It was 8:00 am. I hadn't even taken out my hair curlers yet and I could already tell it was going to be a very long day.
Still, a lady must keep her composure even in the face of grave difficulties. Especially when those difficulties involve friends.
Twilight was more than a little embarrassed by her outburst, quickly crawling off the table and plopping her rear in one of my imported giraffewood chairs. I noticed that in spite of her supposed doubts, she pulled her chair right next to Applejack. I felt oddly like a teacher who had stumbled into two misbehaving foals.
I took a sip of my tea and cleared my throat. "Applejack, may she know that I know?"
The farmer raised an eyebrow. "Know what?"
"I think she meant that she knows that you're trans..." Twilight injected. Her eyes widened. "Oh no! Applejack I'm so sorry I said that!"
I rolled my eyes. "It's alright Twilight, I know."
"Can we stop with the 'knowing'?" Applejack cut in. "At this point I'm half expecting Pinkie to show up and start yammering about baseball." The farmer snorted angrily. "Besides, what in the hay does all of that have to do with who I date?"
I stirred my tea. "Nothing, particularly given your specific circumstances, but you yourself seemed to think you weren't good enough for Twilight because of it."
Said princess balked. "I would never say that!" Applejack just looked nervous.
I nodded. "Yes Twilight, and I'm sure Applejack knows that on an intellectual level." I turned to the farmer. "Isn't that right?"
She nodded, but she didn't look convinced.
I put my hooves on the table. "This is not about intellect. Intellectually it is obvious that you two would make a good, if somewhat boring, pair."
Applejack raised an eyebrow and Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Boring?" the farmer asked.
I sighed. "What I mean to say is that if we used some sort of match making personality matrix.... which I'm sure Twilight has already put together..."
The princess looked away, blushing.
"...Then you two are perfectly compatible. You're both devoted to your work, caring and honest. You take a no-nonsense approach to solving problems. In a crisis you are natural leaders, but still capable of listening to each other's advice." I shrugged. "Frankly if that was all there was to it, I would say you'd never encounter a problem that couldn't be solved in two minutes over tea."
Twilight nodded. "Okay... Then, why are we so nervous?"
"You mean aside from the usual first date jitters?" I said, taking another sip. "That would be because Applejack has serious inadequacy issues and Twilight is worried about her ability to be a good romantic partner because romance is emotionally complex and potentially volatile."
I waited for the inevitable backlash, the fear, the accusations...
They never came.
"I reckon that makes sense." AJ returned.
"It does explain a lot." Twilight agreed.
My romantic soul died a little. They were even more boring than I'd feared...
"Hang on a tick," Applejack began. "Twi, if your whole problem is just that you don't know what to do, then why can't we just accept that we both have a lot to learn and go from there?"
Twilight threw up her hooves in frustration. "Applejack! Being in a relationship isn't something you should just dive into hoping for the best! If I mess up I'm going to seriously hurt you! And I have no clue why you could think you're inadequate. You're one of the most mature, capable mares I know and you've saved the world multiple times."
Applejack winced. "Twi, I'm a two bit apple farmer who doesn't have any education or two bits to rub together. You're a princess living in an enchanted castle chosen directly by a sun god as a leader of ponies."
Twilight could barely believe what she was hearing. "Socioeconomic class differences? Really? Those are totally meaningless! And I'm a barely contained bottle of neuroses with a tendency to manufacture evil dolls! I'm not some kind of flawless paragon you could never-"
"ENOUGH!" I shouted.
The ponies stopped arguing.
I know, I know, not very ladylike, but sometimes one needs to be blunt.
I cleared my throat. "Well, as you can see, your relationship does have some real, serious hurdles." I took another sip of tea. "For the record though, they certainly aren't insurmountable. The question is, now that they're on the table do you still want to make the attempt?"
The two ponies looked at each other, there were a dozen different emotions playing across their faces, attraction, and repulsion, and worry all mixing together in a terrible mess of feeling.
Finally Applejack turned to me. "Yes."
"Why?" I asked. It needed to be asked.
"Because she's worth it." The farmer replied. "I'll admit, there's a dumb little part of me that hopes she'll grow out of the over-cautiousness thing, but honestly... I'm okay with it. She ain't perfect, but she's Twi. She's still the gorgeous mare that's always sticking up for me." She eyed the scholar, smiling. "I'm okay with her being a little worried. It's just who she is and... I want her."
Twilight smiled, then frowned. "Applejack, I know we come from different places, but I really, truly don't think I'm better than you. Maybe I had some advantages you didn't... Okay I definitely did, but you have a lot of strengths that I don't. I admire you and I want you to be happy." She looked down. "There are some times I feel sorry for you... And I guess that's gotten worse with you telling me all the bad stuff you've gone through... But, when I said yes I wasn't talking to the Applejack I was sorry for. It was strong, caring Applejack who'd just been hanging around having fun with me."
She touched her hoof to the farmer's. "I guess what I'm saying is... I like you, I respect you and I want to see where this goes."
There was a long pause.
Then Applejack hugged her tight and I was forced to repress a sniffle. Maybe there was a little romance in them after all.
#
The actual date happened two days later.
I'd claimed the right to do the planning on account of being the one to ask. It was an odd situation really. Rarity had told me first dates were about getting to know some pony, but Twi and I had been friends for such a long time that that seemed a little silly. Finally I'd just decided on something simple.
So it came to be that on a Saturday night, just as the weather was starting to warm up I saw Twilight cresting over a hill to meet me. The crisp wind through the apple trees brushed her hair aside and for a moment she was more beautiful than I'd ever imagined.
When she finally got to the top she let out an exhausted breath. "Man, we're pretty deep in the depths of your farm. So what's this big surprise?"
I pointed down the hill to the nearby barn with its side painted solid white.
She was confused for a moment. Then smiled when she saw the old projector. "Applejack, where did you find this?"
I chuckled. "We've got a lot of old junk in the outbuildings. It was right next to this." I opened a little box filled with spools of film.
She lifted one up with her magic. "Moonlight's Song... The Brass Band Boys... AJ, what are these?"
I shrugged. "No clue."
Twilight seemed absolutely lost. "Wait, so for our first date, you want to watch a bunch of films with me... And you have no idea what they actually are?"
I bit my lip. Now was time for the big risk. "Twi... I found these movies in the shed. The same place I found those old books. I could have watched them before without you, found the best one... I could have done a lot of things."
I tapped the case. "But this way, what's in here? It's a mystery. And... I guess I'd like to learn what's there." I looked down. "You know, just a little adventure. Together."
Twilight stared at me. "Applejack?" she asked.
I looked up. "Yes Twi?"
"How do you feel about kissing on the first date?" She asked with a blush.
I smiled. "I'm easy."
Twilight leaped on me and our lips met. We had no idea what we were doing, but skies above did it feel nice...
Finally we parted, gasping for breath. I gestured Twi over to a little pile of cushions and put in the first film. As we watched a pegasus mare come singing out of her little cottage I felt a wing creeping around me.
I snuggled into it, just letting Twilight's warmth flow through me.
After a few minutes Twilight turned to me. "Um... Applejack?"
I blinked. "Yes sugarcube?"
Twilight blushed. "Um... These mystery movies... That you're projecting right out in the open... Are you sure they're all... Appropriate?"
I blanched. "I'll take a look at the frames on the next one before I put it in."
"Good call."