//------------------------------// // Bargaining // Story: Sweet Apple Contract // by SpiritDutch //------------------------------// *Tap tap tap* Twilight reluctantly opened her eyes. “Urgh, what time is it?” *tap tap tap* Somepony was forcefully banging on one of the downstairs windows. Grumbling to herself, Twilight descended to the first floor. The sun was just cresting the horizon, which gave her an idea about the identity her unexpected visitor. Indeed, Granny Smith was standing outside the kitchen window, looking very upset. “Oh. Great.” Twilight scrunched her nose. “This is when we do this then.” She unlatched and opened the window. “ ‘Bout time.” Granny Smith said at a hiss. “I have a door.” Twilight pointed out. “Shame ta say, I prefer this between us.” Granny Smith tapped the window frame. “You’ve done me wrong, Twilight.” “Applejack must have told you last night.” Twilight rubbed her chin. There was a courteous way to go about this, and a blunt way. The former seemed to bounce right off the old mare. The latter made her upset and only made her more sure in her stubbornness. “I don’t know how to put this, but I hope this comes as something of a reality check for you. I really didn’t want to go behind your back, but you went behind mine with this suiter business.” Granny Smith’s frown deepened. “Ultimately, I decided this would be best for both of us. If you turn over responsibility to Applejack, you can be free from worrying about the contract and our obligations to each other. We can talk with Applejack about budgeting out a reasonable allowance for your romance, and the family funds will continue to grow.” “I already done it. Y’all’re in business with Applejack now.” Granny Smith said quietly. It was the kind of quiet that held back a lot of anger. Twilight hummed in appreciation. “Thank you. That’s very reasonable of you.” “Not ‘cause I wanted to.” Granny continued. “No, I done it because you ain’t been fair to me, and I won’t do business with with a cheat.” “A cheat?” Twilight was starting to get annoyed herself. “That word has a definition and I don’t fit it. I’ve been very fair.” “The contract gave me the choice for what to do the the money. And I chose. That was my privilege.” Granny said. “But y’all saw an old mare tryin ta find happiness for her last few years and thought it were wrong. How can ya sleep knowin ya used legal trickery ta steal a gal’s happiness?” “Nothing you said is technically wrong except the last part. There are plenty of cheap dates in Ponyville.” Twilight said with a hint of sass. “I am not trying to torpedo your romance, but I suppose I’m trying to reduce its cost, in more ways than one. It’s unreasonable to use money intended for your whole family only on yourself.” “I seen the new accounting! Black as can be!” “Those are forecasted profits. Even without the interest it will take years to make up the cost of the debts I erased.” Twilight sighed. She humored the idea of adding clauses about the Apple family taking financial literacy classes to the contract. Granny huffed. “And ya don’t think makin y’all’s money back can wait?” “Hey, I’m accounted for! It’s your family that’s going to suffer for your reckless spending.” Twilight glared. “How many year do ya think I’ve got left? Applejack and Mac have years and years ta make and spend money.” Granny croaked. “As if money really mattered.” “It did for you.” Twilight frowned. “Don’t try anything foalish. Be frugal, and we can forgive each other. We start with the allowance.” “And I refuse ta have any part of that. You and Applejack decide between y’all.” Granny Smith turned and trotted off. “Good mornin.” “Yeah, good morning.” Twilight closed the window. “Geez.” Twilight went about her morning routine with a lot on her mind. The initial flurry of accounting and such from the Sweet Apple Acres acquisition had died down, so all Twilight had ahead of her was regular budgeting stuff. That gave her time to think. When evening came, Applejack was pleased yet uncustomarily anxious to come back from the fields to find Twilight Sparkle on her porch. “Howdy Twilight.” “Hello Applejack.” Twilight nodded. “Productive day?” Applejack was sickened to have to wonder if that kind of question was Twilight being polite and interested in her friend’s success, or just interested in her investment. “Yup.” Twilight arched a brow like she had been expecting more. “Good to hear.” She cleared her throat. “You read over the contract?” “With Granny before she signed it over ta me.” Applejack sighed. “She wasn’t happy.” “I got a taste this morning.” Twilight agreed. “What did you think?” “Think?” Applejack repeated. Twilight was acting like she was asking her opinion on some hobby craft, not a life-altering contract. “It’s comprehensive.” “That it is.” “And pretty fair.” “I thought so.” Twilight nodded. “More than pretty fair.” “Uh, sure.” Applejack cleared her throat again. Why did she feel so nervous? It was just Twilight. “Granny thought you’d use our friendship ta take advantage of me. I don’t think ya can, thankfully, with how ya wrote it.” Twilight blinked. Applejack gulped, knowing how badly she’d phrased that. “I mean ta say I feel safe about it, ya know? I really do trust ya.” “I didn’t know that was an issue.” Twilight said. “It ain’t!” Applejack blurted out. “Maybe y’all can see I’m a bit fidgitty, but it ain’t your fault. Promise. I mean, obviously I’m real conflicted that it feels like I’m pickin sides between you and Granny. Obviously, I’m a hoot shaken about Granny not tellin me about some stallion she’s sweet on. And the debt…” She slumped. “I know she was tryin to protect us, but she ain’t, been, honest. That hurts.” “I know.” Twilight said simply. “I know she’s torn too. She can be a might impulsive, and I don’t know how ta talk reasonable-like with her about her beau. She won’t even say who he is. It’ll just have ta…  run its course I suppose.” Twilight nodded silently. “That is part of the reason why I’m here. I wanted to see how you’re doing, but also look into giving Granny Smith a controlled portion of the earnings to keep her happy.” Applejack hesitated. “Uh, I don’t know if I feel comfortable with that.” “Why not?” Twilight demanded. “It don’t seem right. Like I said Twi, we let it run its course.” “Applejack, that’s your money she’s throwing away. She’s taking the bread out of your mouth.” Twilight pursed her lips. “Then there’s the issue of inheritance, thankfully somewhat subverted with you taking on the contract. But what if she gets married, and by some slight oversight the new step-siblings are able to challenge you for control of the farm?” “Twi that’s ridiculous.” Applejack scoffed. “I agree, but it’s possible.” “If somepony tries something like that you’ll stop ‘em.” Twilight shook her head. “If they use the contract as cover, what can I do?” “Huh?” Applejack was starting to get confused. “Don’t be silly Twi. Are ya really gunna stick to a dang piece of paper if it means I lose my farm?” “The chance is very low.” Twilight admitted. That didn’t satisfy Applejack one bit. “That don’t answer the question. Y’all sound like ya prefer tha letter of the law over helpin your friend.” “Naturally it’s possible to change the contract to shore up holes like that, but we couldn’t alter it in the middle of litigation.” Twilight said, still evasive. “I’m just putting out hypotheticals.” “And I’m asking you a direct question Twi! Do ya think our friendship or the dang contract is more important!” Applejack shouted. The porch was silent for a few minutes. Applejack felt a gulf of regret form in her gut over her outburst. Twilight was just sitting there, blinking. “Twi… I didn’t mean ta. I’m sorry.” Applejack offered. “No, no, you were in the right. I wasn’t offering you a good answer.” Twilight said. “What you need to hear, and I was shamefully unable to say, is that I would choose you. Even if it meant breaking the law and going against my contract, friendship is more important.” “I guess so. I wasn’t being fair though. The farm don’t equal friendship.” Applejack sat down next to her friend. “It’d change everything if we lost it, but…” She trailed off. “Shucks. We almost did lose the farm, before you stepped in.” “Some ponies say the system is unfair. It almost crushed you. I want to make sure that never happens again.” Twilight promised. “And as long as we both do our jobs, it won’t.” Applejack was little comforted by the clinical assessment. “Yup.” Twilight stood up. “Does that mean you’ll think about an allowance for Granny Smith?’ “What I was tryin ta say before is I think y’all’re tryin ta wean her off her coltfriend. I don’t think that’s right.” Applejack paused. “But I’ll think about it. I want to help you and her patch up, eventually.” “Thank you Applejack.” Twilight smiled. “Come by some time. We can walk around the market and talk.” “Sure.” Applejack watched Twilight leave. She didn’t feel as off balance as she had the first day of learning about the contract, but she still did not feel quite right. She pushed open the screen door and trotted into the kitchen. Big Macintosh was sitting in the living room, reading a little book. “Weren’t you in the fields?” Applejack squinted at him. He would have been able to hear the shouting, but not understand it, unless he was closer to the door before she came in. She quickly dispelled such paranoid notions. “Eeeyup.” Mac nodded without looking up from his book. “Fair ‘nuf.” Applejack said. After a second or two she decided it would not be time for her brother to know about the contract for a while. She continued on to the kitchen and got started on dinner.