There are certain days where events progress in such a way that really forces you to take a good look at your flaws and make you come to grips with the fact that not only are you not as good of a person as you hoped you were, you’re also not as smart as you wanted to believe.

That last part is, honestly, the most galling for me because I have a genius IQ, so reconciling that with the fact that I’m also kind of a dumbass is frustrating.

Look, it’s not my fault.

Pretty girls really bring out the stupid in me.

“Bloom, c’mon…” Written’s Quill I wish her lips didn’t taste so much like apple tarts.

The summer heat is beating down outside, and the shadows of the barn are dark and cool enough to provide some relief. Even despite my stance on waiting til after harvest, I still find myself fooling around with Apple Bloom here and there on our breaks. The way she smiles against my mouth while we kiss is intoxicating.

“Applejack ain’t gonna be back fer an hour,” Apple Bloom says slyly. “An’ besides… we’re on lunch.”

Lunch. Right. Something about the way her hands are gripping my hips and pulling me towards her while she leans against the barn wall with that ‘come-get-me’ smile tells me she’s not referring to the two turkey clubs and crisps I brought us.

“You’re the worst,” I say, laughing softly as I lean in and meet her lips again, wrapping my arms around her as I do.

She moans softly against my mouth as our tongues meet, and I pull against her. It’s a constant with us. Push and pull. Catch and release. She drags me towards her, only to smile and slip away, drawing me deeper and further forward until I’m hopelessly lost among apple trees.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Unlike Apple Bloom, I’ve been in a lot of relationships between high school and now and, if my currently being single isn't enough of a clue, none of them ended well. Some of them ended better than others, but…

I mentally shake those thoughts clear of my head as I pull back reluctantly, drawing out a grumble of displeasure from Apple Bloom.

“Okay, seriously,” I say with a chuckle, “we actually need to eat something, or we’re both going to die out there.” I jerk a thumb out towards the Orchard.

“Fine,” Bloom replies as she peels out from under me with a grumpy huff.

I roll my eyes and follow her. “Bloom, hey… you know I wasn’t—”

“Ah know,” Apple Bloom says over me as she drops down on a hay bale, flicks a few pieces of stray hay from her sandwich, then picks it up and takes a bite.

Another thing I quickly learned about Apple Bloom in the few days since we spent an entire day in bed in my apartment is that she’s very… passionate. Not just romantically, either. Unlike her sister, who’s a relatively temperate personality, Apple Bloom is quick to anger. In the same way, though, she’s quick to forgive and mellow out once she gets it out of her system.

I settle in beside her with my own plate and start in on my crisps, washing them down to sips of water. We eat in silence for a few minutes, and Apple Bloom works her way steadily through her lunch with almost military efficiency. She eats like someone who’s got something important to do, which is something she does share in common with her sister.

Busy-bodies, the lot of them.

Halfway through my own sandwich, I lower it and look over at Apple Bloom who’s staring silently down at her empty plate.

“Ah know,” she repeats, earning a raised eyebrow from me as she looks over. “Ya don’t gotta tell me, Ah know y’all said ‘wait til after harvest’ but… but Ah don’t wanna.”

I set the half-sandwich down with a quiet sigh.

“We’re supposed to be working, Bloom,” I say. “I promised AJ I’d help and I’m going to, but after that, we will talk to her, okay?”

“That could be weeks!” Apple Bloom turns to face me with narrowed eyes. “What if Ah don’t wanna wait weeks? That ain’t fair!”

“It’s not about what’s fair, it’s about what’s right!” I snap.

“Like y’all’d know anythin’ about that!”

I jerk back at the rancor in Apple Bloom’s voice, and she shifts back from me in the same moment, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Pain blossoms in my chest as her words settle in hard, and I’m forced to blink rapidly to keep the hurt from showing more physically.

“S-Sunset, Ah… Ah didn’t—”

Before she can finish her thought, I sweep her empty plate off of her lap, stand, and march out of the barn as fast as my feet can take me without resorting to the extra-humiliating act of literally running away. The afternoon sun hits me like a slap in the face, and I swallow hard as I try to keep the tears back.

Maybe it isn't classy, but I know if I stay around her right now we'll really get into a fight, and as much as I hate to admit it, I’m kind of a crybaby. I feel a lot of things, okay? It sucks and I hate it. So yeah, it’s kind of easy to make me cry. With that said, I have a few sore points that are like manual switches for ‘Emotional Bad Times’ and one of those is reminding me of what an absolute bitch I used to be.

Mainly because every time it happens I’m hard-pressed to reason out why I don’t deserve to feel like garbage all the time.

Depressive spirals are fun like that.

By the time I get to the porch of the farmhouse, I have my tears under control, and as I get into the kitchen to put away the dirty dishes, I feel satisfied that I’ve mostly avoided the worst of the spiral.

She didn’t mean it.

I know that.

Apple Bloom is a lot of things, but considerate of her words isn't one of them. Maybe it’s because she’s younger but I’m willing to bet it’s more just her personality. Rainbow Dash is the same way; she has been since we became friends and hasn’t changed at all—at least, that part of her hasn’t—and that comparison puts an ugly knot of anxiety in my gut.

The last thing anyone needs is a repeat of that relationship.

“Ain’t hungry?”

It’s all I can do not to lose my grip on the plate and drop it into the sink at the reedy voice that comes from behind me. Slowly, I set the plate down, turn the water off, and turn to face Granny Smith.

Matriarch of the Apple Clan and more robust and gnarled than even the oldest of her own apple trees, Granny Smith is surprisingly solid for a lady her age, and she claps a broad hand on my shoulder with knee-buckling strength as I force a smile.

“Too hot,” I say, tugging at the sweat-stained loose button-down I wore. “I don’t know how you all do it every year.”

“Practice,” Granny says, her lips tugging up in a small grin. “Mighty kind’a ya t’help Jackie out like this, by-the-by. ‘Specially since Ah ain’t as spry as Ah used t’be.”

I shrug as I grab a glass from the cupboard nearby and start filling it with water. “Pretty sure it’s a tradition by this point since I’ve been doing it for the past few years.”

“Reckon it is,” Granny admits.

I take a long drink of water and have to fight back the urge to guzzle it. It’s nice and cold and I hadn’t realised just how uncomfortably hot I’d gotten being outside all this morning.

“Mind if’n Ah ask ya something, Sunset?” Granny says as she settles into one of the well-worn dining table chairs across from the kitchen.

“Shoot.”

“Yer a bright girl,” she starts, “and Ah know yer going t’university, but ya never ran off on anythin’ big like Miss Rarity or Twilight, an’ Ah reckon it weren’t from lack’a options.”

The glass clinks as I lower it back to the counter and turn around, facing the stolid older woman squarely.

She has a point. Rarity took off for Prance a year out of graduation on an internship with L’Amore Industries, a high-end fashion company, and after that went on to Neighpon for an actual job. She calls often and sends gifts, but it’s been a long time since any of us have seen her.

As for Twilight, she dove deep into the implications of energy coefficients suggested by our use of magic, and ended up publishing over a dozen papers over the course of three years that got her a full-ride scholarship at Oxford.

She calls when she can, but… it’s been a while.

“I don’t really have big dreams anymore,” I say after a moment. “I’m… I’m happy where I am, that’s all.”

Friendship doesn’t end with distance. I know that just like I know all of my friends do. Just because we don’t have as much time for each other doesn’t mean our bond is gone. We all knew that once our lives started taking off, we’d start to drift away, but that didn’t mean we had to drift apart.

And I don’t think we have.

But it’s still hard not seeing the people I love.

“And also…” I start a little more cautiously, “maybe I just want to still be here when they get back, you know?”

Granny Smith smiles gently, then pats the table in invitation. I take a seat across from her with my glass of water and sip at it a little more slowly.

“Applejack’s the same way,” she says. “Bit of a homebody, if Ah’m bein’ honest.”

“No shame in doing what you love,” I say wryly, and Granny Smith laughs.

“Ain’t that the truth, but Ah do wish she’d get out a little, maybe meet someone.”

That was a thought.

Applejack and Rarity had dated in their last year of high school and for several months after. They only split when Rarity got the internship offer and was waffling over accepting it. It had been Applejack who convinced her to take it, even knowing there was no way she’d have time for a relationship, even a long-distance one, and it had been a pretty melancholy moment for all of us.

They had been so good together.

It’s been years now, and Applejack is the one I’ve stayed closest with. I still hang out with Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy, and we all try to get together now and again when we have time, but Applejack and I? We see each other once a week at least, if not more.

That’s how I know she’s never been in a relationship after Rarity, and I never asked her about it because I never really had to.

Under all of that strength, I know she’s still heartbroken.

“Yeah,” I say quietly. “I’m sure she will eventually.”

“An’ she could use the help,” Granny says pointedly, “especially since Ah ain’t gonna be around forever.”

“Hey, don’t say that!” I try to force a laugh, but that’s a grim prospect. Over these last few years, Granny Smith has become the grandmother I never had. “You are not allowed to die, and that’s that!”

“Y’all don’t get t’tell me what t’do, missy,” Granny remarks with a playful scolding. “And at any rate, Ah ain’t bringin’ this up idly… Ah got another question for ya, Sunset.”

“O...okay?” I say, wrong-footed at the suddenly strange atmosphere.

Granny Smith leans back in her chair, steepling calloused fingers under her lips, and for a moment I see the weight of age fall on her shoulders. Most of the time, she’s so boisterous and lively that it’s hard to believe she’s approaching eighty.

Now, though… now I see it, and I don’t like it one bit.

“Ah know which way Applejack’s barn door swings, fer lack of a better term,” Granny starts, “and Ah don’t care none, Ah just want’er t’be happy. Ah’m just worried she ain’t, and if she don’t meet a girl who knows what she needs and loves, Ah’m afraid she’ll stay that way.”

“I guess that’s fair,” I say slowly.

“And Ah also know how much she leans on ya, Sunset,” Granny continues, and as she does an odd feeling takes up in my stomach. “Ah know she trusts ya like she don’t trust many, so Ah just wanted y’all t’know if you’n mah granddaughter ever wanted to give something more a try, ya got mah support.”

“Oh.”

It’s times like this that I’m incredibly thankful to Princess Celestia for putting me through all of those classes on court etiquette since, really, they were just long-winded explanations on how to keep a straight face when someone with far more money than sense was speaking to you.

With that said, this is probably not what my adoptive mother imagined I’d be using my dissembling skills for as I fought to keep the screaming in my brain from showing on my face while I smiled and nodded at my best friend’s grandmother as she gave me her blessing to romantically pursue her eldest granddaughter as I was actively banging her younger one.

There is a very special place for me in Tartarus, I’m sure.

“I’ll bear that in mind,” I say through a glass smile. “Uhm, th-thanks, Granny.”

“Anytime, sugarcube.” She stands, pats my shoulder, and thankfully turns to leave.

Well, that was mortifying.

I realise that Granny Smith’s intentions are good, and if I weren’t in some kind of weird relationship with Apple Bloom I might’ve even considered it, but… no, even then there’s no way. Whether Granny Smith admits—or even knows—it, the truth is that there really isn’t room for anyone else in Applejack’s heart.

It still belongs to Rarity.

I down the rest of my water as I try to put that whole conversation out of my mind. I’m already in too deep with one daughter of Clan Apple, I don’t need Granny getting any ideas about me and AJ.

When I step back out onto the porch, and back into the sunlight, it’s to the sight of Apple Bloom fidgeting sheepishly at the foot of the stairs to her own home. She’s staring at the ground, her eyes fixed firmly on the bottom step of the porch stairs, and I have to bite back another sigh.

It’s times like this I remember that even though I’ve been in a bunch of relationships, Apple Bloom hasn’t. I can point to plenty of moments where I've said or… we’ll say passive-aggressively implied… something that I regretted seconds later.

Silently, I nod towards the orchard, and without waiting for her to acknowledge me I start walking. Apple Bloom has a fiery, dominant personality, but none of that changes the fact that she has next to no experience with something like this which means it’s my job to be the… the responsible one.

Written’s Quill, is that a mistake.

Bloom falls in behind me and I spend the quiet walk mulling over what I’m going to do. I want to try to make this work with Apple Bloom, I already decided that a while ago, but how it’s going to work is the problem. She's impatient, and she’s liable to make mistakes when she gets riled up. Whether or not I think she should learn patience is immaterial. The practical of it is that if I keep pushing her away, she’s just going to keep pushing back. It’s in her nature.

Which means I have to give a little.

That’s fair.

I stop in the middle of the latest section of orchard we’re supposed to be working in. It’s about half-done between us, and despite the pair of us occasionally getting 'distracted', we’re actually ahead of schedule.

“Bloom,” I start, looking over my shoulder at her.

If looks could stop wars, the expression of remorse on Apple Bloom’s face would’ve brought instant world peace.

“Ah’m sorry,” she says before I can say anything else, and her voice is thick with tears. “Ah… Ah didn’t mean it, Ah just g-got mad, and…”

I shake my head as I turn to face her, then reach out and cradle her face in my hands.

“I know,” I say. “You’re not the first person to say something harsh, and you won’t be the last. Besides, I’m pretty sure I’ve said worse, so I forgive you.”

The tension goes slack from Apple Bloom as she nods. Guilt is a powerful thing, though, especially among the Apples who tend to take wronging someone they care about, even on accident, as a sign of failed character. So I step in, put my arms around her, and pull Apple Bloom close, burying my face against her hair as she nestles into the crook of my shoulder.

“Ah'm so sorry, Sunset,” Apple Bloom sobs.

“Yeah, me too,” I say softly. “I know it’s frustrating, and I… I haven’t been very good about this, but I want this to work, okay? I promise.”

She nods silently against my chest and hugs me a little tighter.

“Ah love you.”

I sigh and nod back. I know she does. Or at least, I know she feels like she does. I don’t have the right to tell her what she does and doesn’t feel, but time will tell and who knows… maybe it will tell her she’s right.

“So, I was thinking,” I say as I draw back a little, “since we don’t work on Sunday, maybe Saturday night we go out to dinner?”

Apple Bloom’s eyes go wide as saucers as she looks up at me. I have to give her something. She was right about one thing, this hasn’t been fair on her. She doesn’t deserve to have her first real relationship be treated like a dirty secret.

She deserves a little romance.

“What do you say?”

Sniffling, Apple Bloom wipes at her eyes, then nods almost frantically.

“Y-Yeah, uh, that sounds real nice, actually,” she says wetly. “Ah’d really like that.”

I make a quick glance of the orchard, briefly connecting to the world around me to make sure we’re alone before pulling back my senses and dipping down to catch Apple Bloom’s lips on mine. It’s a warm, almost-desperate kiss. One that’s full of apology from her, and it’s times like this I’m reminded of that old adage.

The best part about fights is making up.

Author's Note

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