Azure Edge

by Leaf Blade

32. Wobbling Around With Ice Skates On

Twilight Sparkle stood in the open doorway of the Golden Oaks Library, arms stretched across the portal and hands tightly gripping the doorframe as Spike attempted to push her out the door.

“C’mon, Twilight!” he grunted and huffed as he tried in vain to overpower the much taller woman. “We talked about this!”

“Yeah, I know,” Twilight said nervously, “but I don’t have to go right now, do I? I could wait for Rainbow to get back, or for winter to pass, or for a couple years to go by, maybe for you to go to college?”

“Pfft, college is for eggheads, Twi,” Spike scoffed and rolled his eyes, eliciting quite the sharp look from his mother.

“College is for eggheads?” she groaned. “Did Rainbow tell you that?”

“She did,” Spike nodded, “but is she wrong?”

Before Twilight launched into a stirring lecture on the importance of formal education, followed by a scathing critique of the current disastrously lacking education system, she let her hands slip away from the doorframe, allowing the tiny pegasus pushing her to finally shove her out of the library and face-first into the snow.

“Alright now don’t come back until you make a friend!” Spike said cheerfully as he slammed the door to the library, and had Twilight not been so frantic to get to her hooves she would’ve given him another lecture on proper door treatment.

“Spike!” Twilight’s tone was a mix of indignant and desperate as she heard the door lock from inside. “Spike! Open this door right now!”

“Sorry, we’re closed!” Spike chirped from behind the door that Twilight was furiously fighting with. “Come back later tonight! HINT HINT!”

Twilight groaned in defeated frustration and pressed her forehead against the door. It was true that she agreed to at least attempt to wander around the Moon District on her own while Rainbow was off on her mission— she’d told Rainbow she would— but now that the time had come, she was ready to jump out of her skin.

And while she could use her magic to easily open the door to the library and hide inside it, could she really do that after all the effort Spike put in to pushing her out? He sounded so pleased with himself, and Twilight did promise, both him and Rainbow.

“Ugh, fine.”

Twilight put her hands in her coat pockets and took a deep breath as she walked two steps away from the library, before looking back and reconsidering. It wouldn’t be so bad of her to postpone this little outing, would it?

No, she promised. No turning back now.

She made it three more steps from the library before stopping and looking behind her.

The library was safe. It was warm— well, technically it wasn’t that much warmer than anywhere else to Twilight, who didn’t have a problem with the cold, but it was warm metaphorically.

But it was comfortable, and most importantly—and this was something that really could not be stressed enough— it was safe.

As a rather accomplished magician—if she said so herself— Twilight wasn’t in any physical danger in Canterlot. There was scarcely a creature, beast or pony, who was an honest threat to someone with Twilight’s power.

But Twilight knew she didn’t belong in that city, and if anyone else realized she didn’t belong there, what would happen to her? What would happen to the life she had been building, to her friendships, to Spike?

She couldn’t risk anyone becoming suspicious of her, and that’s why she didn’t want to interact with Canterlot outside the library. Granted, it had gotten to the point where every other day some patron or other remarked about how they never saw Twilight outside her library, so perhaps by trying to avoid suspicion she was actually being quite suspicious.

Though she supposed it didn’t really matter; she made a promise, and that was that.

Twilight forced herself to take deliberate steps away from the library as she thought about all these various things, and when she was finally satisfied with her conclusion enough to drag herself away from her thoughts and pay attention to the world around her, she found herself at an ice-skating rink.

Though there were close to a dozen ponies skating on the ice, as Twilight sat down on a nearby bench to watch them her eyes were immediately drawn to two very peculiar ponies.

They were both earth ponies; one had an orange coat and blonde mane, and while Twilight was hesitant to refer to her as a ‘giant’, that was the first word that entered her mind. The woman was easily taller than any other pony on the rink and was blessed with truly mesmerizing muscles.

The other pony would have been small compared to an average sized pony but compared to her friend she was absolutely tiny. She was pink and pink and pink; mane, fur, even clothes all in different shades of warm, comforting, bubblegum pink, though her clothing was complimented by some pastel yellow and baby blue so as not to be too overwhelmingly pink. She wore a bright and cheerful smile that lightened up the world around her as she skated effortlessly around her friend, trying to keep the much less acrobatic mare from losing her balance.

As Twilight watched the pair she was surprised to see the orange mare was not lacking in athletic skill or even grace, she simply seemed to be a little gun-shy about the skates; but once her pink friend helped her to get used to them, she was skating circles around the other ponies, even making her pink friend look like she had two left feet.

Twilight tried to keep her amused laughter to herself, but she erupted into full giggles when the orange mare skated over to the pink one and lifted her up off the ground, hoisting the tiny pony onto her broad shoulders, the pink mare laughing and smiling all the while.

Twilight’s laughter must have been a bit more disruptive than she’d thought, because after a few moments of skating around on top of the orange mare’s shoulders, the pink mare whispered something to her friend and pointed at Twilight, mortifying the librarian as a bright red blush spread across her face.

Twilight stood up to leave as the orange mare skated over to her, and the pink one jumped off her shoulders onto the ground, somehow sticking a perfect landing even with the ice skates on.

“Hey, hey!” the pink mare called out as she wobbled over to Twilight, trying to keep her balance off the ice on her skates. “What’re you doing over here all by yourself? You wanna skate with us?”

“Um, no thanks,” Twilight said politely, “I’m just here to, um—” why was she here again? How did she end up at an ice-skating rink anyway?

“You new in town?” the orange mare asked, taking off her skates and walking over to Twilight and the pink pony. “Thought I knew every face in town, but haven’t seen yers before. Welcome to Canterlot, stranger!”

“Oh, I moved in a couple months ago,” Twilight looked away from the two and nervously fidgeted with her fingers, “I just don’t usually leave… my library.”

“Your libra—” the orange mare began to speak but was suddenly cut off.

“YOU’RE THE LIBRARIAN!?” the pink pony shouted with enough force to level a small forest.

“Uh, yes?”

“I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie Pie grabbed Twilight’s hand and shook it very effusively, making Twilight slightly dizzy in the process.

“Cool it, Pinkie,” the other pony grabbed Pinkie’s shoulder and gently tugged her away from Twilight, “yer makin’ her nervous.”

“Oh, sorry!”

“Uh, don’t worry,” Twilight sidestepped just an inch, thinking of slowly making a beeline for the exit and running back to the library, “it’s fine.”

“Name’s Applejack,” the orange mare said with a wink. “Rarity was tellin’ me about you when she was in the shop this mornin’.”

“And Rainbow Dash keeps talking about how rad the library is!” Pinkie shouted, hopping up and down. “I keep meaning to come over and bring you an apple pie, I just keep getting distracted!”

“You two know Rainbow Dash,” Twilight asked, and a smile and soft blush crept onto her face as she added, “and Rarity?”

“Can’t exactly say I ‘know’ Rainbow Dash,” Applejack rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, and Twilight sensed a note of resentment in Applejack’s voice, “but Rarity’s been my friend since we were kids.”

“Me too!” Pinkie added. “I mean, Applejack and Rarity are like a million years older than me—”

“I’m only a few years older’n you, Pinkie,” Applejack interrupted, “and Rarity’s even younger.”

“It’s practically a million!” Pinkie insisted, making Twilight chuckle. Pinkie returned her gaze to Twilight, Applejack playfully rolling her eyes behind Pinkie’s back. “Point is, Rarity’s like one of our best friends! And Rainbow’s also… there sometimes.”

‘There sometimes’? That’s an odd way to put it.

“So, erm, you said you had a shop?” Twilight was able to make eye contact with Applejack as she asked her question. She felt a lot less anxious around these two, knowing they were friends with her only two friends in the city.

“Yup,” Applejack nodded with a smile on her face, “it’s a mite humble, but it’s ours.” Applejack pointed out toward the city, and Twilight turned to see a barely visible stone building with bright pink signage on the horizon. “The ApplePie Smithery.”

Twilight’s ears perked and her entire face lit up as she pumped her fists in front of her and shouted, “You’re the super-hot blacksmith!”

Applejack blinked, her arm falling limply against her side as her mouth hung open and her cheeks turned bright pink. Pinkie Pie merely grinned at her.

“U-uhm, thanks?” Applejack coughed and ran a hand through the back of her mane.

Twilight chuckled nervously, her own cheeks feeling about a thousand degrees hotter, which obviously wasn’t possible because a mere blush didn’t actually raise your body temperature, it just—that wasn’t important.

“Someone who came into the library said that.”

“Who?” Applejack said with a perky smile.

“Uh,” Twilight coughed and remembered how Rainbow had told her not to say anything about her crush to anyone, “just someone. I don’t really remember, sorry.”

“Aw,” Applejack mumbled and snapped her fingers.

“Was it Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie chimed in, causing a nervous sputter from Twilight and a loud, uncomfortable cough from Applejack.

Twilight wasn’t sure how well she could pull off a bald-faced lie, but she was thankful that she didn’t have to when Applejack spoke up before her.

“Pinkie Pie!” she yelled in a strained voice. “Ya can’t just be askin’ stuff like that!”

“But how cool would that be?” Pinkie said excitedly, biting down on her lip. “If Rainbow had a crush on you t—”

“PINKIE!” Applejack croaked. Pinkie’s ears clamped against her head and she weakly kicked at the snow, and Applejack knelt down to give her a hug. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to yell.”

“I’m sorry too,” Pinkie returned the hug and nuzzled her face against Applejack’s, “I got too excited, and I didn’t mean to embarrass anypony, or to put my nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Yer a sweetheart, Pinkie.”

“You too, Applejack!”

Twilight cleared her throat.

“Sorry about that,” Applejack said nervously as she stood back up. “Pinkie can get a little overeager.”

“It’s no trouble,” Twilight said with a smile, sharing it with both Applejack then Pinkie Pie, who returned the smile in turn.

That said, now Twilight was curious; and if she didn’t at least try to sate her curiosity, it would burn a hole inside her for weeks.

“May I ask why Pinkie can’t just ask about Rainbow? Seems like an innocent enough question.”

Pinkie was silent; very silent. Applejack inhaled sharply through her nose and spoke up in her stead.

“Look, if you promise not to tell anypony—”

“I promise,” Twilight said immediately, more out of a genuine distress that Applejack might think that she would tell someone another person’s secret than out of an eagerness to get to the information faster, though she couldn’t deny she was a little bit eager.

“I have a crush on Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said and rubbed her arms. “It’s the stupidest thing; girl doesn’t even talk to me, she totally ignores me like nine times outta ten when she’s in the shop, and even that’s hardly ever. I dunno, I just— I guess I got bad taste.”

“You can’t help who you get feelings for,” Twilight said sincerely, putting a hand on Applejack’s arm and trying really hard not to think about Rarity.

And while Twilight couldn’t divulge Rainbow’s secret without her permission, she could at least try and give Applejack a little bit of encouragement.

“And have you considered she just tries to avoid talking to you because she,” Twilight puffed up her cheeks as she thought of the most discrete way to phrase her sentiment, “I dunno, maybe she likes you too and doesn’t know how to say it?”

“That’s what I keep saying!” Pinkie cheered.

“That’s, uh, awfully optimistic of y’all,” Applejack gave a weary smile and it was killing Twilight inside to not be able to tell Applejack the truth. Maybe when Rainbow got back, Twilight would be able to tell her that Applejack—but wait, she just promised Applejack that she wouldn’t tell anyone!

And while a part of her wanted to justify that they would both be happier if she just told one or the other that they returned each other’s feelings, that wasn’t her decision to make. She couldn’t just decide for them that they would be happier if she went against the promises she made to them.

Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’t do anything.

“Would you two like to come by the library sometime?” Twilight said with a bright smile, one that was completely dwarfed by Pinkie’s resulting smile. “I know I wouldn’t mind getting that pie you talked about, Pinkie, and I know my son would love some too.”

“Ehhh,” Applejack groaned hesitantly, but she couldn’t resist the puppydog eyes coming from both Pinkie Pie and Twilight, and she sighed. “Yeah, honestly that might be nice. How ‘bout tonight?”

“Great!” Twilight chirped. “I’ll get the library all cleaned up for you to come over!”

“And we’ll bring pie!” Pinkie clamored. “Lots of pie!”

“Like, probably two pies,” Applejack ruffled Pinkie’s hair, but then hummed in consideration. “Maybe three. Hope you like apples, Ms. Librarian.”

“Oh!” Twilight’s blush returned in full force as she realized she never introduced herself. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. It is a pleasure to meet you both.”

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

Comments

[Failsafe99]

Okay everyone, we need to start planning on how to get the AppleDash ship built. Whos with me? Also, first.

[Moonlight_Mist]

9858409
Apple wood and a sail woven of sky blue pegasus down, obviously.

[Timuri]

Well, that explains why Applejack was so aggrieved at Rainbow standing her up. Even though they haven't been able to stir up the guts to broach the topic properly, as least they haven't done anything foolish enough to beat a path into the territory of the 'Miscommunication Kills' trope.