Just Watching the Sun Rise
“You know, I always wondered what the exact difference was between a debacle and a calamity.” Twilight’s tone was thoughtful. “Now I think I know. Tonight… was a debacle.”
Applejack chuckled. “I’ll say. Never seen Fluttershy like that. Nor seen Rarity so ticked off. Madder’n a wet hen—”
There was an indignant cluck from nearby.
Applejack sighed. “Sorry, Melinda. No offence.”
The two ponies were leaning against the wooded fence next to one another, facing the East. Neither of them had slept the previous night. While the Grand Galloping Gala was generally expected to last well into the early morning, their first experience had ultimately ended in total chaos. Once the dust had settled, the six friends had spent hours hanging out with Spike, and letting him show them the sights by way of apology for forgetting him in their earlier excitement. It was generally acknowledged that time with Spike had, in fact, been the highlight of the night.
Now it was hours even after that. Once Spike was safely asleep in the library, Applejack had walked home with Twilight accompanying her. Behind them, Sweet Apple Acres was just starting to stir.
“And I never saw Princess Celestia like she was tonight,” Twilight mused. “I mean, I’m glad she was happy – it was the happiest I’ve ever seen her, aside from when Princess Luna returned. But in all the years I’ve been her student, she always seemed so serene. So formal, almost aloof. Now, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. She wanted the party disrupted?”
“Maybe she just wanted to see that snot-nose nephew a’hers get his comeuppance,” Applejack suggested. “I gotta say, I weren’t too impressed with him myself. When I think a’ what that critter said about my apple fritters, it still makes my blood boil. Not to mention how he treated Rarity.”
“Yeah. I can only imagine what it must be like, having your heart broken like that.”
“Well, now, I don’t know as I’d go that far.” Applejack rolled her eyes a little. “You gotta bear in mind, this is Rarity. An’ much as I do love her to death, she can kinda be a…”
“Drama queen?” Twilight offered.
“Yeah, little bit. Still, I suppose it must be disappointin’, havin’ your cap set for a fella an’ findin’ out he’s such a jerk. Be worse’n bein’ told off from the start.”
Twilight looked out at the dawn. “I suppose. I’ve never had the experience.”
“Never been turned down, or never asked a jerk?”
“No, I mean I’ve never asked.”
“Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense. But you’ve been asked.”
Twilight shrugged. “I suppose.”
Applejack nodded. “Yeah, that’s about where I’m at. But Rarity,” She chuckled. “I do declare, I’ve never seen a mare with such demandin’ tastes in a fella’s set-up an’ get-up.”
Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “Meaning?”
“Well, let’s just say a stallion’s gotta be able to afford her. Now, don’t get me wrong,” she added at Twilight’s frown, “I ain’t a-callin’ her a gold-digger. That gal’d give her own tail ta help a critter out, an’ we were both there when she did. But Celestia knows, she is a mare who wants for pamperin’. Them as can’t, need not apply.
“Me, I ain’t so demandin’,” Applejack mused, her own gaze returning eastward. “All I want’s somepony I know I can love, an’ know they love me back. Somepony I can wake up with in the mornin’ and watch ‘em sleep a li’l afore I get up.” She smiled. “Somepony I can trust with my heart, even when times’r bad, an’ who smiles when I touch their mane. The rest is kinda negotiable, y’know?” Her smile faded, and she went on, “But me an’ Sweet Apple Acres, we’re a package deal. They wouldn’t have ta buck apples or paint the barn, I can do all that myself. But to be with me, they’d have ta move in here. The farm is a big parta my life, Twi. I’ll support ‘em in all their endeavours, but I need them ta support me in mine.” She sighed. “And for the few ponies I’ve ever looked at, that’s been a deal breaker. A big one.”
Twilight stared. “But that’s crazy! It’s so beautiful here, how…”
Applejack shrugged. “I dunno. But that’s the way it is. I reckon Big Mac an’ Cheerilee might get hitched someday. Maybe he’ll move out, or maybe they’ll raise their kids here. I’d like that. Apple Bloom’ll find somepony, too, like as not. An’ maybe she’ll move off somewhere to be with ‘em, though I’d miss her somethin’ fierce. But fer me, I’ll live out my life right here on the farm, with an apple tree on my grave when I pass.” She smiled again. “An’ that suits me right down to the ground.”
The breeze toyed with their manes as it went by, smelling pleasantly of apple blossoms and green grass.
After a time, Applejack said, “So, what do you look for?”
“When?”
“In a partner.”
“Oh.” A pause. “Um, I don’t.”
Applejack cocked her head. “You mean like, it’ll happen when it happens?”
“No, I mean like, I’m not looking for anything to happen.” Twilight hesitated for a moment, and then took the plunge. “I’m not attracted to anypony. Mares, Stallions, whatever. I’m not into it.” She took a deep breath. “I’m asexual.”
Applejack blinked. “Oh. Well, alright then.”
Twilight let out her breath.
“You okay there?”
Relieved and glad, Twilight leaned her head on Applejack’s shoulder. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
Smiling, Applejack leaned her own head on Twilight’s. “Any time, sugar cube.”
* * *
After a while, they were side-by-side again, Twilight’s gaze turned wistful. “Two bits for your thoughts,” Applejack said.
“Oh, I was just remembering when I tried to talk to my mom about it,” Twilight replied. “It didn’t go so well.”
“She wanted grandfoals someday, huh?”
Twilight shrugged. “It wasn’t even that. She was just so convinced that I could never have a fulfilling life unless I was doing it.” She slipped into an impression of her mother. “‘Oh, honeeeey, I just know you’d like it if you tried it…’”
Applejack stared at her. “Seriously?”
“Uh-huh. I tried to explain to her that I didn’t want to try it, that I was perfectly happy without…” She sighed. “She just couldn’t get it. I mean, she wasn’t mean about it, and she tried to be supportive towards the end… but just the same, I walked away thinking that maybe there was something wrong with me, after all.”
“Sounds pretty rough. How old were ya?”
“Thirteen. And yeah, I was pretty wrecked. Fortunately, I’d been Princess Celestia’s student for a while by then, and I talked to her about it when I got back from break.”
“Yeah, I gotta say, the Princess is a fine lady. She getcha back on track?”
Twilight nodded. “Uh-huh. She knew exactly where I was coming from, in fact. Nopony brings it up in Canterlot, so I didn’t know until we talked. But it’s no secret that she’s not into sex either. Never had a lover, never going to. And perfectly happy.”
“I reckon that musta helped.”
Twilight grinned. “Well, it’s hard to think you’re a total misfit when your mentor is the same way.”
“Huh.” Applejack considered this. “Wish Rainbow’d had that kinda luck.”
Twilight frowned. “Why, what happened?”
“Oh, it was a while back. But when she was a little filly, I guess she got seven different shades of hay over bein’ inta mares.”
“Rainbow Dash? But every pony she’s ever looked at—”
“…has been a stallion,” Applejack finished for her. “Sure. But Cloudsdale ain’t like Canterlot, nor even like Ponyville. Farther away from the Princess, maybe. An’ Rainbow stood out, in a lotta ways. So it didn’t matter if she was, or she wasn’t. It was just somethin’ ta call a pony like it was an insult, an’ fer the older foals ta pick on her about. An’ they did.” She shook her head. “Got into some nasty fights I guess, when she was little. If you can call three-on-one or five-on-one a fight.”
Twilight stared in disbelief. “That’s… horrible.”
“Well, times’re better nowadays. Just the same, though: you got a death wish, you just start talkin’ down ‘bout other folks’ preferences around her. One time she overheard a couple’a fillies givin’ Apple Bloom a rough time on her way home, sayin’ stuff about her an’ Sweetie Belle. Way I hear it, Dash might as well have stabbed them bullies as scared ‘em to death. One of ‘em, Silver Spoon, she went on about how she was gonna tell her daddy afore she ran off. But nuthin’ came of it. So either she didn’t, or he decided she was in the wrong.”
They watched the sun rise together a while longer, in comfortable silence.
“Well, I better get goin’,” Applejack said at last. “Got a lotta chores ta do. But, listen.” She put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, and Twilight turned to be met by Applejack’s eyes as the orange mare spoke to her in a voice both serious and gentle. “Comes down to it, Twi… you ever change your mind about farm livin’, you just let me know. Okay?”
Twilight smiled. “Aw, thanks, AJ.” They hugged briefly, and Applejack trotted into the barn. Twilight went back to contemplating the dawn for a moment, before her head whipped back around to stare at the barn in wonder.
“Wait, what?”
