Twilight's choice: Of Apples and Rainbows

It was morning in Equestria as Twilight Sparkle made her way to Sweet Apple acres. There was a slight chill to the air, but the sun was doing a fine job at warming her fur and the land around her.

She stopped along the way and leaned herself against a fence post, and took a breath to steady herself. Today was not the day to get cold hooves. Twilight had been keeping a secret for a long while and she planned to let it out. It had taken her weeks to decide on which of her crushes she would confess her feelings to. But upon realizing that she couldn't properly decide between them, She went with the choice she was sure wouldn't laugh in her face if she were to be rejected.

"Okay." She muttered. "Don't blow this, Sparkle. It could be your last chance..."

She was suddenly taken aback as she realized that this could very well ruin their friendship if it didn't go smoothly..

"But I'm getting ahead of myself here." she thought sternly, propping her self back up and away from the fence post as she started again towards the house. Though the sun was still making it's slow steady climb upwards, it could still be felt as it warmed her fur and the air around her. It was nice to be alive that morning walking among the apple trees. The smell of the crisp autumn leaves clung to the air all around her and made her feel peaceful again.

Step one: "Ask Applejack to attend a picnic." She recited thoughtfully, Taking a step up and onto the porch.

She was nervous now, as she studied the front door. More than half of her resolve for the scheme ahead left her in one fell swoop. She hadn't realized just how hard it would be to simply trot on over and knock on the door. Just how many times had she knocked on that old door with no problem what so ever? But now, with what she had planned. The old farmhouse door may as well have had a creature of the Everfree hidden behind it.

She stood there frozen in place, staring at the door. Her mind was abuzz with frantic thoughts. Some of them urged her forward, while others begged her to flee.

Not that any of these thoughts made a difference. Just as she was beginning to think that fleeing and trying again some other time seemed like a good option, it was taken from her.

A dog had begun to bark on the other side of the door; just as she was began to register what this meant, AJ's voice could be heard as she approached the door.

"Consarnit, Winona. Quit yer yappin, Ah said I was comin."

“Oh no, Oh no, Oh no! What do I do? Do I run? What if she sees me before I get away?” Twilight panicked Immediately the image of Aj calling after her as she flew towards home came to mind. How would she explain herself? Surely Aj would expect somepony like Rainbow to pull a ding-dong-ditch prank. But from herself?

No, AJ would never buy that excuse.

“That's it! I can just tell her that Rainbow put me up to-”

It was too late now. The door had opened and there she still stood, staring at the door with a rather serious expression that she wasn't entirely aware of.

"Uh... You okay there, Sugarcube?" Aj asked as she saw Twilight's face.

Suddenly Twilight jumped up in the air. In a motion that was not unlike something Pinkie could be seen doing.

"Just great." She half yelled. "Why do you ask?"

"Cuz you were havin a starin contest with the front of my house, Darlin." Applejack replied as she raised an eyebrow. "Is.. uh.. everything okay with the princess?" Aj probed, thinking about the last time she had seen Twilight this stressed out. She did NOT wish to have another go at what happened last time Twilight had been stressed about something.

No, no, no, everything's thing's fine." She answered as her voice returned back to its normal tone.

Applejack expression became visibly relieved at this and she took another step out of the door towards her friend. "That's good to hear. You were lookin mighty anxious there for a moment."

"I. Uh. Yeah I guess I was." Twilight admitted, a shy quiver returning to her voice.

The two were silent for a moment as Applejack regarded the young Alicorn. Something was obviously amiss with Twilight. Something that she was finding hard to talk about.

Aj looked around the porch, waiting for Twilight to go on. But when nothing came. She became even more curious. Just what had Twilight come here to say... or do?

"Would you like to come on in for some iced tea or somethin?"

"No." Twilight replied quickly. "I just came to-" She hesitated again. "Come on, Sparkle. It's not that hard. Just say, 'will you go on a picnic with me?' I mean if you can't do this, how in sweet Celestia's name are you going to do the most important step?"

"I.. Just wanted to ask-.."

"Ask?"

"You to go on a picnic with me!" Finished Twilight, almost shouting as the word came tumbling out of her mouth and into the air around her.

Applejack's widened in surprise. Out of all the things Twilight could have said. This could not have been further from her mind if sompony had written it down and had gotten Celestia to banish it to the moon.

"Is... That it?" Asked Applejack, confusion just barely audible in her voice.

Twilight's cheeks glowed a fierce crimson as she looked down at her hooves. "Well, yeah, it is."

"Then why were ya bein all shy for, Twi? You know you can ask me anything."

At this Twilight brightened. Looking back up to Applejack again smiled with a blush still showing on her lavender cheeks. "Does that mean you'll come?"

"Well.. Ah've been mighty busy recently with-" Aj began, but stopped as soon as she saw Twilight’s smile drop to a lonesome frown. "But Ah suppose I could make some time."

"No, I wouldn't want to take you away from your work. We could do it another time when you're not so busy."

With that Twilight began to back away and towards the porch steps. But she was stopped as Aj put a hoof over her shoulder. A blush spread across her face again as her eyes widened at the sudden closeness of the orange mare.

"Now, Sugarcube. If Ah say that Ah can make some time, Ah can make some time. Whats got you so worked up anyhow?"

"I was just worried about whether you would be able to come or not, I mean. I've... sorta been planning this.. for a while." Twilight's blush intensified as she accidently revealed more than she wanted. It was just so hard to keep herself from answering honestly when Applejack was involved.

It was hard for Aj to beleive that this was what had Twilight so worked up. Whatever was going on around this picnic must have been very important to Twilight, decided Applejack firmly to herself. Though thinking back on the last few weeks. She hadn't exactly seen much of her friends with how busy she had been on the farm. Could Twilight be worried that they might not be friends anymore? Or at the very least, growing apart? If that was the case, she would just have to make some more time to spend with her friends. And it would begin by making time to go on Twilight's picnic.

Her mind was already on what dish she would bring when Twilight spoke again. "So what do you think about tomorrow afternoon?"

Wasn't that rather soon? Though it wasn't too soon she supposed. "Why sure thing, Twilight. Ah just hope ah have time to cook somethin."

"Oh no, that won't be necessary." Twilight insisted quickly. "I was going to cook some things."

"Why, Twilight, Ah didn't know you could cook." Applejack said with a surprised smile on her face.

Twilight gave Aj a small laugh. "Well, golden oak library had quite the collection of cook books in stock. I suppose it was only a matter of time before I started looking at them."

Applejack gave a knowing nod.

"Besides." Twilight added. "It's much more cost effective to cook your own food. Can't be spending all my money on takeout."

"Aw shoot, Ah didn't know you had to worry about that kinda thing since becomin a princess and all."

"Well of course I still have to pay for things." Answered Twilight with a pleasant chuckle. "Plus I'm still living on the salary from running the Golden oak- Or. Well." Twilight grimaced as she corrected heself. "Crystal library, now. I mean, just because I got a castle here in town now. It doesn't mean I got some fancy new job in politics."

Applejack hadn't thought about it before. But now that Twilight mentioned it, it made sense. Afterall, Mayor Mare was still in a job. It wasn't really clear what Twilight's status as Princess had changed. Unless of course you considered the map and the quests it had been asigning to her and her friends.

But they weren't exactly paid for the jobs they did for the map. Or at least not in bits.

"So.." Twilight began, stepping away from Aj. "Where do you want to meet up tomorrow?"

"Ah guess we can meet at the castle, Twi." Applejack answered.

"How does five o'clock in the afternoon sound?"

"Sounds alright to me."

Twilight nodded happily. "Alright then, I guess I'll let you get back to what you were doing. I need to be getting back to the castle anyways. Last time I left Spike alone for too long, I came back and found him playing Gummiezilla on the map of Equestria."

They both bursted into laughter.

"Aww, poor lil fella." Commented Aj as she wiped a stray tear from her eye.

With that the two mares said their goodbyes, and with flash of purple magic. Twilight teleported to the edge of the yard and trotted very fast back towards ponyville with a huge grin plastered on her face.

Applejack watched her friend go with a thoughtfull expression playing on her honest features.

"Ah guess I could whip up some apple fritters for tomorrow. It would be a shame to go to a picnic and not bring anythin." Applejack decided as she watched the purple pony make her way down the dirt road.  But why was she still standing there? For some reason she couldn't take her eyes away.

She was beginning to get an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach, it told her something was going to change soon. She shook her head. "Ah must be spendin too much time around Pinkie and her 'Pinkie sense' talk."She thought with a hearty laugh.

Finally when Twilight had disappeared around a bend in the road. She turned around and went back into the house to send Applebloom off to school.

Meanwhile at the edge of ponyville, Twilight could only think one thing. It seemed to almost ring with every hoof step she made. Even the bird song in the trees around her seemed to declare it proudly to the sky.

"Step one: complete."

~~*~~

The castle kitchen was a mess of cook books. They covered almost every available surface aside from the counter to the side of their big cast iron stove. Which was a mess of different cooking apparatus. Dirtied mixing bowls, Sauté pans, and an assortment of different ingredients cluttered the area in what would have been a chef's worse nightmare.

Though Twilight had been so insistent about cooking the meal for the picnic. She had almost no idea what she would cook for it. Every plan she had made for it was quickly dismissed in favor of another food item.

Her first menu had almost been exclusively apple related foods. But then it occurred to her that it might have been a bit short sighted. Just because Applejack lived and worked on an apple farm, didn't mean she would want to eat nothing but apple foods.

After that it had been next to impossible for her to decide on anything.

Spike sat at the low lying kitchen table. A bored expression plastered across his face.

A bowl of apple dumplings sat in front of him. One of Twilight's failed dishes that had gone directly to him.

"You know, Twilight." Spike called out, giving his food a few idle jabs with his fork. "I don't think it really matters what you cook. AJ is gonna like whatever you make because you cooked it. You know, the thought's what counts and all that jazz."

"I'm sure you're right, Spike. But I can't not worry about it. You know how I am about things." Murmured Twilight softly.

She was currently looking over a book titled. 'The many Mares of Equestria: A guide to dating the three types'.

Twilight held the tome, in front of her with her magic. It was open to the section on Earth Pony mares. According to the book, the sure fire way to an earth pony's heart was through her stomach. And though she was slightly worried that the books general discription might ring false. Taking the advice of a book lightly was still against her better nature. "Besides. thought Twilight briskly . "Even if it's not true of all Earth ponies. It's certainly true of the Apple family.

"Ugh!" Twilight groaned, snapping the booking closed and sitting it down on the table with Spike. "I just don't know what to cook!"

"Just cook something simple." Said Spike, popping a dumpling into his mouth with a small clawed hand.

"Simple? Are you nuts?" Said Twilight with an exasperated huff.

When she had pictured the meal, it had been anything but simple. The picnic in her minds eye had been completely decked out. And the Applejack featured had gushed at her cooking prowess.

"Gosh, Twilight." Said dream Applejack with flirtatious, half lidded eyes. "Ah've never met a pony with two special talents before. Best Cheff, and best Spell Pony!"

"Well." Continued Spike, ignoring Twilight's outburst. "You know how country ponies like comfort food. How about you go for something savory?"

"Uh... Hmm. You might have a point there, Spike."

She thought it over for a few minutes. The first savory food that came to mind was sautéd mushrooms. Such a simple food but with such beautifully complex flavors with a savory and conforting taste. Her mouth watered slightly just thinking about that last time she'd had them.

She went for the piles of cook books. Looking through them until she found the right one. And then with a bit of her magic, she pulled out and began flipping through it untill she found it. A series of mushroom themed dishes.

She skimmed through the chapter until one recipe caught her eye, one for stuffed mushrooms. It was the thing she was looking for, and it was perfect.

Setting the book down. She took up her parchment and quill and wrote it down along with the name of the book and page number that held the recipe.

looking up from her list in the making. She glanced over in Spike's direction, who had gone back to eating. She felt bad for how she had acted, after all, Spike had been trying to help her. And she had snapped at him.

No matter how worried she was over this, it was no reason to treat Spike like that.

"Spike... About how I acted-"

Spike waved a dismissive hand at her. "No worries, Twi. I understand."

"Thank you, Spike." whispered Twilight as she ran a hoof over Spike's frilled head.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Spike flustered covering his grin.

~~*~~

It was 1:30 in the afternoon of the same day when Twilight finished off her menu for the picnic. But finding that she was missing a few key ingridients, she ended up heading back out into town once more. A small draw string pouch full of bits jingled daintily in her saddle bag as she trotter cheerfully in the cool fall air.

It would be some weeks before the running of the leaves, so the trees in ponyville were still filled to busting with foliage of of deep reds and golds.

Growing up in Canterlot, Twilight had never really been able to properly appreciate the beauty that nature could hold. Though she hadn't been completly kept in the dark.

Canterlot did have trees which were grown for decorative purposes, and there were places like the Canterlot royal gardens. Though she hadn't exactly made the time to visit those kinds of places while she'd lived there. The wild grown trees of ponyville and it's surounding forrests were almost as much apart of the town as the houses were. And it only took something as small as a quick trot to the local open air market to have the time to enjoy them.

Spike sat riding on top of Twilight's saddle bags. It was always nice to go out on a trot with Twilight like this. As she went, Spike raised his face and breathed in the smell of fall leaves. It was wonderful.

They made their way in silence. Simply enjoying each others company as other ponies made their own way through town on their own business. Life as uasual.

But Twilight could still feel the buzz of her plan. It ran through her legs and hooves like electric and gave her hoof steps an energetic bounce.

She made her rounds about the market place, Stopping at each produce stand. It was four stops until she found one selling muchrooms, and another two until she found the mushrooms she needed.

It was a goat running the stand. With a soft brown coat and horns that curled around his face.

"Hello." Called Twilight with a smile. "I couldn't help but see you were selling mushrooms. You wouldn't happen to have portabella in stock, would you?"

He nodded. "Sure do, just harvested this morning, Princess."

"T-that's good then," stuttered Twilight, "I wonder who he is, I've never seen him around before. "could I get five or six of them, please?"

"That'll be ten bits." The goat informed, and then he gathered the mushrooms into a burlap sack.

Using her magic, she levitated the cloth pouch out of her saddle bag and paid him. "Thank you."

She said her goodbyes, and Spike waved at him as they trotted away. There were only a few more things on her list that she needed and she couldn't wait to actually start cooking.

She hadn't gone very far until a familiar pink ball of fur was trotting beside her. "Hey, Twilight! Hello Spike, whatcha two doin in town!?"

"Oh, hello, Pinkie," she said giving the pink pony a playful shove with her hoof. "We were was just doing some grocery  shopping."

“Yeah." Spike piped in. "We're cooking food for a pic-" Twilight quickly grabbed Spike in her magic and floated him up and onto the ground before he could finish.

"No need to bore Pinkie with our chores, Spike."

"For Celestia's sake! Didn't I tell him to keep quiet about that?"

"Oh really!? what's the food ya lookin for?"

"Just some che-"

"Kumquat's?" asked Pinkie excitedly.

"Kumquat's? No, the next thing on my list is-"

"No. No. No, let me guess." Cried Pinkie, rubbing her chin and taking on a serious expression.

Which made Spike chuckle in delight.

"At least someone is enjoying himself." Thought Twilight.

"It's alright, Pinkie. I can just tell you-"

"That's it! I know what it is! But you need to go to Sugarcube corner for that, Silly. What are ya doin all the way over here, Twilight?"

Twilight face hoofed. "Pinkie Pie, the next thing on my list is cheese. Why would Sugarcube corner have that?"

"Duh, Twilight." Said Pinkie, who stuck out her tongue. "Ya ever heard of cheese cake?"

"Pinkie." Said Twilight firmly. "I don't think we're talking-"

"Of course we're not talking, silly." said Pinkie, cutting Twilight off. "We're walking to Sugarcube corner."

Pinkie wasn't walking now. She was bouncing off into another direction. Twilight stood and gaped after her. "Well, I could pick up a cake for me and Applejack to share.."

~~*~~

As Pinkie Pie and Twilight made their way to Sugarcube corner, Applejack was hard at work on the farm.

The weather was perfect for it today, not too hot and not too cold. But in spite of that there were beads of sweat forming on Aj forehead and along her neck.

Taking a moment to take a much needed break, she observed her surroundings. She was working the east orchards today and was far enough out that the house could not be seen through the trees. When she was done here, her and Big Mac would have to come back here and gather the apple baskets into their wagon to be brought back to the main barn. "These apples". Applejack thought. "Should be half way to manehatten by this time tomorrow."

She would have to work extra hard tomorrow and today if she didn't want to look as though she was trying to shirk her duties by going to that picnic with Twilight.

Not that anypony in her family had said anything like that when she'd brought it up.

But she couldn't help but feel that they were thinking of it that way. She was afraid that Big Macintosh, who didn't seem to have much of a social life. Or at least none that she had observed, might not understanding of the need to make sure Twilight was okay.

Twilight may as well have been an Apple herself at this point, with the way Applejack felt about her.

Though the same could be said for the rest of her friends, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Twilight was different though. She wouldn't dare admit it aloud, but she had been coping with a crush on the young Alicorn. Since well before she had even made the transformation.

She wouldn't dare tell her how she felt. Every time it crossed her mind, all she could imagine is Twilight rejecting her.

And now she was going on a picnic with her. Her stomach erupted with butterflies when she thought about it.

"Look at me gettin butterflies! It ain't even a date. Just. A. Get. Together. Between. Friends." AJ thought, forcing herself to except what she knew was simple fact. As the element of Honesty she refused to tell herself what seemed to be such obvious lies. but for some reason she couldn't keep her mind from wonder back to it.

She groaned loudly.  Twilight is a princess now, there's no way she could be with... Somepony like me. Ah mean, who's ta say Twilight even likes mares like that?  It hurt Applejack to think it, but it was true. Even if Twilight didn't care about titles, and Celestia knew she didn't. She just couldn't ignore it herself.

What could she offer Twilight other than a home on her farm. And that wasn't really hers to give. Half of it belonged to Big Mac. And both Aj and Big Mac were set on making it the same for Applebloom when she came of age.

Even if the little filly didn't choose to work with apples farming. She would always have a home to come back to at Sweet Apple Acres if her older siblings had anything to say about it.

I suppose if that were ta happen I could just live in the cast-

She cut herself off, even in her wildest dreams she knew that a castle was no place she wanted to live. The castle that Twilight was living in now was far too big to have the warm and inviting feel that her home here on the farm had.

She hadn't told Twilight this, but visiting her castle had never felt like going into a somepony's house. The feeling it gave her was more akin to stepping inside an office building, or a museum. Not a place somepony was living and making a home in.

To be honest, she felt sorry for Twilight.

She knew that losing her Treehouse had been hard on Twilight, and though she seemed fine now. She couldn't help but feel that the decoration her and the girl's had helped make out of Golden Oaks roots might not have been enough to make it a true home.

But that smile it had put on Twilight's beautiful face... That face.. Applejack lost her train of thought as she pictured it. And for a moment she felt that even a wet old cave would make a good home if only she could be lucky enough wake up to that each morning.

She shook her head to clear it and trotted over to where eight baskets sat and grabbed the last two empty ones and brought them over to a nearby tree. With a bit of good ole fashioned earth pony magic. She coaxed the apples into falling where she wanted and she reared up and gave the tree a buck to end all bucks.

The apples fell, each and every one landing in the baskets.

She groaned as she righted herself. But she was happy. Work would take her mind off of her Twilight troubles. Work could always be counted upon to relieve her stress when she had it.

She cursed, "Pony feathers! I need ta get more baskets."

She wasn't looking forward to the time trotting back for more baskets would give her to think about the upcoming day.