“I don’t know, Twi, I see what you’re sayin’, but like ya said: people are already talkin’. Do ya really wanna risk it? It’ll just get worse, knowing some ponies in this town.”

Twilight shook her head at that. She was trying to convince Applejack to tell their friends about… recent developments. But it seemed that they weren’t quite on the same page. Did she want to blurt out the details of their relationship? Absolutely not. It would be hard, awkward, and really uncomfortable. But this was textbook dating. You declared your relationship to those closest to you, right? She was doing this by the book, and this was the obvious next step.

That is… if she could get Applejack on board. She was confident, however, that it would just take a little bit of persuasion. Maybe a little bit of stern persuasion.

“Applejack, I told you: I want to do this right. I won’t resort to secret meetings or forbidden romance. If we’re going to do this, I want to do it proudly. I want people to know who I’m with, and that I wouldn’t have it any other way. I want people to know that I don’t care what they think, because you make me the happiest pony in Equestria. And if I’m with you, nothing else matters.”

Applejack lowered her head, shaking it in return. “I’m not sayin’ that I ain’t proud, Twilight. I’m more than happy to call you mine. I’m just—” She sighed, kicking her hoof to the floor. “To be honest? I’m worried about Dash.”

Twilight frowned, the prospect finally hitting her square in the face. Rainbow Dash… she wasn’t exactly the most soft-spoken pony. And she had to admit: of all of their friends, she would be the most likely to voice her disapproval, if any of them even did disapprove… She cleared her throat, recovering from being caught off guard. “Well… if Rainbow Dash is our friend—which she is—wouldn’t she at least respect our decision? I mean, she can disagree all she wants—but we’re our own ponies, right?”

Applejack nodded. “I know she should. But what one should, and what one could ain’t the same thing. I just—I don’t wanna lose any of my friends. I know that it shouldn’t bother me, because now that you’re with me, ain’t much, honestly, going to… but I’ve known her ever since I was a youngin’.” She sighed, standing from her seat in the front room of the farm house. “But I’m doin’ this. And if anything is gonna happen, I’d face it a billion times for you, Sweetheart.”

Applejack took a single deep breath and seemed to hold it as she marched, but stopped after only one step toward the door. She turned, the nervousness visible on her face. It seemed that even the fearless Applejack wasn’t quite so confident. “You’ll be right next to me, right?”

Twilight nodded once, a supportive smile accompanying the words: “Of course.”

Twilight knew that people were staring at the couple as they walked together down the street. It seemed all heads were on a swivel as they walked a little closer together than usual. But to be honest, she didn’t even care. After all: the rumors weren’t really wrong, anymore.

They approached their usual Wednesday (and thus, Pet Day) meeting place: the park.

She glanced over at Applejack’s face, and, expecting to see some sort of nervousness, apprehension, or even plain embarrassment, all she found was a look of determination. It seemed that, in the end, Applejack wasn’t going to put up any more of a fight. Instead—she was either devoted to this cause… or was just trying to get it over with. Twilight was quickly learning that the pony was a lot more self-conscious then she first took her for. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked, just to be sure.

Applejack gave a surface-level smile that Twilight could already see cracking at the edges. The country pony nodded as she looked over at her new girlfriend. “I’m fine.” The smile faded away she shook her head. “I’m sorry about being a little stubborn about these things. I just—it’s different. I’ve never had to worry about being different. My whole life, I’ve been the pony that everypony loves. I’ve been dependable… the go-to pony, so to speak. And now I have somethin’ in my life that is going to… let’s face it: get me some enemies. It’s just… weird, having to worry about this kind of stuff. Y’know?”

Twilight paused for a moment, realizing that their challenges maybe weren’t so different, after all. There was certainly the factor of scale, but she wasn’t going to be so petty as to bring that up. Instead, she just smiled, nodding her head: “I completely understand, AJ.”

The rest of the walk was spent in companionable silence, with both of them keeping each other company without saying a single word. Twilight was beginning to think that this was what a relationship was: when you’re in a difficult spot, just being together was enough, on its own. It didn’t matter what you faced; you faced it together.

By this time, the couple had already approached the park. Twilight set a brisk, purposeful pace, but Applejack lagged behind, just a little bit. Her nerves were coming back, Twilight was sure of it. “C’mon, AJ. I promise, it’ll be fine.” The words reached her, but Twilight wasn’t sure how effective they were, as she didn’t even look up when they were spoken.

“Twilight, Applejack!” The two names were shouted in a high-pitched squeal, its owner none other than Pinkie Pie. She jumped up and down at the sight of her two friends.

“How goes it?” Rainbow Dash asked, nonchalantly. She briefly looked up from her newest obsession, a Daring-Do book, simply to acknowledge the two. She paused, her head tilting in confusion. “It kinda isn’t pet day unless you bring your pets, you know.”

Twilight mentally face-hoofed at the realization that they kind of forgot to bring Owlicious and Winona. That… would have been a small detail they should have considered.

“Uh… hey, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack answered, nodding in return to each of them. Twilight realized she didn’t mention the pets. She assumed Applejack had a mental script, and wasn’t deviating from it, no matter what.

“Uh-oh, something is off, isn’t it?” Rarity dead-panned, looking between the two of them.

Fluttershy simply looked between Rarity and the two newcomers, doubtlessly gauging the situation. Twilight met her eyes for a brief moment, with Fluttershy giving an encouraging smile, likely remembering their talk. Twilight knew she knew something. The knowing glint in her eye was a dead giveaway.

“I guess you could say that, but it’s not exactly anything ‘off’…” Applejack started, her voice dropping a little at the end.

“Alright, who did it?” Rainbow Dash asked, setting her book down after the serious tones caught her attention. “Who do I gotta beat up?”

Twilight laughed at the rainbow pony’s antics, shaking her head. “You don’t have to beat anyone up, Rainbow Dash.” She glanced over to see Applejack almost froze in a panic, giving her a small nod and a smile. Twilight desperately wanted to take the reins on this conversation, but she knew that Applejack needed to at least breach the subject. She needed to conquer this. The support gave Applejack the strength she needed, and after a brief smile in return, she simply said it: “Rarity told Twi that people are talking about us datin’. It really made us realize that we needed to be honest. We had to figure out exactly what we were to each other.”

Twilight spoke up, knowing she couldn’t let Applejack tackle the entire conversation. “We sat down, had a really long talk about what brought us to this part of our lives, and where we wanted our relationship to go.”

Applejack stepped in, once more: “We decided that we really do want to be together that way. So—” she took one last glance over at Twilight, but this time, she wasn’t looking so determined or nervous anymore. She just looked relieved, “we’re dating.”

Fluttershy squealed with delight, not able to contain her enthusiasm anymore. “I knew it! I’m so happy for you girls!” The shy pony stopped all of a sudden, clearing her throat as she caught herself. “I—umm—congratulations, you two.”

Pinkie Pie matched her initial enthusiasm, jumping up and rushing over to hug the couple with all of her might. “That’s so great! We need to celebrate! And I know just how… with a party!” she squealed. She was just about to continue on about it before she was interrupted by Rarity: “I don’t want to spoil the moment, because I am happy for you two… But don’t you realize, Twilight: you are a princess. Your personal life isn’t exactly… personal. Have you considered that?”

Rainbow Dash stepped in, giving her own two cents in: “Rarity, why should they care what other people think? Half the people in Ponyville wouldn’t even approve. They obviously realized that, going into this, some people wouldn’t like it, regardless of who Twilight is. But, I gotta say, you two, I definitely didn’t see it coming. Now that you’re together, though, I could definitely see this working out. Congrats!”

Rarity stood there, looking a little upset, but more at herself than her two friends. “You’re right, Rainbow Dash. I truly am happy for you two, I’m sorry for the sour welcoming. I just really care about you both.”

Applejack shook her head. “I know ya do, Rarity. To be honest, I was more worried about Rainbow Dash not liking it, more than anyone else. Y’all are my friends, and what you girls think means more to me than anypony else.”

Rainbow Dash flew in the air above Applejack, feigning offense. “What! Me? Why!”

Twilight laughed, “You have to admit, Rainbow, you aren’t the most soft-spoken pony.”

“Hey,” she began, landing next to Applejack, “I have a philosophy: You’re entitled to your own happiness. If you two being together makes you happy, you’re entitled to that. It doesn’t matter what anypony says—they’ll always find a reason to hate you. If it wasn’t this, it’d be something else. Just prove them wrong by showing them how great you both are.”

Fluttershy tilted her head in thought. “Rainbow Dash—that was beautiful!”

Rainbow Dash smiled a little, trotting over and rubbing Fluttershy’s head with a single hoof. “Hey, just because I’m the most awesomest sports pony doesn’t mean I don’t have a soft side, too.”

Twilight looked over at Applejack while the rest of their friends were harassing Rainbow Dash for her last comment. No matter how long she stared, she could never let go of how lucky she felt at that moment. Applejack was there, amongst all of their friends, and, despite all of the changes in the previous four weeks—specifically since the previous day—everypony seemed really okay with it.

She guessed that this was real friendship. Before, she just kind of took friendship as a group of people who were really kind to her and would help her with a problem if she needed it. But now? It seemed that she understood a whole new kind of magic inside of friendship: accepting people, no matter who they are, and what they believe.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was, in all reality, her first free moment away from Applejack. Twilight couldn’t believe it: one whole week had passed, and despite what she expected, the “newness” hadn’t left. She was afraid that after a while, being with Applejack would just feel “right”, and she would just kind of accept it as part of her life. But surprisingly, the longer she was with Applejack, the more she learned about the country pony, and more she was just captivated by her. Twilight had assumed that after knowing somepony for three years, that she would just know Applejack, inside and out. But she was learning new things every day.

It wasn’t so much the big things. Those, Twilight already knew. She knew that Applejack had a journal she kept, where she wrote to her parents. She knew Applejack had never gone to bed without taking one last walk through the orchard, no matter how tired she was, just to ensure everything was okay. She knew Applejack had the tell where she couldn’t look people in eye if she wasn’t telling the truth. Those were big things that all of her friends knew.

It was the small things that she kept discovering: the way she carefully trod around the fallen apples in the Orchard, so the deer and the fruit bats could have their meal. The way she instinctively wrapped her hooves around whatever was just in front of her whenever she slept. The way she wore her hair down after bathing, and sometimes got so distracted she would forget to put her tie in—it was those moments, those small things that she was always discovering about her girlfriend. And that just made their relationship all the sweeter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today—or maybe over the past five weeks—I learned something really important about Friendship. I learned why a relationship—whether with a friend, a family member, or somepony close to you—is something that will last forever: it is because there is so much to learn about each pony, so much that makes that pony so unique, that exploring every facet will take a lifetime.

A friendship can last forever because the more you learn about somepony, the closer you become to them. And the closer you get to somepony, the more you learn. It is this cycle that brings you so close to somepony, that before you know it, you are so close that you couldn’t imagine your life without them.

Maybe, someday, you’ll think you know everything there is about somepony. You think that you’ll have their entire being memorized. But if you look closely; if you listen to the way they speak their words; if you watch how they move when they do their daily routine—you’ll find that there is so much to each one of us, that we will never know somepony more than they know themselves.

Yours Forever,
Twilight Sparkle

She set the quill back into the bottle of ink, re-reading the message she had penned into her letter. This cycle she had created in her mind was something that every pony went through with everypony in their lives. But with Applejack, it just seemed so much more real. She couldn’t explain it, and if she tried, she would probably end up making it sound sappy or foolish, but she knew it was true. It was just another mystery she would unfurl about Applejack. Another blank she would have to fill in.

And that would be the sweetest study into friendship that she had yet to begin.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Author's Note

The sequel (RainbowDashxFluttershy) is lying around here, somewhere. I'll post it when I find (and proofread) it.
Thanks for reading!