Diplomatic Troubles

Twilight awoke with a full night's rest, and this worried her in the slightest bit. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Holding her breath, she opened her eyes and very carefully turned her gaze towards the clock mounted on the wall.

To her surprise, the clock didn't show her an absurd time, nor did it laugh at and mock her as she had anticipated. It was six thirty-four in the morning - not at all beyond the preferred time that she'd like to wake up. At this, she released her breath in a pleasant but exaggerated sigh.

As she relaxed, she noticed a faint scent had made its way to her, and she sniffed at the air. Getting a better sense of what was being cooked, Twilight's mouth began to water and a shiver went down her spine. The air smelt of cinnamon, apples, and various other flavors. It reminded her of Granny Smith's home cooking, and this made her desire the food all the more enthusiastically.

She happily got out of bed and turned around to neatly fold her blanket into an organized square. She took great care in getting the geometry of it just right, sticking out her tongue as she carefully eyed the edges of the blanket. With a satisfied smile, she nodded and said to herself, "Neat and efficient. Another symmetrical fold, Twilight."

With that, she turned and descended the stairs leading to the kitchen and to the controlling aromas that lied within. "Thank goodness you decided to cook, Spike," she said graciously to the baby dragon, "I'm starving."

"Well you're welcome for the cookin', but I ain't got no scales. 'Least not from what I can see," a familiar voice replied, a smile in her voice.

"Applejack?" Twilight called, cocking an eyebrow instinctively.

Applejack came out of the kitchen sporting a chef's hat and patches of flour dotting her face. Atop her hat was a plate of apple fritters, and a plate of apple crumble was laid upon her back. With her usual friendly, nonchalant smile, she greeted Twilight with, "Howdy, Twi'."

Twilight, still a bit confused as to what she should think, responded with, "Uhm.. Hello, Applejack?" It came out more of a request for information, rather than a friendly reply.

"I reckon you're wonderin' why I'm here cookin' for ya and not Spike?" Applejack read her mind as she laid the plates upon the table usually reserved for reading. Twilight was also known to use it whenever she served her guests, Applejack knew.

"Well, yes," Twilight admitted, staring at the assorted foods on the table hungrily. "Where is Spike, anyway?"

"Said somethin' about the clubhouse. Think him and the Crusaders are gonna be causin' a ruckus around town today," she answered with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, that sounds like something Spike would have his claws in," she agreed absent-mindedly, licking her lips at the food.

Applejack nudged her head towards the food and offered, "Take a seat. Been workin' a while on this."

"Was it really that obvious?" Twilight asked sheepishly, hesitating for a moment as she awaited the answer.

" 'Bout as obvious as the color of the sky," Applejack jested, laughing shortly. With that, she sat herself at the table and waited for Twilight to do the same. She didn't have to wait long, as Twilight very nearly threw herself into the chair with excitement.

Levitating a clump of apple crumble to her mouth, Twilight shivered with delight at its flavor. Her hunger combined with her love of Applejack's cooking made the crumble seem irresistible to Twilight, and luckily there was an abundant amount of it to go around. While she was hungrily working away at the crumble, Applejack was slowly chewing on some fritters. The smirk on her face told Twilight how amusing she looked, and her face took on a color similar to that of Rainbow Dash's eyes.

"Oh," Twilight said as a fritter stopped levitating in front of her and fell back on to the plate, "sorry about that. I didn't eat much at the picnic yesterday and, well-"

"Relax, Twilight. I ain't too hungry and I made plenty," the orange mare reassured her, "In fact, I'm glad you like my cookin' so much. It's a compliment more than anything!"

"Well you're welcome, then. The compliments are well deserved," the studious pony said, bolstering her compliment even further. "But I must ask - why are you here so early? It's a pleasant surprise, but I would have expected you to still be resting due to how tired you were yesterday."

"Well I ain't too keen on stayin' in late, bein' a farmer and all," she explained. "Learned a little trick a while back that lets me function well enough when I'm tired. 'Course, I do have my limits, as you've seen before. But today I'm feelin' fine!"

"Don't overwork yourself for my sake alone, Applejack," Twilight lectured, then took the final bite of her apple crumble.

"If I need a nap, at least I know who to turn to for a pillow," she joked, taking a bite of a fritter.

A thought in Twilight's head told her to answer, but she didn't quite know what to say. All she could think to do was grin like an idiot, and that is what she did.  After Applejack responded with a chuckle of her own, the two once again spent a few moments simply staring at each other. The only difference is that Twilight was the one to break the silence, this time.

"Shall we head to Town Hall?" she asked, snapping out of the trance-like state she was in.

Applejack stared at her for a few moments, then responded with a resounding, "Huh?"

"Town Hall. Would you like to go there, now?" Twilight repeated, thinking little of her friend's confusion.

"Oh. Sure, that sounds fine. Sorry 'bout that, was just.. Thinkin'," Applejack stuttered, moving awkwardly out of her seat and towards the door.

Twilight cocked her eyebrow for the second time that day, but followed Applejack nonetheless. "It's going to be one of those days," Twilight muttered to herself as she levitated the dirty plates into the kitchen's sink and wrote a small note for Spike. With that, she moved over to Applejack, who was waiting beside the open door of the library.

"Ya ready to tackle the day?" Applejack asked casually.

"Yes, but, are you alright?" Twilight dared to ask, not sure where the question came from.

After a moment's hesitation, Applejack sighed and said, "Yeah, I'm alright. We'll talk on the way there. Promise." Satisfied with the promise, Twilight agreed to wait. After all, it couldn't be that long of a wait until they talked. Right?