The Student and The Farmer
Applejack removed her work boots and began tidying up. Twilight had asked her to meet on the hill as soon as she was done with her chores for the morning. Applejack smiled, thinking of Twilight. The lavender unicorn had always appealed to her from the moment they first met.
“Let's get this over with... Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle—“
“Well, howdy-doo, Miss Twilight, a pleasure makin' your acquaintance. I'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends!”
“Friends? Actually, I—“
She shook her head. Twilight had no idea what she was in for. She looked out at the sunrise for a moment, her flaxen mane shone brilliant shades of orange in its warming glow.
She started towards the meeting place. Anticipating giving Twlight time to think.
Applejack was a simple pony. She loved her family. She loved her friends. She loved her farm. But her feelings for Twilight were becoming different from those things. It was not something she had ever experienced before.
It was not something she really understood.
Twilight made her feel, anxious.
Twilight stayed at Sweet Apple Acres for an extra hour at least. Applejack offering sample upon sample and keeping her bright smile the whole time. Twilight found herself a bit hypnotized by the farm pony. Her warm voice. Her lovely green eyes that seemed to gaze into the soul. No, Twilight didn’t mind staying a little longer. Late that night, Twilight, kept up by the party in the next room, found herself thinking of Applejack.
“Oh I do hope it is just an old mares tale..” Twilight whispers, considering the horrors an eternal night would bring upon Equestria and her new found…friend.
Applejack could see Twilight pacing on the hill in the distance. It wouldn’t be long now.
”Applejack?” Granny Smith asked.
Applejack stood up from the table where she had been slicing bread and waited for Granny Smith to elaborate.
“You have the gaze in your eye. I can tell. You met someone. Is it that purple unicorn mare what came down here the other day?” She asked in her usual stern manner.
There was no lying to Granny Smith.
“Yes, a little, I reckon I might like her. But I wouldn’t count on me being her type,” she sighed.
“Aw Sugarcube, I think you should pay more attention to her then. Because I’ve seen them signs.”.
“You should tell her!” Rarity urged Applejack. “I’ve seen the way she looks at you, darling. It isn’t as long a shot as you believe.”
“I can’t! She’s Celestia’s student, she’s brilliant, she has nothing in common with me. She belongs with a pony who can connect with her, who can understand magic.”
“Ah ah ah, dear, Twilight needs to be with a pony who she loves,” Rarity cooed, brushing Applejack’s bangs back.
“And I do believe, you are that pony.”
“Applejack! I’m up here!” Twilight Sparkle called down to her muddied friend, who had taken the long way from Sweet Apple Acres, to the hill Twilight had indicated that morning. “I thought you’d forgotten me! You know there was a much more efficient route, I can show you next time if yo—“
“Sugarcube, I know the way. I wanted to give you time to ‘er set up, ‘erm, whatever it is,” Applejack interrupted her.
Applejack had some idea what it was.
Or, she hoped she had.
Twilight Sparkle was the most incredible mare she had ever known.
She was beautiful and smart. She was ambitious and hardworking. She was everything Applejack had ever wanted, though far from the package she had expected it in. A purple unicorn with stiff practical bangs was hardly the type of pony she normally found herself attracted to. But Twilight was more than that. Twilight was—
“Applejack, is there something on your mind?” she asked.
Applejack thought about how to answer without embarrassing herself, but Twilight interrupted her own question.
“Because, I have something on my mind. And I was hoping I could talk to you about it.”
Applejack waited. Twilight had set up a picnic under the shade of a tree, at the top of a tiny hill. They both nested against the trunk, neither having touched the daisy sandwiches Spike had no doubt made for this that morning.
Applejack held tightly to the unicorn’s leg. And urged her to jump. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes seemed to soften as she looked up at the farm mare.
“I trust you.”
“Twi’ you can tell me anything you need to. I’ll be here to listen,” Applejack said, holding her breath, daring not to guess what was next.
“Applejack I don’t think I can be friends with you anymore.”
All of a sudden, Applejack came out of the daze always set by her presence. Her heart stopped. She could not believe what she had just heard.
“What?” Applejack sputtered. “How in Equestria did you come to a conclusion like that?!”
Twilight covered her eyes with her hooves, and blushed heavily.
“Applejack I, it’s not that I don’t want you in my life or don’t like you, I just, feel differently about you, than I do about our other friends. I think I like like you.”
Twilight peeked out between her hooves, Applejack’s kind green eyes seemed to gaze right through her.
“And I-I’m not sure that is something you would be comfortable with,” Twilight finished.
Applejack was silent for a moment. But Twilight’s terrified expression forced words from her mouth far quicker than she could really think through them. Her heart calmed down, and a warm buzzing filled her ears.
“Twilight, I reckon I’ve got feelings for you too.”
Twilight’s eyes became bright and she activated her horn, levitating the picnic basket out of her way. She leaned in and whispered.
“Can I—“
Applejack removed her hat, and held it in front of their faces. She kissed Twilight once, gently. Then, Twilight took the hat into her hoof, and put it on her own head. She kissed Applejack, aggressively, pushing her to the ground. It would not be long before the pair found themselves rolling down the hill, giggling all the way.
