The two girls sat across from each other in the Sweet Snacks Cafe, conversation temporarily at a lull as neither one knew what to say next after their greeting and the surprise Sour Sweet had had after seeing just who her friend had set her up with on a blind date. When Twilight Sparkle said she “knew a girl”, Sour Sweet had assumed it was just going to be some random girl from Canterlot High. Not one that she happened to know as well.
Applejack’s fingers nervously tapped the top of the table. The farm girl more than a bit nervous even as she tried to act as cool as possible. “So um...” She finally said after the silence got a bit too much for her. “How has your day been?”
Sour Sweet rolled her eyes.
While the Shadowbolts and Twilight didn’t have near as much contact as they used to, every now and then Twilight still liked to get together with them and say hi or hang out for a bit. It was at one of these little get-togethers that Twilight Sparkle just happened to mention going on a recent date with her boyfriend, Timber Spruce. This caused the very single, and very annoyed, Sour Sweet to snap and go into a just plain “sour mode” for the remainder of the night. Because, as Sour Sweet was more than happy to tell and prove on her own, despite her desire for companionship she didn’t exactly have the best personality and attitude for starting a relationship.
In an attempt to make things right, Twilight called her the next day and offered to set her up on a blind date. Possibly against her better judgment, Sour Sweet accepted.
What did she have to lose?
“My dignity,” Sour Sweet grumbled to herself as she walked into the cafe, being told that her date would recognize her and wave her over.
And so it was with great surprise that a familiar cowboy hat wearing girl happily smiled and waved to her from one of the booths. Sour Sweet did her very best to keep her jaw from dropping or her eyes bugging out as she went to sit across from the young farmer.
“Hey there!” Applejack warmly greeted her not so blind date.
“You’re my blind date?” Sour Sweet raised an eyebrow. “Is Twilight crazy or just really hopeful?”
To her surprise, Applejack just chuckled at that. “Well there’s a great way to start a date now, huh?”
Unfortunately Sour Sweet wasn’t exactly keen on having much of a conversation with Applejack after that. A combination of annoyance and embarrassment at being put on a date with a girl she had been a rival with at the Friendship Games and then again with their collaboration on the music video. Not even to mention the fact that Applejack was some kind of discount superhero with magical powers. Sour Sweet’s reluctance and snippy attitude is what led to the current quiet time between them that Applejack had attempted to end.
Sour Sweet watched Applejack’s eyes dart around as the farmer was clearly trying to think of another way to break the ice. The Shadowbolt sighed. If the farmer was trying then she probably should as well, right?
“So you’re… you know? Too?” Sour Sweet asked as she looked at Applejack through bored and heavy eyelids.
To her surprise and amusement, Applejack blushed. “Uh, yeah.”
That almost got a small smile and giggle to come from Sour Sweet. The farm girl looked like she was embarrassed enough to try and pull her hat over her head. “Is that the only reason Twilight picked you? The two of us have absolutely nothing in common.” She rested her chin in her hand.
“We both got freckles,” Applejack said completely without sarcasm, pointing to her cheeks.
Sour Sweet made a show of rolling her eyes as dramatically and obnoxiously as possible. “Oh yeah, having freckles, what a great foundation to start a relationship on. If you’re insane.”
“Hehe,” Applejack laughed again. “You know that’s actually something I like about you? Not many girls are as blunt and honest as that. It’s kind of refreshing.”
The Shadowbolt blushed a little. “Like? And come on… that’s not being upfront or honest, that’s being two-faced. Everyone tells me that.” She looked away in embarrassment.
Applejack’s eyes searched upwards as she thought. “Hmm. I mean, yeah it’s not ideal. But you are saying your true feelings all the time. You don’t hold nothing back, and I like that. You just gotta work on being a little kinder so you got more positive things to say when you do that.” Applejack smirked at her.
Sour Sweet pouted and looked away. “Yeah, whatever.”
The conversation awkwardly paused again as Applejack wasn’t sure if Sour Sweet was really bothered or not. The two of them frankly didn’t know enough about each other, that’s what this date should have been for. Fortunately, Sour Sweet decided to try a little harder since if her “date” was putting in effort then she should probably respond at least a little bit with some kind of small talk.
“Sooo...” Sour Sweet began. “If I’m being honest. I’m surprised you're single enough to go on this blind date with me.”
Applejack perked up, tilting her head at Sour Sweet. “How so?”
“What do you mean how so?” Sour Sweet frowned. “You’re nice and one of the most popular girls at your school. How are you still single?”
The farm girl seemed to think for a second before shrugging her shoulders. “I dunno. Never really came up. Wasn’t really interested in romance too much. And I’m kind of surprised you’re still single too. You’re popular and… pretty.”
“Not nice?”
Applejack held up her hands in defeat. “I figured you’d just scoff at me or something if I called you nice.”
Sour Sweet sighed. “Well, yeah, I would.” Then her eyes suddenly opened wider and she stared at Applejack. “Wait. Pretty?”
Applejack blushed and looked away. “Uh, no… you misheard me.”
“You’re an awful liar.” Sour Sweet smirked at her. “You called me pretty.”
“Did not.”
“Did too. Is that why you agreed to this blind date even though you said you weren’t interested in romance that much?” Sour Sweet teased Applejack.
Applejack frowned through her blush and returned Sour Sweet’s gaze. “Maybe a little, okay? I remembered you from the Games and everything, and I also just wanted to do something nice. So sue me.” Applejack folded her arms in front of her chest.
“Oh, so I’m charity work?” Sour Sweet folded her own arms and feigned annoyance.
“No!” Applejack near shouted, causing some of the other customers to look over in surprise. “I wouldn’t have done this just for that. I was… interested.” She bit her lip and fiddled around with a lock of her hair.
Sour Sweet was rather amused by this, the farm girl simply did not seem like the type to get like this. Was she that embarrassed and nervous when it came to romance? Either way it was pretty funny. “Sorry~” Sour Sweet said in a singsong voice. “Didn’t mean to tease.”
Applejack snorted. “Now who’s the liar?”
Sour Sweet giggled. “Got me.”
The Canterlot High girl frowned at her for a bit longer, before her lips turned up in a smile and she giggled along as well. “Well I don’t think I’d ever have to worry about things getting boring with you at least. You’re pretty fun to talk to now that we’ve actually started.”
“And you’re alright. If you kind of like girls that work on a farm or something,” Sour Sweet responded.
“So um,” Applejack started again, twiddling her ear as she ignored the more sour part of what her date had just said. “Now you know that I think you’re pretty… is there anything you like about me?” She awkwardly smiled at the red-haired girl sitting across from her.
Sour Sweet’s eyebrows shot up slightly, a bit surprised and embarrassed to be asked something like that directly. Applejack’s slight blush was also telling her she probably should respond a little seriously this time. She chewed on her cheek and started wringing her wrists, a little nervous about what she was about to say, knowing it was silly.
“I like your dancing.” she ground out, barely above a whisper.
“Huh?” Applejack asked, not quite hearing what Sour Sweet had just said.
“I said I liked your dancing, okay? When we did the music video together? I thought you were a good dancer,” Sour Sweet blushed.
“O-Oh. Well that was nothing more than a little tap dancing in my boots,” Applejack started pushing two of her fingers together.
“You know you get embarrassed a lot easier than I thought you would,” Sour Sweet told her as she watched her reaction.
“Well I’m not used to this, okay? Getting praised by a girl I’m technically on a date with? It’s a little intimidating and all.”
In an attempt to take the conversation off of her bashfulness, Applejack grabbed one of the menus that was in the holder right under the window at their table. She quickly began looking through it and half trying to hide her blush. Sour Sweet meanwhile just waited for her to speak up again, enjoying how much fun this blind date had turned out to be.
“You want anything in particular? Pinkie Pie always tells me about how good the milkshakes are here,” Applejack finally asked, slightly looking up at Sour Sweet.
“Nothing like that. I’m on a diet,” Sour Sweet shook her head.
That got Applejack to look back up at her all the way with a frown on her face. “A diet? You? Now that’s just crazy, you don’t need a diet at all. You look great.”
Sour Sweet smirked, seeing another opportunity for fun. “I look great? Have you been checking out my body since I walked in?”
The blush that covered Applejack’s face would’ve put a tomato to shame. “I didn’t mean it like that! It was just an honest compliment, I’m just saying you look perfectly thin and healthy!”
“Hahaha,” the Shadowbolt covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed. “Well first of all, I look this good because I’m still dieting. Secondly, wow. You’re fun to tease. I’m gonna have to apologize in advance for any teasing in the future. Cause there’s no way it’s not gonna happen.”
“Hmph, whatever...” Applejack fought to keep her blush under control as she harrumphed and started looking through the menu again. Although this time she could barely keep her mind on the food at all. She sighed and glanced back up at Sour Sweet. “I probably eat way more food than you do you know and I’m still in great shape. I bet some exercise and hard work could replace some of your dieting.”
“Are you serious right now? That just sounds even worse than dieting.”
Applejack’s face lit up as she put down her menu, an eager smile on her face. “You kidding? There’s nothing like a nice hard day of work to make you feel great. I always feel so fresh and proud when I’ve been working from sunrise to sunset with my two good hands. Nothing beats that feeling!”
Sour Sweet raised a single eyebrow at her date. “You’re kind of different from most girls yourself, you know?”
The farm girl raised an embarrassed hand to the back of neck. “Well, yeah. But I’m serious though. You burn a mountain of calories doing what I do. It’ll be great for you.” Applejack blushed and looked to the side. “If you, uh, ever feel like maybe coming over to my place one day, that is.”
The Crystal Prep Girl blushed slightly as she perked up at what Applejack offered. “Is that an invitation?”
“Um, maybe? If you want...” Applejack tugged along the brim of her hat.
“So you’d actually want to go on a second date with me?”
“Well we haven’t even really had a first date. But yeah… I would.”
The two girls sat silently there, blushing at each other, Applejack far more red in the face than Sour Sweet. Now even though the two of them kind of wanted to talk to each other they were both unsure of what to say again. One of them would have to make the first move to actually start this date, instead of them just sitting down and eating whatever food they decided to get in silence. If any.
Sour Sweet began grinding her teeth, getting fed up with the silence. Did Applejack have any plans for their blind date? “Sooo, just wondering but what did you want to do after this?”
“Uh, honestly wasn’t too sure,” Applejack admitted with a shrug. “Never been on a date before. I mean, we’re eating so that’s one thing. Right? And then like, movies are what people normally do on dates. I think.”
Her obliviousness was kind of funny to Sour Sweet, who couldn’t help but smirk a little as she propped her elbows up on the table and rested her chin on latticed fingers. “Well there isn’t really anything out I want to see.”
“Me neither now that I think about it. We could go to the park?”
Sour Sweet shot down that idea. “Never been a big fan of just walking around the park.”
“The mall?”
“Too crowded and noisy. If I’m going on a first date for real I want somewhere quieter.”
Applejack started tapping her fingers on the tabletop again, eyes glancing off to the side. “Well… if you want, we can take a drive around in my truck and find someplace quiet. And make out.”
Sour Sweet’s chin nearly hit the table as her elbows slid out from under her before she stared at the quickly reddening Applejack with mouth agape. With a soft gulp she sat up straight and shrugged. “That works for me.”
Author's Note
Sour Sweet happens to be my favorite Shadowbolt and I think these two's personalities would make for some fun interactions. I think they'd have great chemistry if they interacted more in the show. And it's fun to write a story for a pairing that basically doesn't even exist in the first place.
