In Wine, one beholds the Heart of another.
It was the sort of summer day that left everypony tired at the end of any activity. Be it as simple as picking up a few groceries from the store, or as difficult as tending the trees in the orchard. Any pony in their right mind would have been either indoors where it was cool, or in the shade enjoying the sun. Applejack, however, was not. She was stuck endlessly bucking the apple trees of her orchard. She didn’t mind the manual labour, but the sweltering heat soon caked her in a layer of dirt, dust and sweat that would be a right pain in the flank to wash off.
The still silence around the orchard was broken only by the harsh noises of hooves connecting with wood, and the soft thuds when the apples, shaken loose from their branches, tumbled into the strategically placed baskets below.
Applejack panted and shook her head to stave off the encroaching exhaustion. Loose beads of sweat rolled off of her and onto the ground.
If she didn’t stop soon she would get heat stroke. She already felt light headed and tired from the work. She sighed and stepped into the shade proper, picking up a couple of apples as her on-the-go lunch.
She groaned gently at the welcome taste of the first, smiling, satisfied, before eating the other fruit. She wiped her brow again and checked her progress.
No less than 30 trees were now devoid of any fruit. Only another 20 more before her work was done for the day. She thought she had earned a nice break.
She chuckled to herself and planted her rump on the dirt path leading between the trees, resting her head against the trees and allowing herself to get comfortable.
Her hat dipped over her eyes and shrouded her vision in relative darkness, and it wasn’t long before she could feel herself drifting into a deep, relaxing sleep. A sleep that was welcome on the summer’s day.
She idly wondered when she had turned into a version of Rainbow Dash, thinking that the rainbow mare had rubbed off on her in the wrong way.
Perhaps, however, the rainbow mare had a point when she said naps in the orchard were one of the best things. The smell of fruit permeated every centimeter of the place, mixed with the sounds of the wind through the trees, the branches rattling their natural sonata.
Yes, she would enjoy the peace and quiet.
“Oh Applejack~!”
That is, she would have. Had a voice not interrupted her. She sighed disappointedly and flicked her hat up to its rightful position over her head, turning towards the source of the voice. An alabaster-white unicorn trotted down the dirt path to where Applejack currently sat.
The unicorn had an annoyingly chipper spring in her step.
On her face sat a pair of stylish sunglasses, and coming from a saddle over her back was an umbrella, no doubt to shield her from the brash sunlight.
“Well howdy, Rarity,” Applejack called, waving to her.
Rarity returned the wave and, as she got closer, Applejack could see she had her usual smile plastered on her face.
“So sorry to interrupt your nap-time, dear Applejack,” Rarity said with a smirk.
Applejack merely shook her head and stood up. “Nevermind,” she said, tipping her head politely to the unicorn as she stepped closer.
“What did ya want?” she couldn’t help the slight veneer of venom slipping into her words. Such undertones were not lost on the alabaster mare, who scrunched her face up as she took in a breath to speak.
“I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to…” she paused, searching for the right word so that the rustic farmer wouldn’t bolt at the mention of it.
“An event.” Rarity decided on.
Applejack’s gaze narrowed, and the unicorn found herself plastering on her most innocent smile. A smile Applejack knew could be used as a potent tool to hide her true intentions.
“What kind of event?”
Applejack gazed around at the multitude of musty barrels filling the cellar-type cavern of Ponyville’s chief winemaker. Each one was labelled with different ages and makes, and the writing was done in such a way that it strained her eyes to try and read them for more than a few seconds.
"For Pony's sake,” she whispered for the millionth time. “Why a wine tastin'?"
Rarity groaned quietly and rolled her eyes, her shoulders slumping. "
“Why not Cider?" the orange mare continued. "Hay, I'd even be fine with Beer. But wine?"
She had made no secret of her disdain for the ceremony, but Rarity had dragged her along anyway. The only reason Applejack had agreed to accompany her was because no one else was free that day, and Rarity didn't want to go alone. So, Applejack had begrudgingly accepted the invite, only to be stuck now in a musty cellar with barrels upon barrels of aging wine.
Now, normally she could appreciate fine alcohol. But the level these ponies were taking it to was ridiculous. They made notes on its colour, texture (she didn't even think liquid could have a texture), its smell, the type, all the while the information sailed right over her head.
"Hush, Applejack!" Rarity hissed. "We don't want them to hear us!"
"No, you don't want me to be heard in case you lose your status with'em for knowing me!" Applejack retorted.
Rarity gasped almost silently, and brought a hoof to her chest. "That is not true!" she exclaimed. Applejack rolled her eyes at her friend's overly dramatic nature. "How could you even think me capable of such a thing?"
"Well for one thing ya blatantly stated that I was your last choice to go with ya to this thing," the orange mare retorted.
Rarity busied herself with straightening out a few errant strands of her mane, casting her eyes over the room instead of focusing on her friend.
"T-that hardly constitutes as evidence-" she began shakily, only to be interrupted by her companion pointing a hoof at her accusingly.
"And then ya said t'me; 'you'd better not embarrass me today'," she continued on her list of evidence, and Rarity only turned her head away from her and towards the other side of the room haughtily.
"It was a legitimate concern." she stated. "I would've said it to anyone."
"Yeah, o'course," Applejack rolled her eyes, and Rarity huffed, stepping away from her friend.
"Oh now you're just being childish," Applejack chided, and Rarity turned her head back to face her, eyes closed and head slightly tilted to the sky.
"I wanted to share an afternoon out with you and you are finding ways to ruin it."
"Ya know full well that I don't like this hoity-toity stuff," Applejack retorted, motioning around to the ponies wearing suits and dresses, swirling red and white liquid around in the glasses before sipping it demurely.
Rarity sighed, not wanting to fight anymore. She turned to face Applejack properly, holding a hoof out to the latter’s chest in a pleading gesture.
"I know, but could you please just try to grin and bear it? Just for a little while?" Rarity batted her eyelashes as she asked.
Applejack groaned to herself, rolling her eyes. "Only because ya asked so nicely," she said, less than enthused at the prospect of staying at the wine-tasting. But the smile on Rarity's face at the statement almost made it worthwhile.
“Thank you, Applejack,” she patted the Earth Pony on the back, an act which shouldn’t have been as harsh as it was.
Applejack shot Rarity a look, but found her to be too engrossed by the wine tasting to even spare her a second glance.
Over the course of the day she had endured as best she could, attempting to blend into the woodwork when it came time to socialise with those around her.
Rarity,ever the social butterfly, had taken to it like a fish to water. Opinions about the rose and sage beverages were thrown this way and that. Words about texture, aftertaste, and references to the ‘palette’.
Applejack gave up trying to decipher them very early on, settling instead for humming to herself and smirking whenever she heard the soft lilting quality of Rarity’s voice, obviously understanding everything that was said.
Even more amusing was the fact that she seemed to be the centre of all other opinions.
Just like Rarity, she thought to herself.
She watched the mare intently. As she laughed, her eyes would sparkle with enjoyment. She was truly in her element here. The higher-class ponies of Ponyville didn’t have the level of glitz and glamour as the Canterlot elite, neither did they have the disdain for the ‘lower’ ponies in the chain such as Applejack. That was probably why they let her in in the first place.
Rarity was truly the life of the party wherever she went. It was one of the reasons Applejack was still friends with the—somewhat annoying at times—mare.
Applejack had a small smirk on her face as she watched intently.
“Excuse me, ma’am?” A voice brought her back out of her train of thought for the second time that day. “Would you like to give us your opinion on this particular wine?” the stallion finished.
All eyes looked towards the farmpony, including the expectant teal eyes of her friend.
Applejack gulped and gave her best modest smile.
“Huh? Oh, ah don’t think ah’ll be of much help here,” she answered. Quite honestly too. She had no idea how to properly taste wine, neither did she have any clue as to how to describe the taste.
“Oh, come come,” the stallion smiled as he spoke, holding the glass out to Applejack with his magical aura.
His smile was a smile that, for some reason, set Applejack’s teeth on edge.
“A more ‘rustic’ opinion may benefit us,” he said,a tittering coming from the crowd.
Applejack tilted an eyebrow at the jab at her. She ground her teeth slightly and affixed her head on her hat before walking forward to grab the glass.
Rarity watched on in a mixture of curiosity and fear...
