Applejack awoke as she did every morning, at the crack of dawn. Years of farm life had given her body a sense of when it should wake up, even without needing to be up that morning. Slowly coming to, she felt a weight pressing down on her back. Memories of last night slowly creeped back into her head. Turning her head, she saw that her pillow was indeed a blue pegasus mare with a rainbow colored mane, proving to her that last night wasn’t a dream after all. Letting out a contented sigh, she snuggled back into her pillow, ready to get a little more sleep.
Sometime later, she was awoken again by a the delicious smell of a cooking breakfast. Carefully extracting herself from Rainbow, she stretched before making her way to the kitchen. Pushing open the door, she took a deep breath of the wonderful smells coming from inside. She was surprised to see that it was not Spike, but Twilight, who was doing the cooking.
“Morn… Morning Applejack.” Twilight said, cut off by a yawn as she sat at the table, nursing her coffee while using her magic to cook whatever was on the stove. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“Nah, this great smelling breakfast sure did though.” She took a seat across from Twilight. “I figured Spike would have been the one cooking.”
“I wanted to surprise you both.” Twilight said with a smile. “How did last night go?”
“Just wonderful.” She answered with a blissful look. “I can’t thank ya enough for this Twi, it means the world to me that y’all are willing to let me in on what y’all share. If there’s any way I can repay y’all, any way at all, just let me know, ya hear?” Twilight smiled back at her.
“Applejack, just knowing that you are happy, and that you make Rainbow happy is enough for me.”
“She sure is something.”
“Yeah, she really is.”
They both sat there in comfortable silence, thinking about the mare they both shared. After a few moments, a plate with a stack of pancakes landed in front of Applejack, on top of them there was a little heart made out of apple pieces. They both shared a smile and she dug in.
Twilight began cooking again, and placed her empty cup in the sink. She was almost finished with the next stack of pancakes when Applejack came up beside her to put her plate in the sink.
“Thanks for breakfast, Twi.”
“No problem.” She replied with a smile. They both stood there looking at each other as an awkward silence fell over the pair. It didn’t last long as Applejack spoke up.
“Well, I gotta get back to the farm. See y’all later.” She received a nod in reply before heading out of the room.
Twilight could hear muffled voices coming from the other room before hearing the front door close. A few moments later a yawning Rainbow Dash stumbled through the door to the kitchen, walking over to her and kissing her on the cheek before greeting her.
“Morning Twi. Spike already head out? Whatever he made smells awesome.” She poured herself a cup of coffee before sitting down at the table.
“Actually, I made breakfast this morning.” Twilight replied sarcastically, placing a plate of pancakes on the table that matched Applejack’s, followed by a bottle of syrup.
“Wow, this looks amazing! When did you learn to cook? I thought spike did all the cooking around here.” She received a bop on the head from one of Twilight’s wings.
“Hey, I’ve been practicing! And I wanted to surprise my mares with a special breakfast.” She said with a smile.
“Oh, so we’re your mares now, huh?” Rainbow quipped before taking a huge bite of pancake. Twilight’s face heated up as a blush spread across her muzzle.
“I… That’s not what I meant and you know it!” Twilight defended, fumbling over her words. Rainbow chuckled before swallowing her mouthful.
“I’m just messing with ya. Geez, you are way too easy to get riled up.”
“So how’d your date go last night?”
“Awesome of course. Although I’ll admit it wasn’t as weird as I thought it would be not having you there. It was different, not knowing her like I know you. Thanks for all the special stuff, by the way.”
“Why, whatever do you mean?” Twilight answered in a haughty tone, fluttering her eyes. Rainbow gave her a deadpan look and she broke into giggles. “I just wanted everything to go well for you two last night.”
“It did.” Rainbow said with a smile. “I think AJ is really starting to accept being a part of this.”
“Well that’s good. I’ll be glad when we can start working on things between myself and her. After spending these last couple of weeks with her, and seeing how happy she makes you, I just want to have that same relationship with her.” She looked away as a blush spread across her muzzle.
“What’s this? Is my Twilight getting eyes for another mare?” Rainbow said, in a mock accusatory tone. Twilight whirled around, looking at her with a frantic look.
“What? No! I mean... “ The words died in her throat when she finally took in Rainbow’s expression. It was one she was used to, usually after Rainbow had gotten her to fall for one of her pranks that she should have seen coming.
“Calm down, Twi. I was just teasing you.” Her look changed to one of caring. “I’m actually really happy that you’re starting to feel the same way about her that I do.”
“Really?” Twilight asked, her eyes questioning Rainbow’s honesty.
“Of course. You two may not see it, but when we’re all together, you two really walk on eggshells around each other. I’ll be glad when we can have fun without the awkward moments involved.” Twilight smiled sheepishly. “I think if you two would spend more time together, she would feel the same way about you.”
Rainbow got up from the table, picking up her plate with a wing, then sliding it down her wing, across her withers and over her other wing where it ended up in the sink. Twilight rolled her eyes at her marefriend’s antics as Rainbow walked over to her.
“I gotta get to my weather duties before they come looking for me.” She said, giving Twilight a quick kiss. “Catch ya later.” She turned and headed out, leaving Twilight alone in the kitchen again.
Twilight tapped her quill against her temple distractedly, staring down at a blank piece of parchment.
Twilight/Applejack Date Ideas was underlined at the top of the page, but so far, not a single one of those ideas had come to her.
Ugh, why is this so difficult?
She had tried thinking of any hobbies they both shared, but when it came down to it, they really didn’t have much in common. This might be a lot more difficult than she originally had planned. This had been easy to do when she had been trying to ask Rainbow Dash out. She was always loud about things that she liked, and it had made things far easier. Applejack on the other hoof, was a lot more reserved, and aside from farm work, and physical competition, she had no idea what the farm mare took an interest in.
Aside from a certain pegasus.
That thought brought a smile to her face. At least there’s one important thing they could both relate to. Turning back to her still empty page, she let out a groan of frustration and promptly slammed her forehead against her desk.
Hearing the front door slam shut, she turned her head and looked at the clock on the wall, springing up when she saw the time.
Have I really been at this for three hours?
Getting up and stretching, she managed to get all the way to the doorway before Rainbow landed in front of her.
“Hey, Twi. Whatcha doin?” She said with a nuzzle.
“Trying to think of things that I could do with Applejack to spend more time with her.”
“How’s that going for ya?” Twilight sighed and hung her head.
“Not well. I've been up here for three hours and I still haven’t come up with a single thing we could do that we would both be interested in.”
“Wow, maybe what you need is to take a break. Sounds like you’re thinking too hard to me.” She looked over at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was only a little after noon. “AJ should be stopping for lunch soon, why don’t we go over there and talk to her and see what she’d like to do?”
“What?! We can’t just march over there and start asking her for date ideas!”
“Why not?” Rainbow asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Because!... Because…”
“Exactly, now lets get moving before we miss our chance.” Rainbow moved back a couple of steps before jumping off the staircase, gliding down and landing in front of the door.
“Fine.” She said with a sigh as she made her way down the stairs, following her marefriend out the door.
The walk to Sweet Apple Acres had been filled with small talk, either something about the upcoming weather schedule, or what they were all going to do next time they went out as a group. Time passed quickly and they were soon standing at the entrance to the orchard. They made their way down the path to the farmhouse and knocked on the door. When the door opened, it was the youngest member of the Apple Family that greeted them.
“Hi Twilight! Hi Rainbow Dash! Y’all looking for my sis?” She greeted with her youthful exuberance.
“Yes, is she in?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, come on in, she’s in the kitchen.” She told them as she turned around and ran back inside. “Sis! Your ~fillyfriends~ are here to see ya!” They heard her tease, followed by the sound of a chair being moved across the floor.
They met Applejack at the doorway to the kitchen. “Well howdy, y’all.” She said, giving Twilight a hug before turning and planting a kiss on Rainbow. “Care for some grub? We got plenty left.”
“Sure!” Said Rainbow and quickly made her way over to the table.
“That sounds great.” Twilight answered as she followed Applejack into the room.
She took the seat on the opposite side of Applejack from Rainbow. The table was covered in a veritable feast of apple themed dishes. Levitating a few pieces to her plate, she let out a giggle as she watched Rainbow stuffing her face like she hadn’t eaten in a month. Applejack looked to see what she was giggling about and soon joined her as she noticed Rainbow.
Rainbow looked up at both of them questioningly. “What? It’s good.” She then promptly returned to devouring the food on her plate. Shaking her head, Applejack returned to her meal as well. Ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, Twilight being the first to break the silence.
“So Rainbow told me your date went well last night.”
Applejack swallowed her mouthful before responding. “Sure did. I meant to thank ya for all that extra stuff ya did for us too.” Her expression became serious. “It really means a lot to me that you’re willing to go that extra step for me.”
“I know, and honestly you shouldn't feel like you have some kind of debt to repay me or anything. Knowing that you two had a good time is all that I need.” She smiled, putting one of her hooves over Applejack’s.
Applejack stared at Twilight’s hoof before putting her other hoof on top of it, and looking back up.
“Twi, you've been nicer to me than I ever thought possible. I know we’re friends and all that, but this goes way beyond friendship. Y’all were willing to let me in on something that ya didn't have to, and nopony would have batted an eye at ya for doing so. If you’re willing, I think I’d like to start working on us.”
Twilight got up and moved over to Applejack, wrapping her forelegs around the mare in a gentle hug. “Of course I am.”
Applejack moved one of her hooves to the side of Twilight’s face, stroking it gently. She was mildly surprised when Twilight nuzzled her hoof back. They stared at each other for a few moments before Applejack leaned forward and kissed her. It was only a short kiss, but both of them felt as if they should have done that much sooner.
They both moved in for another kiss, this one much deeper, but no less charged with emotion. They pulled apart and both turned as they heard a clatter against the table beside them. They both looked over to see a wide eyed, slack jawed Rainbow Dash, staring at them with her wings spread wide. She only said one word and it was quiet enough that they almost missed it.
“Hot.”