A canopy of stars gleaming in the black night sky greeted Twilight Sparkle as she walked onto the balcony of the Golden Oaks Library. Her important guests were going to be arriving at the library shortly, and she thought it might be good for her to get a breath of fresh air before they arrived.
To think, Twilight had changed so much just since Rainbow’s arrival at the library, so much that she was now inviting people to come over all on her own. While she still wished Rainbow was there—and she wished Rarity was there, albeit for different reasons—she was happy with herself and with the progress she had made, and she was tentatively excited about getting to know Pinkie Pie and Applejack.
Twilight’s eyes lit up as she saw the orange and pink mares approaching in the distance, and she bit her lip and wondered if it would be too forward to wave to them and greet them from the balcony.
“Pinkie Pie! Applejack!” Twilight called out with a wave, deciding that she could forgo proper greeting procedure for just a moment.
“Well howdy, ma’am!” Applejack laughed and waved at Twilight from the ground.
“We brought pies!” Pinkie cheered, proudly holding up several boxes for Twilight to see, and Twilight didn’t even have to be anywhere near the desserts to start salivating for them.
“I’ll be right down!” Twilight said. “Let yourselves in and make yourselves comfortable, okay?!”
“Will do!” Applejack saluted and gave a grand smile, which made Twilight smile in turn as a warmth radiated in her stomach. She couldn’t believe she was actually nervous about this before.
Well, okay, she was still a little nervous. But she was mostly excited! And nervous.
She took a few deep breaths of the crisp night air before entering the library with a big grin on her face, descending the stairs to see that Applejack and Pinkie had indeed made themselves comfortable, sitting on the book club blankets and dolling out pie for themselves and for a very eager Spike.
“Oh, Twilight!” Spike said. “Look, Pinkie Pie and Applejack are here!”
“I know,” Twilight said as she sat down next to Spike, bowing her head to greet the two guests, “I saw them from the balcony.”
“We told’ja as much, sugarcube,” Applejack chuckled, though Spike probably couldn’t hear her through the mouthful of pie he was loudly chomping on.
“Pinkie was just—” Spike, speaking with a mouthful of pie, was cut off by Twilight loudly clearing her throat. Spike rolled his eyes and swallowed his food before speaking again. “Pinkie was just about to tell us about the spirit of the Everfree!”
“Oh really?” Twilight cocked her head. She had heard the tales of a mystical creature that lived in the forest south of Ponyville, but she hadn’t learned anything conclusive about it other than rumors. It was an interesting topic for sure.
“Yeah, I met her!” Pinkie said proudly, beaming from ear to ear.
“And hasn’t been able to talk ‘bout hardly anythin’ else since,” Applejack chuckled, smiling widely as Pinkie stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry at her.
“Tell us about her,” Twilight said idly as she teleported a plate over to her and placed a piece of pie on top of it.
“Well,” Pinkie could hardly keep a straight face and kept erupting into giggles as she tried to recount her encounter with the Everfree Nymph, “she’s super pretty.”
“And?” Twilight arched an eyebrow, and she could see Applejack trying not to chortle.
“Aaaaaand,” Pinkie looked from side to side before whispering with her hand up to her mouth, “she’s super nice.”
“That’s it?” Twilight blinked. Not exactly the riveting account Twilight had hoped for.
“Did I mention she was super pretty?”
“She only got to talk to her for like ten minutes,” Applejack said, “so there’s not a lot to really tell.”
“But I’m going back to see her pretty soon!”
“Right,” Applejack cleared her throat, and Twilight could feel the sudden tension sparking between her and Pinkie.
“I am!” Pinkie huffed, and Applejack inhaled sharply.
“I know, sugarcube,” Applejack placed her hand on Pinkie’s head and ruffled the girl’s hair. Pinkie didn’t look terribly appreciative at first but she soon purred in delight as Applejack continued to stroke her mane. “I know, and I ain’t gonna stop ya. We went over this.”
“Went over what?” Twilight asked. She turned her eye to Spike for a moment, wanting to make sure he wasn’t being bored by their conversation, and she rolled her eyes as she saw him trying to fit three slices of pie in his mouth at once. He was going to have a stomach ache unrivaled in Equestria by the end of the night, but Twilight didn’t think that was a reason to spoil his fun right now.
“Well,” Applejack said, “Pinkie and I run a blacksmithin’ business here in Canterlot, and it ain’t doin’ so hot.”
Pinkie Pie tried to hide the pang of shame that flickered across her face with a sweet smile, but she couldn’t hide it from Twilight.
“Pinkie wanted to take a whole week off,” Applejack tapped her knuckles against her palm, “right outta the blue, to go and visit Ponyville, and that just— I just don’t know how we can afford it.”
“So I’m just gonna go for one day,” Pinkie said, taking in a deep breath before shoveling pie into her mouth and spewing crust as she spoke. “But it’ll be the best day ever, cuz I’ll get to see Fluttershy again and it’ll be super fun!”
“I certainly hope it goes well,” Twilight said with a smile.
“So Applejack,” Spike said, glancing over at Twilight and swallowing his pie before continuing his sentence, “how do you know Rarity anyhow?” Twilight managed to withhold her chuckle at Spike’s total lack of subtlety.
“Rarity?” Applejack stroked her chin, and Pinkie helped herself to a third helping of pie. “We’ve known each other since childhood. We grew up together, our families lived right next door and were in the same business.”
“Monster hunting?” Twilight said with barely hidden contempt.
“Yeah,” Applejack’s eyes narrowed at Twilight, who swallowed a lump of anxiety as she averted her eyes. “You have somethin’ against the Slayers, Twilight?”
“Um…” Twilight bit her lip.
“Rainbow was saying something about that,” Pinkie said, her mouth full of pie and Spike pointing at her as if her doing it made it okay for him to do it, which Twilight just rolled her eyes at. “You had a bad experience with some mean Slayers, right?”
“Something like that,” Twilight said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Mostly I just get nervous around people who are violent for a living. Nothing personal, just anxiety.”
“That’s fair,” Applejack said, and Twilight wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but didn’t because she didn’t want to make it too obvious that she was on edge. “Honestly, I ain’t a big fan of ‘em myself. Bad blood and all that, but that’s just my own baggage talkin’.”
“So hey,” Spike said, pointing his finger at Applejack, then at Pinkie, “how did you two meet anyway?”
Twilight was amused by how quickly Spike had dropped the topic of Rarity, at least until she saw the stricken expressions on Applejack and Pinkie’s faces and felt a sudden chill in the air emanating from them.
Whatever that story was about, it could wait for another day.
“Applejack,” Twilight said quickly, “do you mind helping me take these boxes out to the trash?”
“Sure,” Applejack stood up with a groan.
“Pinkie,” Twilight said as she stood up and smiled at Pinkie, “maybe you could tell Spike a bit more about your trip to the Everfree?”
“Ooh, I’d like that!” Pinkie beamed and looked expectantly at Spike.
“Take it away, Pinkie,” Spike said, wolfing down yet another slice of pie.
Twilight and Applejack gathered up all the boxes as Pinkie chatted ceaselessly about how pretty and cute and nice the spirit of the forest was, before they took the boxes outside into the snow and threw them out in the garbage can outside the library.
“Sorry that got a little intense there for a sec,” Applejack said. “Didn’t mean to imply nothin’, or make ya nervous.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” Twilight said. “I know my ‘thing’ with the Slayers is pretty weird around these parts.”
“Yeah I guess,” Applejack rubbed her arm, “but I meant more the me’n Pinkie freezin’ bit.”
“Oh,” Twilight said, “sure. Well don’t worry about that either.” Twilight waved Applejack’s concern away. “It’s not our place to pry, or to make anyone talk about stuff they aren’t comfortable with.”
“Truth be told,” Applejack said, leaning her back against the oak of the library, “me’n Rarity found Pinkie when she was pretty young, in her mid-teens maybe? Dragon tore down her whole village. Poor girl’s been terrified of the things ever since, and talkin’ ‘bout that day makes her start relivin’ it.”
“You don’t say,” Twilight said coldly, before abruptly clearing her throat. “You and Rarity, huh? You two are pretty close, I guess?”
“Practically family,” Applejack laughed. “And I say ‘practically’ cuz family that flirts as much as we do would be pretty messed up.”
“Oh yeah?” Twilight bit her lip and tried not to sound too disappointed at the prospect of Rarity being interested in somebody already.
“Sure,” Applejack shrugged. “Nothin’s gonna come about from me’n her though, least not romantically. We’re both kinda—” Applejack drifted off, and a few seconds passed before she simply finished her statement with a shrug.
“What about Rainbow Dash?”
“What about her?”
“Do you think she’s too—” Twilight mimicked Applejack’s shrug. “For you or for Rarity?”
“Dunno,” Applejack crossed her arms and furrowed her brow. “Doesn’t matter to me. What Rarity does is her own business, and as for me, I’m pretty sure Rainbow wouldn’t be interested in-” Applejack gestured weakly at herself “-all this.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure,” Twilight muttered, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.
“Why?” Applejack gave a single, acidic laugh. “She say somethin’ to ya?”
“N-no,” Twilight blurted out, “I just, think you should be optimistic!”
Applejack hummed thoughtfully, before pushing herself off the library.
“C’mon,” she said as she headed for the door, “those two’ll eat all the pie if just leave ‘em.”
“Yeah,” Twilight said weakly, disappointed that her conversation with Applejack was over, and even more disappointed that she messed it up, “okay.”
“Twilight,” Applejack stopped suddenly and turned to look at Twilight, though she refused to make eye contact.
“Yes?” Twilight said, body as stiff as a post as she ran through her mind the thousand different bad things that Applejack might’ve been about to say to her.
Applejack paused, and Twilight felt like she was inside an oven even despite the snow around her hooves.
Applejack cleared her throat, putting her hand up to her mouth and biting down on a thumbnail. Twilight just waited for her; despite Twilight’s growing trepidation, she wasn’t going to press Applejack to continue until she was ready.
Applejack sighed and ran her hand roughly through her hair.
“Thanks. For the vote of confidence. That was real nice of ya.”
“I only said it because I believe it,” Twilight smiled, and internally she was ready to scream her gratitude to the heavens that all Applejack wanted to say was ‘thanks’. “You’ll be surprised how much can change in the space of a heartbeat.”
“Yeah,” Applejack laughed softly, “I guess you’re right.”
“Now come on,” Twilight grazed Applejack’s arm gently as she walked past, “let’s go get some pie.”
“Right behind ya,” Applejack said heartily as the two re-entered the library, Pinkie and Spike greeting them with joyful smiles and waves.
“No more intense backstory talk,” Twilight whispered to Applejack as they sat down next to each other, “promise.”
“Sounds good,” Applejack laughed.
It was warm inside the library, and the pleasant chatter of new friends made it warmer still. Twilight still wished Rarity and Rainbow could be there, but she wouldn’t have traded the time with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike for anything.
And besides, she had a good feeling that Rainbow and Rarity would make their way back home— and to the library— pretty soon, and Twilight would have a really lovely story to tell them about the new friends she made.