Applejack sat there staring at Twilight as if she had lost her mind. Cocking her head to the side, she let one ear droop as she stared at her friend. In the back of her mind Twilight was aware of the steady “THUMP, THUMP” of Big Macintosh bucking trees on the other side of the orchard. That rhythmic stucco and the buzzing of a few bees were the only sounds for several long minutes. Twilight’s heart crept into her throat as Applejacks stare continued. Slowly she began to curl in on herself, her ears drooping down one tiny bit at a time.
“So lemme get this straight. Y’all are tellin’ me that the little pony we all welcomed to Ponyville a couple a years ago; the one I fought Nightmare Moon with an all is now Princess Celestia?” she asked finally.
“Yes?” Twilight answered hesitantly.
“An you’re the real Princess takin’ Twilight’s place so you can what, stop bein’ princess?”
“Well, she’s the real princess now…” Twilight trailed off at a loud snort from Applejack. If anything her stare was sterner than it had been before. Swallowing hard, Twilight began thinking about escape routes from the orchard. “Yes,” she whispered, abandoning her attempt to correct Applejack.
“An all this happened a year ago?” Applejack continued.
“Actually,” Twilight began. A look at Applejack killed her desire to be particular on the date in an instant. “Yes,” she finished in a voice that barely qualified as a whisper.
Applejack sat back on her haunches and picked up an apple. Taking a large bite out of it, she held it before her while she chewed, apparently studying it intently. In the background Macintosh’s heavy thumping continued.
“Applejack we wanted to tell you guys,” Twilight pleaded. Applejack raised a hoof gesturing for Twilight to stop. “We really did, it’s just that…” Twilight was silenced by Applejack’s hoof over her mouth.
“Jush gimmie a shecond. ‘Kay?” she mumbled around a mouthful of apple. Twilight nodded and tried to stay calm. It was a losing battle from the start. After her experience with Pinkie she had begun to hope that all of the others would be similarly indifferent to things. Right from the start it was clear that Applejack wasn’t going to take things as cheerfully as Pinkie Pie had. All of her earlier fears of her friends hating her came crashing back on her. She was just beginning to hyperventilate when Applejack hopped back to her feet.
With a heavy grunt she kicked the nearest tree with an authority that made Twilight even more nervous. Large clusters of the bright red apples fell from the tree into the strategically placed baskets below. Without a word, Applejack hefted one onto her back and made to move towards the cart sitting a short distance away. Twilight instantly levitated the rest of the baskets into the air and began to follow. Applejack tossed her basket into the trailer and turned to face Twilight.
“An this ain’t the first time this has gone on?” she asked incredulously.
“It has happened every few hundred years since the very beginning. Some reign longer than others, but…” Twilight trailed off again as Applejack just stared at her.
“How long were you… her?”
“Almost thirteen-hundred years.”
“So it was you personally that sent my kin here, not some other Celestia?” Applejack asked, surprising Twilight with the sudden turn.
“Yes, that was me,” Twilight answered, for once not feeling the need to elaborate.
Applejack turned and looked at Twilight. The expression on her face had changed but Twilight couldn’t say exactly how. For a second she thought her friends was going to say something again but she didn’t, she walked over and gave the next tree a resounding kick that Twilight swore she could feel in her teeth from here. Again apples rained into baskets below and the pair moved them to the cart.
“I can’t tell ya that this won’t take some getting used to. It will, but I’ve know you as Twilight ‘bout as long as I’d known the other… um, Twilight. An you’ve done good by my family and pony folk in general, so I ain’t got call to be sore with ya, I suppose.”
Twilight’s heart swelled as Applejack spoke. While it wasn’t the unblinking acceptance she had gotten from Pinkie, it wasn’t the rejection she had feared either.
“So you mean we’re still friends?” Twilight pleaded.
“Yeah, sugar,” Applejack chuckled, “We’re still friends. Things might be a bit weird for a spell, but that’ll pass… Ooomph!” Her words were cut off by the impact of Twilight throwing herself around her neck.
“Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Twilight squealed as she hugged Applejack tight.
“Whoa there, sugar!” Applejack wheezed. Once she had disentangled from Twilight she straightened her hat and eyed her friend with a smirk. “We’re gonna hafta talk about this a bit more once I’ve thought about things a might. Have you told Rainbow yet?”
“No,” Twilight admitted, “I’ve been worried about that.”
“You’d best tell her next then,” Applejack suggested. “She won’t take kindly to bein’ one of the last ta know.”
“Okay,” Twilight sighed, “I should go do that now and get it over with. Thank you so much for understanding, Applejack. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”
“Don’t think nuthin’ of it. That’s what friends are for.”
Twilight trotted off with a strange mix of fear and elation warring inside of her. Things with Applejack had gone well enough. In fact, considering how the conversation had started, they had gone fantastic. But Rainbow Dash worried her more than anyone. She just wasn’t sure how someone that brash was going to react.
“I guess I’ll find out soon enough,” she muttered to herself.