An Apple A Day

by Esle Ynopemos

12: Behind It All [Romance] [Slice of Life]

((Prompt: Two ponies try to play matchmaker, but end up falling in love themselves.))

Ponyville was a curious place, full of curious happenings and goings-on. Twilight Sparkle was a curious pony by nature, and when she caught the curious sight of four doves carrying a pie between them with strings as they flew through the streets, curiosity got the better of her.

She followed the flying pie—apple, if her nose was correct—as it wound around corners and through alleys and thoroughfares. After enough twists and turns to make the librarian thoroughly forget where in town she was, the doves finally set the pie down on a table set up out on the sidewalk. They chirped brightly and then flew off, leaving the pie there between a pair of ponies Twilight had become acquainted with since her move to Ponyville.

“Lyra, Bon Bon, good morning!” Twilight greeted, trotting up to them. She cast a puzzled glance at the doves as they disappeared into the sunny sky. “Do you know what that was all about?”

The pair of ponies shared a look and giggled. “They do this every year for our anniversary,” Bon Bon said, motioning for Twilight to have a seat.

Twilight smiled politely and sat down at the table. “Who, the birds?”

“Fluttershy sends the birds,” Lyra explained, igniting her horn to cut out a slice of the pie. “Applejack bakes the pie.” She took a bite. “Mm, delicious as always!”

“Fluttershy and Applejack?” Twilight tilted her head, as though the facts would slide into place if she angled gravity just right.

Bon Bon smiled and helped herself to a slice. “Those two are the reason we're together.”

“Really?”

“Mmf...” Lyra held a hoof up and swallowed before again attempting to speak. “Bonnie fell for me the first time I came to Ponyville for a concert.” Bon Bon rolled her eyes at this, which only made Lyra grin wider. “But the silly mare never worked up the nerve to talk to me before I moved on to Canterlot!”

“Fluttershy finds out about this somehow—I'm still not sure how,” Bon Bon continued for her. “She tells Applejack, who invites Lyra to come play at that month's hoedown. That whole night, they practically push us together. Well, you've met Fluttershy, so you know her version of pushing is asking very politely if it isn't too much trouble, but anyway, the two of them wouldn't let me leave until I'd talked to Lyra, so I did... and the rest,” she said, casting a long stare at her wife, “is history.”

“Fluttershy and Applejack did that?” Twilight asked, putting a hoof to her chin. “I'm surprised. They don't seem like the type of pony to play matchmaker.”

“They're the best!” Pinkie Pie hung upside down from the cloth awning above the table. In a motion that wasn't so much 'graceful' as it was 'flippantly disregarding the law of gravity,' she slid off the awning and into a chair. “Fluttershy and Applejack got Mr. and Mrs. Cake together, too! You can't throw a Hearts and Hooves Day card in Ponyville without hitting two ponies that are in love because of those two! Oh, pie! Can I have a slice?”

Bon Bon nodded and cut out a piece for Pinkie. “Twilight? Would you like some?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, thank you. Pinkie, you're saying Fluttershy and Applejack have set up other ponies, too?”

Pinkie nodded, pie crumbs spilling from her mouth. “Golden Harvest and Caramel, Doctor Stable and the one colt from the post office... also, me and Rarity, but don't tell Rarity yet, it's gonna be a surprise! They're like some kind of dream-team! Except, if they were a dream-team, they'd have to let Princess Luna join too, because, duh, Princess of Dreams.” Her eyes suddenly widened as she gasped loudly. “Oh my gosh! What if Princess Luna joined them and they started setting up threesies? That would be amazing!”

*

Down in the cellar underneath Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy chewed on the end of a quill, poring over a list. Well, Twilight Sparkle wouldn't have called it a list, just a piece of paper with some names circled and with arrows pointing to other names. But by Fluttershy's or Applejack's standards, it was a list. “Um, did Cheerilee like the flowers we sent her?”

Applejack took a bite of an apple and nodded. “Apple Bloom says she was smilin' all day. She had the class sing 'Daisy, Daisy' and then let 'em all out early.”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. “So Cheerilee and Daisy are a yes, then.” She drew a line on the list.

“I reckon so. Heh.” Applejack chuckled lightly, “You believe my sis and her friends tried to set her up with Mac?”

Fluttershy smiled. “They're young. I don't think they know what a 'fillyfooler' is yet.”

“I s'pose not.” Applejack shook her head. “I s'pose I oughta set Bloom down fer 'the Talk' sooner or later. Tell her there's all different kinds of love out there.”

Fluttershy set down her quill and turned to Applejack. “And every one of them is meaningful,” she said.

Applejack smiled and stepped closer. “Every one of 'em means family in one sense or another.”

“Every one of them is—” Their noses bumped together, and both ponies blushed and chuckled, turning their eyes away.

“Ahem,” Applejack said, coughing into her hoof. “Who's next?”

Fluttershy buried her face in her list. “Let's see. Oh, that's right! A little birdie told me that Colgate has been letting her eyes linger on Berry Punch a little longer than normal.”

Applejack took another bite of her apple and grinned. “Y'know, you're the only pony in Equestria that would say that an' mean it literally!”

Comments

[Brakyo]

Love is in the air, can ya feel it?!

[Midnight herald]

CUTIES. ALL THE CUTIES.

[Soldierpony]

“Oh my gosh! What if Princess Luna joined them and they started setting up threesies? That would be amazing!"
Best line ever.

[PresentPerfect]

Carrot Top and Caramel? Who does that? :V