“Thank y’all fer bein’ here,” Applejack said.
“Of course!” said Fluttershy.
“It’s the least we could do,” Rarity added.
“And thank ya Pinkie for reservin’ Sugarcube Corner.”
“You’re welcome! So, what’s the surprise? What, what!”
“Is it something awesome?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Yes,” Applejack replied, a small smile on her face.
“Is it magical?” Twilight asked.
The farm mare thought for a moment. “Yes, Ah guess so.”
“Oh, please tell us. We are simply dying to hear!” Rarity said.
“Ah’m gettin’ married!”
The announcement was met with silence. Everypony’s mouth hung open. Applejack’s smile slipped a little.
“You’re getting married?!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “That means there’ll be a party to plan!”
Twilight held up a hoof. “Wait, Pinkie.” She turned to Applejack. “You’re getting married? I thought you said you wouldn’t for a long time.”
“Well, when ya meet jus’ th’ right pony, everythin’ changes,” the orange mare said wistfully.
“Speaking of which,” Rarity said, already trying to figure out what colors and designs might work for a dress, “who is the lucky stallion?” She paused. “It is a stallion, right?”
Applejack smiled. “Yep, and you’ve gotta guess!”
“Oh I love guessing games!” Pinkie beamed.
Rainbow Dash glanced at the clock. “I have to go.”
“Wait, Ah’ll give ya a clue: he’s an earth pony.”
“Isn’t that most of the stallions?” commented Fluttershy.
Applejack just kept smiling.
◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊
“He’s an earth… That’s not very helpful!” Rainbow muttered to herself. She had just finished doing some more of her job and had decided to go to Twilight’s, because frankly, she had no clue where to even start guessing. She knocked on the door.
“Coming!” a voice called.
The door opened to reveal Spike. “Oh, hi Rainbow Dash!”
“Hi, is Twilight home?”
“Yeah.” He turned around and yelled, “Twilight, it’s Rainbow Dash!”
Twilight trotted down the stairs. “Hi Rainbow, what brings you here?”
“I’ve been trying to think of who AJ’s marrying, but I’m not like Pinkie Pie. I don’t know everypony,” Rainbow said.
“Then why don’t you just ask Pinkie?”
“I did. She's too busy planning,” the pegasus said with a smile that said, That's Pinkie.
“Wait, Applejack’s getting married? Spike interrupted. “To who?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure that out,” Twilight told him. “She won’t tell us.”
“Oh. Well, I’ll be by the… shelves if you need me.” Spike walked out of Rainbow’s sight.
There was silence while Twilight thought. “Let’s go look at the public records in the town hall.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Whatever.”
◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊
The two mares had gone to Town Hall and were back at the library. The list of stallions in the town were on the table.
“Well, we obviously know it isn’t… Filthy Rich,” Twilight said as she crossed off his name.
Rainbow Dash peered at the list. “And it’s not anypony with “Apple” in their name.” More names got crossed off.
“Nopony who’s married…”
Twenty minutes later, Twilight groaned. “We’ve crossed out everypony we possibly can, and yet we’re still left with over fifty ponies! I thought this town was small!”
“It is… compared to Canterlot,” Rainbow said.
Twilight sighed. “Do you want to go ask for another clue?”
“Yeah.”
“Spike,” the purple mare yelled, “I’m going to be gone for a little bit!”
Her response was snoring. She chuckled as they walked out the door.
It didn’t take them long to find Applejack; she was at the Apple Family stall at market.
“Howdy! Y’all here t’ make a guess?”
“No,” said Twilight, getting straight to the point, “we need another clue. We went through a list of all the stallions registered in town, but there’s still a lot.”
Applejack was silent for a few seconds. “He’s the clue: he’s warm colors, like me!”
Rainbow facehoofed.
“That means we have to go around and ask for ponies we don’t know their coat colors,” Twilight said flatly.
“Good luck!” was all Applejack said.
◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊
The bell rang as somepony walked into the Carousel Boutique.
“Just a minute!” Rarity called. She came out from her work area. “Applejack! You’re just in time; I just finished your outfit! You must try it on!” She pushed the farm mare behind a changing screen and levitated the outfit to her.
“Tell me if you need any help,” Rarity said.
“Okay.” The sound of rustling fabric was heard, and after a little while, Applejack said, “Rares? Can ya take care of th’ back?”
“Yes.” The unicorn went behind the screen. “There!” She led Applejack to the mirrors. “So? What do you think?”
The short, poofed sleeves and starched collar of her dress stood out against the brilliant blue of the vest. The dress itself was of a stylized western design, the vest over a simple white dress. The skirt was long and pleated, stopping at her hind fetlocks. There were matching boots for her front hooves, and a white Stetson with a single flower and a long veil flowing down her back.
“Oh Rarity,” Applejack breathed, “it’s beautiful.”
“Mm-hm.” Rarity was looking at her intently, making sure everything fit well. “Thank you!” She levitated a few pins over and stuck them in where the dress needed to be taken in. “You may take it off now.”
Applejack took one last look at her wedding dress and went back behind the changing screen.
“I hope you don’t mind me taking a guess right now.”
“It’s alright. Guess away!”
“Well, from all of the stallions I’ve seen and whose names I remember, is it Coconut?”
The bride-to-be came out from behind the screen, a grin on her face. “Nope!”
Rarity pursed her lips. “Then who?””
“Here’s another clue: he’s good with math and mechanics.”
Rarity sighed. “Back to the drawing board.”
◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊
The last few notes lingered in the air.
“That was beautiful, Fluttershy!”
“Oh, don’t compliment me, Applejack. That was the birds. Compliment them.”
Applejack turned towards the birds, trying not to think about how weird it was. “That was beautiful.”
The birds chirped back.
Applejack turned back to Fluttershy. “Everythin’ was jus’ perfect.”
“Thanks.” Fluttershy dismissed the birds, and the two started back to her cottage. “I’ve talked with the others.”
“So y’know all the clues then?”
“Yes. Is it Time Turner?”
The orange mare stopped. “Who?”
“I guess it isn’t him then. He’s a pony who specializes in time, which has to do with math, and is good with some mechanics.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “And would you know this?”
“N-no reason,” Fluttershy said quickly.
Shaking her head, Applejack said, “I’m gonna give ya one last clue before the bridal shower on Friday: his eyes are different than most.”
“In what way?”
“Can’t tell ya that! Sorry!”
Fluttershy sighed.
◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊
“I, for one, am ready to know whom she’s marrying,” Rarity said.
“She said we’ll find out today,” Twilight told her.
Rarity, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were again sitting in Sugarcube Corner like they had six months ago. They were waiting patiently for the bridal shower to begin.
“Pinkie, please stop bouncing.”
“Sorry, I’m just so excited!”
“We all are, but don’t see us bouncing,” Rainbow said.
“Yeah, well… you’re flying!”
“Pinkie…”
The door closed. “Howdy!” Applejack walked to the counter and stood on it.
“Hm… That’ll need to be cleaned later,” Pinkie remarked.
“As y’all know, t’day’s my bridal shower. Be sure to eat a whole lotta desserts; Pinkie’ll thank ya!” She got off the counter and trotted over to her friends. “So, ya gotta guess for me?”
“Uh… one of Derpy’s cousins?” said Rainbow.
“Yer jus’ spitballin’ here, aren’t ya.”
“Yeah.”
Applejack beckoned with her hoof to somepony in the kitchen. “Well, here’s yer answer!”
They watched as a shadow came from the kitchen. It was kind of skinny, and it stood before them—
“You?!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Yep! It’s Gizmo!” Pinkie said happily.
“The pony I flattered to get the asparagus from? But, how?”
“We met when he came t’ the farm wantin’ t’ help us. He’s good with mechanics and math, like I told y’all, an’ he said he could help us decrease th’ amount of time it takes t’ buck apples.” Applejack gazed at Gizmo with something her friends had never seen before to someone other than her family— love. “He’s so smart an’ well-spoken an’ polite. He even called Grannie ‘young lady’! She laughed real hard at that.”
The tan, lanky stallion was starting to turn red. “Aw, I’m not that great.” He adjusted his glasses nervously.
“But ya are!”
“Wait, Pinkie, how did you know it was Gizmo?” Twilight asked.
“It was easy!” Pinkie said, bouncing. “I went to her stall at market every day for a week. Well, actually, I spied on her. Whenever Gizmo would walk by, she would watch him and sometimes sigh. And when they would talk, they’d talk for a LONG time, sometimes an hour, and sometimes they’d kiss!”
Applejack was very sheepish. “Pinkie!”
“So I won! I guessed before all of you!”
The others laughed.
“Hey Pinkie, why don’t ya put some music on so we can dance?” Applejack requested.
“Sure!” Pinkie Pie pranced over to her record player and put on a party song. Everypony started dancing, and Applejack and Gizmo were dancing together, Applejack being the one leading.
“I love you,” she whispered to him.
“I-I love you too,” he whispered back.
Author's Note
Special thanks to Fervidor and Sir Barton for helping me with the description of AJ's dress!
