By all of the known rules of their universe: Adagio and Applejack shouldn’t be the perfect couple. This was the hushed whisper that were floating among the circle of sitting friends at their annual holiday party at Twilight’s place. The girls were decked out in their holiday favorites. As the finely Rarity brought punch to Pinkie and Dash, who were rocking some of the ugliest sweaters they could find, she couldn’t help but add her own two cents to the conversation.
“But haven’t they been dating for… three months now? Do you think they’re really going to last?” Rarity asked.
“Actually, I think it was four months,” Pinkie interjected. “I thought I saw them hold hands at my pre-pre-pre-Homecoming party.”
“No, I think they were just sharing drinks,” Twilight interjected. “Hand holding is serious business and can’t be just assumed all willy-nilly.”
Sunset looked deep into her drink.
“I… think I accidentally saw Applejack thinking dreamily of Adagio one day when our hands brushed in class,” she said, before downing a big gulp.
“Was it hot?” Rainbow asked.
Sunset then spat the entirety of said gulp over Rainbow in a spiced cranberry fountain.
“That’s a yes,” Rainbow interjected with a snide chuckle.
Twilight tossed Rainbow a roll of paper towels as she realized she needed to step forward and be the voice of reason here.
“Listen. It doesn’t matter how long they’ve been dating, because they’re happy together. And that’s all that matters, right?”
“But Twilight,” Rarity interjected, while meticulously checking her festive ice blue dress for any signs of red drips. “You weren’t there when we all had to fight Adagio and her friends. She wasn’t like Sunset. They weren’t ready to-”
“A-HEM,” Came a familiar southern drawl from the doorway. “I hope y’all didn’t mind we let ourselves in.”
The girls turned in surprise to find Applejack standing in the doorway of the living room wearing an unfamiliar sweater. Standing behind her, the girl of the hour; Adagio Dazzle herself.
“It seems we walked into something we shouldn’t have.” Adagio said casually, in a venomous, singsong fashion as she entered the room and shed her coat. “Please do go on, I love hearing people talk behind each other’s backs.”
Adagio sat down squarely between Rarity and Twilight. She leaned towards Rarity gently.
“I hope it was about me,” she said in a loud whisper.
“Sorry we were late,” Applejack interjected, bringing the gifts to the pile sitting in the corner. “The weather was picking up out there, and I didn’t right feel safe taking the highway.”
“It’s no worries,” Rainbow said. “That means we can-”
“WHITE ELEPHANT TIIIIIIMME!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “SUNSET GO FIRST!”
Sunset rose a finger to respond, but Pinkie had somehow picked up Sunset and pushed her across the floor to the pile of presents, face first.
“W-Well okay,” Sunset responded, grabbing a gift off the stack and pulling it back to the circle.
And one by one, the girls went to the pile and pulled a gift. Sunset unwrapped a calendar of pets from the animal shelter. Twilight was the proud new owner of a pair of out of style boots. Rainbow’s choice just exploded into confetti and candy. Everyone was kind of scared after that one. Fluttershy asked to skip her turn till later to catch her breath.
Rarity opened a gift, then soon Pinkie, and Fluttershy followed, leaving just the two girls of the hours.
“Is this about the freckles?” Adagio asked. “Because I’m smelling corruption in this turn order.”
“You can go if you want to,” Applejack replied. “It really doesn’t make a difference to me.”
Adagio thought to herself for a moment. Or maybe she was only pretending. With her, it was hard for anyone to really tell.
“If it’s down to the freckles. It’s only fair the cutest freckles go first,” she responded.
She locked eyes with Applejack and gave a gentle smile.
Applejack blinked, and kept eye contact for a few seconds.
“Oh, wait, do you mean me?” Applejack asked.
Rarity let out an involuntary Aw before looking away. Pinkie chuckled gently.
Adagio shook her head and stood up, grabbing two gifts from the pile. She paused.
“Wait, there’s an extra one here,” Adagio said.
Applejack leaned over and saw the three boxes, then deeply blushed.
“Oh, uh. The thin one was supposed to stay in the car. That’s for you.”
“WELL!” Adagio says, grabbing all three. “I guess I’ll just leave this one closeby then. For safekeeping.”
She rejoined the circle, placed her gift in front of her, and then held the two white elephant gifts out to AJ.
“Pick one,” she asked.
Applejack chose… wisely, and ended up with Twilight’s book collection on unsolved true crime from the 1800’s. Leaving Adagio with a rather impressive spiked jacket from Sunset.
“I’ve still got a whole closet full of them,” Sunset said to Adagio. “It’s crazy the things you keep around after you go from evil to trying to be good.”
“Tell me about it,” Adagio said. “The girls and I still have coordinated no-good hoodies. I’d donate it to charity or something, but they’re so soft.”
“Everyone needs a good, comfy hoodie,” Applejack said with a smile.
“Tell me about it,” Adagio said, poking at the sweater AJ was wearing. “I’m never getting that back, am I?”
Aj pulled the hood over her head and pulled the string tight.
“Nope. Ah’m evil now. Deal with it.”
The warm ambiance was shattered by a loud cry from Rarity. The girls looked to her in shock as she placed her hand to her mouth.
“Sorry!” She said hastily. “I just. Uhm. Thought. Of… something shocking.”
As if it were rehearsed, every eyebrow in the room raised at once. Honestly, it probably was rehearsed once upon a time.
“Okay. I just recognized that box,” Rarity said, pointing at the present sitting in front of Adagio. “But it’s nothing, I swear.”
Adagio looked from Rarity, to the box, then back to Applejack.
“Okay, now that’s just not fair,” Adagio said. “I wanna open it now.”
“But. But, uh. I don’t have the present you gave me. It’s still out in the car,” Applejack responded.
“Don’t be silly. My first gift was why we were so late. I’m gonna open it.”
Applejack opened her mouth to speak, but then suddenly her face was so overcome with red so deep that it showed through the hood of Adagio’s sweater. She stuttered over her words as Rainbow leaned to Rarity and whispered “Told you.” a bit too loudly.
The wrappings were off in an instant as Adagio had a white box in front of her. She froze suddenly, suddenly realizing the weight of what she was holding.
“I knew it was an Isabelle’s box, but… Applejack,” Rarity said. “How did you earn-”
“I did a few odd jobs here and there. And you can haggle for prices. Ain’t nothin.”
Adagio looked at Applejack, her normal front facing personality melting into something completely alien to the rest of the girls. She was actually shocked. Vulnerable, even.
She pulled the lid off and pulled out a small golden locket. She pulled open the small necklace and let out a short happy gasp on seeing the pictures inside. She closed it tight and wrapped her arms around Applejack. AJ smiled widely with her eyes closed, pulling Adagio close to her.
“It’s way too much,” Adagio says. “I love it.”
“Happy Holidays, sugarcube,” Applejack said sweetly.
Adagio put the necklace around her neck and looked around at the girls in the room. It was a lightswitch went back on.
“It’s pretty nice I guess,” Adagio said, as if trying to recover, her tone suddenly cool.
“What’s inside?” Twilight asked. “Can we see?”
Adagio placed a hand around the locket and snickered to herself.
“What? And give you all proof that I’ve gone all soft? Not a chance.”
And after that, the subject was dropped. Not the subject of what was in the locket. That little guessing game with the girls would continue for months upon months. Instead, not one of the girls asked what made their two friends click so well.
Because it didn’t matter. That holiday the girls learned that Adagio and Applejack really, really loved each other. Challenged each other. Made each other more comfortable in their own skins.
And that’s all that mattered.
Author's Note
This story was really difficult to write. But after studying some of the fics that are the cornerstone of this ship Appledagio I think I did the ship some justice? I don't know. Dan, I just hope this is up your alley and you like it.
