I got a short vignette (is there such a thing as a long vignette?) of Apple Pie that's part of a longer story I'm working on, and I thought I might share it with you guys.

Applejack should feel ridiculous. She did, in a way, but not nearly as much as the situation called for. Ponies did not climb trees. Sure, Rainbow Dash napped in the upper branches of the apple trees on occasion, but she could fly. Pony hooves were not made for gripping bark or balancing on narrow branches.

Yet, once Pinkie Pie had suggested it, Applejack could not deny the appeal of experiencing her beloved orchard from a new angle. She had lived her life beneath the cozy canopy of wood and leaves and fruit, and had never considered going up to be among them.

Her grasp on the next branch faltered, sending the farmer reeling backwards, the earth eager to reclaim its wayward child. But a pink hoof shot out of the greenery, forming a solid grip with Applejack's own. She looked up to be greeted by one of Pinkie's brightest, widest smiles.

“No going back down just yet,” she chirped. Pinkie gave the impression of being a carefree pink songbird that just happened to have hooves and a fluffy mane instead of wings. “You gotta see the view from up here first!”

A huffy insistence that a trip back to the ground would not be in any way intentional on her part died on Applejack's lips as her green eyes met with the absolute sincerity in Pinkie's blue ones. A faint trace of heat rose in her cheeks as Pinkie helped pull her to the next branch.

Climbing a tree was not, as she had originally believed, like climbing a ladder. Some of the branches were too far apart to reach without giving up her secure hold on the previous ones. Others were too close together for a pony to squeeze herself through. Nearly a dozen times during her ascent, Applejack thought she was stuck. Each time, Pinkie would appear and show her a branch she hadn't seen, or encourage her to span a gap she didn't think she could make.

Gravity did not seem to have any sway over the pink mare, and, for the afternoon, she lent that immunity to Applejack. The eternal downward tug howled empty threats at the two ponies, who laughed and played among the green canopy.

“Up here, A.J!” Pinkie Pie offered Applejack her hoof as she sat on a smooth-barked branch, the thickest one available at this height.

Applejack did not even hesitate to take Pinkie's hoof anymore. Perhaps the pony she had been months ago would have doubted the branch's ability to hold them both, but she had since learned to trust her pink friend. Even if the branch did break, Pinkie would still catch her.

Pinkie's grin would have kept spreading indefinitely had it not been contained by the boundaries of her face. Her eyes shimmered as Applejack joined her on the branch, which creaked in protest but held steady. “This is what I wanted to show you,” she said, pulling a cluster of verdant leaves aside.

Applejack's breath left her as she peered out of the opening Pinkie had made. From this vantage, she could see nearly all of Sweet Apple Acres. The twisted mass of vines and thorns that was the Everfree rose in the east, marking the border of her land. To the west, her neighbor's carrot-shaped granary stood outlined against the mountains in the afternoon sun. Between west and east, Applejack was met by a sight at once familiar and alien. Rows upon rows of apple trees rose to meet her. She knew each one by name, but she had never seen this side of them before. Where from the ground they were a forest of sturdy trunks and a ceiling of green, from up here they were an ocean of leaves and fruit. A gentle breeze sent a ripple of waving branches across the valley, stirring up the scent of wet earth and tree sap.

Applejack briefly wondered if this was how pegasus ponies felt. She could almost understand Rainbow Dash's cocksure attitude and bravado if she was treated to this everyday. Looking down on the world all around, it was hard not to feel like it was all built around her.

“Pinkie,” Applejack gasped, “It's beautiful!”

“It is,” Pinkie replied, punctuating herself with a little snort that seemed to indicate it was such an obvious statement that it didn't really need to be said.

A warm smile tugged at Applejack's mouth. Leave it to Pinkie to find a new way to look at something other ponies took for granted in their lives. She turned her head and realized that Pinkie's eyes were not on the farm, but on her. Heat rose to her cheeks once again. Applejack did nothing to suppress or hide the blush.

She leaned her head against Pinkie's shoulder. This nearly cost her her balance, but a pink hoof steadied her like it had a dozen times this afternoon. “Thanks fer showin' me this, Pinkie,” she said.

“No problemo,” said Pinkie, the vibrations in her chest tickling Applejack's cheek. “Just a super-special view for my super-special somepony!”

A content sigh escaped Applejack's lips. It should have felt ridiculous, hearing Pinkie call her her special somepony. And it was a bit ridiculous, to be sure. But here, leaning against her warm pink coat at what was the top of her world, Applejack decided she didn't mind ridiculous so much.

Pinkie's chest shook with a snicker, prompting Applejack to pull her head back and raise an eyebrow quizzically. “Pinkie and A.J, sitting in a tree,” the baker chimed in the sing-song fashion schoolfillies would invoke their teases with.

Applejack smirked. “How's the rest of that rhyme go, again?”

“K-I-S—mmf!” Pinkie never got the chance to finish as Applejack pounced, nearly knocking the both of them out of the tree.

Feel free to comment!

The detail and emotion that went into some of the sentences and fragments of thought was fantastic. And the trust that AJ gives to Pinkie was some powerful shit. And then the ending made me laugh.

Well worth reading, and you totally gave me some inspiration on what to do after I finish my midterm project tonight... Write some goddamn Apple Pie.

774707 Mission accomplished, then!