Rarity…
If there was one thought that kept springing into Twilight Sparkle’s mind over and over and over again, it was that. Just that one simple word: Rarity.
Well, of course it wasn’t that simple. Twilight had a lot of thoughts about Rarity, about what Twilight would say in the letter she promised to send Rarity, about whether or not they could genuinely be considered friends again, about whether Twilight should’ve been angry at Rarity for how Rarity supposedly treated her— Twilight wasn’t angry about that, but she kept wondering if she should be.
In the end, it didn’t really matter too much. Twilight loved Rarity, and that was that.
Granted, she didn’t want to get her hopes up too much. If she really let herself believe that she and Rarity could be friends again— and even moreso if she let herself believe that Rarity might love her again— and she turned out to be wrong? Saying she would be ‘devastated’ would be the biggest understatement of her entire life.
Besides all that, Twilight was trying to stay present in the moment. She was sitting on a comfortable lawn chair in the private garden behind the Green Neigh inn, watching with delight as her son Spike threw hands in a sparring match against her dear friend Applejack.
Spike was so much smaller than Applejack, and so much less experienced, that he had no shot at beating Applejack in any kind of real spar, but Applejack was so good at giving him smaller goals that he could complete and be proud of.
Applejack was always teaching him little tricks and techniques; or at least that’s how she phrased it, but the truth was she was just teaching him basic combat fundamentals but making it sound more exciting than it was.
And Spike was starting to get a really good grasp on it! He wasn’t getting knocked on his back by every single one of Applejack’s attacks anymore, and his eyes burned with such fierce determination to learn and to become stronger, that it made his mother’s eyes well up with tears of pride.
Applejack was so incredibly good with Spike, so affirming and supportive and just fun to be around, that it made Twilight’s heart sing. And honestly, it wasn’t just Applejack; Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie and Rarity too, and probably Fluttershy but they hadn't gotten to know each other as well yet. All of Twilight’s friends treated Spike with respect, and Twilight felt so blessed by that fact.
Even more than that though, it was wild to think that Twilight had so many people in her life who she could genuinely consider her friends. People who she wasn’t afraid of anymore.
That would take some getting used to.
“Hey, hon!” Applejack shouted, jerking Twilight out of her daydreaming. “You still awake?” Applejack laughed.
“Y-yeah!” Twilight squeaked back. “I’ve been watching! I just got a little sidetracked. Daydreaming, I guess.”
“Thinking about Rarity,” Spike said oh so confidently, nodding his head and crossing his arms.
“No doubt about it,” Applejack added with a smug grin, as if she and Spike knew sooooo much about what was going on in Twilight’s head. Obviously they were mostly right, but that didn’t give them the excuse to be so smug about it!
“You two think you know so much, huh?” Twilight grumbled, shooting the two a nasty look.
“Sorry, Twi, yer just too easy to read,” Applejack chuckled, and Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Oh yeah?” Twilight griped. “Then what am I thinking right now?”
“About how annoying I am,” Applejack guessed correctly, Twilight gritting her teeth as her only response.
“I’d say you hit the nail on the head, Applejack!” Spike fell over laughing, Twilight responding with a loud disgruntled sigh.
“Sorry, sugarcube,” Applejack walked over and knelt by the arm of Twilight’s chair, putting her hands delicately atop Twilight’s as it rested on the arm. “We’re just teasin’ you a wee bit, maybe we took it a bit too far.”
“No, you’re fine,” Twilight shrugged. Stars, it was hard to stay mad at Applejack, what with that sweet smile of hers, and that charming accent, and those adorable freckles. Applejack was too powerful, it was unfair. “I feel like I’m starting to cramp sitting in this chair all day though, you about ready to take five?”
“Yeah, sounds good,” Applejack nodded and stood up. “Hey, Spike! You wanna call it for today?”
“Ugh I thought you’d never ask!” Spike fell flat on the grass and flomped his limbs out like a starfish, getting a giggle out of Twilight. “I feel like all of my body parts are ready to fall off at a moment’s notice!”
“You did a great job today, sport,” Applejack said cheerfully, pumping her fist; Spike responded by lazily raising his own fist into the air.
“I’ll have you know,” Twilight whispered to Applejack, who smiled at her with that ever charming smile, “I wasn’t just thinking of Rarity. I was also marveling at how good you are with my son, and how much I appreciate that.”
“Aw shucks, hon,” Applejack scoffed, her cheeks turning pink. “He’s a good kid, and I like hangin’ out with him. His ma’s pretty cool too.”
“Oh? ‘Pretty’ cool?” Twilight arched an eyebrow and rested her chin on her palm, looking up at Applejack with a smarmy smirk.
“Well yeah, she’s alright,” Applejack hummed. “Damn easy on the eyes though, that’s for sure.”
“Oh stop!” Twilight sputtered, teleporting in front of Applejack to give her a playful shove, but she forgot how sturdy Applejack was; the earth pony didn’t budge at all, and the momentum of Twilight’s attempted shove just ended up tripping Twilight up and pushing herself into Applejack’s chest, Applejack instinctively reaching out to put her arms around Twilight so she wouldn’t fall.
“Careful, hon,” Applejack whispered, taking Twilight gently by the hands.
“Good thing I had such a big strong pony nearby to catch me,” Twilight smiled brightly, honestly kinda proud of herself that she managed to ‘flirt’, and on purpose this time!
“Yeah,” Applejack audibly gulped and looked down at Twilight with a shaky smile, “good thing.”
“Wooooo!” Spike cheered, smashing a sledgehammer into Twilight and Applejack’s moment.
“Ahem!” Applejack coughed and pushed Twilight away, Twilight nearly tripping over her own hooves, and she could hear Spike stifling a cackle.
“Thank you, peanut gallery, for your input,” Twilight said flatly, glaring at Spike.
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” Spike chortled, and Twilight just rolled her eyes.
“I suppose it’s just as well,” Twilight hummed and took in a deep breath, “I have something I need to take care of real quick. Applejack, do you wanna grab some lunch with Spike, and I’ll meet you there?”
“Sounds great, sugarcube,” Applejack nodded with a bright smile on her face, tipping her hat to Twilight. Gawd she was cute.
Twilight smiled fondly as she watched the pair head back to the inn, Spike keeping Applejack busy by regaling some of his favorite tall tales, many of which came from either Twilight herself or books from her library, and it made Twilight so glad that those stories stuck with him.
Twilight pooled magic in her horn, and with a soft crack she teleported into a nearby alleyway between the back of the Green Neigh inn and another building that was far too close, startling the disguised dragon in pony form who had been watching Twilight and her group from the alley for quite some time now.
“Hey Trixie,” Twilight said, grabbing the startled Trixie’s shoulder and digging her nails into soft blue flesh, “how’s the tail?”