Night descended over Ponyville, and the only light visible was that of the moon, stars, and the faint lantern light inside the denizen’s houses. It was the middle of summer, and the air was was comfortably warm enough to be outside in the middle of the night, so Twilight Sparkle decided to take advantage of that.
Finding a comfortable spot on the ground, Twilight leaned against the barn of Sweet Apple Acres and sighed with contented relief. Luna’s sky was always a sight behold, and Twilight didn’t consider tonight to be an exception. It was especially beautiful at Sweet Apple Acres, as there was no artificial light whatsoever to obscure the sight of the twinkling stars and the smoothly crescent moon.
Not to mention... Twilight mused to herself, perfectly serene silence.
She was only partially correct, as the only sound within earshot was the faint chirping of crickets in the distance, which meant that it couldn’t technically be considered perfectly serene silence. However, in Twilight’s mind, she considered cricket chirps to be a constant in a nighttime setting, so she accepted that she couldn’t remove them to create total silence. Not to mention, if Twilight were to conjure a spell that would drown out the sound of crickets, there would be a distinct loss of detail from the whole ambience of a serene night in the country. Ergo, Twilight concluded that not only were cricket chirps a constant to quiet nights, they were also an optimal component.
Twilight, her inner-voice chimed. Would it be too much to not over-analyze something like this?
“Have you forgotten who you’re talking to?”
“Talkin’ to who, Twi?”
Twilight froze. She looked around when she heard the familiar voice. A few feet away from her was Applejack, a lantern in her mouth. Twilight sputtered as she tried to explain away the conversation she was having with herself.
“Applejack! I-uh, well, you see...” Twilight cleared her throat and laughed nervously. “I wanted to talk to, uhh... you?” She grinned nervously.
Applejack raised an eyebrow quizzically. She wasn’t buying Twilight’s story, but she decided not to interrogate, so she played along. She lowered the lantern to the ground and looked to Twilight. “Aight, Twi, I’ll bite. Whatcha wanna talk about?”
Twilight widened her eyes as she realized she didn’t have an alibi. Trying to save face, she responded, “Uh... I forgot. But hey, it’s a beautiful night tonight. Do you wanna sit here with me and look at the stars.”
AJ smiled. “I reckon I could.” She put out the lantern and trotted over to Twilight’s side. Plopping down against the barn, AJ sighed in comfort and looked up at the sky.
“Gosh, you weren’t foolin’, Twi. Really pretty out.” AJ was soon distracted by the beauty of the night to continue further conversation.
Twilight grinned mischievously. Seeing the opportunity before her, she extended a wing over her target’s shoulder and pulled her in closer. AJ shuddered at first, but ultimately showed no resistance to her marefriend’s advances. In fact, after being pulled in, AJ reciprocated the gesture and leaned her head against Twilight’s shoulder.
Twilight snorted. “Oh, I see,” she teased. “When we’re around nopony else, it’s fine, but when I put my wing around you in public, you act like you don’t even know me.”
AJ looked up. “Aw, come on, Twi. You know how it is. If we got all lovey-dovey in public, I’d never hear the end of it from Rarity ‘n Rainbow. And you know that Rainbow’s the worst with this kind of stuff. I’m not even gonna tell ya half the jokes she came up with about, uh... you know, you ‘n me doin’, uh... stuff.”
Although she couldn’t see it, AJ could tell that Twilight was blushing furiously at her statements. Twilight coughed to end her marefriend’s train of thought.
“Okay, say no more.” Twilight’s smile returned. “And you’re right. I myself don’t really like it when the eyes of the whole town are on us. And even when I try my hardest to keep our relationship nonchalant, ponies like Rarity make it into a giant spectacle. Did I tell you what she tried to get me to do the other day?”
“Naw. What’d she do?”
“Get this,” Twilight began. “So I’m visiting the boutique just to catch up with Rarity and see how she’s doing. She drops whatever she was working on and puts on some tea.”
AJ nodded. “Uh-uh...”
Twilight continued, “So we catch up and talk about things going on in town, but Rarity keeps steering the conversation back to you and me.”
AJ nodded again. “Hmm...”
“So I just tell her that you and I are fine and leave it at that, but no, that’s not enough for Rarity!” Twilight was beginning to sound more agitated as she continued. “No, she has to know what’s ‘really’ going on between us, and I don’t even know what that means. I’m confident we don’t have anything to hide.”
“Eeyup,” AJ resigned. She was starting to get slightly bored with her marefriend’s rant.
“And listen to this!” Twilight piped up. “Out of the blue, she pulls out this design journal for wedding dresses! She’s asking me what I think of the designs ‘for no reason’! And they say you’re a bad liar!”
Twilight ended her diatribe as she felt AJ gulp deeply. The studious mare saw upon closer inspection that AJ was sweating a bit.
“Oh my gosh, Applejack, I’m sorry. Did I scare you?”
AJ scoffed defensively. “Ha! Scaring me? ‘Bout what? No skin off my flank talkin’ about wedd--” AJ stopped her charade once she saw her marefriend’s incredulous look. She slumped slightly and let out a resigned sigh. “I guess I’m kinda skittish about that kinda stuff right now. Too soon to be thinkin’ like that, if ya ask me.”
Twilight smiled as she lowered her head to kiss her lover on the forehead. “I feel the same way.”
AJ looked up. “That right?”
Twilight nodded. “Besides, even when we’re ready, we’re probably going be spending a long time trying to reign everypony in and preventing it from becoming a giant spectacle.”
AJ cocked an eyebrow. “Spectacle?”
“Well yeah. I mean, think about it, AJ. I’m both Celestia’s student and a princess. Three of our best friends are notorious for giant parties, flashy spectacles, and fastidious extravagance. If the two of us aren’t careful and in control, our wedding will become my brother’s wedding meets my coronation meets the Crystal Fair.”
AJ chuckled. “Hoo-boy, that’d be somethin’. Though, I don’t think that’s my kinda somethin’.”
Twilight beamed. “I’m glad you agree.”
“Just outta curiousity, Twi, what exactly do you have in mind for somethin’ like that?”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “What? You think I’ve thought this out? Because I haven’t.”
AJ shrugged. “Well then, just come up with somethin’. Nothin’s set in stone, Twi. It’s just us havin’ a little fun.”
Twilight wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. “I guess I can do that.” She cleared her throat. “Well... I would definitely want to do it in Ponyville, maybe here on Sweet Apple Acres.”
AJ chuckled. “Even Canterlot’s too fancy for ya, huh? Just so ya know, I agree.”
“And I don’t really want too many ponies there, just friends, our families and the princesses. I don’t want a single noble or paparazzo there.”
AJ smiled. “Took the words right outta my mouth. Go on.”
“And then... that’s it, really.”
AJ chuckled again. “Really? No idea what you want for decorations or any ceremonial stuff?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “That makes it sound like I think that stuff’s important. No, Applejack, I honestly couldn't care less about anything other than that I want it here and I want it small.” To her surprise, Twilight received a kiss to the bottom of her cheek from AJ.
“The two of us speak the same language, you realize that?”
Twilight laughed. “Yeah, I knew you’d say something like that.” A silence followed as Twilight’s smile turned into a rather crestfallen mien.
AJ took concern. “Y’alright, Twi?”
Twilight looked into her marefriend’s eyes and knew she couldn’t lie to that face. “This isn’t the first time I’ve talked about this.”
“Whadya mean?”
“I mean with what I had in mind for our wedding, whenever it happens.” Twilight sighed. “It came up when I talked to Rarity about those wedding dress designs. I told her that I only cared about where it would take place and who would be there, and I told her I didn’t want any frills of any sort. Do you wanna know what she said to me?”
“I reckon I do.”
Twilight gulped. “She said ‘Explain to me how that’s going to show Applejack you love her.’”
AJ’s eyes widened before instantly narrowing. “She said what now?”
Twilight panicked. “No, no! She didn’t realize what she was saying, and to be honest, it didn’t really bother me. I just thought it as Rarity being Rarity.” She sighed. “But now, it’s kind of eating at me, because I realize... I didn’t have a response for her.”
AJ raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”
“I didn’t have a response for her. I honestly have no idea what it is I do or what I need to do to show that I love you.”
AJ was taken completely aback. “Twilight...” she whispered, a sad look adorning her face.
“Let’s be honest, Applejack. I’m probably the least romantic pony ever. I’ve never done any grand gesture or passionate display to show my affections... isn’t that what you’re supposed to do when you love somepony?”
Applejack didn’t respond for the longest time... and then, she broke into uncontrollable laughter. She broke away from the winged embrace and started rolling on the ground, beating it with her hooves.
Struggling to breathe, AJ blurted out, “Ya... ya can’t be serious, can ya?”
Twilight was terribly confused, but at the same time, irritated with her marefriend’s seemingly inappropriate reaction.
“AJ!” Twilight snapped.
Applejack stopped her rolling and managed to catch her breath. “Hoo-boy! I’m really sorry ‘bout that, Twi, but you really had me going there. I mean, I figured I had to catch you being dumb at some point, but... wow.”
Twilight became more incensed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
AJ crawled up and put a foreleg around Twilight’s shoulder. Looking straight into her marefriend’s eyes, she asked, “Twilight, do ya honestly have no idea how you let me know that ya love me?”
Twilight’s look returned to sadness and worry. “Well, no. I don’t do any dramatics, and I don’t have any grand gestures planned, and--” Twilight’s answer was stopped by AJ’s firm hoof to her mouth.
“Twi, don'tcha get it? The reason ya don’t do any of that is because you’re you, and that’s how I know you love me.”
AJ removed her hoof just as Twilight responded with, “Huh?” and cocked an eyebrow.
AJ sighed as she got a sentimental look in her eyes. “Ponies in this town see me as this divine gift or somethin’. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love being dependable and helpin’ everypony out when I can, but sometimes, they seem to get the idea that I’m this perfect pony, and the both of us know that ain’t true.”
Twilight considered this. “Well, I suppose that’s true, but don’t see--”
“I wasn’t done. So because everypony thinks I can’t fail, they keep expectin’ more and more out of me. When I saved Ponyville from that stampede, they put me on a pedestal and started asking me to do all this stuff I couldn’t do, what with Applebuck season goin’ on and whatnot. Twilight, you were the only pony who saw that I couldn’t do all of it, and ya went out of your way to put a stop to it.”
Twilight thought back to that Applebuck season. It was there that Twilight first saw her cowpony friend as something more vulnerable than she had originally imagined. After that incident, Twilight sought to learn more of the nuances that laid within Applejack; and the search would lead her to where she was now, happily in love.
AJ continued, “It was then that I realized you were the only pony who knew I wasn’t perfect, but you didn’t think any less of me for it. You’re so level-headed, you don’t have any crazy ideas about anypony. Ya see things the way they are, and ya treat ‘em as such with all the love and heart a true friend should.”
Applejack pulled Twilight closer, and Twilight didn’t fight it. “I don’t need to try as hard around ya, Twi. I ain’t gotta put on flashy rodeo moves or win a blue ribbon to show you who I am. All I gotta do is be me, and you ask for nothin’ else.” AJ leaned in and kissed Twilight on the lips, a gesture to which Twilight returned sweetly.
As their mouths parted, AJ whispered, “That’s how I know ya love me.”
Twilight didn’t respond at first. She was frankly dumbfounded by such a profound answer from her oh-so humble marefriend. Upon reflection, Twilight’s eyes began to tear up.
“My whole life...” Twilight whispered, “I was always trying to impress somepony: Princess Celestia, my parents, my brother.” Twilight sniffled. “Even after moving to Ponyville, I still feel like I do it. Everypony’s expecting me to be a great princess of magic, but I’m still not sure what I’m really gonna do.” Twilight took a long gaze into Applejack’s eyes. “You’re the only pony who’s not expecting the world of me. I don’t have to put on a show for you either.”
AJ smiled as tears developed in her eyes. “Funny thing about that whole princess thing.” AJ sniffled herself. “Ya know, when I saw that you had become an alicorn, I didn’t really know what to expect. I thought, worst case, all the new power would go to your head. But no. When Celestia told you that you were a princess, you asked her if there was a book on how to be a princess.”
Twilight laughed a little. “You remember that?”
AJ nodded. “‘Course. That’s how I knew ya were still you.” She pulled Twilight close until her mouth was to her ear. She whispered, “That’s how I knew I wanted ya forever.”
Twilight didn’t know how to respond. She backed away from AJ’s embrace slightly until they were both making eye-contact once more.
“I love you... so, so much.” Twilight was now crying for real.
A small smile broke on AJ’s face. “I never doubted it, sugar.”
The two came together for a sweet embrace of the lips. Once departed, Twilight wrapped a wing around Applejack and Applejack once again found a spot for her head on Twilight’s shoulder, and the two leaned against the barn to look at the stars. Not another word was spoken as the two seemingly unromantic mares shared their love, illuminated by Luna’s sky.
