It was a bright but crisp autumn day in Ponyville as Twilight Sparkle trotted down the cobbled streets with a spring in her step. It had been a simple day of running errands, and she looked forward to completing her shopping—especially since she had already made plans to spend the rest of the afternoon with her fillyfriend, Tempest Shadow (AKA Fizzlepop Berrytwist.)
Twilight always loved that time of year. She didn't bring it up often, but there was a unique appeal to autumn that seemed lost in other seasons. Perhaps it was how the days gradually shortened, the pretty colors of the leaves on the trees as they turned, or maybe the cooler air that enforced her innate desire to curl up indoors and read a good book... but there was something truly special to Twilight about the season. She just couldn't find a way to fully explain it.
In the treetops, the birds sang a soft, gentle melody, as Ponyville’s public loudspeakers played a soft jazz tune indicative of the time of year—after all, the Feast of Gratitude wasn't that far away, and what better to bring ponies together than a warm arrangement of saxophone and piano?
As Twilight walked along Bridle Street, she observed—and smelled—a beautiful spread of baked goods placed in the windows of every shop in sight. Now and then, couples would pass by, dressed in the usual jackets and blazers they would wear around that time of year. And perhaps most raucously of all, foals on the street took turns jumping into great orange-and-yellow leaf piles on the corners.
Leaf piles... Twilight thought. What a wonderful thing to see...
The Running of the Leaves had already come and gone, and while Twilight wished she could compete in it that year, she knew she couldn't make it. She was still too busy as she helped run the School of Friendship to fit such an event seamlessly in with her schedule—and to defy the schedule was to defy all logic and reason, the very natural order of the universe itself.
Okay, maybe it wasn't THAT big of an issue to deviate from the schedule, but it still felt that way to a mare who had spent much of her younger days having nightmares about being sent back to magic kindergarten if she failed a test.
Her mind filled with lazy, warm, comforting thoughts of autumn, in spite of her musings about scheduling, Twilight's gaze wandered to the familiar sights around Ponyville—Bridle Street ran across the outer perimeter of town and passed by Town Hall, Mr. Kingpin's Bowling Alley, the Ponyville Community Theater, Alphabittle's Hobby Barn, and Flour Power's Gristmill; all with a scenic view of the Canterbury River as it flowed from Canterlot Mountain, past the town, through Marigold Lake, and into its various tributaries. A stroll along it in the late afternoon was exactly what Twilight needed to calm herself.
"Well," she said to no one in particular, "only one more stop, and then I can head over to Fizzy's apartment for some seeeerious snuggle time." She began to rattle off what she carried in her laden saddle-bags. "I've got three boxes of that gemstone cereal Spike loves so much, a new toy for the next time Flurry Heart comes to visit, some extra spices and some of that Celestine Dust from the Sunflower Grill for the next time I make tofurgers for my fillyfriend, and that bottle of scented oil I told Fluttershy I'd grab for her."
Twilight nodded in confirmation after she fulfilled her mental checklist. "Yep," she announced, "I've got just about everything—except for one last little item... my gift for Fizzy."
She grinned as she trotted in the direction of Sugarcube Corner, planning to pick up something sweet to share with Tempest. The purple unicorn's love of food was something Twilight always loved to indulge whenever possible, especially when they were out on dates. And that night, a cuddly, cozy night indoors with Fizzy by the fireplace, would be no exception—she had to give Fizzy something warm and sweet and inviting to really set the mood.
Would she like snickerdoodle cookies more than she would like a box of cinnamon donuts?
Similar thoughts crossed Twilight's mind as she approached the next landmark on her route to Sugarcube Corner, the home of Rarity, her fashionista friend and owner of Carousel Boutique. The building, two stories high, had been built in the shape of a fairy-tale tower, decorated with ornamental depictions of ponies who danced around the second floor. The roof, which had its mauve and pink diamond-shaped tiles arranged in a checkerboard pattern, stood out between the more dull-colored houses nearby and the ochre public gathering tents on the other side of the street.
Twilight would have thought nothing of seeing it en route to the bakery... but something caught her eye that gave her pause.
There was a large pile of boxes and crates piled up outside of the boutique's entrance. Twilight blinked, seeing that the boxes were quite large themselves—large enough to hold a great many things. They also came in various sizes, shapes, and even colors, implying their contents to be wide and varied. Several ponies—nine or ten total—who exited a large, covered wagon, carried them into the building with either their hooves or their magic (depending on if they were unicorns or earth ponies) to lift the bulky objects. The heavy-lifting ponies in question disappeared, one by one, like ducks in a row, into Carousel Boutique, obscured from further observation.
Why would these ponies be at the boutique? Twilight thought quietly. Is Rarity getting in a new fabric order?
But Twilight looked again, and noticed it was no mere fabric order.
In addition to the boxes which stood like a wood-and-cardboard hedge, large items of furniture—an armchair, a bed, kitchen chairs and a table, and a sewing machine—were littered among the hodgepodge of items. Before long, two of the heavy-lifting ponies—both unicorn mares—emerged from the boutique's entrance, carrying a distinctive fainting couch within their magical grip, and effortlessly lifted it into the back of the covered wagon. The task of transferring a small wooden table to the wagon had been taken up by a third heavy-lifter, a huge earth pony stallion, who carefully hoisted it while walking only on his back hooves.
As she curiously approached the boutique, she noticed text on the side of the wagon. Twilight looked at it a bit closer, and when she saw the words "Wheeler's Moving Services", she let out a soft gasp.
Those ponies were movers.
As soon as Twilight solved the mystery of the wall of boxes, she felt her heart stop as a chill ran down her spine. Panicked scenarios began to flood her mind like a tidal wave from a burst dam.
Oh no, she thought. Is this… really happening?! Rarity's MOVING?!
* * *
“YOU’RE MOVING?!” Twilight barked in a confused panic, to which Rarity simply nodded in response.
"Yes, darling, I am," she said, a shiver going across her shoulders, causing jittery ripples to cascade across her gleaming coat of fluffy white autumn fur. Whether or not it was a shiver of anticipation or simply from the chilly weather outside, Twilight didn't know.
“WHAT?!” Twilight yelped, her mind flooding with panicked scenarios again. Where is she going to move? Will it be far? W-will I see her again?! Part of her, the wild and unhinged part of her mind that she usually relegated to the bin of intrusive thoughts, started to screech, making her wonder if she had offended Rarity somehow, enough to make her want to move away. She stammered, trying to ask questions using her words, but in her panicked mind, they came out more like sentence fragments. "I d—You wha—I just, I—I'm sorr—you a—why would you—HUHHHH?!"
The white unicorn mare in front of her balked briefly at the volume of her voice, before she placed a hoof on Twilight's withers, a worried look in her eyes as she urged her, “Twilight, darling, please, calm down!"
Twilight, by some miracle of Sleipnir and Allmother Loki Herself, managed to rein her emotions in, with tears in her eyes. She stammered again, a bit more quietly that time, before she swallowed nervously and asked in a much calmer voice, "What is going on?"
“I’m not moving far, Twilight—just up to Sweet Apple Acres,” Rarity replied, a sentimental look in her eyes. "Honestly, darling, I would have warned you well in advance if I was moving somewhere outside of Ponyville."
Relief washed over Twilight's body, and she felt the muscles in her withers relax. She hadn't offended Rarity at all, thank all the gods. The alicorn took a deep breath and let it flow back out, extending a hoof away from her barrel, just as her sister-in-law Cadance had taught her.
"Oh, thank every god in the pantheon," she said after a couple of seconds. "Rarity, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that." It was then that Twilight paused as the full weight of her friend's statement sunk in.
"Sweet Apple Acres?" she asked. "Why are you moving up there?"
Rarity made an offended noise and put a hoof on her forehead dramatically. "Why, Twilight, how can you ever forget the reason I'm moving there? Does no one remember the life of moi? Woe is me!" Rarity's words implied she was about to have one of her usual overdramatic episodes, but her lack of a genuine tone, the smirk on her face, and the sarcastic look in her eyes made Twilight reconsider.
It took Twilight a couple of seconds for her to realize what Rarity was driving at, and when she did, her eyes went wide again.
"OH! You're moving up there to be with Applejack!" Twilight, embarrassed at her inability to pick up on subtleties, face-hoofed.
"Indeed I am, dear," Rarity said, with a grin. The look of a pony who had experienced warm, fuzzy feelings crossed the seamstress’ face as she hugged herself tightly with a giggle. "I'm moving to Sweet Apple Acres to be with my fillyfriend!"
Twilight's face was overcome by a grin of pure happiness. "Oh my gods, I'm so happy for you, Rarity!" She quickly gave Rarity a hug to show her undying support for her friends' relationship. Applejack and Rarity had been dating for a few months by that point.. "Are you staying in the farmhouse?"
Rarity shook her head. “No, I’m afraid that the farmhouse will not be large enough to solve my storage issues. My belongings and furniture and so on are being housed at Tight Squeeze’s storage lot on the south side of town for the next few days. I’ll simply be staying in the farmhouse with Applejack as a guest until… Well, it’s a long story, and all will be revealed in time.” Her gaze drifted into a glassy, dreamy state, as though she was recalling a very fond memory; she punctuated that with an adoring giggle.
“What do you mean, it’s a long story?” Twilight asked.
A thought then suddenly occurred to her. In particular, it was a thought that pertained to a lack of memories around the time when Applejack and Rarity got together. Come to think of it, Twilight didn’t even remember how they got together, let alone when.
“Wait… Now that you mention it, I… don’t actually remember how you two got together. I think I must have been out of town when you and Applejack made it official.”
“You were, dear,” Rarity answered. “I believe you were helping Sunset Shimmer get ready for her graduation from tutoring school up in the Crystal Empire that week.”
Finally, Twilight remembered—Rarity’s recollection was accurate. Twilight had been invited to her brother and sister-in-law’s kingdom by her friend Sunset—who might have ended up as her fillyfriend, had her first date with Tempest not worked out as absurdly well as it did—to help her prepare her graduation speech. It had taken almost a month to get it right, but when the project was completed, Twilight was proud to have aided the valedictorian of her class in such a compelling address.
“Oh, yeah…” the alicorn slowly admitted. “Have you told me the story of how you two got together? Because if you have, I don’t remember it.”
Rarity thought for a moment, rubbing a hoof against her chin. “No, darling, I don’t believe I have…”
“W-well then, please tell me! I need to know the answers just so I can sleep fine at Fizzy’s tonight!”
Rarity gave her a smug little smile and simply said, “...no.” She snickered, before sticking her tongue out and blowing a raspberry in a rather foalish manner, as though she were a little filly being sassy to her parents.
Twilight was dumbfounded and irritated at that action. “Why?!” she asked exasperatedly, practically chomping at the bit to hear the who, what, when, where, why and bucking HOW of the story. It wasn’t fair—she never kept her friends hanging about that kind of information. Hell, the first thing she did when she and Tempest officially got together was tell the news to everypony in town.
In hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have made it an official royal announcement, but then again, who cared; she was a princess in love and wanted to tell the world about her sexy and adorable foodie of a fillyfriend.
“Because, my dearest Twilight,” Rarity replied, “AJ is far better at telling this story than I am. Plus, I’m in the middle of packing up my things, and I need to help these mover ponies get all of it to the storage lot. I have valuables that must be securely stored.”
She lifted a vintage lamp—antiquated but still elegant—as she said that. “I’ve got to run, darling, but if you want the story to be told in its best possible manner, ask Applejack to tell it to you. Oh, she’ll be such a wonderful narrator for the tale of the greatest courtship in Equestria!” Rarity accentuated that last part as she gazed into space, as though she looked deeply into Applejack’s eyes right in front of her, along with an elated giggle.
Twilight blinked as her friend happily skipped out of the front door, left in a state of utter confusion. Why was Rarity being so cryptic? Were the circumstances of her and Applejack getting together that enthralling?
“Well,” she said aloud to no one in particular, stroking her chin with one hoof, “I… I guess I have time for a visit to Sweet Apple Acres before I need to get to Tempest’s.” Thinking of her fillyfriend and not wanting to keep her waiting, Twilight added, "I just hope it isn’t too long of a long story…”
* * *
“Sorry, Twi,” Applejack said as she swung the barn door shut for the night. “This story is too daggone long fer me to do it justice in just one evenin’, no siree.”
“Sleipnir’s balls, are you kidding me?!” Twilight shouted to the sky, feeling guilty for cursing around her friends. She tried not to make a habit of it, but profanity did tend to slip out if she was stressed or angry. Then certainly was a case of the former, as having to wait for answers in light of Rarity moving was driving her insane.
“Calm down, Twilight,” the warm-voiced farm mare told her. “Yer gonna bust a gusset if ya keep stressin’ over it this hard. It ain’t nothin’ personal, I swear—the story o’ how Rarity an’ I fell fer each other is a long an’ complicated saga, an’ I’ve got her comin’ here in just about half-an-hour, an’ you’ve got yer thing with Tempest to get to. I don’t wanna make ya late fer yer fillyfriend.”
Twilight’s stressed and irritated attitude relented a bit as she heard AJ’s point. “I know, I know… I should probably wait until tomorrow so that I can have fun with Tempest. But I really want to know your story, Applejack. This is a chapter of history for the girls—and I know that Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy would be over the moon if you told them too.”
“‘S too late,” the farm mare replied. “I’ve already told ‘em.”
Twilight stifled another minced oath. “Why am I the only pony in Ponyville who DOESN’T know what’s going on?!” She collapsed onto the ground with an irritated groan.
But Applejack only gave a good-natured chuckle.
“Ahh, Twi,” she tittered, “I know that look in yer eye. Yer hungry fer knowledge, an’ I don’t think you’ll be truly satisfied unless I tell ya, now will ya?”
“Is it that obvious?” Twilight asked with an embarrassed grunt.
“Eeyup,” came the farm mare’s reply. “Well, if’n ya want a seat up there on the porch, go ahead ‘n take it. I may not be able to tell ya the full tale o’ how I fell in love with my lady-love Rarity tonight, but I can at least start the story.”
Before the farm mare could say anything else, Twilight had already teleported onto the Apple family porch swing. She blinked as she realized the true depths of Twilight's need to know before she turned around and headed to join her friend, rolling her eyes with a good-natured chuckle.
The alicorn was bouncing in her seat, waiting for the tale to begin the moment Applejack sat down. And so, as she took her seat next to Twilight, the farm mare drew in a long breath, removing her hat to let the cool autumn breeze blow through her mane and across her ears.
“All right, so, in order fer me to tell this here tale, I have t'give ya some background an’ setup, Twilight. That'll be what I'll tell ya tonight, as it ain't so terribly long. How’s that sound?”
Twilight nodded, growing evermore impatient.
Applejack cleared her throat and, at long last, began to tell the story…
“All right, so: It all started a few months ago, back durin’ plantin’ season. I remember that mornin’ in particular took quite a turn when I received a letter from an unexpected visitor…”
Author's Note
And so it begins... Merry Christmas! :)
