Do You Love An Apple?

by A Hoof-ful of Dust

First half - 'Skin'

'Do You Love An Apple?'

First half – 'Skin'

Snow. Everywhere there is snow. It lies in neat layers on roofs, in intricate crystalline networks in the branches of the bare trees, in hard-packed pathways underhoof. No clouds are in the sky to trap any of the sun's heat; light scatters off the snow in an infinity of golden glittery flecks and dances away back into the sky. The air is still, the main street of Ponyville quiet on this Tuesday midmorning. The ponies outside go about their business quickly, bundled in scarves and woolen hats and winter saddles and covered boots. Twilight Sparkle is one of these few.

She trots past the frozen pond on the path to Sweet Apple Acres and barely feels the cold despite her breath misting in the air, for today is a rare day when Twilight is Ahead Of Schedule. It is the common practice of the universe to do whatever is possible to disrupt a Schedule – hence Twilight's checklists and timetables, which are the only method to reliably keep the universe in order – but today is one of those blue-moon days when every task planned so far took less time to complete than estimated. It is because Twilight is so Ahead Of Schedule that she finds herself on an unplanned errand. She had been returning a book to Pinkie Pie (Twilight had thought to try her hoof at baking, and the cake hadn't turned out so badly – she had used the amount of sugar and butter the recipe had originally called for and not the exaggerated amount that had been doodled in the margin, and the cake wasn't that badly burned at the base despite what Spike claimed), and she had made mention that today was the day Rarity was returning from her week trip to Manehatten, and Pinkie had insisted this was grounds for a party and darted around Sugar Cube Corner with the ferocity of a pink dervish making preparations before Twilight had barely finished her sentence, whatever task she had been in the middle of at the bakery forgotten or suspended or simply factored in to her frantic energy. Pinkie Pie is a pony who is so unacquainted with, so opposite to the very concept of Schedule, Twilight thinks as she walks, that she could never be Ahead Of or even Behind it.

"You look kinda busy, Pinkie..." Twilight had remarked.

"Do I?" At time time, Pinkie was keeping a rolling pin from falling to the floor with her nose while trying to open a bag of flour and fumbling with setting an oven with her back leg.

"If you want, I could tell the girls about the party, I have some free time and-"

"Oh, would you would you would you? That would be great!" Pinkie had bounced to attention, leaving the rolling pin and flour to drop to the floor and the oven to roar to life. "But don't tell Rarity. It should be a surprise!"

"Can do. And I shouldn't need to tell Fluttershy either, she said she'd meet Rarity at the station."

"So you're already halfway there!"

Twilight's plan was to speak with Applejack first, but another moment of good fortune keeps her day efficient: a multicoloured streak is moving against the clear blue sky.

"Hey, Rainbow!"

No response. Rainbow could be too high up for her to hear. Or, unlikely as it seems, the blur in the sky may not be Rainbow Dash; it displays none of her signature acrobatics, just shoots like an arrow in the general direction back to Ponyville.

"Rainbow Dash!"

Still nothing. So Twilight reaches out with her magic and wraps what is probably Rainbow Dash (but may not be) in a purple bubble of force. Immediately it begins to struggle – this is a long distance she's trying to hold an object from, and it's obviously not as complacent as a book or a quill – and she lets go. Soon she can see the familiar form of Rainbow Dash descending from the sky. She lands with a snort of irritation.

"Twilight, what the hay? You could have just called to me."

"I did," Twilight says. "Twice."

"Oh." Rainbow looks about, as if she's searching for something else to aim her temporary bad mood at. Finding nothing, she says, "So, what's up?"

Something about this feels off, but Twilight is unable to nail down how. Rainbow can be surprisingly touchy about some things, and she probably shouldn't have just magically grabbed her like that. She dismisses the thought and says, "Well, Pinkie's putting together a party for Rarity coming back today. It's a little last minute, but..."

"I'm always in for a last-minute Pinkie Pie party, that's the best kind."

"Great. It's this afternoon, at Sugar Cube Corner."

"I'll be there!" Rainbow gives a wide cocky smile.

"Oh, and, um," Twilight says, "I'm sorry about grabbing you like that."

Rainbow Dash pauses her takeoff and looks at Twilight.

"With my magic," she clarifies. Rainbow continues to stare. "Just now."

"Oh! That. No big deal."

"You just looked like you were in a hurry to get somewhere and I thought I wouldn't have time to... what are you in such a rush for, anyway?" Rainbow looks on the verge of zooming off into the sky and leaving Twilight hanging mid-sentence.

"I just had some clouds to clear. You know. Which is what I should be doing now. So-" - she takes to the air - "-see ya, Twilight!"

"Bye, Rainbow!"

The feeling of something being off comes back. It's not until Twilight can see the snow-covered fields of Sweet Apple Acres that she remembers the skies over Ponyville , and every else as far as she can see, are azure blue and completely cloudless.

------------------

There's no immediate sign of Applejack at her farm, but there is a Cutie Mark Crusader Construction Crew building a snow fort and gathering snowball munitions. Sweetie Belle peeks over a rampart, her ears covered with earmuffs, wary of invaders. When she sees it's only Twilight, she shouts an enthusiastic greeting.

"Hi, girls," Twilight says, "where's Applejack?"

Applebloom pauses in rolling a snowball towards a formidable snowball pyramid to indicate a cluster of buildings at the edge of one of the fields. "She's clearing the snow off the storage bins."

"She's just moving the snow around," Scootaloo clarifies, "Rainbow Dash is the one doing all the clearing!" She dives at a snowdrift in demonstration, spraying Applebloom in a shower of loose snow. Applebloom bucks the highest snowball of the pyramid back in response.

"I see," Twilight says over the collective laughter of the three fillies. This confirms that something is indeed off. Perhaps Applejack will be able to explain Rainbow's weird behaviour.

But the storage silos seem deserted. A couple of roofs are still covered with snow and the snowplow lies abandoned at the head of a snowdrift. Twilight calls, "Applejack? Hello?" but gets no response. Around the back of the buildings, between them... nothing. Twilight even checks the ground, but can't tell any more from the tracks around the storage area than that ponies had come from where she had come from and walked around like she had. She looks up and glances over to Applebloom and her friends playing in the snow. She can hear them easily, their laughter carrying in the still air. It doesn't seem like anything bad has happened, and yet...

As Twilight leaves Sweet Apple Acres, she asks Applebloom to give her sister the message about Pinkie's party. While she travels back to Ponyville being Ahead Of Schedule is no longer at the forefront of her mind.

------------------

"Stop worrying, Twilight."

"I can't just stop worrying, Spike. You can't just tell somepony 'stop worrying', because then they'll worry they haven't stopped worrying about what it was they were worrying about in the first place, and still be worrying about that!"

"Well, can you stop pacing, at least? You're getting hard to talk to."

Pinkie has just left Sugar Cube Corner to intercept Rarity and Fluttershy at the train station, leaving Twilight alone with Spike and her worries. Throughout the day he has heard both sides of Twilight's argument examined at length – what if something has happened, but why didn't anypony else seem to notice, and should I maybe take another look around the farm, but what if it's all my imagination, but what if it isn't – and he really just wants her to pick a side and go with it. He is of the opinion that it's nothing major, and has thought of bringing up Pinkie's Pinkie Sense (or lack of activity thereof) as proof, but he's unsure how Twilight will take mention of that right now.

Twilight stands her ground and looks at Spike. "I know I'm probably being paranoid." She taps a hoof on the floor. "I'm just worried about her."

"Who're y'all worried about?"

Applejack stands in the doorway, her wide-brimmed hat that guards against the sun traded in for one with tufted flaps that hang at the sides of her face to guard against the cold. She comes inside and shuts the door.

"Applejack!" Twilight exclaims.

"See? Everything's fine," Spike says. He sneaks another cupcake.

"I came by the farm earlier today," Twilight begins to explain.

"So Applebloom told me. She passed your message right along."

"I looked for you, to tell you myself."

"Well, that was mighty nice of you, but you know you can trust my sister and all." Applejack does her best to avoid looking Twilight directly in the eye.

"I called after you, there was no answer."

"Well, I was awful busy this morning..."

"Is that because Rainbow had to leave before you finished the job?"

"She did leave partway, yes."

"I met her on the way to Sweet Apple Acres, she didn't mention anything about it."

"Well, that's awful strange."

"That is strange."

A long moment passes in silence. Spike's gaze shifts from one pony to the other, unsure who will make the first move.

It's Twilight. Slowly, cautiously, she asks, "Are you alright, Applejack?"

Applejack spends a long time looking for the right words. "Can it wait, before I talk about this? I don't-"

The door interrupts them. "It is cold out there! Feels like my wings are about to freeze off."

"Hey, Rainbow Dash," Applejack says meekly.

"Applejack," Rainbow curtly replies.

Twilight has had enough. "Okay, what is going on with you two?"

Rainbow's eyes dart about the room. "Nothing's going on between us!"

"Uh, Rainbow, I don't think..." Applejack begins, but Twilight cuts her off.

"Wait, what does that mean? I-"

"She kissed me! Why does everypony always assume-"

"Dang it, Rainbow, I asked you not to-"

Twilight is suddenly too stunned to follow the argument properly. Kiss? Did Rainbow Dash just say Applejack kissed her? And that has somehow led to this fight between her two friends. Their voices are growing louder, and now Applejack is turning away from Rainbow and heading for the door, now she's apologising to Twilight, now she's going back out into the cold, and was she about to cry? Applejack nearly runs into Rarity and just keeps going, not looking back. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie enter Sugarcube Corner with confused and concerned looks, and Twilight does not know where to begin to start explaining what just happened. The silence is overwhelming.

Eventually all eyes turn towards Rainbow Dash.

------------------

Rainbow Dash is not a pony who thinks she is awesome – Rainbow Dash is a pony who knows she is awesome. There's nothing she couldn't do, unless that thing was to be not awesome. She was the fastest pegasus at flight school by miles, came up with the best tricks, was pretty much the coolest pony ever – a position that naturally comes with being the subject of a fair amount of jealousy and envy. The three meatheads that had collectively come up with the nickname of Rainbow Crash (and what an all-night brainstorming session they must have had, to come up with that gem) had been the most vocal, taking whatever opportunity they could to show how jealous and envious they were of all of Rainbow's many talents. Rainbow ignored them, of course, when she wasn't insulting them back, but still... day after day, every day, it wore on her. But she never let them see that.

Until one day when one of them had suggested the real reason Rainbow could keep up with them (which was a lie, she ran circles around them then and still can now, the losers) was only because she was into mares, and she let them have it. Just because she didn't want anything to do with those dorks... she likes stallions! She had taped a poster of Spitfire up in her dorm because she thought Spitfire was cool, not because she was hot. Two of the meatheads ended up with sprained wings. The other got a black eye.

That was the day she was put on probation at flight school, which ultimately led to Rainbow being kicked out.

Rainbow Dash is not against the idea of two fillies being together or anything. What ponies do in private is their business, so what? She probably would have fought those three even if she was interested in mares. The thing that really made her see red was that they were saying the only reason she is any good was because, somehow, she is like them in some way. She isn't like them in any way! She's better than them because she is Rainbow Dash, who is always awesome all the time!

And the quiet little interior voice that Rainbow sometimes hears but often doesn't want to listen to speaks to her as she hovers over the snow: But Applejack couldn't have known any of that, could she?

She has explained what happened with Applejack – how she was helping get the snow off the high silo roofs, and they were having a completely normal conversation, and the next thing she knows Applejack is kissing her, or, well, trying to – and now she's with everypony else looking for Applejack. Pinkie's being super-apologetic to Rarity for her surprise party not actually being a party but being the bad kind of surprise, and Rarity is assuring her it's alright. Twilight is trying, unsuccessfully and for the third or fourth time, to explain things completely to Spike. Fluttershy keeps pace with Rainbow and seems more quiet than usual.

What had they been talking about? There was a lot of stuff, but what was the last thing? It was about the apples in storage – Applejack was talking about some kind of apple stew and Rainbow had said that barely sounded edible and Applejack had defended it and Rainbow had said something about Applejack making this apple stew for her. It was when they settled on a night...

The pace everypony is keeping suddenly seems stifling. And, just as suddenly, Rainbow sees a way to fix things. She rockets ahead in a flash, zero to top speed in the blink of an eye, headed to Sweet Apple Acres. The others will catch up soon. There's just something Rainbow has to do first.

------------------

Applejack is more or less where Rainbow guessed where she'd be. It's a bit hard to see into the storage silo while standing in the open door – there's too much light outside and too little inside – but she can make out an Applejack-shaped figure in there somewhere.

"So, uh," Rainbow begins. Just say what needs to be said. "I want to apologise, and if you still want to be mad at me I'll totally understand, because I was being a huge jerk. I wish I was better at thinking things through sometimes, like you or Twilight or... hay, even Pinkie's better at..." Stay focused, you're drifting. "Anyway, I'm sorry. I'm sorry if you thought I wasn't your friend, because I am your friend and I love you a lot, just..."

Applejack emerges from the shadow. Her eyes are slightly red.

"...You know." Rainbow glances at somewhere that isn't Applejack, and scuffs at the snow a little.

"You shouldn't be the one who's apologising. What I did was wrong."

"No it wasn't. I'm just too dumb to pick up on what you were trying to tell me."

"And you're... you're not angry?"

Rainbow Dash pulls Applejack into a fierce embrace. "Not at a friend." After a moment, she can feel Applejack hugging her back.

"Hey! You're meant to be mad at each other!" Pinkie Pie has caught up with them. The others trail half a field behind.

"Not any more, sugarcube." Applejack looks at Rainbow Dash for confirmation. "Right?"

"Right."

"Alright! Then it's party time!" Pinkie punctuates her exclamation with an explosion of streamers.

"Not... just yet," Applejack says. The technicolour paper strips fall to the ground as Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy arrive. Spike is on Twilight's back. They all wait for Applejack to speak.

"So, now y'all know," she says. "I've been trying to work up the courage to tell everypony for a little while now..."

"Even your closest, dearest friends?" Rarity asks.

"Well, it ain't... y'know, normal."

Glances are exchanged. "Applejack, why would you think that?" Twilight ventures after a long moment of quiet.

Applejack levels her with a stare. "I work on a farm, Twilight, I know what's natural between critters and what ain't."

"Oh, but it's very natural," Fluttershy pipes up. "Lots of animals that, um, mate for life." Her face reddens. "Ducks, and swans, and penguins..."

"Those are all birds, ponies ain't-"

"Not just birds! Dolphins, and sheep, and Zecora was telling me about two elephants that..." She breaks off and glances at the ground. "And, ponies too," she says from behind her long mane.

"Not in Ponyville," Applejack says flatly.

Rarity asks, "Sweetie, do you know Lyra?"

"Well, of course I do, she's and that Bon Bon are always coming around the applecart in the summer together." Applejack pauses when she realises what she's saying. "Aw, horseapples. I am mighty blind sometimes."

"You mean you never noticed? Even I knew about them," Rainbow says.

"I just never..." Applejack stares at the ground. "Y'all don't think there's anything wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you being who you are," Twilight says.

Applejack doesn't look back up – if she does, she might start crying again. She feels somepony hugging her again – it's Pinkie, and Rainbow, and it's all of her friends, and she's very grateful for all of them.

"Thank you," she says in a quiet voice.

------------------

Pinkie's parties are not the ideal environment for meaningful conversation, but that's the kind of atmosphere the six ponies (and one baby dragon) are in the mood for. There is cake, music, dancing, fun. Rarity shows off her new outfit from Manehatten, and hands out souvenirs that made her think of her friends (Spike is especially enthralled with his, a tiny yellow replica wagon for storing quills). Rainbow even dances with Applejack and tells her she's almost as good as she is herself, which brings on a fierce bout of friendly competition that ends with Rainbow attempting some sort of complex spinning maneuver and ending up tangled in several balloon strings.

There is not much in the way of meaningful conversation, no, but there are a number of meaningful glances that come from Fluttershy. As is often the case, these are overlooked.

After the party ends, Fluttershy leaves with Applejack. They share a comfortable silence as they walk. The setting sun stains the sky a pleasant orange. The pair arrive at the fork in the path where one way leads to Applejack's farm and the other to Fluttershy's cottage, and pause.

"Well... guess I better see what ruckus my sister and her friends have been responsible for," Applejack says.

"I'm sure they haven't been too difficult," Fluttershy assures her.

"Yeah, you're probably right. G'night, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight." For a moment it seems like she wants to say something more, but no words come. Then, when Applejack begins to turn away, Fluttershy adds, "Um, Applejack..."

"Yeah?"

A long and heavy pause. Then: "No, it's nothing. Just, um..." She looks at her hooves. "If you need somepony to talk to..."

"I'll come to you first, sugarcube. 'Kay?" Applejack smiles.

"Okay." Fluttershy smiles back. She can feel her face warming.

Comments

[Frizzy]

Fluttershy likes Applejack!

[AverageJoe]

248146 Obvious comment is obvious.

Anywho, this was a pretty good read, though the part where it switched to Rainbow Dash's POV kinda threw me off. Might be the way it was worded, or could just be my brain uncomprehending something, but it didn't affect me too badly. Time for the next chapter!