these two are quite the odd couple, with their mutual friends endlessly baffled by their chemistry. Soarin met Apple Bumpkin when he had to move to Ponyville after loosing his left wing in a traumatic flight accident. He was struck by lightning, and on top of horrible burns and an amputation, Soarin developed a severe thunder phobia and PTSD following the accident. Rainbow Dash, who left the Wonderbolts following the same accident, was Soarin's main support at the time, with his own family rarely visiting him due to a previous falling out regarding him being trans and choosing to transition. His sister, High Winds, was unable to be there for him due to her own commitment to the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash made an active effort to support her friend, and was a major advocate for him and his care. She even went so far as to personally fund Soarin's extensive physical therapy needs, and help him find housing in Ponyville.
Soarin's newly acquired status as disabled led him to coming into contact with Apple Bloom, a fellow disabled pony and founder of the Equestrian Disability League, or EDL. Rainbow encouraged Soarin to visit Sweet Apple Acres to meet with other ponies like him at EDL meetings, she also hoped that the visits would alleviate his phobia, since the farm's massive orchard and tall barn were hot spots for lightning strikes. While he did accomplish these things, he also met many members of the Apple herd, including Apple Bumpkin.
Apple Bumpkin, a sheltered farm girl from Applelloosa, had moved to Ponyville to work at Sweet Apple Acres. She moved with the hopes of carving out a life for herself and even raise a family in a new town. Instead of a strapping, strong Earth Pony stallion, she met Soarin, a rather sad and feeble pegasus from out of town. She felt bad for him, seeing him amble the orchards alone and stare longingly at the sky. She noticed that he was growing quite thin over the months, clearly neglecting his needs in his depression. With some encouragement from cousin Applejack, Apple Bumpkin introduced herself and offered a helping hoof to the pegasus. He accepted her offer and a friendship was born.
Apple Bumpkin, a skilled cook, began doing meal prep for her friend, preparing mass batches of Soarin's favorite foods for him to eat through the week. Soarin, who has always been an enormous foodie was beyond grateful for the food, and the structure that having a friend like Apple Bumpkin brought into his life. He is a simple stallion, and having a woman in his life who actually cared about him, fed him the best meals hes ever had, and was very tall and beautiful quickly led to him developing a crush. Soarin is not immune to tall woman.
Soarin tried his best to keep his crush to himself, but its very hard to casually have a crush on your closest friend who hangs out with you all the time and is your dream woman. He was entirely oblivious to Apple Bumpkin's own crush, which she also tried to keep to herself. She honestly struggled with her feelings, fearing that her family out west would disapprove of her being with a pony like him. After a lot of soul searching, Apple Bumpkin decided that she valued Soarin more than she valued the opinions of her family.
It all came to a head one hot August afternoon, when Apple Bumpkin, who had earned the nickname 'Abby' from Soarin, was visiting her friend. She went to his apartment with the intention to help with some meal prep and play some cards, and all was going well until a fast-moving summer storm came rumbling into Ponyville. Soarin was petrified, and the storm compounded with his new phobia launched him into a PTSD flashback of the accident. Abby was unsure how to help her friend, and in the end just sat with Soarin as he cowered under his bed for several hours, holding his hoof and reassuring him. When the storm passed, it was nearly midnight and Soarin emerged from under his bed in a state of total distress. He asked, embarrassed, if Abby would stay, and she agreed.
Abby stayed with him overnight, sleeping on the floor next to the bed and keeping watch for any more storms. But Soarin soon found that he couldn't sleep, the terror of the storm and the presence of his crush keeping him awake. Apple Bumpkin decided to stay up with him, and they got to talking and playing cards. As the hours ticked by, the air inside Soarin's cramped apartment grew thick with things unspoken. Soarin desperately wanted to tell Abby how he felt, to thank her for staying with him, and to tell her how important she was to him. Apple Bumpkin was in the same boat, wishing desperately to tell the pegasus how much she had grown to love him, that she wanted nothing more than to see him happy, and that watching her friend recover from his accident was inspiring beyond words.
As the sun began to rise, they both began to speak at the same time, and laughed. Soarin spoke first, starting with an apology for his meltdown and thanking Abby for being there for him, and stumbled over his words as he confessed his feelings to the mare. Apple Bumpkin laughed at first, relieved that her feelings were not one sided, and responded with her own confession. They celebrated their newly blossoming romance with breakfast in town followed by a sleep-schedule ruining midday nap that they didnt truly recover from for more than a month.
They dated for several years before eloping on a rainy afternoon in spring, and they soon bought a house near Sweet Apple Acres, and started a family. Because Soarin is trans and Apple Bumpkin is cis, they ended up pulling a favor from Rainbow Dash, who asked Twilight to pull some strings and get them access to a fertility spell from the crystal empire. Soon after that, they welcomed their only child, Orchard Gale.
After Orchard Gale's birth, Soarin became a full time house husband while Apple Bumpkin works at Sweet Apple Acres, harvesting crops and helping in the bakery. Abby, one to show her love through sweets and homemade meals, has kept her husband well fed for many years, and the pegasus has grown quite plump, not that hes complaining.