• Published 3rd Feb 2013
  • 15,018 Views, 777 Comments

Applejack Anonymous - Clavier



Ponyville has its secrets. Chief amongst them is that nearly everypony is in love with Applejack.

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5: Matchmaker

Applejack Anonymous

a My Little Pony fanfiction by Clavier

Chapter 5

Matchmaker


After the incident with Twilight, Applejack cloistered herself away from Ponyville, keeping to the farm. She explained the incident to Big Macintosh, who had little to suggest but agreed to take all her Ponyville duties and leave the farm work to her.

The dreams hadn’t stopped, but they had changed in character. Nopony had indecent intent anymore. Everypony had a face, and a heart, and a history, and a soul that they would thrust into Applejack’s hooves, for her to nurture or crush at her will. She was no longer the butt of a cruel joke, but the source of ponies’—her friends’—woe. And she no longer feared them; she only feared what she might do to them, and how she could hurt them.

After all, she’d seen it with Twilight. Even while trying to be caring, Applejack had crushed the spirit of one of her closest friends.

She shook some dirt from her hooves and examined her handiwork, a sapling planted in a fresh plot near the farmhouse, though her mind was elsewhere. Although not a pony prone to allegorizing, she couldn’t help but see Twilight in the little plant. It had been uprooted from its natural soil, carried miles away to where it was foreign and alone, afraid of making roots and hence trapping itself. But if given love and attention, it would grow mighty and bear fruit, becoming a silent provider for its new family.

With a small chuckle, Applejack shook that strange line of thoughts from her head. “It’s a tree, girl, not a pony.”

That sort of thought haunted her every time she saw her friends. And so, she stayed away.

Still, she couldn’t just use her farm as an escape forever, a fact that became abundantly clear when a knock at her homestead’s door roused her from her careful planting. As there was nopony inside to answer, she quickly packed down some dirt and trotted towards the house.

Fluttershy was at the door, looking typically nervous, leaning back and forth as if she was pacing in place. Applejack’s heart melted when she saw the genuine concern evident in her visitor’s demeanor, so she did her best to be cordial in spite of her apprehension.

Setting aside her doubts about Fluttershy’s intent, Applejack approached her friend. “Howdy, Fluttershy!”

Startled, the pegasus leapt into the air with a squeal and turned away to flee, but froze at the sight of Applejack and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Uh, sorry ’bout that, Ah was out plantin’,” Applejack explained, shaking the dirt from her hooves.

Fluttershy nodded, breathing deeply and taking a few slow steps towards Applejack. Clearly too nervous for niceties, she hid behind her mane, speaking with a faint but steady voice. “Applejack… um, even though you know about our group, we can’t really stop meeting. These ponies need it. Is… is that OK with you?”

Applejack pursed her lips thoughtfully. Although the mere existence of the group still distressed her, they did lift some of the burden from her as well. “Ah guess Ah shouldn’t try to stop ya.”

“Thank you. And Applejack? Twilight has been… well, she’s seemed really sad since… the meeting.” In a rare moment of bravery, Fluttershy poked her head out from behind her mane and spoke with a bit of force. “I just wish you could have let her down easy.”

“Let her down? Fluttershy, she let me down! Said Ah was too good for her and Ah deserved better.”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide with surprise and she pushed out from behind her mane. “She did?”

“Ah feel more alone than ever, Fluttershy,” Applejack blurted out. “It’s like everypony’s scared of me!”

“What?” Fluttershy stood tall, focused fixedly on Applejack.

“It’s like Ah’m some kind of monster. Anything Ah do is gonna wind up hurtin’ somepony, so they’re pushin’ me away instead. Ah don’t want to hurt anypony, Fluttershy, but Ah can’t handle this kind of pressure all by my lonesome! Nopony’s bein’ honest or brave, and Ah just don’t know what to do!”

Fluttershy stared, lip quivering while she slowly slunk back into the protective cocoon of her hair. “B–b–b–brave?”

Applejack just shrugged, having lost her energy ranting.

After a moment of silence, Applejack felt almost smothered by the tension in the air. She looked past Fluttershy into the trees, idly wishing she hadn’t been quite so direct with her fragile companion.

Fluttershy clenched shut her eyes and, in a quick, terrified motion, gave Applejack a peck on the lips.

It was so fast, so unexpected, that Applejack could do nothing but gawk. After a fleeting second of watching Applejack’s expression, Fluttershy cringed and recoiled into the protective covering of her mane.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Applejack, I thought– I mean, I was just trying–” she stammered. “I thought you wanted– th–that is…”

Finally, she turned and flew away at a surprising pace.

“Fluttershy, wait! This–”

It was too late. She was already out of earshot.

Applejack sighed. “This is exactly what Ah was talkin’ about.”

She watched the sky as Fluttershy flew away, becoming a pink-and-yellow speck in the sky. She wanted to pursue, to try to explain the situation, but it was Tuesday morning, and so it was obvious where her unexpected visitor would be going: right into the proverbial belly of the beast.

She turned back towards the farmhouse, bumping into her brother in the process. “Big Mac!” she exclaimed, surprised.

He showed little reaction to her assault, not stumbling in the slightest, and instead stared pensively at the sky.

“… How much did you see?”

“She ain’t happy.”

Applejack turned back around. She had no hope of seeing Fluttershy in the sky by that point, but stared anyway. “No, she ain’t.”

“Don’t suppose there’s much you can do about that, is there,” Big Macintosh stated.

“Ah don’t know.”

Sighing, he turned away. “It's a shame, though.”

He returned to his silent work.

Applejack hadn’t wanted to hurt anypony, least of all Fluttershy. And none of her chores for the day were vital. Perhaps, she thought, she should check in on the group, just to make sure that Fluttershy wasn’t too hurt.

She would certainly never admit to being curious about the group. She just wanted to help her friend.

“Ah suppose Ah could just look in to make sure everything’s alright…”

Resolved, she set off for Ponyville.

Summer was ending, and the green of the leaves was slowly vanishing, giving way to winter. The weather was pleasantly warm and breezy. It was a beautiful time of year, and for many ponies a romantic time as well, which didn’t help matters for Applejack. Her route to town bringing her past Bon Bon and Lyra enjoying a private moment alone in her orchard just twisted the knife.

She continued her trot into town, and was beginning to enter the outskirts of Ponyville when her idle musing was interrupted by the crash—and quick recovery—of a pegasus beside her.

Rainbow didn’t say anything; she just picked herself up and followed at Applejack’s side, keeping pace. For nearly a minute they walked side by side, saying nothing, until Applejack couldn’t tolerate the uncomfortable silence any longer.

“Quite a prank you and Pinkie pulled, Dash.” It sounded bitter; much more bitter than she had intended for it to sound. She wasn’t really angry, just preoccupied.

Rainbow chuckled nervously. “Y’know we didn’t really mean for it to turn out like that, right?”

She seemed honest enough. Applejack nodded.

“Um, where are you going?”

“Where d’ya think Ah’m goin’?”

“Don’t you think maybe you… shouldn’t?” Rainbow asked, flying alongside with her hoof nervously rubbing the back of her neck.

“Like you’re one to talk, you’re obviously goin’ there to spy too!”

Applejack shook her head in a scolding fashion and trotted on for a few paces, before stopping, realizing that Rainbow was no longer at her side. She turned to see Rainbow turning pale, her hooves firmly planted.

“Rainbow…”

She grinned anxiously. “Err… sorry?”

“Not you too?”

She nodded sheepishly.

Applejack took a few steps back.

“Look, I didn’t mean… well, when I saw everypony in that group, I got to thinking…”

“No… no, no, no, no, no…”

“We’re always spending so much time together, and I’m always going out of my way to be with you…”

“No no no no no…”

“When you think about it, we’d be–”

Applejack didn’t want to hear any more. She fled, ignoring Rainbow’s pleas for her to wait.

To a farmer, order and normalcy are vital in life. Despite all the recent events, Rainbow had, in her own strange way, provided that normalcy. Without it, Applejack felt lost. She didn’t want to comfort Fluttershy anymore; she didn’t want to see the club at all. All she wanted was to find that normalcy again. And as far as she was concerned, there was only one bastion of such sanity left. One pony who could help her feel normal. There was only one pony she could turn to who could turn strange reality back rightways-up.

Pinkie Pie.

The world had left her seeking Pinkie Pie for mental balance.

She shuddered at her predicament, but pushed on towards Sugarcube Corner. It was near the center of town, usually a hub of activity; today, of course, the streets were barren. Getting through town was quick and easy, but still no less creepy than it had ever been. Ponyville felt alien as a ghost town.

Sugarcube Corner was one of the few open shops, so she didn’t bother knocking, bursting through the door unannounced and startling the proprietors.

“Applejack!” Mrs. Cake exclaimed. “Fancy seeing you here! We almost never get customers on Tuesdays. Anything special in mind?”

Uninterested in eating, Applejack slammed the door behind her and breathed a sigh of relief. “Pinkie around?”

“Oh yes, she’s upstairs, with–”

She didn’t wait to hear the rest of the sentence before bolting up the stairs.

Applejack rarely found a reason to be in Pinkie’s bedroom. It was an unusual place, where the clutter seemed to transcend messiness and simply exist in a state of otherworldly harmony, like the musical dissonance preceding resolution. Applejack of course wasn’t prone to such observations, being more concerned with the immediate issue of finding the pony she was looking for; for all its splendor, the clutter did make finding Pinkie Pie herself rather a challenge.

“Pinkie? Pinkie! Where the hay are ya, sugarcube?”

Her term of endearment was met by a small smile, but not from the pony she expected.

“R–Rarity…”

Rarity cleared her throat. “Applejack,” she stated, with no hint of surprise, as if she’d been expected Applejack all along, “can we talk?” Even while being so forward, she had a slight red tint to her cheeks.

Yet again, Applejack thought, the world was mocking her. Not having any other choice, she relented to the “conversation”. She gave a pensive nod, doing her best to appear as if she was more happy than frazzled.

“Look, I know you have a lot of… well… potentials, shall we say. And if I am to be honest, I probably would not be first on your list.” Rarity stood tall, allowing her perfectly kept hair to fall naturally over her shoulders. Her horn glowed briefly, but Applejack couldn’t determine what effect it might have had. “It is, however, true what they say: Opposites attract. I think that if you–”

Applejack collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.

“… Um… Applejack?”

“Ah didn’t ask for this,” Applejack groaned.

Rarity trotted over, visibly confused. “How do you mean, dar– err, Applejack?”

“No matter what Ah do, somepony gets hurt. Everypony!” It was too much, too far. She had no safety line, and life had dragged her beyond the point where anypony could stay sane. She hid behind a large box of streamers, holding her face in her hooves and covering her eyes with the brim of her hat. “Before all this, Ah thought it’d be dandy to settle down, find somepony to be with and be happy together. But now all Ah want is to get out of this without makin’ everypony else miserable!” She let a single green eye peek out from under her brim. “You’re… sweet n’ all, but Ah just… Ah just don’t want anypony gettin’ hurt, Ah guess.”

Rarity stood silently for a moment, pursing her lips. In an explosion of confetti, Pinkie Pie burst forth from somewhere in the clutter. She joined her friends, her usual cheer not dampened in the slightest by the awkward circumstance.

“Don’t be like that, Applejack, you should just make sure you’re happy!”

Rarity nodded. “Pinkie is absolutely right.” Walking over to where Applejack still lay prone, she pushed the hat away and declared, “And I, Rarity, will help you!”

“Oh yeah?” Applejack quipped acerbically. “How?”

“I’m known as quite the matchmaker around town, you know,” she continued, ignoring the small jab. “I could find exactly the right mare for you; and how could anypony complain if you’re perfect for each other, right? Truly, all anypony wants is for you to be happy.”

Eyes narrowed, Applejack asked, “And just what are the odds that you’d find that the right pony for me… is you?

Rarity sighed, her formerly confident poise faltering slightly. “For you, I will… remove myself from consideration.”

Applejack looked up, stunned. She tried to read Rarity’s expression, but could only find honesty and earnest fondness. “You’d do that for me?”

The unicorn grinned crookedly. “Really, what were my odds, anyway?”

“About a chick’s odds with a hawk.”

Her grin faltered slightly. “You don’t have to be so blunt…”

Applejack coughed, shuffling her hooves uncomfortably.

“Well, regardless, let’s get to it!” Rarity’s smile returned at the prospect of setting up her friend.

Applejack stood up, nervously adjusting her hat. Breaking her irregular silence, Pinkie started to spew suggestions. “Oh, this’ll be so much fun! I know everypony in town so we’ll just go one by one, starting with the ‘A’s! First up, Applejack!”

The mare in question just rolled her eyes.

“Oh, that’s right! That’s you!”

“Why don’t we just start with her close friends,” Rarity interrupted.

“Yeah! OK, let’s see… ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’, ‘F’– Fluttershy!”

“OK, I suppose alphabetical is as good as anything. Applejack, why don’t you tell us how you feel about Fluttershy.”

Applejack stood dumbly. It was a strange question, made stranger by her uncomfortable encounter with the timid pegasus that morning.

Rarity nodded knowingly. “Don’t think about any of this, don’t think about the group. Don’t even think about you and Fluttershy. Just tell us about her, as a pony.”

Applejack sat on her haunches and looked around the room, trying to distract herself. She found it incredible that Rarity was even willing to be amongst the hodgepodge of strewn party goods, although she’d been known to make messes of her own. “Hey, Rarity, what’re you doin’ here anyhow?”

“No changing the subject,” she replied sweetly but firmly.

“OK, OK, Fluttershy,” Applejack huffed. “Well, uh…” She gathered her thoughts. “She’s one of the nicest ponies Ah know. And she’s real sweet, always in a good mood—at least when she’s not bein’ scared of something or other. When she manages to build up her confidence proper, she can really get things done. Like, uh, makin’ the club, Ah guess…”

Rarity lifted a hoof to stop her. “I’m hardly convinced. Let’s move on.”

Pinkie continued her unorthodox selection process. “OK! ‘F’, ‘G’, ‘H’, ‘I’, ‘J’– Jack! Applej– oops! ‘K’, ‘L’, ‘M’, ‘N’, ’O’, ‘P’. Pinkie Pie! That’s me!”

“… Do Ah have to?” Applejack inquired sourly.

“Awww,” Pinkie moped, “you don’t want to talk about me?”

“Uh…”

Applejack breathed a sigh of relief as Rarity saved her once again from responding to a question she wasn’t too keen on answering. “Perhaps we should exclude ponies present, Pinkie.”

Still moping, Pinkie moved on. “Oh fine. ‘P’, ‘Q’, ‘R’. Rainbow Dash!”

“Hm.” This one was even harder than Fluttershy. Applejack tried to step back and look at the situation objectively. “She’s kinda full of herself, but Ah guess she deserves to be. Ah mean, she is a mighty fine athlete, and she’s a darn good weather pony to boot. When she’s not busy struttin’ like a peacock, she really does want to do some good, Ah guess. And we are pretty close friends, since we have a lot of the same interests… heck, if she’d start buckin’ the trees instead of sleepin’ in ’em, I’d hire her to work on the farm.”

Rarity pursed her lips, tapping the ground in thought. “Yes, yes. We’ll call her a potential.”

A chime sounded, and Rarity and Applejack looked about, confusedly seeking the sound’s source amongst the clutter. Their gazes soon settled on an old-fashioned typewriter, which Pinkie had apparently pulled from somewhere in the clutter. She’d typed out Rainbow’s name, and was now smiling expectantly.

“Uh, sure,” Applejack deadpanned, “potential.”

Pinkie continued her enumeration. “Next up is Rarity! But she’s present too, so nyaa!” Pinkie stuck out her tongue before continuing. “ ‘R’, ‘S’, ‘T’. Twilight!”

Suddenly distracted, Applejack’s heart beat a bit faster, and the blood rose to her face. For an instant she was in the black room again, with Twilight standing over her, holding her hooves.

“Applejack?”

Twilight leaned down. Applejack closed her eyes.

“Applejack!”

“Huh, wha?”

“Twilight,” Rarity said woodenly. “Tell us about Twilight.”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” She scratched behind an ear in a poor attempt to appear unfazed. “Well, let’s see.”

All she needed to do, she reasoned, was be honest. Honesty was supposed to come easy to her. This was no different.

“Twilight… Ah think Twilight doesn’t even know what a good friend she is. It’s like she’s always tryin’ so hard, she almost never sits back to just enjoy life.” She chuckled lightly, thinking about some of the times that her friend would make a mountain out of a molehill. “But y’know what? When she does… when she finally manages to relax, when things are really goin’ well for her and she’s not bein’ the busy beaver for once, she has this little smile. It’s nice to see it, ’cause otherwise she’s always so hectic that even when she smiles it seems forced. Ah guess Ah like seein’ her like that.”

Realizing she was rambling, Applejack shook her head and tried to get back on subject. “Anyway, she’s always real, uh, organized. And punctual. And smart n’ stuff.”

Rarity stared at her, mouth agape. Pinkie joined in this stare, then looked at Rarity, then her typewriter. Without even asking, she typed out Twilight’s name, and the carriage return bell ringed.

“Applejack,” Rarity breathed, barely louder than a whisper, “if you’d explained, we could have made this much simpler.”

Applejack tilted her head and cocked an eyebrow. “Explained what?”

“Well, we wouldn’t have had to go through any of this if I’d just known you’re in love with Twilight.”

Her eyes widened. “In– whoa, what?!”

“I’ve seen that look before,” Rarity hummed wistfully. “There’s no mistaking it.”

Applejack could only stammer at the supposed revelation. “Wh– Ah– Twi–”

The would-be matchmaker gasped excitedly. “You mean, you didn’t know?”

“Ah…”

Rarity and Pinkie looked at each other with a shared grin.

“Ya think…”

Rarity nodded with a demure smile, and Pinkie nodded along excitedly.

“But Ah mean…”

Rarity trotted to Applejack’s side and put a hoof to her mouth, shushing her. “Just meet us at La Maison sur le Coin at eight o’clock sharp and leave the rest to us.”

Her protests went muffled and unheard. With a roll of her eyes, she finally turned and descended the stairs. When Rarity’s mind was made up, it was foolish to try to change it.

“You’re in love with Twilight.” Rarity’s words echoed in her mind as she waved goodbye to the Cakes, slipping out the front door. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. Was Rarity just being her usual overly romantic self? Or was there something more?

She groaned and kicked up some dirt with her hoof. This would all be so much simpler if it weren’t for that damned club. The thought reminded her that spying on the club is why she’d left the farm in the first place that morning, so she set back to the task at hoof.

Her stomach growled angrily at her as she trotted towards the west of town. The sun was just past its zenith, cruelly reminding her both that she’d missed lunch and that she hadn’t accomplished anything on the farm. It was too late for regrets, though. She wanted to make sure that Twilight was OK.

Twilight? Her mind drifted while she plodded along. No, not Twilight, Fluttershy. It was Fluttershy she’d hurt this morning, Twilight she’d hurt last week.

“Ugh!” she cried out to nopony, frustrated. She couldn’t bear the fact that she had to enumerate broken hearts.

She arrived at the institute sooner than she had anticipated, and quickly found herself a secluded spot outside the windows. As usual, the drapes were open and she had a perfect view. Unlike usual, there was nopony else outside with her, and no distractions.

Twilight was nowhere to be seen. Rainbow was in the front row, doing a poor job of blending in with the group. Fluttershy stood at the podium, pacing nervously.

“I… I don’t know where she could be! I’m not sure what’s next on the agenda, it’s not like her to be late…” Fluttershy nervously rambled to the group, many of whom were clearly uninterested as they finished off the last morsels of a delicious-looking lunch.

There was a rustling behind Applejack, and she instinctively ducked into the bushes. Somepony bolted by, shooting past her leafy cover, and the door slammed open and shut. Hesitantly, she lifted her head to search around her before looking inside. Twilight was on the stage, looking considerably more ragged than usual.

“I’m sorry I’m late, everypony. I… I kind of assumed you didn’t want to see me.” She looked over the crowd with a shameful frown. “But then I remembered that I hadn’t left a complete schedule.”

A few ponies laughed a bit at her oh-so-characteristic reasoning.

“Look, I’m sorry I winked Applejack away, I was just afraid she’d get hurt.”

For a moment, the group was silent. Then a few groups whispered amongst themselves. Then, somepony timidly asked, “Did you do anything?”

The chatter rose. Another asked, “Did she take her hair down?”

Then another. “Did you hold her?”

“Did you kiss her?”

Quickly, the voices began competing with each other, escalating further and further into the obscene. Finally, Bon Bon yelled out a mostly-inaudible question ending in “taste like?”, and the voices melted into laughter.

Twilight stood frozen, glowing bright red while the raucousness slowly died down. Although her embarrassment was clearly near mortification, she had a small smile. That same small smile she had when all her nit-picking paid off and all was right with the world.

That adorable smile that could melt Applejack’s heart.

Applejack shook her head at the thought. “Where the heck did that come from?”

The ponies in the audience continued to mumble amongst themselves, but more quietly, the uproar spent. Their tone was not of anger, or disappointment, or even surprise. They mostly just seemed curious. And Twilight’s small smile was growing wider and prouder.

“You mean… you aren’t mad at me?”

The clamor completely stopped. Most ponies looked at the stage, visibly confused. Even Rainbow put a hoof to her head.

“Even though I took advantage–”

A shrill, cracking cry from Rainbow Dash interrupted her. “Well duh!”

Twilight’s eyes misted a bit at the acceptance of the assemblage. “I… I don’t know what to say.” Her smile faded somewhat. “Well, I suppose it probably won’t happen again anyway, so thanks for the support.”

Applejack felt a twinge. “Won’t happen again? Why not?”

She blinked. She looked at Twilight. She blinked again. She looked at herself.

She was in love with Twilight. In retrospect, it was so obvious; she was stunned that it had taken Rarity’s intervention for her to notice. And Twilight was in love with her. The club faded away. There was only Twilight, standing at the front, gazing at her hooves. Nothing else mattered. Nopony else mattered.

Rarity, who had evidently snuck into the meeting during the brouhaha, trotted confidently to the front and stood between Twilight and the crowd. She gave a sharp glare; Twilight responded with confusion.

“Let’s talk,” she said.

“OK,” Twilight responded with a small nod.

The pair departed the stage, though not before Twilight had scribbled an updated schedule for Fluttershy. Applejack took the moment to depart as well, making sure to keep out of sight as the two approached the door.

Most of the day still stood between Applejack and her eight o’clock date, so she headed directly back to the farm in hopes of salvaging the remainder of the day’s work. Chased by her wild imaginings, it was a quick trot home. She set to the task that had been interrupted in the morning: tending to a row of freshly planted saplings.

It was not a sufficient distraction.

“In love.” She stared blankly at a patch of dirt, barely cognizant of the fact that there was no sapling there. Now that it was on her mind, she couldn’t stop thinking about Twilight. She sighed, staring at her hooves. “Guess there’s nothin’ for it.”

Recommitting herself, she poured all of her energy into the job. She could think about Twilight later, and planting now. Or at least, she could try.

Nonetheless, it was a long day.

Applejack shook the exhaustion from her mind, turning the corner to her destination. La Maison sur le Coin, eight o’clock. Twilight was sitting at a table outside. She was alone but for Rarity, who watched her from a poor hiding place behind a ficus. Twilight stared at a flickering red candle on the table, occasionally glancing up at the clock. Applejack could imagine her thinking, “Am I early? Am I late? Is this the wrong place? Oh, I knew I should have written it down!” Twilight rested her chin on her hooves and went back to staring at the melting wax.

Applejack took the opportunity to slip silently into the seat beside her. When Twilight looked up to find the clock, she instead found an orange muzzle smiling at her, and nearly fell out of her chair.

Applejack snorted. “Ha, sorry ’bout that, Twi.” She stifled a yawn. “Couldn’t resist.”

Pulling herself back into a normal position, Twilight stuttered, “Applejack! Wh–what are you doing here?”

In a moment of rare charisma, the farmpony simply smiled and batted her eyelashes, evoking a strong blush from her stupefied companion.

“R–Rarity just said to be here! She didn’t say… I didn’t know.”

“Ah just want to talk, Twi. Promise.”

Twilight nodded numbly.

Dropping the act, Applejack slumped comfortably into her chair. “Promise me you won’t go zappin’ out. Or shootin’ me off to Celestia-knows-where.”

She nodded, though with a crooked grin.

Applejack wanted to just say it. She was dying to. But seeing Twilight there, shifting uncomfortably with an awkward smile, she couldn’t bring herself to. They grew silent, staring at the slowly melting candle, waiting for the waiter to bring their menus.

Applejack yawned and looked down from the table to her hooves. She’d forgotten to clean them after working in the field earlier, and now regretted it, wondering whether anypony would notice if she surreptitiously used the tablecloth for that purpose.

Some first date. She looked back up at Twilight. She looks like she’s gonna jump out of her skin. With another yawn, she shook her head, refocusing her eyes on the candle. And Ah’m hardly the best company…

They were both roused by shuffling around them.

“Everypony’s staring at us,” Twilight remarked apprehensively.

Ponies were, indeed, staring. Applejack opened her mouth to say something before noticing a familiar figure over Twilight’s shoulder. Rarity was making some motion she couldn’t understand, trying to tell her something she would never guess.

When she looked back, Twilight was staring, unabashed, with her simple, tranquil smile. The light from the candle’s flame danced softly against her cheek. She was the same as always, but different. She was beautiful. And she was so close.

Applejack lifted her hoof to Twilight’s cheek. It was warm. She realized that her own were too. But it didn’t matter.

She leaned closer. Twilight didn’t pull away. The world around her faded away into blackness, and she closed her eyes. The soft sound of the ponies around them vanished. Their lips met.

Suddenly Twilight wasn’t passive in the least. She pounced, shamelessly letting her tongue explore Applejack’s mouth, and enticing Applejack’s to do the same. Although shocked by the uncharacteristically forward behavior, Applejack found herself wanting more, pushing farther, wanting it to last.

When she pulled away, nearly gasping for breath, Twilight leaned forward with her, resting on her shoulder.

After they’d both taken a moment to breathe, Twilight remarked, “You promised we’d just talk.”

“Ah guess Ah lied,” Applejack teased. “Nopony’s perfect.”

Twilight pulled away, and looked into Applejack’s eyes. Her own violet eyes twinkled with mischief.

Applejack raised an eyebrow.

They both vanished in a magenta flash.

When Applejack’s vision cleared, she saw that they were in the library, in Twilight’s loft. “You promised you wouldn’t do that,” she retorted with a smirk.

“Nopony’s perfect,” Twilight responded simply, before pouncing once more.




Author's Note:

EDIT: This is not the end. I repeat: This is not the end. Just because many stories end with “and then they got together the end” doesn’t mean this one does. Jeez, half the characters are still unresolved, this isn’t an end at all :facehoof:


Pony pony pony?

Pony pony pony.

I always love your comments, guys, and I certainly read all of them. If you ask a question or something like that and I don’t reply, it’s because I can’t reply without spoiling (or can’t think of a funny reply). It doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it, I always want to hear from you!


Editor: TheNitroPony
Cover art: Mr Snowpony
Prereading: Jackie and Mr Snowpony