The morning sun shone brightly against the blue spring sky, reflecting prisms of vibrant light off the few drops of dew remaining on the blades of grass beneath them. Applejack sighed. It was a perfect day. Too perfect for what she had to do, in fact. But she'd taken Twilight on this walk for only one reason, even though now her stomach seemed to be tied in knots. She looked over at her marefriend with a hint of sadness in her eyes. Twilight was, of course, completely oblivious, seeming to be thoroughly enchanted by an orange-and-white butterfly that had flapped past her a minute ago. It had to be done, though, and if she waited too long, she'd give up and let things go back to normal again. Just like every other walk they'd taken in the last three moons.
Normal. Whatever that meant anymore.
No. This had to happen, and it had to happen today. She nodded slightly to herself, and, her mind made up, Applejack took a deep breath and tapped her marefriend gently on the shoulder. Twilight turned with a start, and Applejack looked her directly in her violet eyes.
"Twi," Applejack began with an exaggerated drawl, "This just ain't workin'."
"'This'?" Twilight asked quizzically, one eyebrow cocked, "What 'this'? The weather's been perfect lately, though we could always ask Dash to pull a few favors if you need a little extra rain for your crops. Or do you mean Applebloom? She hasn't been slipping on her studies again, has she? I thought we'd gotten things worked out there. Or..."
Twilight paused, trying to think of other meanings behind her marefriend's words. She clacked her hooves together, deep in thought. Suddenly, she took a deep breath, her eyes growing wide.
"It's not that your family doesn't like me anymore, is it?" she said quickly, "I mean, I know I'm not a perfect fit for an Apple, but I've really tried. I've read as many books as the library has about apple farming, I've learned your ceremonies and traditions. Oh, they don't hate me, do they? Do they?"
Applejack gaped. "Um, Twi..."
"No, no, no, Applejack," Twilight interrupted, "There's got to be some way I can work this out! Maybe I could learn to bake apple pies. I know we've got several good books in the library; I'm sure there are some more contemporary recipes that your family hasn't tried, something by Bobby Foalay, maybe. Oh, no no no, that's the wrong approach entirely," Twilight rambled, banging her head with a hoof, "The whole problem is that your family is traditional, and nothing about this is! That's ok, we've got classic cookbooks too, I know I can do this..."
"Now Twi, we've all had yer cookin'," Applejack mused thoughtfully. There was a reason Spike had done so much of the cooking before she'd moved in with Applejack, after all. Realizing she'd been distracted, though, she continued, "But, for corn's sake, that's not the point!"
"No, of course not. You're right, Applejack. Maybe they just need some space for a little while." Her eyes brightened. "Oh! I know! You can move in with me! It'll be so great! It'll be just like when we had that sleepover with Rarity, except without Rarity. And, of course, we're marefriends now. But it can be just as fun! We...oh..."
Applejack had grown increasingly impatient as Twilight rambled on, her teeth grinding to a point before Twilight took a breath and noticed the intense glare falling on her.
"Right. You probably don't want to live in a library. After all, big farm, country girl -- gah!" Twilight took a deep breath to hopefully slow her hyperventilation, "It's ok, not a problem at all. There's always another plan. And for this one, I know just the trick! I'll just get a job! Maybe Berry Punch is hiring over at The Salted Mare. Or Bon Bon might need help with the chocolates. Then..."
Twilight hadn't realized that while she was ranting, Applejack had sauntered up to her with growing frustration evident on her face, so the orange hoof that was crammed directly into her mouth caused her eyes to go wide.
"Look, Twi, its great that you're makin' all these plans and stuff, but it sure ain't makin' this any easier for me. Fact is, it ain't my family that needs space," she paused here, looking downwards with pained eyes, "It's me. I...I think maybe we should live apart for a little while."
"Live...apart?" Twilight responded hesitantly, tapping her hooves together thoughtfully. "Oh, well, yeah, sure. That makes sense. I mean, you can't just up and move out. You're too close to your family for that. They'll want time to get used to the idea of you not living at home anymore..."
"Twi!" Applejack interrupted rudely, stomping the dirt forcefully, "Why do you gotta make this so consarned difficult? Ain't nopony movin' off this farm...nopony except you! It's over, Twi. We're...we're done."
Realization finally blooming over Twilight's head, Applejack's words hit her like a manticore at full speed, and Twilight's jaw fell to the ground instantly. She stared at her marefriend, a barrage of thoughts attacking her mind simultaneously, but her mouth refused to form thoughts with any of them. First among them was the thought that she should have seen this coming, though. She'd known that something was amiss earlier, when Applejack had told her to meet on the hill that afternoon "to talk", but...still. There was no way she could have expected this, right? Or was she really that blind? Were there signs she'd missed? And...where had things gone so wrong, anyway?
"Sorry if I was a little rough there, Twilight, but ya can't tell me you weren't 'specting this," Applejack continued. Although her voice sounded confident, inside, it felt as though the words were all wrong, but she couldn't stop them from coming, "Really, it's been a long time comin'. Yeah, we had a good run, but...well, we're just two different ponies, you and me. Ah mean, what's it been, four years since you moved here to Sweet Apple Acres? And yet, Ah bet ya haven't spent more than three moons here in all that time. Yer always back there, at that library..."
Twilight glared angrily at Applejack, her thoughts now coming into focus.
"That's my job, AJ!" she shrieked as a single tear gently trickled down her face. "You can't hold that against me!"
"Sugarcube," the farmpony said with a chuckle, "Ah ain't just talkin' about when yer mindin' shop, as it were, and it ain't like Spike can't handle himself there anyways. Fact is, ya like it there. Ya belong there, hangin' out with RD, readin' yer books or doin' yer experiments or whatever."
It certainly wasn't untrue. Although Twilight enjoyed the occasional walk in the apple orchards, the farm was generally fairly...unsatisfying for her. Apple-bucking sure wasn't for her; she'd offered to help with the harvest by just magicking all of the apples off the trees, which was far more practical anyway, but the Apples always said the same thing every year: no way, no how. Around the farmhouse, few bookshelves were to be found, and the ones there were were stocked with books like The Loneliest Mare, Zap Apples and You, or Marele Haggard: The Gallopin' Kind. Decidedly not the kind of literature that Twilight found stimulating.
"You know," Twilight said hotly, her voice rising with each word she spoke, tears welling in the corners of each eye, "It's not as if I didn't try! I brought loads of books home, but Granny Smith always complained that 'Thur she goes, clutterin' up the place 'gain'. I'd try to build my experiments out in the barn – and let me tell you, that's no easy feat! – but Big Mac just complained that I was disturbing the farm animals. What was I supposed to do? Just give up on everything I cared about, on my hopes and dreams? After all, you've got all yours right here!"
"Well, Twilight, yer right about that one," Applejack responded somberly, choosing to ignore the harshest criticisms of her family, for the moment at least, "I am just a simple farmmare, and we do have ways things are done around here. But you...you're the Element of Magic, Princess Celestia's protégé, and a consarned princess yerself. Ya shouldn'ta ended up with a simple mare like me, no way, no how. And I...I probably shoulda just brought home a nice earth pony stallion like Granny wanted."
Twilight cringed at that. It had been difficult in the beginning, when they'd first decided to tell Applejack's family about their...relationship. Even though Ponyville was more down to earth than Canterlot, most ponies there had been comfortable with relationships like theirs for a long time. But the Apple family was different. They were a large clan with a long memory -- and strict traditions. So it wasn't without several askance glances -- and disagreeable whispers -- that she ate her first supper with the Apples as Applejack's marefriend.
Over time, they'd largely adapted to the situation, but Twilight still caught Granny Smith mutter "Consarned fillyfooler" or similar epithets when she thought nopony was around to hear her.
But...back to the present. Applejack was...breaking up with her, and she was cataloguing memories again!
Twilight, on instinct alone, facehoofed. Stupid. I can't get anything right today, it seems, she thought to herself. She dropped the errant hoof, grinned awkwardly, her face quickly rising to a full blush.
Applejack cocked her head, raising one eyebrow inquisitively as she stared at Twilight.
"Twilight? You feelin' okay, sugarcube?" she asked.
"Sorry. Yes," Twilight responded, too quickly, she thought, "It was just, you said one thing, and I thought another, and...oh, forget it! And...no. Maybe. I don't know! What do you want from me, anyway? Oh...right, you just told me: Nothing!"
Twilight took to the air, flustered, and rubbed her bleary eyes with a fetlock. What was she trying to say, anyway?
"I think...I think I should go..." she finally managed to sputter out, her traitorous lips seeming to fight every word.
With that, Twilight shot upward without a second look at her partner, a small, jagged hole the only evidence of her flight.
"Well, that sure wasn't what I expected," Applejack muttered to herself, "I never could figure that mare out. I guess, at least it's done now."