad finished treating your wounds.
>You just had a few bruises where some rocks fell, but dad didn't want to take any chances.
>Anon had a sprained ankle, like he said, and his back was scratched to Tartarus and back.
>Marble had to clean the davenport.
>And so it was you spent the day wandering around the farm, doing nothing in particular, but you weren't alone.
"Why are you following me?"
>"Ain't nothing else to do. You're the most entertaining thing in town right now."
>He winked at you.
"I-I, well, of course I am. But you should be resting."
>"Don't feel like it."
"Damnit, colt, what's you'r problem?"
>"My problem?"
"Yeah! You keep doing the wrong thing!"
>"I've always been a contrarian. It's just how I roll."
>He leaned his side on a large ro-
"DON'T TOUCH HOLDER'S BOULDER."
>"What? Where?"
"There! Don't touch Holder's Boulder!"
>He stepped away from the rock.
>"This thing?"
"Yeah, no one touches it but me."
>...
>"Limey."
"Wha-What? Don't call me that."
>"Limey."
"What?"
>"I'mm'a touch it."
"Don't you dare."
>"I'mm'a touch it, Limey."
>He extended his finger and hovered it over Holder's Boulder.
"Don't you-"
>And he touched it.
>It was all you had in you to not tackle him.
>Not just because he was injured, but also because he was a colt.
>You were raised better than that.
>"Wow, nothing bad happened."
"I will lick all of your food before you can eat it."
>...
>...
>...
>"You promise?"
"AAAUUUGH"

>That night you slept in the loft.
>Usually you and Marble talked at night.
>Most of the time about her insecurities and stuff.
>Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer, that sort of thing.
>But tonight you wanted to huddle up and be alone with your thoughts.
>All of your illusions about Anon were shattered in a single day, and you were having a hard time reconciling your loneliness-induced feelings with the mental gymnastics you'd been doing to put off the problem until he left.
>Clearly you didn't like him.
>How could you like a colt who stood up to you like nothing?
>Who seemed perfectly willing to put up with your grumpiness, even if he was annoying?
>The guy could carry you around wounded.
>He was like the male leads of those Yakyakistani visual novels you kept hidden from your parents.
>...
>...
>...
>Oh no.
>You had it bad.
>NO ONE MUST EVER KNOW.

>The next morning your mom found out what had happened and force Anon to stay in bed and rest.
>You suppose she figured you weren't stupid enough to mess with an injured colt, so she assigned you to keep watch over him.
>"Keep him in his bed! I don't care how stubborn he is, this is the least you owe him after he helped thee!"
>That was not a fun lecture.
>It didn't help that you could hear Anon laughing from the other room through the entire ideal.
"I suppose you think this whole thing is funny, do you?"
>"A little bit. I haven't been scolded like that in years. It reminded me a bit of home is all.", Anon said.
>You sat down next to his bed and glared at him.
>He reached over, grabbed you, and cuddled you up to him.
"BY CELESTIA, YOU BUCKING COLT. LET ME GO."
>"I could, but..."
"But what!?"
>"You're comfy and warm."
"I am NOT comfy and warm! I am a well oiled machine, a rough-and-tumble mare!"
>"Jesus, don't take it so personally. I'm trying to compliment you, not ema... Em... Emaresculate you."
>He tapped you on the shoulder.
>"Hey, I said that right, right?"
"Tch'ya. Why?"
>"Nothing, I just don't always get the pony puns right is all."
>Meanwhile you were trying to struggle out of his arms. To no avail.
"GRK. How strong are you!?"
>"Why? You wanna find out?"
"I'll kick you if you don't let me go, Anon."
>You tapped him lightly between his legs.
>You knew it was wrong to threaten that, but your patience was at its limit.
>...
>...
>...
>"You promise?"
"BY CELESTIA'S NATTY PUBIC HAIR, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU."
>"Lots of things, but eh... You just get used to pain when you grow up like I did."
"LIKE YOU DI-er... Like you did?"
>"Chronic migraines since I was small. Got pushed around a lot until I learned to fight back. Earned a fair number of scars and broken bones. Some construction work here and there. Got in a car wreck when I was 20. Everyone in my family has stories like that. My grandfather's were the best 'cause he was born with his spine exposed, then went off to join the Army to be a test pilot during World War II. The guy was crazy."
"What."
>"Yeah, he even took the airplanes he was testing across State lines to smuggle booze during prohibition. Had to load tons of the stuff as fast as he could so he could stay on schedule and do the drop, and that's hard to do when your back is fucked up like his was."
"No, no. What. World War II?"
>"Oh, right. That didn't happen here."
"How can you have a world war if it didn't happen."
>"It's just a thing from my homeland. It's a long and bloody story that's more depressing than anything has a right to be."
>You just realized you'd stopped struggling, so you started struggling some more.
"Lemme go."
>"No. It's cuddle rape time."
"AAAUUUGH"
>Eventually you just gave up.
>There wasn't anything you could do to a colt like this, even if you got violent.
>He was like an unstoppable force of nature.
>Kinda like your mom when she walked in on the both of you.
>You slept outside that night.

>The next day things went back to normal for you, or so you thought.
>Marble got assigned to watch Anon, but apparently he wasn't interested in her, and she was too meek to even talk to him.
>Apparently...
>He was interested in you.
>...
>...
>...
>You were never going to escape this colt, were you?
>A small part of you took comfort in that idea while the rest of you went on a long-winded mental tirade.
>You spent the morning ignoring Anon, though he didn't seem to mind. He was happy enough to just help you work.
>Maybe...
>Maybe this wasn't so bad.