Diplomatic Troubles

The door closing behind them, Twilight looked questioningly to Applejack. She was eager to learn what was troubling her friend so very much, as it was unusual for the mare to be fazed in the slightest, save the times she got into a competition with somepony.

"Well, I reckon I oughta say somethin', huh?" she said, responding to the unicorn's gaze. Applejack herself seemed to be avoiding eye contact, and it was a few moments before Twilight had to answer.

"If you would like," she responded, attempting to nudge the farmer with a subtle comment, rather than a blunt approach. She had read how to do so in a book titled Steering Conversations one night after a particularly awkward conversation between her and Pinkie. Before her mind derailed her train of thought, Twilight focused solely on the issue at hand.

Though she never stopped or slowed down, Applejack took a deep breath and held her eyes shut. A second or two passed before she let out the breath slowly and opened her eyes once again, and it didn't take an analytical mind to see that she was shaken up about what she wished to say.

Just as she began to open her mouth, Rainbow Dash appeared as if called upon by Twilight's anxiousness or Applejack's nervousness. "Girls! Hey!" she exclaimed, doing a drill-like spin and shaking off the water of morning clouds. She looked as if she'd crash into them both, and Twilight flinched before she saw her skidding to a stop.

Twilight noticed that Applejack had stepped towards herself, rather than away from Rainbow Dash. Making a mental note of this, she turned to face the cyan pegasus, who was trotting in place with excitement.

"What's got you all riled up, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked with a grin. It seemed Dash's attitude was slightly infectious.

"The Wonderbolts!" she responded with glee, breaking from her normal too-cool-for-excitement disposition, "They're coming to Ponyville for the Farmer's Festival! And get this -!" She leapt into the air and did a few aerial stunts before completing her statement, "they want me to fly alongside them!"

"Well that's great, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack said, suddenly just as excited as Dash.

Twilight made yet another mental note, then shared in the merriment, "Yes! I see they took notice of your heroics after all!"

"Yup!" Rainbow said, nearly shouting with uncontrollable excitement. "They sent an express delivery mare out to find me. Me! And she carried a Wonderbolt stamped letter - you know, the one with the lightning bolt and the wings? - with her," stopping only for a moment to catch her breath, she continued, "And the letter said that, 'Because of your great acts of heroism and bravery, we, the Wonderbolts, would like to invite you to fly by our side at this year's Farmer's Festival!' Isn't that awesome!?"

Applejack crossed her forelegs casually and nodded with a wide smile on her face. "It sure is, R.D. It sure is," she complimented in a calm manner.

"Yes, that's absolutely terrific, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight agreed wholeheartedly, nodding enthusiastically.

"I know, right?" Rainbow nodded, her large grin still plastered onto her face. "Anyway! I've got to go clear this weather so I can practice my flying routine! Maybe I'll even pull off a Sonic Rainboom with the Wonderbolts at my side?" Laughing excitedly, she sped off with a light trail of rainbows following her path.

"Well ain't that nice, hm?" Applejack commented, turning to Twilight expectantly, to which the unicorn agreed with a nod and saying, "I'm quite happy for her. This is a big thing for her, after all."

The two began walking after that, and Twilight brought up the previous conversation, "Was there something you'd like to tell me, then?"

"Ah, yeah," her friend replied, suddenly seeming a bit more confident after being given time to think it over. "I wanted to ask you if-" she began, but her voice trailed off as she noticed the growing number of residents within Ponyville's streets.

Despite the earliness of the day, the streets were bustling with creatures of all types and backgrounds. Local residents were attempting to make last minute preparations or open up shop, while foreign creatures were interested in all that the small town had to offer.

Picking up on Applejack's worry, Twilight quickly suggested, "Maybe we should take the long way there?" She jerked her head to a path away from the marketplace, and it led through Ponyville's more private homes and shops. They would have to pass Carousel Boutique and Sugarcube Corner, but she mind and it seemed neither did Applejack.

"I'd like that," her friend agreed, turning onto the path with Twilight keeping pace. "So Twilight," she started once more, "have you ever.. 'Eh.. I ain't good at this." Her confidence was visibly draining from her, and Twilight couldn't help but wonder if that's what she looked like when she worried.

Deciding that she was obligated to help, Twilight grasped at what Applejack had told her earlier and tried mimicking it, "You know I'll be here for you, Applejack. Whatever it is, I'll try to help."

Applejack turned away, and Twilight scolded herself for having failed at comforting her friend. When she turned back, she let out a sigh and said quietly, "I know Twi', I know. I'm just a bit rusty, is all."

"Not at all," Twilight argued, "Remember how you comforted me my first day as temporary mayor? You're quite proficient when it comes to speaking."

With a small laugh, the orange mare shook off her worries and said, "Ya got me there. Alright, I suppose beatin' around the bush ain't gonna do me much good, huh? Okay, then." She stopped and turned towards Twilight, a serious look on her face. "What I wanted to ask is if you've ever felt -"

"TWILIGHT! APPLEJACK!" a shrill voice interjected, and it took Twilight a moment to register that it wasn't Applejack.

Turning around, she was met with a bouncing Pinkie Pie making her way to her and Applejack. Strapped to her head was a box of cupcakes or muffins, Twilight could not quite tell. She seemed to be unhindered or unbalanced by it, oddly enough. Then again, Twilight reconsidered, it would be unusual for her to be hindered by such a fashion.

"I can't stay long because I'm going to go to the market and buy more sugar and more frosting and more sprinkles but I wanted to say that this is going to be one of the bestest, biggest, funnest parties ever!" she said. She never stopped for a breath before she waved and zipped away to complete her task, leaving the two mares staring after her in utter confusion.

"That mare ain't right," Applejack said, and Twilight couldn't help but agree. If there was an Element of Hyperactivity, Pinkie's role would never be questioned.

"Listen. I got a feelin' that we ain't gonna get much privacy out here in the open. Would ya mind waitin' 'till we get to Town Hall for me to tell you?" Applejack asked sincerely, to which Twilight felt obligated to agree to on account of her not wanting to pressure her friend any further.

"That seems like the reasonable thing to do, yes," she affirmed, "we do seem to be getting interrupted quite a bit as of late." Feeling slightly guilty for her friend, she leaned into her for a moment to improvise a makeshift hug on the move. To her satisfaction, Applejack did not pull away as she had expected, but rather returned the gesture.

The two walked along the path for some time in this manner unknowingly before crossing Carousel Boutique, where Rarity was waving them over from a window.

"Oh, Twilight, Applejack! I do hope I'm not interrupting anything, but may I have your opinion on a matter most urgent?" she called, putting on her most polite smile.

The two mares exchanged looks and agreed without the need for words, simply knowing what the other would say. upon their arrival, two dresses surrounded in a light blue hue floated out of the window from behind her, and floated side by side.

"Which do you prefer? The light blue sapphire-encrusted one," she said, raising the left dress slightly before lowering it and lifting the other, "or the bright red ruby-embedded one? I simply cannot make up my mind today!"

"I like 'em both, Rarity," Applejack offered, her expertise about dresses as limited as her vision and color preference.

"I agree with Applejack. They're both quite stunning," Twilight bolstered her friend's compliment.

Rarity looked at both of the dresses, rubbing her chin. Suddenly, she raised her eyebrows and her eyes went wide as she gasped. "I just had the most wondrous idea! Thank you, girls!" she said as she pulled the dresses carefully but hurriedly back into her shop.

"You know, it's turning out to be quite a nice day," Twilight observed as she took in the scenery.

When she looked over to Applejack as she waited for an answer, something seemed different about her friend's eyes. There weren't any tears in them, though perhaps the light may have been hitting them in a specific manner, but Applejack's emerald green eyes were sparkling.

"Days like this, I'd like to be back at the woods near my farm," Applejack said, causing them both to think back to the previous night with a fond feeling of happiness. "We'll have to do that again some time, 'eh Twilight?"

"I'd like that very much," Twilight muttered, staring at her friend's eyes with intense curiosity.

"You alright, Twilight?" Applejack asked, waving a hoof in front of her friend's face.

"Oh," Twilight said, quickly blinking twice to shake away her daydreaming. "Yes, I'm fine." "

We should probably get to Town Hall," Applejack repeated, an almost signature smile on her face.

"Yes! Let's get moving," Twilight agreed, eager to arrive on-time and just as eager to converse with Applejack.

The trip to Town Hall was spent in silence, neither pony wishing to break the calmness that had fallen over them both, as well as over their surroundings.

After a few minutes, however, something caught Twilight's eye. In the distance, Fluttershy was sitting besides Spike's pet phoenix, Peewee. Giving a wave, the timid pony returned the gesture with a wave of her own.

"It's good to see Spike's pet isn't lacking in care while he works around Ponyville," Twilight commented more to herself than to Applejack, but she got a response regardless, "And there's nopony better for that job."

Town Hall was now in view, and Twilight smiled. "Oh, good. That wasn't as long of a trip as I expected. We did have to take the long way-" her happy thoughts were immediately deflated by Mrs. Quill calling the duo over in a panic.

"Oh thank goodness, you're here!" she said as she beckoned the two over.

As the two entered Town Hall, everything seemed to be operating normally and without worry. Mrs. Quill rushed Twilight and Applejack to the Mayor's office, where Spike was sitting with an unfurled map in front of him. "Hey, Twilight. Hey, Applejack," he said nonchalantly.

"What's wrong? Do we need to call the Wonderbolts? Do we need the Elements? Did Discord escape? Get Prince-" Twilight said, beginning to panic.

"No, no, nothing like that. We just have a problem with a few of the Fair's booths, is all," Mrs. Quill said with a wave of her hoof.

"Oh," Twilight said simply, feeling silly for having gotten so worried so quickly. She could see Spike stifling a laugh, and Applejack chuckled slightly as she pat Twilight on the back.

Blushing at the extra attention, Twilight leaned over the map of the fairgrounds to switch the topic and saw a circled area. "We need more room for the apple-bobbing station, but we are full up on space everywhere else," Mrs. Quill explained, "And as acting mayor, you are the one who must solve this problem."

"Well.." Twilight said, rubbing her chin, "We could expand the fairgrounds to accommodate the apple-bobbing station, couldn't we?"

"I'm afraid not. We're stretched beyond the usual threshold of space as it is," Mrs. Quill said in an apologetic tone.

"Have any ideas?" Twilight asked, looking towards Spike.

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm just the supplies-runner and the morale-booster," he said, holding up his hands.

"How about you, Applejack?" Twilight said after giving Spike a slight glare.

For a few moments, Applejack stared at the map. She looked at all the spots in the fairgrounds, then finally said, "Here." She pointed to one spot on the map and said, "If we cut down the size of this here booth, we won't be losin' any bits. That way we'll have enough room and we'll still be makin' a profit."

"That.. Would work!" Mrs. Quill exclaimed happily, turning to Twilight, "But it's still up to you, in the end. Does this sound reasonable?"

"Make it happen," she said confidently, and Mrs. Quill nodded with a smile before bounding off to give the orders.

Meanwhile, Spike rolled the map back up and put it into his newly-bought satchel, of which he was quite proud of. "I'm off to Rarity's. She said she had a surprise waiting for me yesterday," Spike announced with joy as he made his way towards the door.

"Try not to get into any trouble," Twilight called after him, her motherly instincts making themselves known.

"Have I ever?" he joked as he turned around, walking backwards out the door with a smirk. Grasping the door's handle, he waved to the two ponies and gave one last sentence before leaving, "You two try and make some trouble. Maybe it'll bring some fun around here."

With that, he shut the door and left the two mares to their own business. Applejack waited a few seconds, then turned to Twilight and said, "I wonder if she's gonna make him put on a dress?"

Twilight's eyebrows rose up as she faced her friend, and they both let out a laugh. It was one of those drawn out laughs that neither of them quite knew why it lasted so long, but it did regardless.

Remembering what the two had originally planned, Twilight suddenly snapped out of her own laughing fit, speaking in between chuckles, "Oh! Did you want to tell me something, Applejack?"

"Yeah, and I gave it some thought," she said as she slipped off her hat and dropped it onto the desk nearby and took a seat besides Twilight, who did so soon after. "Figure I'll ask you somethin' first."

"By all means, go ahead," Twilight said, feeling ready for any challenge.

"Y'ever been in a relationship, Twi'? Like.. Better than friends?" Applejack asked quickly, trying to rush out the question before she stopped herself.

The prospect of the question made Twilight's face go red, and she hadn't really given this scenario any priority in her mind. She had overlooked a lot of challenges, and this one was up on the list.

"Well.. Not exactly, no. May I ask.. Why?" she asked apprehensively, not quite sure where Applejack was steering this conversation, so to speak.

"Just wonderin'," Applejack said, looking around the room. Turning her gaze but not her face back to Twilight, she asked quietly, "Y'ever want to be?"

"I suppose so," Twilight admitted both to herself and to Applejack. "I have never really given it much thought." Daring to venture beyond her own comforts, she then shot Applejack's question back at her, "Have you?"

"Not really Had a crush every now 'n' then when I was younger, but it never turned into nothin'," Applejack shared.

"Why not?" Twilight asked, unconsciously moving closer to her friend.

"Never really saw much in 'em, or I never got up the nerve to ask," she said with a sigh, visibly looking away in thought. "But lately, I've been, well, seein' things differently."

Twilight's analytical mind was spinning in circles, and she began to come to the conclusion that Applejack was trying to tell her something very important, but something inside of her simply would not click.

"But this time, I figure I'll take a shot in the dark," Applejack said, staring Twilight in the face. "Since neither of us has much experience with any of this kinda thing, I'll just go ahead and say it."

The gears in Twilight's mind slowly began to move towards that click she so dearly desired, but she still didn't grasp Applejack's point.

"Would you wanna try a relationship? With me?" her honesty shoved the question out of her thoughts and into into her words, whether she liked it or not.

Twilight's mind stopped for a moment, then she could have sworn she actually heard a clicking sound within her mind.

Recent events began to make more and more sense, and her own reactions seemed logical. In fact, she had a logical answer prepared. Her mind began reeling from the questions, and she was filled with both analytical arguments and emotions up until the point where it all simply stopped abruptly and left Twilight with an answer.

"Yes," she said simply, with a confident smile.

After a few moments, Applejack broke the awkward silence that had fallen over the two.

".. Yes?" Applejack asked skeptically, narrowing one eye in confusion. The abruptness of Twilight's answer and the sheer simplicity dumbfounded her. She had expected Twilight to over-react, or at the very least take a while to consider it; it was what they were all used to, her and her friends.

"It makes sense," Twilight reasoned, her voice seemingly more distant.

"You alright, Twi'?" her friend asked, leaning in to get a better look. "You seem a little.. Weird."

"I'm perfectly fine," Twilight lied. In reality, her mind was still repeating Applejack's request to her. In a panic, she blurted out an answer without giving herself any time to consider declining. Her voice sounded foreign to her when she answered, and she wasn't quite sure what was happening.

She wasn't happy, or sad, or scared, or excited. She didn't feel much of anything for a few moments, and Applejack began getting truly worried.

"Twi'. Tell me what's wrong. Do you not want to do this?" she question, then took on a look of guilt that jerked at Twilight's thoughts. "I knew this was a bad idea."

Applejack's sadness seemingly turned her thoughts back on, and Twilight was once again able to think clearly, if only a little bit slower. Now snapped out of her trance, Twilight felt a surge of both elation and worry that was unmatched by anything she had experienced in her brief time as an Element Holder.

"No, no!" she corrected, holding up her forehooves. "I, uh, was just surprised."

"Surprised?" her friend said dully, with disbelief coating her reply. She was convinced that Twilight had lied to make her happy, and she would be hard-pressed to believe otherwise.

Already she could see what her answer had done, and she scolded herself for having shut down.

"Let me explain," Twilight offered. When Applejack gave a sigh and a nod, Twilight went on. "Whenever a pony is under a great deal of stress, some are able to cope with it and pull through without exhibiting any issues whatsoever. That is generally how you are."

Applejack visibly considered this, and couldn't help but give a light-hearted chuckle at Twilight's assessment. "Alright, I'll give ya that. But what does that have to do with you?" she asked, poking Twilight's chest with the tip of her hoof.

"I am more of a passive, or inner-stresser," she explained, happy to be able to share something personal with a friend, "I contain the stress and pressure until I cannot handle it, and then I momentarily.. Shut down. Either that, or my hair gets all frizzy and I grind my teeth. It goes both ways."

"I can't tell which one is scarier, to be honest," Applejack commented with a shrug and a smile. Twilight observed she was less tense, now, and decided to ask a question of her own.

"I'll give you my answer, but only on one condition. You have to answer my question first," she bargained. Taking on a more serious look and tone, she asked bluntly, "Why me?"

"Well.. I'd like to say that I always felt this way. That I always liked ya. But I ain't too eager to be a liar just yet," she answered, avoiding her actual answer. "Guess what I'm tryin' to say is.. I don't know. I like you 'cause I like ya. Plain 'n' simple."

Twilight considered this, and such an answer would normally drive her to insanity. It wasn't a definitive answer, and she still didn't know why. But if Applejack didn't know, how would she force the answer out? She wouldn't lie about not knowing, after all.

"Well, in that case, you deserve my answer," Twilight replied, deciding that Applejack's answer would have to suffice for the time being. Steeling her nerves, Twilight prepared to deliver her actual, honest answer to Applejack. She was ready, and no amount of stress or worries would stop her.

At least, that's what the plan was right up until she froze up and found herself staring at her emerald-eyed friend with a warm, red face.

"Oh no. Did you lock up again? Maybe you need to lie down a spell," Applejack commented, furrowing her eyebrows.

Tapping her hooves together, Twilight began stuttering, "Well.. Uhm. I suppose I'm not good at this, either?"

"I'll make it easy on ya," Applejack said, being better at steadying herself than Twilight. "How 'bout I make us somethin' to eat after this is all over, and we can go to that clearin' in the woods. Sound good?"

Having a plan made things a lot more simple for Twilight, and she nodded, "That would be, uhm.. Nice. Yes. I'd like that."

"Then it's settled. We'll give this a shot, hm?" Applejack said, and dared to give Twilight a light nuzzle under her chin.

The unicorn thought her face would melt off, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless and gave a warm smile, regardless of whether or not Applejack could see.

"Yes," she said happily, returning the affectionate gesture without hesitation.