Dinner For Two
Clouds tumbled through the sky overhead, flowing across the land from their source in the Everfree Forest and casting a dull pallor over everything they touched. The dim light washed out Equestria’s normally vibrant colors, leaving a landscape in a palette of browns and greys. Occasionally, there were small patches of brightness, puddles of white in the hollows of rocks or under the boughs of the larger trees, where the previous snow had not yet entirely melted away. The air outside was cold, and not the crisp, chilly air that could be so invigorating after a snow. Instead, this was a damp, heavy cold which seeped through coats and up hooves until it made itself felt deep within. It promised a terrible storm once the weather broke.
The only question on Applejack’s mind was whether that would happen before—
“—darling?”
Rarity’s voice snapped Applejack’s attention away from the window and back to the table. The restaurant—newly opened in the neighboring town and promising genuine Saddle Arabian cuisine—wasn’t particularly busy, and they had a corner entirely to themselves. A quick around look confirmed no wait staff had returned to them, either. Which could only mean Rarity was talking to her.
“Sorry, Rarity, I didn’t quite catch that,” Applejack said with a sheepish grin.
“I asked if something was bothering you, darling.” She gave her date a concerned look. “I’ve asked twice now, actually."
“No, no, it ain’t nothing. Just my mind wandering.” Applejack gave her a more genuine smile and turned her attention fully back to the table as she pulled her menu over.
“Oh? Wandering where, if I might ask?” Rarity smirked at her and traced a lazy circle on the table with her hoof. “Not to another mare, I hope. After all, I’ve seen how you’ve looked at Coco.”
“Hey, wait just a minute,” Applejack started. “It wasn’t anything—”
“I do hope you aren’t going to make me regret hiring her on,” Rarity added with a dramatic sigh. “She’s such wonderful help, and it would absolutely crush her.”
“Now look,” Applejack said, planting both forehooves on the table. “It ain’t nothing about her. Maybe my eyes’ve drifted her way once or twice, but you’re—”
“The only mare for you?” Rarity smiled and shook her head, placing a hoof against one of Applejack’s. “I know, dear, I was just teasing. I have more faith in you than that.”
“Oh.” Applejack blushed and settled back into her seat, but kept her hold on Rarity’s hoof. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
“It’s perfectly fine. I don’t mind the occasional declaration of love and devotion. And besides,” Rarity said with a small giggle. “It’s not as if I can really blame you for those looks. I’m well aware she’s an attractive pony. Or did you think a unicorn as skilled with telekinesis as I am really needs an assistant to fetch items from the bottom shelves so often?”
Between the wholly-unexpected admission and the boldness of Rarity’s words, Applejack found herself unable to form anything like an intelligent response. Fortunately, she was spared further struggle when their waitress, a dun earth-pony mare, finally reappeared.
“Terribly sorry, ma’ams, but we’re missing some of our workers due to the weather, and it’s causing a bit of confusion.” She pulled an order pad out and sat it on the table. “Have you decided on something?”
Rarity nodded. “The chestnut biryani on a bed of kale, for me,” she said, and then looked over to Applejack.
Applejack was flipping back and forth through her menu, her ever-growing frustration with the unfamiliar dishes plain on her face.
Rarity sighed and quickly skimmed over the menu again, then smiled and put her hoof back onto Applejack’s. When her marefriend looked up, Rarity turned back to the waitress. “For her, could you prepare the muhammar with apples rather than apricots?”
The waitress flipped the pencil she’d been using to take their orders from her mouth and into the air, catching it neatly behind her ear. “Of course, ma’am. I’ll have that out to you as soon as I can.”
As the waitress took her notepad and left the couple, Applejack shook her head and turned her attention back to Rarity.
“Thanks, Rarity. I didn’t know what a single thing on that whole menu was. What did you order me, anyway?”
“Sweetened rice with chopped fruit and a fruit syrup. I asked them to change the fruit because I thought you’d appreciate something a bit more close-to-home.”
Applejack smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I probably would. Thanks again.”
Whatever Rarity replied with, Applejack didn’t hear it. She’d seen movement from the corner of her eye, and a glance to the side confirmed that it had finally begun to snow. They weren’t the heavy flakes she’d been fearing, but instead a flurry of lighter powder, with only a tiny hoof-full of flakes swirling past the window at any given time. However, the clouds overhead were still dark and grim, while the occasional hard gust of wind promised that more was yet to come.
She frowned slightly as she thought of the journey back to Ponyville, which they’d have to make after their date. Hauling the cart over hills by herself—Rarity would be riding, that’s the whole reason they brought the cart—in the snow. The dirt road turning into mud or puddles freezing over. Never mind if she slipped and hurt herself or something. Even if she wanted to, she was fairly certain Rarity wouldn’t be able to haul her back to Ponyville.
“You’re drifting off again, dear,” Rarity said, running a hoof up Applejack’s leg under the table to get her attention. “Honestly, what’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing.” Applejack shook her head and pulled her attention back to Rarity. “Let’s just enjoy the dinner, alright?”
Rarity watched her for a moment, then turned and looked over her shoulder where Applejack’s eyes seemed to have been focused. She soon caught sight of the window and watched the snowfall for a minute before turning back to Applejack. “Ah, I see. Well, that doesn’t look so bad, does it?”
Applejack glanced over to the window again, worry still on her face. “Yeah, I guess not.”
“Oh, calm down, dear. The idea is that we go on a date, not just you buy me dinner.” She reached across the table and took one of Applejack’s hooves between hers. “So, be with me, not out there. Please?”
“Yeah, I can do that.” Applejack smiled at her again and pressed her hoof to Rarity’s. “Sorry about this.”
“If it’s worrying you so much…”
“Nah, it ain’t that bad. Let’s just enjoy the dinner, alright?”
“Of course. While we wait, I don’t imagine you’ve heard anything about our sister’s antics? Sweetie Belle has learned to keep me out of the loop.”
“Heh, yeah. Apple Bloom tries with me, but since they use my barn to build their contraptions more often than not, I hear plenty.” Applejack grinned and shook her head. “Last time, I walked in on the words ‘And then you engage gerbil B’.”
“And did you try to stop whatever it was?”
“Nope. Cause honestly, what sort of scheme involving those words is ever gonna work?”
“You have a point, but they have been known to surprise us.”
“Now, you want some chaos to worry about, try this on for size.” Applejack leaned closer to her and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. “Pinkie Pie wants to throw Discord a party.”
Rarity’s eyes bulged at that. “Oh, sweet Celestia…”
And so their conversation drifted between topics—friends, family, personal lives, and events around town. And it kept Applejack’s mind occupied until their plates arrived. However, the break in conversation their delivery produced was just what her mind needed to wander back to the weather outside. And her eyes followed, finding their way to the window once again.
The snow was definitely coming down harder at this point. It had gotten thick enough that she could no longer see the far side of the road outside the restaurant, and gusts produced swirls and flurries amid the snowfall. All of her previous worry about mud any icy puddles was being supplanted by worry about the snow itself at this point—she was strong, and she could handle a tough pull, but she wasn’t her brother.
“Do we need to go?”
“Huh?” Applejack snapped her gaze back to Rarity, who once again wore a concerned expression. “No, no, it’s alright. We just got our food, after all. You oughta be able to enjoy it.”
“We can take it with us if we need to.”
Applejack shook her head. “Nah, it’ll be cold by then. Why come all the way out here if we ain’t going to have it proper?”
“Why, indeed,” Rarity muttered with a sigh, and then returned to her food.
“You alright?”
“I’m fine, dear,” Rarity said without looking up. “Let’s just finish eating before the weather gets any worse.”
“You don’t have to rush on my account…”
“No, no, this snow is clearly worrying you. We should go back before it becomes dangerous to travel in.”
The conversation lapsed once again, and the two mares continued their meal in an uncomfortable silence. Applejack tried to keep her eyes and mind on her marefriend rather than the weather, even if Rarity wasn’t exactly acknowledging her at the moment. But the heavy snow was a constant distraction, and between that and her unease with how the dinner was going, Applejack had eaten barely half her meal by the time Rarity stood and headed towards the doors, plucking her scarf from the coat hooks near it.
Applejack cursed under her breath and rushed to follow, tossing the rather considerable sum of bits for her meal onto the table along with a tip that was probably more than generous, but she wasn’t going to take the time to count it out. She snatched her own scarf from where it had hung next to Rarity’s, tossing it around her neck before pulling her hat from the pegs and onto her head as well, and then dashed out the door to catch up with Rarity.
“You didn’t need to rush on my account,” Rarity said when Applejack met her outside by the cart.
“Look, I…” Applejack sighed, then growled in frustration. “Come on, just get in the cart and I’ll get us home.”
Rarity shook her head, but did as Applejack said, using her magic to clear snow from the cart and climbing in as soon as Applejack had it hitched up, and then wrapped a blanket from inside it around herself. The two lapsed back into the same silence that had hung between them towards the end of their meal, and it persisted as they made their way down the snow-covered road.
Applejack’s fears weren’t entirely for naught, as her hooves did begin to slip in the snow at times once they left the town proper and were travelling on the country road. However, it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle—at first. It wasn’t until the third hill that she started having real trouble. The road had apparently seen just enough use during the snow that the white powder lay atop a layer of slick mud, and she repeatedly found herself struggling for purchase as she tried to muscle her way over the hill.
Soon, she had to stop, and stood panting halfway up the slope, bracing herself against the weight of the cart as best she could to keep it from sliding or rolling back down. And then it suddenly became lighter.
She looked up in surprise as Rarity came around from the back of the cart and joined her on the yoke, laying the blanket over both of their backs.
“Rarity, you don’t need to—”
“Hush. I pulled a diamond dog minecart, I can help you.” She didn’t actually look at Applejack when she spoke, but from the side, her expression didn’t seem nearly as angry as Applejack had expected. “Otherwise we may never make it back.”
“But you riding is the whole reason we brought the cart!” Applejack argued. “Since you don’t travel long distance by hoof very often, and didn’t want mud all over your coat.”
“I’m more concerned about us both getting home safely.”
“I can—”
“We’re not both getting home safely if you slip and break a leg or collapse from exhaustion. Nevermind I’d have to pull you, then, and I have my limits.”
Applejack groaned, but pulled on the cart once more. With Rarity helping pull and the cart that much lighter, the trip was proving to be far easier. However, the journey remained fairly silent. Occasionally one would slip and be caught by the other, and then a brief “thank you” would be the only words exchanged. That silence followed them all the way back to Ponyville and to the entrance to the Carousel Boutique.
Rarity unhitched herself and started up the stairs, only to turn at the sound of the cart wheels turning once more. “Where are you going?”
“Home.” Applejack stopped and looked over her shoulder at Rarity. “Didn’t figure you’d want me sticking around.”
Rarity sighed and came back down from her porch. “I’m not angry, Applejack. Frustrated, perhaps. Disappointed, maybe. But I’m not angry.”
“Yeah, this snow business kinda ruined our dinner.” Applejack sighed and looked up at the clouds that were still sprinkling white flakes down around them.
“Darling, I’m sorry, but the fault there is mostly on you.”
“What? How is the weather my fault?!” Applejack turned to face her.
“Not the weather. Unpredictable weather is one of the things one accepts when living near the Everfree Forest.” She came up near enough to Applejack that their noses nearly touched. “But I asked if you wanted to go, and you refused. And then you spent the whole date fretting over the weather so much that you ignored me entirely!”
Applejack took a step back. “Well, I wanted you to have a nice dinner. I didn’t want to make you leave early.”
“Applejack…” Rarity stepped up and laid her head against Applejack’s neck. “I know you meant well, and the dinner was lovely, but that wasn’t the important part of this evening. I love you with all my heart, and I was hoping to have a date with you. But what I got instead was me eating my—lovely, yes—dinner in relative silence while you sat there worrying.”
“Oh…” Applejack lowered her head, only for Rarity to pull her into a hug. “Any way I can make it up to you?”
“Come inside? I have the rest of the evening free, and I am not allowing you to drag that cart all the way back to Sweet Apple Acres alone in this weather.” She started back towards the front door. “Besides, Coco went back to Manehattan for the holidays, and Sweetie Belle is with my parents. We’ll have privacy.”
Applejack grinned and slipped out of the harness to follow Rarity up the stairs. “Don’t have to tell me twice.”
“Oh, and another visit to that restaurant wouldn’t hurt, either,” Rarity added as she unlocked the door. “Though perhaps it can wait until the spring?”
“Yeah.” She slipped in the door alongside Rarity. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”