One Night (a.k.a A taste of an Apple)

Twilight peered down to the town in the distance as it began to fade the further and further she got away from it.

She remembered when she took her first journey to Ponyville, how it had filled her with frustration in having to make friends. She believed that it was pointless, a task… but then her heart had started to change, thinking her destiny was something she had never imagined.

But all her friendships had done was strip her of her very essence.

Her magic.

She took a breath out as the town disappeared and only faced onwards into the future. As before her it started to come closer, her birthplace, her city. Canterlot.

Her hoofs landed on the ground as she arrived to a beautiful house and knocked on the door quietly. It opened slowly and there stood Shining Armour, a smile on his face as he said happily.

"Little sis! It's great to see you again."

Twilight smiled, giving her brother a hug as the Pegasi helped carry her things in and she arrived into the home.

She felt peace… peace after so long, finally being away from that town which had taken all and when everything was put into the guestroom she came out, coming to the sitting room and seeing Shining Armour going through letter scrolls with his magic, as if preparing for another day.

"Got work?" Twilight said quietly and Shining Armour turned to her, a calm smile on his face saying casually,

"Yeah, I have to head down to the castle and do some duties. But I'll be home in a few hours and then we can hang like old times."

"How's married life?" Twilight said, sitting down on the lounge and picking up a book a bit dampened, Shining Armour just beaming,

"It's great Twi, the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Will Cadence be home soon?" she asked quietly and Shining Armour nodded,

"In an hour, she's just doing a bit of work for Celestia."

Twilight nodded her head… she was part of the royal family now… but she didn't feel it and watched as her brother headed out the door, saying to her,

"I'll be home soon."

She smiled weakly seeing him go, and sat on the lounge for a few minutes… adjusting.

She was going to be here for a few weeks until she got her own place set up, but feared the thought of going to her parents.

She looked out the window to the city before her. Looking at the stone buildings, the cement grounds and got up off her sit, leaving the house and visiting the city she grew up in, going for a walk.

It was a sunny day, the sky so blue and bright and she listened in her steps as ponies laughed around her, foals playing about, shops keeping stock, ponies living their day to day lives.

Moving about,

Laughter.

She looked at the hills in the distance, the flowerbeds along her path as she entered into the city's parks.

A fountain squirted sparkling water into the air, birds tweeted loud, and then she saw the building which had been her sanctuary so much when she was young.

The city library.

And stepped inside.

Around her stood book shelves, columns of books about anything and everything. One thing Ponyville never had, centuries of books… a history so vibrant.

She walked down the aisle, looking at the books that passed her eyes until she saw one with a name so presented,

The journey.

She picked it up with her mouth, not knowing what it meant, what it was about but borrowed it out.

That night she lay awake in her room, her lamp letting in dim light as she read the pages, the story of a pony taken a path and walking it for weeks on end.

She read it during the day, she read it at the fountain getting splashed. She read it on the days that shined and the days that rained.

She read more books.

Read stories that had an end, stories that had discovery.

Ponies that did it. Ponies that made it.

She laughed with her brother, she went on walks with his wife.

She lay in the sun… she listened to her heart beat.

She was away from that town and was free.

She was free of the anger after so long… free of thoughts, free of the pain.

Time was nothing, it didn't exist. At this moment she was just glad she was away.

In a world where she didn't have to worry about ponies… a place where pain and lost was starting to fade. The girls not reminding her of what she had given up… AJ not reminding her of all she had lost.

It was a beautiful day, the fifth day of coming back to this city where Shining Armour came down stairs and kissed Cadance on the cheek, looking to his sister happily.

"Twi, good news, it's my day off."

"That's great Shining Armour."

"Do you wanna go for a walk today? So we can talk."

She looked at him with a smile, she was back in a place where there was no challenges, no heartache and replied.

"Sure, just let me finish this toast."

The two found each other strolling through the city, Twilight looking at the castle… remembering when she was her student… remembering the slight pain and turned away.

She had been escaping so much and needed to escape it all. She couldn't remember. She didn't want to remember.

"I'm so glad to see you happy," Shining Armour said as they walked, the sun shining down and lighting every spot of ground. Twilight tried to smile, she wanted the freedom to last and said.

"I'm trying to be."

"It must have been really hard, leaving your friends."

"They didn't feel like friends to me… at least not in the end."

"C'mon Twilight," Shining Armour said confused, "I never saw you so happy as at my wedding with those girls."

"Brother," Twilight said seriously, and they turned into the open land, leaving the stone and going onto grassy plains, "They were friends I was told to make… and I thought that's what I wanted, but it wasn't."

He looked at her sad hearing this.

"I don't regret making them… but I couldn't see any reason to stay… stay in a town where I had lost who I was."

"I think that town let you know who you were."

Twilight turned her quiet eyes to him, not wanting to listen, but she was in no fighting spirit.

"I lost my identity… my magic."

He sighed, "Twilight, you know you were so much more than just magic,"

She looked at him confused.

Shining Armour looked at her sadly.

"It makes me sad that you can't see that. That you can't see that it wasn't you, just a part of you."

"Magic is what gave me my path… my future, my destiny. To be the strongest. Without it I'm just-"

"You." Shining Armour said warmly and Twilight shook her head, "Listen to me Twi."

She didn't want to.

"You can't let one thing define you. Let it make you see you can never be something else. When you had magic you didn't care about much but study, learning… you would rather do spells than talk to others. I was afraid that you would see that's all you were."

He looked at her deeply,

"But when Celestia sent you away to Ponyville, when you made friends… I was so happy to believe you discovered you were so much more than just magic."

He took a breath out, looking at her with pride,

"And when you gave it up to save that girl… I thought you had finally learned it and knew you could be without it. That it wasn't you anymore."

"Than what am I?" Twilight asked then and there… not wanting to hear this… not seeing herself as a hero but a victim of what she had done, "What am I?"

"You…" Shining Armour said with all his heart and stopped, the two walking far into the country now and looking back at the city, Twilight feeling tears rise to her eyes but her brother wiped them and said in a clear voice.

One of truth.

"Twilight. Magic never defined you. You define you."

She just cried… cried hard as she stood alone in the path she had chosen to take… everything she had chosen to just give up on.

For something that was never her, something that should of never controlled her.

A piece of her which didn't make up her puzzle, but which she had put on a platter ignoring all she was,

The pony she was…

The pony she was now… one that had denied she was so much more.

"Twilight," Shining Armour said softly, patting his sister on the back… helping her understand this and nothing else.

"When's the wedding?"

"Tomorrow…" she said, trying to wipe away the tears "But could they ever forgive me? How do I know things can be the same? How do I know we can make it? How do I know I haven't ruined it all?"

"Because true friends forgive." Shining Armour said with a warm smile, "True friends are there for life."

Twilight listened to those words and knew she had only been the opposite… because she had not known what they were to her and looked into the horizon… Ponyville in the distance and knew where she had to go… the path still waiting to be taken.

XXXXX

Applejack was in her room, her mother's necklace in the box on her bed as she stood before the mirror in a white gown, she never thought she would look good in one.

Her heart was beating slow, her body aching from pain but she could ignore all that and look at the mare… a pony that looked like she belonged in a fairy tale… but one set in the real world, with real emotions.

She knew she looked beautiful… she knew she looked like an angel… but she knew she was also just a pony… doing the one thing she had to to survive.

Move forward.

And it scared her.

Dash was staying at Fluttershy's and she wish she was here with her, reminding her why she was doing this, why she was taking this step.

It was a stupid tradition, the couple getting married being separated the night before the wedding… making her have doubt, have fear.

There was a knock on the door and she turned to it, muttering,

"Come in."

The door opened and Big Mac stood before it in amaze, his sister looking like a princess and said nervously,

"You not asleep yet?"

"No… just tryin' on the dress one more time."

"I, came to ask ya sumthin'"

Applejack looked at him confused to his nervousness, but replied calmly,

"Shoot,"

Big Mac seemed to hesitate, rolling his hoof on the ground as if he seemed afraid to say and Applejack just stared at him quietly, waiting.

"I… I know ya hav' gotten Celestia ta agree to say the ceremony." Big Mac said quietly but looked his sister in the eyes, "But I was jus' wonderin'… if it weren't too late… I'd like to be the one… to marry you two."

Applejack just smirked, shaking her head softly in a bit of laughter,

"Why'd ya leave it for tonight to ask?"

"Been busy with work…" Big Mac lied nervously and AJ just smiled, taking a small step toward her brother.

"Yes."

He looked up at her quietly, his face going blank as if in disbelief before he uttered, "…really?"

"I'd love you to be the one, Big Mac… just don't go rambling on like ya usually do." She joked.

He smiled at her in happiness, going over and hugging his sister tight… and after that went to go his own way but turned saying,

"You know… ya look like mum in that dress."

Applejack smiled slowly, nodding her head gently and her brother smiled to her one more time before leaving the room and AJ turned back to the mirror.

Swallowing slowly.