Twilight's choice: Of Apples and Rainbows

Twilight had found the perfect cake for the picnic: a cheesecake, baked golden brown and topped with a pile of deep purple black berries, their juices soaking in the cheesecake’s thick meat. She had more often than not eaten the type of instant cheesecake that needs to be put in the fridge, but she knew it didn't even begin to compare to a cheesecake made from scratch.

Plus the cake was simply too perfect. The yellowish cake reminded her so much of Applejack’s mane, and the black berries were of course her... on top.

Yet again that day she felt her face go bright hot with another blush.

Twilight shook her head to clear it of any more incriminating thoughts. Turning towards her home with the cake and the cheese in tow, she headed back to the castle to do some cooking.

~~~*~~~

"Hello? Twilight? Are you there?"

There was a loud thud as the large crystal door of Twilight's castle slammed closed behind her. Rainbow took a wide sweeping gaze at the entrance hall; the grandness of the young alicorn's new home never ceased to amaze her. Sure the old tree house had been cute, but this was the kind of thing royalty should live in.

She trotted down the hall, her hoofsteps sending tapping sounds echoing faintly around the room. Taking a second, she popped into the map room. Twilight had come to be known for poring over the thing from time to time-but she wasn't there.

Sliding out of the room, she headed across the hall to the steps. Stopping at the foot of the stairs, she called up, "Twilight? You home?" Without waiting for an answer, she clambered up the stairs.

Twilight was probably busy reading some book the Sun Princess had sent-Celestia was always sending some new book, especially since Twilight had lost her library.

The castle library was a maze of bookshelves that filled the whole of the second floor. Books of every shape, size and color filled the wooden structures. The shelves were all separated into sections labeled with large, colorful rectangles of paper. The sections for magic and science had the most space dedicated to them, spilling into other rooms at some areas. Rainbow paid no attention as she trotted quickly by them, down each shelf, checking to see if Twilight or Spike were anywhere to be found, as she made her way to the study-Twilight had an impressive looking office on this floor that she used as her private study zone.

Arriving at the door, she pushed it open with her hoof and trotted in. The room was small, but had an enormous ceiling that went up several feet. The place was brightly lit by natural light from three large windows at the far end of the room.

Rainbow whistled when she saw the desk, it was stacked high with books.

The egg head must be studying something. Wonder what..

Rainbow trotted over to the desk and sat on her haunches, then picked up a book with her hooves.

It was a romance novel.

She looked at the stack-They were all romance novels.

"What the buc—"

~~~*~~~

Back down in the entrance hall, the big double doors flew open. Spike and Twilight had returned.

Using her magic, she lifted Spike into the air and onto the ground. "Could you take these bags to the kitchen? I'm going to head up stairs and grab AJ's wine for the picnic." Spike looked surprised for a moment, but didn't say anything. Nodding his head, he took the bags from Twilight's back, heading across the hall and through a door at the end.

Using her magic again, she floated her saddlebags off of her back and over onto a hook. Then, with an excited gait, she trotted up the stairs.

~~~*~~~

Rainbow trotted down the hall, heading towards a specific room in the castle. Twilight's bedroom was the only other place she could think to look for her. She might be in bed after an all night study binge. If Twilight wasn't there then she would know that she was out in town somewhere.

It's totally not creepy, Rainbow thought to herself. I'm just checking, and then I'll be right out.

Arriving at the door, she gently pushed it open, as quietly as she could, and peeked around the edge of the door into the room;The bed was made and the room was vacant.

She sighed in relief-Twilight wasn't home. But still, something nagged at her.

Acting on her instincts, she sauntered in, snapping her head around to look at the door as if Twilight might be back at any moment. But all was still, and this calmed Rainbow down.

Turning, she looked around the room. It was unsurprisingly filled with books. There was a single shelf filled, but most of the books were piled in the far corner.

Spike must not keep check of this as well he did now that he has his own room.

The young dragon had always been in charge of making sure Twilight didn't move the whole library up to her room in a series of study binges.

Rainbow turned to leave the room when she heard a familiar voice just down the hall. Thrown into a panic, she glanced around the room, her mind blank. She had just enough time to duck and slide under the bed as Twilight came into the room. Rainbow watched as Twilight's purple hooves trotted past the bed and to the night stand.

Don't look under the bed, don't look under the bed, don't look under the bed...

Rainbow felt a bead of sweat form on her brow.

~~~*~~~

It was a pretty amber color even in the dim side table drawer.

Wrapping it in her magic, she floated the bottle of vintage apple wine into the light. It was a gift from Applejack for her first Hearth Warming's Eve in Ponyville. She had never had an opportunity to open it before now, but with the plans she had, this seemed like an excellent opportunity to open it.

With a tender hoof, she wiped the dust from the bottle's label. It was one of the few items that had survived the blast that destroyed her home, though it hadn't gone completely unscathed. There was a slight chip in the bottle's top that had exposed more of the cork.

With a happy skip to her step, she almost ran out of the room, with the bottle following closely behind her.

~~~*~~~

As soon as Rainbow was sure that Twilight wasn't coming back, she bolted from out from under the bed and fled to the window. Flinging it open, she flew  outside side. After she'd flown some distance away, she let herself land on a cloud where she collapsed in a hyperventilating mess.

That could have been a disaster.

She laid there for several more minutes before she was ready to go down again. At least this time, Twilight was home.

Flying back down to the castle entrance, she flung open the door and called out for Twilight. She had no reason to feel ashamed.After all, Twilight didn't know a thing.

~~~*~~~

"Twilight!? You home?"

Rainbow's call echoed down to the kitchen. Twilight had just gotten back down here and was currently looking over a cookbook titled; 'When Life Gives You pastries.' Spike was the first to react. Running over to the base of the stairs, he called up, "We're down here!"

Rainbow bounded down the stairs, taking them two by two and almost knocking Spike down as she came into the room. "Hey Twilight, I've been looking all over for you."

Twilight got up from the table and trotted over to meet Rainbow.

Well this sure is a surprise, I wonder what she wants.

"So, what’s going on? You finished 'Lord of the Parasprites' already?"

"What? Oh, no, I haven't had a chance to start it yet..." Rainbow blushed, Twilight had given her that book a few weeks ago with a glowing review and she had intended to read it-but it had just gathered dust at her house since.

Hope that doesn't ruin my chances..

Twilight frowned, "Well, that's okay I guess. Just tell me what you think when you start,"

The two were silent for a moment.

"Is that all..?"

"No! It's not, I came over here to tell you something,"

Wow, this is harder than I thought it was gonna be.

"Something?" Twilight cocked her head curiously.

No other way, I'm gonna have to do it fast, like a Band-Aid.

Taking a deep breath of air, Rainbow let the words pour out of her like water. "I love you and I think that we should go on a date sometime!"

~~~*~~~

Almost thirty minutes earlier at Sweet Apple Acres, Granny Smith, Big Mac and Applejack had got the wagon filled with baskets and has retired back to the main barn. They were waiting for the sales associates from Manehatten to come and pick them up for transport now and had decided to take a small lunch break outside the barn. "What's gotten your tail in twist, lil’ filly?"

"Uh, wha?" Applejack looked up from her hayburger at Granny.

"Now don't give me that, something’s been eatin’ at ya all day and I wanna hear it."

She couldn't speak for a moment. Granny had seen right through her, or perhaps her mood was more obvious than she had realized.

"Granny, can ah ask you a question?"

"Shoot, Applejack, ‘course ya can."

"Well, if there was a pony you liked, but that pony was like really high status,what would you do?"

Granny Smith took a moment to think about the answer for a moment, rubbing her chin with a hoof as she did.

"Well ah'm not one to be givin’ a hoot ‘bout status. If ah liked a nice stallion, ah suppose ah'd just come out and tell ‘em." She was quiet for a moment longer, then a knowing smile spread across her face. "Why don't you go on and head to the castle and see Twilight. See if she wants any help cookin for that lil’ get together you youngins are havin’ tomorrow."

"But Granny-"

The old mare cut off AJ's argument with a wave of her hoof. "Now back in my day, when our elders gave us a break from our chores we said thank you and went on our happy way.... AJ, you've been workin’ yourself hard for this family, you go sort yourself out."

Applejack didn't say another word, she got up and headed out of the barn, but before she left, Granny Smith called out after her,"Good luck, Kiddo!"

Applejack couldn't form a complete thought for several minutes and she was already walking into town when that one thought popped into her mind, it was so final that she let it repeat a few times.

Ah'm really doin’ this.

~~~*~~~

Rainbow let the words hang there for a few moments, her eyes squeezed shut. After a few moments though, she realized that Twilight hadn't said anything, with her stomach in knots. She opened her eyes to look at her. Twilight eyes were wide with shock, her mouth had dropped and now she was wide eyes and gaping.

Just as Twilight was about to speak, the kitchen door flew open again to reveal an orange farm pony. "Ah love ya too, Twilight!"

Both Twilight and Rainbow turned their head to look at Applejack as the orange mare cantered into the room. "Ah've loved ya since the moment ah laid eyes on ya. Ah didn't think ah could do high society, that you being a princess made it impossible... but now I'm going for it. Whoever you want to be with is fine by me."

All was silent in the room, even Spike seemed to be holding his breath just as Rainbow and Applejack were-waiting to hear just who Twilight would choose.

"I- Well... I guess.." Twilight's voice broke off there, her eyes still opened wide, still not quite believing what had just happened.

"You pick me, right?"

"Rainbow! Let Twilight talk for herself!"

"Oh, you're just sayin’ that because you think she's gonna pick you."

"No. ah'm sayin that cuz I wanna hear what she has ta say."

"I thought you didn't want to date Twilight!"

"Ah never said that and you know it!"

"Stop it both of you!" Cried Twilight, stepping between the two mares.

Twilight facehoofed and moved to stand between the two mares. For some reason watching them bicker like that had calmed her down enough to think. She might as well have been solving a friendship problem now.

"I can't give you two answers right now. I never thought that this would happen, to be honest, I didn't even think it was possible for two of my crushes to like me back!"

The room fell silent again. Rainbow was first to recover.

"Wait, you have a crush on both of us? Then who are you gonna date?"

"I... I don't know Rainbow. I'll have to gather some data... and then..."

"Why don't you go all go on a date and have Twilight choose after?" came Spike’s unexpected response.

The three mares all whirled around to look at Spike. From the looks on their faces, they'd forgotten he was even in the room.

"Ah agree with Spike. It only fair we give Twilight time ta think this through... unless you're afraid of losin’."

Rainbow was onto Applejack in a flash, her nose pressed into Applejack's, trying to stare her down. "You're on, AJ."

They turned to look at Twilight.

"So, what do you think?"

"Well... since I already have something planned with Applejack tomorrow, I guess she'll go first." She went with the plan-she had no idea how she would ever choose, but at least it was a plan. "I... need to, um, go check something! I'll see you two on our dates." With a flash of purple magic, Twilight was gone.

"Wait! She didn't say when our date was gonna be!" Rainbow shouted.

"Chill, Rainbow, it should be the day after the one with Applejack. I'll make sure Twilight knows."

"Well... alright."

With the departure of Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack left as well, making their ways home again.

~~~*~~~

Meanwhile, at Sugarcube Corner, a bright flash had woken Gummy up from his mid-afternoon nap as pony landed loudly onto the floor of Pinkie's bedroom. It had been the first place Twilight had thought to go.

I'm such a coward... this is what I wanted right?...

It is. It's exactly what I wanted, Twilight realized. Far, far too much of what I wanted...