This story follows Bridges and Guides, but it can also stand alone nicely.
After their first Grand Galloping Gala, Applejack and Twilight talk about the Blueblood disaster, and about Rarity’s expectations for a partner. The discussion meanders into new territory, and gets a little personal for both of them. Initially written as just a fun little one-shot.
(Chronology note: this story takes place between seasons one and two, just after the season one finale.)
Artwork by Sixes_and_Sevens. Please check out their excellent artwork and stories.
Part of the Elsequestria Continuity.
This continuity continues in In Vino Veritas. Its beginning can be found here.
Please check out Sparrow 9642’s reading of this tale for Pride Month 2020 here.
Please check out Agent Fluffy’s reading of this tale for Pride Month 2021 here.
Sparrow’s version uses a team of talented voice actors, while Agent handles both voices and narration alone! All of them do a wonderful job bringing my little tale to life, each version offering a slightly different interpretation. I recommend them both very highly. 
Also, my most humble apologies to Sparrow 9642 for forgetting to place a link to their performance for so long. I am a very meek and penitent Coyote and offer no excuse.
And a sneaky barn door reference at the end.
Cute story and it’s a nice take on Twilight.
This was nice
8774052
8774053
Thank you both.
After AJ's final comment I had to read her little spiel again. I take my hat off to you. Brilliantly done.
8774176
Thank you. I admit, I was a little concerned when I posted this that readers might think Applejack was asking for something Twilight couldn't give. It's so easy for something to seem clear to the author and not to the audience. Very glad you liked it!
8774192
Thanks!
Pretty nice story I'm not sure I understand the ending
I snorted at the end.
Well played, well played.
I appreciate the discourse on sexuality: yes, your sexuality is valid; yes, some people might struggle to understand that; no, there is nothing wrong with you.
Loved this; it sparked a little warmth in my heart :)
So. Is AJ hitting on Twilight here? Cause that's what I'm getting off the end there. I did like the bit with Velvet trying to talk to Twilight about her, thing.
Better than alot I've read.
8775218
Thank you.
Well, "hitting on" (when I've heard it used) usually has sexual implications; this was more like a proposal.
8774687 and 8775218
After describing what she looks for in a SO relationship, Applejack basically assured Twilight that yes, her asexuality was completely accepted, and yes, AJ is in love with her and is inviting her to move in and have such a relationship if she ever feels so inclined.
Personally, I think "amazement" is a completely valid response. This being Twilight, studying the situation meticulously for a while is also quite likely.
8774865
Thank you.
The warmth made it all worth while; the snort made my evening.
Not bad, not bad at all. I hope Twilight could find enjoyment with somepony someday. She could enjoy a healthy relationship with Applejack as she understands what Twilight wants in a relationship.
8777061
*nods* I can see it going either way - the two of them getting romantically partnered, or not - and still being healthy for them both. I haven't made up my mind where it'll go in the overarching story line, and neither character is in haste. Twilight doesn't need to be "with" someone to be happy... but if she were to partner with anyone, it would be someone like AJ. And I imagine the two of them will always have a very close and special friendship, even by Mane 6 standards, regardless.
Oh wow, this was excellent! Short and sweet.
I always feel grateful when someone tackles a character being ace and handles it well, because there's so little ace content out there, anywhere, heh. So thank you for that!
And the subtle TwiJack is the icing on the cake.
8778150
Writing this was a real pleasure; I'm just happy you and others enjoy it. Thank you.
Short and sweet, indeed. Thanks for writing this!
8938755
It was my pleasure. And thank you.
8774052
As an addendum, I only recently got around to looking up what a "barn door reference" was. Well, now I know.
Niiiice.
8999066
Glad you liked.
9000202
There totally needs to be more stories about asexual ponies.
9000596
Agreed. I think it's a little weird that there aren't, when there are so many tales about every other orientation. I have Twilight and Celestia as aces in my own continuity thus far (Tia is also an aromantic and agender person, while Twi is not), but seriously, why are so few people painting on this canvas?
Perhaps that will change with time. I'm certainly writing more, anyway.
9000809
And that's great! I've written a few acespec ponies myself, and founded an acespec group just yesterday, too. It's become really hard to find a lot of ace stories that I haven't written at this point, so I was pleased to see this little gem.
Got a link to that Celestia story too?
9000816
Well, her asexuality isn't the focus, but she is in a larger story I am writing. She moves out of the narrative spotlight for a while, and then back into it in the next chapter (almost done).
I suspect there will be a conversation between Tia and Twi on such matters in a later story, though.
9000823
Ooh, I'll be keeping track of it, then! Thanks!
9001027
My pleasure. And thank you.
9001660
No problem!
Very nice -- you handle the characterisations of both Twilight and AJ well, and this definitely makes a nice change from the usual brand of relationship story! Keep at it!
9044975
Thank you; I shall certainly do my best!
Twilight is certainly an interesting case. Even in canon, her orientation seems to include an anthropoid component. (That or it was the pubescent ape hormones messing with her.) In any case, lovely friendshipping scene with a nice bit of incidental background detail.
Also:
"Yeah, them eight pegasi never quite flew right again."
Eh, I picked up on what AJ was saying pretty quickly. Still made for a good gag.
All in all, for a brief character/headcanon piece, this was quite sweet.
9177518
Well, thank you.
Now I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger, but she ain’t messing with no broke broke.
9246689
Stories like this remind me that I can read the same basic concept of simple coming out stories over and over again and receive the same hit of seretonin each time
Enjoyed sparrows dramtic reading? :)
10305364
Very much!
This story reminds of two things:
1) It reminds me of when one of my college roommates came out to me. Wait, sorry, I need to take a detour first.
I lived with four other people starting from sophomore year in college. We got a two-bedroom apartment and some bunk beds and that was space enough, and it made rent cheap. After one year, though, we changed apartments, and I ended up working on the problem of how to optimally arrange furniture in the larger bedroom (which is the one I was in). After measuring everything, I noticed that the larger closet (because for some reason that bedroom had two closets) was just barely longer than the bunk bed, and so I could hardly resist the idea to take off the sliding doors and make use of that extra closet space. It wasn't deep enough to put the bed all the way in, but it still helped to open up floor space, and Logan (the resident of the bottom bunk) was in agreement that this was a reasonable place to put our bed. So naturally for a while after we set this up, the running joke was that Logan and I were in the closet together. Of course, eventually it got old enough that the joke died and stopped being repeated.
Anyway, jump ahead to a day or two before senior year began (we're still in the same apartment). Logan and I went to the nearby pizza place to get dinner, as we sometimes did; it's a pretty good pizza place, and the rest of our roommates were either otherwise engaged or not in town yet on that particular night. At some point during dinner, during a lull in our conversation, Logan told me, apropos of nothing, that he's gay. I gave some noncommittal acknowledgement along the lines of "Cool," and then after the briefest of pauses I figured it was only appropriate to respond by letting him know that I'm asexual. Then I had a thought about whatever it was that we had been talking about before and re-initiated our previous topic, since evidently neither of us had anything else to say about orientations in that moment. And that's the story of how Logan and I came out of the closet together.
2) It reminds me of how my friend's mom thinks I'm a sexual deviant (so I'm told). Although, full disclosure, I might be misremembering the context of that secondhand remark; she might have been talking about me being a brony rather than talking about me being ace. (Definitely though asexuality was the context when, I'm told, she said she simply couldn't understand the idea of not being attracted to anybody.) But in any case, I find her lack of comprehension amusing; her opinion isn't exactly important to me, and it's not like I'm going to deny that by some perfectly reasonable definitions I am a sexual deviant, whether or not she's got the right reasons to think so.
I was definitely able to relate to Twilight me being an asexual myself. I also really appreciate how you're able to make something that can be more of a sensitive topic into a quick One-Shot story, just like how the old episodes of MLP were. 10/10
Here you go Coyote! Here's my fanfic reading of your story! Youtube Reading
“Wait, what?” indeed.
HAHAHA that end reminds me of a time I asked a girl out in college. We were buddies and I figured I’d try for more and I asked her out. She agreed and I was super excited. Then she called me about 15 minutes later and was like, “Did you just ask me out on a date?” and went on to gently let me down.
honestly, it’s one of the funniest interactions with someone I’ve ever had.
10957380
I can dig it; I’ve been on the other side of that more than once.
“Well, that was cool. Oh. Wait, did they mean...?”
Ah, the joys of human communication.