*Cock-a-doodle-doo*
The sun rose over Sweet Apple Acres, the smell of the orchard was as ripe as ever. Applejack's joyous trot found herself in front of an apple tree. The orange earth pony swung her body around and bucked the base of the tree causing a shockwave, the apples landed perfectly in the wooden buckets as the pony's grin grew pridefully.
A cool breeze shuffled the leaves and plants, then suddenly Applejack felt uneasy. The earth pony shrugged and continued her hard work, yet when the wind flew by her again the anxiety rose. Beginning to trust her intuition she began turning sporadically and stared at her environment for long stretches. Once she felt her fur sway and heard the trees rustle, she flew herself around quickly, trying to find anything out of place.
"Jeez, what am ah' doin'" Applejack sighed.
SNAP
A twig behind the earth pony announced the presence of someone. quickly she threw a high kick, catching nothing she spun. Her eyes landed on a small absent-minded bunny; the large eyes looked to her own with pure innocence.
"Sorry there litt-" Applejack's apology got interrupted.
Hooves fell over the apple pony's mouth and neck. The unknown assailant pulled, bringing Applejack and their self-down into a bush. The earth pony's mind reeled, quickly attempting to grasp the situation.
"Do you love me?" an extremely familiar voice asked timidly and the hoof fell away from the orange pony's mouth.
"Oh, gosh darn it! Pinkie Pie have you been spying on me all day?" Applejack asked angrily as her body fell limp.
"No dodging the question," Pinkie stated, her voice feeling almost sad.
Applejack felt the seriousness in the question and thought for a moment before answering. "Ah', love you as a friend. Now can you let me go?"
Pinkie's hooves let go of the apple horse and not a moment later they found themselves back on their hooves.
"Now what was that all about?" Applejack asked as she dusted off her coat.
"Sorry AJ, I didn't want to ask such a personal question but can I beg for a favor?" Pinkie's voice started to become slightly more cheerful.
"Sure," Applejack answered finally looking to the pink pony.
"Well, you see, I ate a magic pie, my pupils turned pink, I put my other pie away, I went to Twilight's house, we had fun then Twilight asked me out on a date, I said yes but I didn't know it was a date, I talked to Spike, he told me it was a date, I freaked out and I don't know what to do, so, can I hide here?" Pinkie recalled the past day before bringing her eyes to her friends with the question.
The earth pony's eyes connected and the apple pony's heart leapt from her chest, her ears listening to every beat of her heart.
"Crab Apples, why didn't you mention that before Ah' looked at ya," Applejack whispered to herself with a frown.
"I didn't quite catch that," Pinkie's head turned.
"Don't worry about it. So, you said yes to a date with Twi and you want to stay here until what?" Applejack asked.
"Until I figure out if it's because of the magic pie," the pink pony answered quickly.
"Well Ah think you should just be honest with her, Ah mean, talking these things out is usually the best thing to do," Applejack cringed slightly, knowing she should do the same.
"I understand but I can't hurt her feelings, I just can't," Pinkie frowned.
"It's going to hurt if you don't talk to her," Applejack sighed.
Pinkie reeled, her frown growing. She stared at the dirt ground in silence.
"Fine... Ah'm sure Ah can convince Twilight that something came up for you but Ah need your help with bakin' tonight," Applejack stomped.
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I knew I could count on you," Pinkie bounced into a hug with her friend.
"No problem," Applejack answered as a smile appeared on her face, she quickly shook her head removing the grin.
The orange apple horse trotted out of the farm, her mind clearly elsewhere. Before she knew it, she rammed into something and found herself laying on her back. Finally coming back to reality, she jumped back to her hooves to find a lavender unicorn rubbing her head in pain.
"Ouch!" the unicorn stated, her burning head throbbed.
"Oh, Ah'm sorry Twilight. Ah guess Ah wasn't all there," Applejack said sorrowful.
"It's okay, I can't exactly blame other ponies for doing something I do all the time," the unicorn gave a small smile.
"Right, but what are you doin' all the way over here in Sweet Apple Acers?" Applejack asked.
"I wanted to speak to Pinkie Pie but no one has seen her all day, do you know what happened to her?"
"Yeah actually, Ah was starting to head for your place until Ah bumped into you. Pinkie Pie dropped by earlier, said she felt really bad about not being able to make it to yawls hang out today and that Ah should come tell ya'," Applejack looked to the floor as she rehearsed the story filled with half lies.
"Hmm, do you know what she was doing today?" Twilight questioned.
"Not really, no," the earth pony responded.
"Applejack... Can I be honest with you?" Twilight asked in a long pause.
"What are friends for?" the farm pony answered slowly.
"I asked Pinkie Pie out on a date and she accepted but I figured out through Spike that she didn't know it was a date. I think she might be trying to avoid me," Twilight cringed.
Applejack opened her mouth but nothing came out, she fought herself on what to say. Twilight looked away quickly as she attempted to hide her face. Tears slowly began forming from the unicorn's eyes, she wiped the tears away but more filled its place. Twilight then felt the warm hug from her friend and let her tears fall.
"I just d-don't want to ruin our friendship," the unicorn started to whimper, pulling the earth pony into a tighter grip.
"Of course Pinkie is still your friend sugar cube, I don't think that's ever goin' to change," Applejack answered wholeheartedly.
Twilight smiled, "Thank you."
The sun lowered just beyond the mountains and the stars began twinkling in the night sky. Pinkie Pie pulled out many tools and bowls from seemingly nowhere, most of them pink. She then stacked them oddly in a smile as she waited in the Apple family’s kitchen. The pink earth pony watched the clock move and without realizing it, her head turned in time with the hands. Applejack entered the room with her head low and a guilty expression.
"Applejack! I'm all ready to start. So, what are we making? Apple pie? Apple slices? Apple sauce?" the party pony jumped with excitement.
"Pinkie, look," the farm pony rubbed the back of her head.
"Oh, do you want me to guess? Apple fritters, um, caramel apples?" Pinkie thought aloud.
"No, Pinkie Pie Ah need to talk to you," the orange pony shook her head.
"Sorry, sorry. I just get so excited when I bake with a friend," Pinkie's smile brightened the room.
"You do not make this easy," Applejack whispered to herself.
Pinkie slid a bowl back in place then turned to the other earth pony. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Ah... Ah haven't been fully honest with you. The truth is, well, the truth is..." Applejack sighed. "At first Ah wasn't sure why Ah told you why Ah needed you to help me tonight, then after some thinking' Ah realized it’s because Ah just wanted to spend time with you."
Pinkie laughed slightly. "What's wrong with wanting to spend time with friends, hay, I want to hang out with you too!" the party pony's smile once again shined.
Applejack shook her head. "Ah though that it would be okay if Ah didn't tell you, thinking that Ah would be able to push the feelings away," the farm pony frowned.
"Wait, don't tell me..." the pink pony paused.
"Ah have fallin' for you," Applejack nodded.
"I- Wha- Huh-" Pinkie's face blew up, then came back a very bright pink.
Pinkie Pie turned away from Applejack and as her eyes darted, her pink pupils landed on the door. In a blink of an eye, she galloped full speed out of the farm, half way through the door frame she felt a rope wrap around her barrel. She flew backwards and slid across the wooden floor eventually coming face to face with Applejack. Pinkie's fake smile grew wide as her heart wouldn't let her breathe.
"Sorry but there is a few things Ah needed to say," the apple horse looked away. "Twilight figured out that you didn't know it was a date and you should probably keep those pupils off the rest of our friends if you can help it."
Pinkie nodded, still wearing the fake smile.
"Make sure you try and fix all this, hopefully things will go back to normal if you do,” Applejack hid her face as she untied the rope around pinkies barrel.
Once untied, Pinkie threw herself to the door frantically but stopped before leaving.
"I'll try and fix this, t-thank you," the pink party planner flew out the door and into the night.