Applejack carefully pulled the old hatbox from under her bed and set it on top of the neatly made covers. It was dusty and becoming tattered at the seams, and for the umpteenth time she told herself she’d need to get something sturdier one of these days. But just seeing it brought back memories of Hearts and Hooves Day’s gone by, the one day a year when Pa would announce he was taking Ma out on the town. The hatbox would come out, along with Ma’s dress and jewelry. Applejack would sit and watch as, like magic, Ma transformed from down-to-earth farmpony into the glamorous Manehattanite she’d been before she met Pa.
She opened the box and looked at the hat. “Glamorous” might be a bit of an overstatement. The hat was a delicate white straw, with a band of deep orange and pink silk flowers at the back with a bow. But when Applejack was growing up it belonged to the most beautiful pony in the world, and it was the fanciest thing on the farm.
She thought about trying it on, but that would just be silly. It wasn’t her style at all, she liked her stetson just fine. Of course, a pony like Rarity wouldn’t wear it either, there was nothing flashy about it. But Twilight… Applejack closed her eyes and imagined it above Twilight’s sweet smile and couldn't help but want to kiss her. Yes, the hat was just Twilight’s style, like it had been Ma’s, and that gave Applejack some hope for her plans for the evening.
Nestled around the hat in the box were a few other items, just as important. Two locks of mane rested inside, one deep red and one pale orange. There were some scrolls wrapped with ribbon, and a few pictures. And the long velvet box she was pulling out for the last time today.
She opened it, just to check. Inside was a gold apple pendant on a gold chain. It was even smaller than she remembered it, about the size of a bit… worry began to gnaw at her again.
She glanced back at the box’s other contents for strength. Applejack picked up the top picture and smiled nervously at it, her parents smiling back at her. It was from their wedding, and Applejack could see the gold necklace around her mother’s neck.
***
“You were so pretty, Mama,” Applejack said, looking at the picture from their wedding that sat on Ma and Pa’s nightstand, while Ma sat at the writing desk that also served as a vanity.
“Were? Your mama’s still the prettiest lady this side of the Ghastly Gorge.” Pa buttoned on his dress collar, then just about stuck his head inside a drawer, nosing around. He was a big stallion, and it looked to Applejack like he might get his head stuck, but a few seconds later he pulled it out with rumpled orange tie. Along with his green body and red mane, she thought the tie made him look like a leaf just starting to change colors for fall.
“Oh, be quiet.” Mama smiled at herself in the mirror as she braided her orange mane, but Applejack knew the smile was for Pa. It was the one that meant Pa was being silly and Ma was supposed to be cross, but she wasn’t. “Your papa hasn’t even seen all the pretty mares in Manehattan.”
“Never needed to.” Pa fumbled to tie his tie with his big hooves. “You came right out here to Ponyville for me, saved me the trouble.”
“Are there lots of pretty mares in Manehattan?” Applejack asked as she pushed the top off the hatbox. She carefully picked up the fancy hat inside and flipped it on her head. If she held her head perfectly still, she could keep it from falling down over her eyes.
“There are,” Ma said, applying powder to her cream colored face. “There are lots and lots of ponies in Manehattan.”
“Why’d you come out here, then? For Pa?” Applejack stood on the bed and caught sight of herself over Ma’s shoulder in the mirror. The hat made her look awfully grown up, she thought. Like a pony who definitely belonged in Manehattan.
“Well, in a way.” Ma smiled again, then stood up and walked over to Applejack, taking the hat off her head. “I came out here to bring your papa some seeds. And as soon as I saw Ponyville, I knew this is where I belonged.”
“Good thing, too, ‘cause soon as I saw your mama I was wonderin’ how I was gonna start an apple farm in Manehattan. I figured I’d hav’ta plant the trees on the rooftops and use the places between buildings to build a real skinny barn,” Pa said with a wink.
Applejack giggled. “Pa! That’s just silly!”
Pa grinned and nodded towards Ma. “But your mama saw Sweet Apple Acres, and she fell in love.”
Ma looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. “I saw you and I fell in love.”
“Then ya’ got married!” Applejack bounced a few times on the bed. Pa just reached over and scooped her up in his big foreleg and set her on the floor. “Someday, I’m gonna go to Manehattan and get a handsome stallion.”
Pa ruffled her hair. “Ya’ never know, maybe a handsome stallion from Manehatten will show up right in Ponyville for you.”
***
Applejack bit her lip and closed the box. Her pa was more right than he’d know, except it was a beautiful mare from Canterlot who’d fallen in love with Ponyville. And with her, it seemed. She shook her head in disbelief that a mare like Twilight had even come into her life.
She stowed the hatbox under her bed and picked up the velvet box in her teeth. It tasted dusty as she carried it downstairs to the kitchen. Mac was cooking dinner, and the smell of onions, garlic, and peppers hung in the air. But Applejack already had her picnic basket packed, with fried squash she’d made not long before. She knew Mac was watching her as she slipped the black box under the red checkered blanket that lay neatly over the basket, and she knew that he knew just what it was.
Once the box was out of her mouth, she started to feel a little queasy. Maybe it was the dust on her tongue, or the heavy smells in the kitchen. Or, most likely, the box tucked in the basket. She tried to look casual as she got a glass of water and gulped it down.
“I’m gonna do it,” she said to Mac.
“Eyup.” He nodded and turned back to the stove.
Applejack swallowed. She considered another glass of water. She considered taking the box out of the picnic basket. “You think I’m crazy, Mac?”
He didn’t bother to turn around. “Nope.”
“She’s a princess, and all I got’s this little ol’ necklace… is it really what I oughta offer her?” She looked hard at the picnic basket, as if she could see the necklace through the woven slats.
“Eyup.”
Applejack frowned, her brows furrowing. “I— I could save up a few months and get her a diamond for her horn. That’s what she’ll be expectin’.”
“Nope.” He still faced the stove, taking a spatula in his mouth and moving the vegetables around the pan with a sizzle.
“Rarity would say this looks tacky,” she said, still frowning.
Mac set down the spatula gently. “You gonna marry Rarity?”
“I sure hope not… but I’m askin a real princess here, Mac.” Applejack shook her head and sighed.
“You’re askin’ Twilight Sparkle.”
She rolled her eyes. “Who’s a princess.”
“Who loves you,” Mac pointed out. “You already know she wants to marry ya’.”
Applejack nodded. “Yeah, I know. We talked about doin’ it soon. But she’ll be expectin’ me to do it right, ya’ know? What if this ain’t good enough for her, for gettin' engaged?”
Mac looked over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows. “It was good enough for Ma.”
As much as she might hem and haw, Applejack finally nodded. “I know.”
***
“There we go. Almost ready.” Ma had her lacy white dress on now, her orange mane braided, and the white hat perched on her head. Her face was perfectly made up, and she looked to Applejack like a fancy china pony.
“You look beautiful, Mama!” Applejack said with a wide grin.
“Like a million bits,” Pa agreed, smiling.
“Quiet, both of you. You’d think I had an apple pie you wanted to share,” Ma said, smiling and rolling her eyes. She nodded to Pa, then to the little velvet box. “Come over here and help me get this on.”
“You ain’t wearin’ that ol’ thing,” Pa said, but he took the necklace out of the box and helped fix it around Ma’s neck.
“Oh yes I am,” Ma insisted, admiring herself in the mirror.
“That’s the necklace you gave Ma when you asked her to marry ya’!” Applejack said, looking between the picture of their wedding day and her perfectly put together mama.
Pa nodded. “Sure is. I was a poor young farmpony then.”
“Then?” Ma asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Now I’m a poor ol’ farmpony.” Pa chuckled. “But one of these days, when my ship comes in, I’ll get you a real necklace, with rubies big as apples, and diamonds prettier than stars in the sky.”
“And emeralds like Mama’s eyes!” Applejack added.
“That’s right. You got the soul of a poet, lil’ filly.” He gave her mane a playful tug. “It’ll be a necklace fit for a princess. Celestia herself will be jealous.”
“Well she should be jealous of this one. I like it more than any bunch of diamonds you want to waste your money on.” She smiled and turned to nuzzle Applejack. “Besides, I’ve got a farm full of apples that taste a lot better than rubies, and I already have the prettiest emeralds in the world, right here.” She pointed at Applejack’s eyes.
“All ready?” Pa asked.
“I think so.” Ma gave Applejack one last hug and pulled away. “We’ll be back after you’re in bed. You be good for Granny.”
“I will, Mama!” Applejack said, following as Ma and Pa left their room and headed down the stairs.
“Macintosh! We’re leavin’!” Pa called, and Mac appeared in the door from the kitchen. “You keep an eye on AJ when Granny’s with baby Bloom, ya’ hear?”
“Eeyup.” He nodded.
“That’s my colt,” Pa gave a nod and smiled as he and Ma walked out the door.
“Y’all have fun!” Applejack called after them.
***
It wasn’t but a few months later that they were gone for good. And now, eleven years to the day after she last saw her ma wear it, Applejack picked up the picnic basket and headed to the far edge of Sweet Apple Acres to give the little gold apple necklace to the only mare she ever met who she really thought might be prettier and classier than her ma.
She got to the spot, where the neat line of apple trees and even grass ended at an overgrown meadow, and across that the White Tail Woods grew thick. Applejack spread the blanket out under the apple trees and pulled out plates of fried squash, cornbread with fresh butter, and a daisy and cucumber salad straight from the garden, just like Twi liked it. An apple pie completed the spread, and Applejack smiled at the assembled meal. Even if she couldn’t afford a fancy ring, she sure knew how to feed a pony.
“That looks delicious!” Twilight said from behind Applejack as she walked up next to her. She planted a kiss on Applejack's cheek as she floated her saddlebags off and hung them on a nearby branch. “Happy Hearts and Hooves Day!”
“Happy Hearts an’ Hooves Day, sugarcube.” Applejack nuzzled Twilight. “Go on and dig in. And I’m sorry we couldn’t spend the whole day together.”
Twilight took a seat on the blanket and Applejack say across from her. “That’s okay. I can’t ask you to waste a nice, sunny day just hanging out with me. And I had plenty to keep myself busy.”
“Hangin’ out with you is never a waste.” Applejack said, as both ponies loaded their plates with food. “But ya’ gotta make hay when the sun shines.”
“Or harvest apples, in your case. Are you still working on the east orchard?” Twilight asked, then took a bite of squash.
“Yeah, the slope means ya’ gotta set the baskets just right, and half the apples fall out anyhow. Seems to go on forever.” Applejack looked down at her food, but her usually healthy appetite had taken the evening off. Maybe it’d be best to get this over with fast. “Let’s not talk work tonight, Twi.”
Twilight raised her eyebrows and swallowed a mouthful of cornbread. “You don’t want to talk about the farm? Who are you, and what have you done with my special somepony?”
“I dunno…” Applejack felt her cheeks warm and glanced at the picnic basket. “Just, it’s Heart and Hooves Day, and I thought maybe we oughta talk about somethin’ more romantic…”
“Okay… sure… um…” Twilight bit her lip, glancing around. She smiled as an idea seemed to strike her. “I bet the sunset will be nice! Princess Celestia alway draws it out on Hearts and Hooves day.”
“Yeah.” Applejack nodded. “Twilight, you’re glad ya’ came to Ponyville, right?”
“Yeph?” she answered through a mouthful of salad. She swallowed quickly and went on, “I mean, of course I am! My friends, my castle, you… everything I could want is here, and there’s no place I’d rather be.” Then she furrowed her eyebrows. “Why?”
“I just wanna make sure you’re happy.” Applejack looked at Twilight’s sweet, confused face. “And you’re happy to be datin’ me?”
“Applejack, I love you.” Twilight tilted her head. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Ponyville’s a little town, it ain’t as fancy as Canterlot. And, well, bein’ a farmer you get so you’re used to the simple stuff,” Applejack explained. “But you ain’t a farmer, and you’re from Canterlot, and ya’ live in a castle, and I just wanted to make sure… this is what you really want.”
Twilight relaxed. “I like things around me to be simple. There’s more than enough that’s complicated and intricate in the world without adding society games or flashy facades. You once told me Twilight Sparkle didn’t have to mean something fancy. It could be something as simple as the setting sun, and the fireflies in the meadow, and the stars coming out.” She smiled. “Remember? We were sitting right here.”
Applejack couldn’t help smiling back. “Of course I do. And you’re still the smartest, sweetest, prettiest pony I ever seen.”
A slight blush colored Twilight’s cheeks. “And you’re still my clear, beautiful fact.”
At that moment, Applejack wanted to marry her more than she ever had before. She was also shaking as she reached for the picnic basket, pulling it closer to her. Her stomach twisted, and words came out of her mouth, but none of them seemed right.
“Twilight, I wanted to ask ya’... I mean, if ya wouldn’t mind…”
Twilight was looking at her curiously, and Applejack swallowed and looked at the picnic basket. She thought about the necklace that somehow seemed to shrink in her memory, until it was nothing but a cheap charm compared to how she felt about the beautiful princess sitting across from her. Just four simple words, and she would stick her head in the basket and pull out the box. But a wall was going up in her mind, the same one she remembered feeling in Dodge Junction that just wouldn’t let her say the simple truth to the pony she needed to say it to.
She’d been thinking too long. She had to say something. And, she had to admit, it wasn’t going to be what she wanted to say. That took a weight off her shoulders, she couldn’t propose today, but she could have a nice Hearts and Hooves Day with Twilight and figure out how to propose some other time. Maybe after she saved up for a ring.
Applejack shook her head clear, then pushed the picnic basket away and smiled at Twilight. “Ya wanna come sit next to me?”
“I’d love to.” Twilight smiled and left her plate, moving to the other side of the blanket. She sat with all four legs tucked under her, leaning against Applejack, who draped a foreleg over her back and breathed a sigh of relief.
“How long until sunset?” Applejack asked, looking out over the peaceful meadow.
“About half an hour.” Twilight looked in the same direction.
“So, Princess Celestia takes her time with it on Hearts and Hooves Day, huh? I reckon that makes sense… Does she hurry it up for Nightmare Night?” Applejack wondered.
Twilight shook her head. “No. Just Hearts and Hooves Day, and of course the sunrise at the Summer Sun Celebration.”
“It’d be nice of her to hurry it up on Nightmare Night. I remember when I was a foal, that sun couldn’t go down fast enough,” Applejack said, stroking Twilight’s wing.
Twilight shrugged. “We started gathering candy at four o’clock in my neighborhood, so I didn’t mind.”
Applejack stared at her. “That’s still broad daylight!”
“Well, it’s safer that way,” Twilight pointed out. “Foals can trip and fall in the dark.”
“Yeah, but it’s Nightmare Night, it’s about bein’ scary. Ya’ can’t be scared when you’re just takin’ a walk through town.” She gave a snort and rolled her eyes.
“It’s not all about being scary.” Twilight smiled and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think there’s much scary about a scarecrow with a giant sunflower on her hat.”
Applejack frowned and tried not to chuckle. “It’s scary if you’re a crow.”
Twilight giggled and kissed her on the top of the muzzle. “Well, there are crows out during the daylight.”
“It just ain’t in the spirit of things, is all.” Applejack shook her head.
“I know,” Twilight agreed. “I like Nightmare Night here. I was thinking of making the castle into a kind of fake Castle of the Pony Sisters next year, and letting foals walk through it.”
Applejack considered that. “Ya’ know, that’d be kinda neat. We could do it up all creepy, and I bet Dash would like to dress up as the Pony of Shadows and run around scarin’ ponies.”
Twilight nodded. “I was going to dress up as Nightmare Moon, too, if Princess Luna is going to the one in Canterlot.”
“We could fit it in right before the candy offerin’, it’d really set the mood.” Applejack smiled and gave Twilight a squeeze. “That sounds like fun. Maybe that castle’ll come in handy, after all.”
“How do you feel about my castle?” Twilight asked, studying Applejack’s face.
“It’s right nice. I mean, I guess.” She shrugged. “I ain’t an expert on castles.”
“No, really,” Twilight pressed. “Do you like it?”
Applejack hesitated. She’d avoided saying this for a while, but she guessed it was about time. “I… I’ll be honest, Twi, that thing is ugly as sin, and I can’t say I ever thought, ‘ya’ know what this town needs? A castle towerin’ over it.’ But it means you’re stayin’ here, close to me. So I love the darn thing.”
Twilight giggled. “Actually, I feel exactly the same way. I’m glad you can’t see it from here. There are so many places in town where it just seems to be in the background… looming. That’s my biggest problem with it, it looms. Well, that, and stone floors get really cold in the winter.”
“You oughta get more rugs.” Applejack smiled and stroked her hair.
“I should. And a set of slippers.” Twilight nodded. Then she paused and looked into Applejack’s eyes. “Applejack… how would you feel about… living in my castle?”
Applejack couldn’t look away, and suddenly she could feel her heart pounding. “What’re you sayin’, Twi?”
Twilight took a deep breath and bit her lip, and her horn started to glow. A small silver box floated out of her saddle bag in her magic. She opened it in front of Applejack, revealing a diamond necklace in the shape of her star cutie mark, with a ruby apple on either side.
“I’m asking you to marry me. If you want to. And we don’t have to live in the castle, really, but it’s there, and your family all lives at the farm, so it would just make sense. I’ll get some more rugs.”
Applejack just stared at the necklace, barely seeing it. All she could focus on was that somehow, in spite of her cowardice, she was going to be engaged to Twilight Sparkle.
“I’d love to!” A grin spread over her face. “Twilight, I’d love to marry you, more than anythin’.”
“Really? If you need time to think about it, I totally understand. I know we talked about it before, but… it’s a big step.” She smiled sheepishly. “I almost walked out of the jewelry store twenty seven times. Rarity said that if I didn’t make a decision, she was going to to pick something and propose for me.”
Applejack shook her head. “I don’t need to think, Twi. I’m sure as the sun.” She looked at the necklace again, really looked at it. It sparkled in the case as the evening sun caught the facets. “And the necklace is… it’s beautiful. I never owned nothin’ this nice,” she said softly.
“Is it too fancy?” Twilight asked. “I know you said you get used to simple things, but, for an engagement, I thought something nice was appropriate.”
“It ain’t too fancy for somethin’ like this.” She felt her cheeks warm, thinking of the little gold trinket she almost gave Twilight. It seemed worse now that she knew that Twilight had this in her bags.
Twilight’s ears drooped slightly. “I meant what I said before, AJ. I’m not a fancy pony, even if I’ve got a looming castle with cold floors. I— I just wanted to propose to you correctly, and this seemed to be what the books suggested."
“You did just right.” Applejack nodded. “Better than I coulda imagined.”
“Why do you look upset?” Twilight asked softly.
Applejack blinked. Then she smiled at Twilight, but her flush grew hotter. “It’s nothin’, Twi. I really am so happy, and I really do wanna be married to you.”
Twilight laid a hoof gently on top of Applejack’s. “Then tell me what’s wrong.”
Applejack tried to think of words to explain, but the wall still seemed to be there. “I can’t.”
“You’re scaring me, AJ.” Twilight frowned. “I love you, more than anypony in the world. You’re my fact. What can’t you tell me?
Seeing Twilight’s frown and the worry in her eyes, the wall started to crack. No matter what, Applejack knew that she couldn’t do that to her. At this point, it was only her foolish pride at stake, and there was no way that was worth hurting Twilight. “It’s nothin’ that oughta scare you, sugarcube. Just me bein’ dumb... I was gonna ask you the same thing today.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide. “Did I spoil your surprise? Oh no, AJ, I’m so sorry! I had no idea!”
“That ain’t it, sugarcube.” Applejack shook her head and sighed. “I chickened out. I went and decided not to ask ya, cause… I was embarrassed of what I got for ya’. It ain’t a proper engagement present, and I know how you like things done right.”
“Applejack, you know it’s not the present that matters.” Twilight relaxed and smiled. “I’m sure I’d love it, because you got it for me. Can I see it?”
Applejack nodded and stuck her head in the picnic basket, fishing out the dusty velvet box. She offered it to Twilight, who took it in her magic and opened it.
“It ain’t as nice as what you got me. It was my Ma’s… Pa didn’t have a lot of bits when he asked her, and I reckon I don’t got a lot more now.”
Twilight’s smile fell away as she glanced at Applejack, then back to the necklace. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth hung open breathlessly. “Oh, Applejack… But… This must mean so much to you…”
“There’s no trinket that means as much as the pony that wears it,” Applejack said, looking at the scuffed grass at her hooves and absently smoothing it.
“What was she like?” Twilight asked in a whisper.
“She was from Manehattan.” Applejack felt her eyes stinging, so she closed them and took an unsteady breath. “She showed up here to deliver some seeds from her family’s business and took a fancy to Pa and the farm and Ponyville. She was real down to earth for a city pony, and sharp as a parin’ knife. And she was the prettiest pony I ever saw, back then…”
“You miss her a lot.” Twilight’s foreleg wrapped around her, and she felt Twilight nuzzle her cheek.
“Sometimes. Today. I was scared that little ol’ necklace wasn’t enough. Pa always said one day he’d get her one that was fit for a princess… but he never did.” She dared a glance at Twilight.
“Applejack…” Twilight whispered, her eyes wet.
Seeing that, Applejack felt a few tears escape her eyes and roll down her cheeks as she went on, “But Ma always said she liked that one better. I reckon I just needed to hear her say it one more time today.”
“I’m sorry…” Twilight held Applejack close and brushed her tears away with her hoof. “But if it means anything, Applejack, I love this necklace more than all of the jewels in Canterlot. I’m almost embarrassed by the one I got you. I know you’ll probably never wear it, but it just seemed like the kind of thing you get for an engagement. This necklace… it’s special.”
Applejack smiled, her eyes still full of tears.
“I love you,” Twilight said, and she caught Applejack’s lips in a kiss. Applejack pressed in, wrapping her forelegs around Twilight and relaxing into her as Twilight held her close.
When the kiss broke, Applejack smiled again. “I’m sorry. This oughta be happy. I love you so much, and I— I just can’t believe you’re gonna marry me.”
“You’d better believe it.” Twilight grinned. “I’m going to marry you, and on our wedding day I’m going to wear this necklace, and everypony will see that it’s the most beautiful in Equestria.”
Applejack looked over at the meadow, where the sun was starting to set, painting the sky purple and orange. The first fireflies started twinkling in the meadow, and the first stars lit up the sky above. Applejack sighed happily, still holding Twilight in her legs. “I reckon I didn’t get my mama’s sophistication, but I sure am glad I got my pa’s luck.”