Later on that day, Applejack went back over to Twilight’s. When she had gotten there, the princess had thankfully gotten dressed. She answered the door in her usual white dress shirt with the purple sweater and jeans. Applejack felt a twinge of disappointment.

"Why'd you leave? You could have taken a shower here." Twilight told her as she let her in. She sounded a little offended.

"Well Granny wanted ta make sure Ah was okay. She got a lil worried when Ah didn't come home." Applejack responded, sitting down and opening her textbook.

Twilight nodded. "Understandable. Today we're going to cover algebraic equations."

Applejack’s ears perked up. "Is that what Bloom was doin'?" She asked, more to herself than Twilight.

Twilight thought for a moment. "Wait, how old is she?"

"Twelve."

"In the fifth grade?!"

"Sugarcube ain't the brightest buckle on the belt." Applejack shrugged. "Plus she started school a little late."

"You count three years as a little late?!" Twilight asked incredulously.

"Seein' how mah family couldn't afford to pay for clothes that she needed for it, yeah Ah would count that as a little late." Applejack nearly snarled, running her tongue over her teeth.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Applejack. I had no idea." Twilight told her feeling guilty.

Applejack shrugged again. "No one does. Just cause we ain't no rich folk don't mean we got ta be feelin' sorry for ourselves. That's just stinkin' thinkin'."

"I could always get the princess to-"

"Now don't you start, Twi. Thanks for the offer, but Ah think mah family can handle things. We been doin' just fine for generations. Even when times get rough. Besides, Ah'm sure the princess has more important things to do than worry bout us Apples." Applejack interjected, shaking her head.

Twilight’s shoulders slumped. "Fine. I really wanted to help you. I haven't written a letter to the Princess in a while and I think she's noticed."

"You still hafta write letters?" The farm girl asked as she wrote down something Twilight had written on the board.

“Of course. Not as many as I used to, but I still have to report what I’ve been doing to her every once in a while. It was part of our little agreement that allowed me to stay here in Ponyville.”

“What agreement?”

“Well, in order for me to stay here, I need to write her a letter about friendship. I have to do that or its to the castle I go.” Twilight explained, frowning. She didn’t look too happy considering the thought.

“Why don’t ya go then?” Applejack asked, genuinely wondering what her answer would be.

“Because I don’t want to leave you guys. As much as Dash gets on my nerves and I will never understand the woman that is Pinkie, I couldn’t just leave you guys hanging. Especially not you, Applejack, who needs my help the most.” Twilight laid a comforting hand on Applejack’s shoulder. She smiled a little bit, rubbing it affectionately.

Applejack sighed under her calming touch before bringing herself back to earth. Twilight had just said she was one of the major reasons why she decided to stay in Ponyville. That was pretty big for her, since she was supposed to be the dependable one. Dash was the loyal one, not Twilight, but none the less, she showed the trait respectively, which made it clear as to why she now had the title Princess. She was, indeed, a truly remarkable girl.

Applejack pouted when the hand left her shoulder, but quickly fixed her face when Twilight looked up at her. “So, instead of algebraic equations, what should we learn about today?”

How ta kiss? Applejack wanted to ask. But inwardly shook her head. Stay cool, Jack. Don’t get all fuzzy in the the head. She told herself, as she watched Twilight walk in front of the bored. Man, those jeans are so great on her. They make her ass look amazing. She thought, biting her lip and unconsciously leaning over the desk.

The piece of chalk Twilight had been writing with clacked to the floor, and she easily bent down to pick it up. The motion made the back of her shirt rise, and as Applejack squinted, she realized that right on the small of Twilight’s back was a tattoo. When did she get that? she asked herself as Twilight got back up and began writing on the board again.

“When’d you get it?”

“Huh?”

“The tattoo. When’d you get it?” Applejack repeated, pointing to the star on her lower back. Not that she minded. It actually looked sexy on her.

“O-Oh. That. I guess I forgot to cover it with make up this morning. Well, no matter. I had gotten it for my 19th birthday. Shining made me do it. We made a bet that if he ever started dating Cadence, I would get a tattoo of his choice on anywhere on my body.”

Applejack’s mouth opened a little. Twilight? A dare devil?

Seeing the expression on her friend’s face, Twilight giggled. “Yeah, he didn’t think I would do it, but damn right I did. The stupid look on his face when I walked out that parlor was priceless and picture perfect. Though, there were repercussions, we both fully knew that. Our parents were none too happy about our little deal.”

“What’d they do?” Applejack was really curious now.

“They couldn’t ground us, of course. I was nineteen and him twenty two. So they punished us another way.” Twilight told her, playing with a button on her shirt. “They told the Princess and Cadence. Oh my gosh you should have seen how much fury Cadence had in her eyes. I don’t even think he was supposed to come out alive from that.” She chuckled at the memory.

“As for me...I couldn’t read in the Canterlot Library for a month. It drove me nuts. I would sneak in at night, build a little fort, and hide in the darkness with a flashlight, reading up on magic and such. Of course, I eventually got caught. So I got my suspension extended. Taught me my lesson.” She mumbled, finishing her story.

Applejack laughed. Of course Twilight would get in trouble for doing something only Twilight would do. But she had to admit, she didn’t think Twilight had it in her to go and get a tattoo without being the least bit self conscious about it.

“Speaking of birthdays, isn’t yours today?” Twilight asked after a moment.

Applejack seemed to squint at nothing for a moment, as if she was reading through a data catalog in her brain. And then her face changed, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Yeah. Ah’m twenty three.” She answered, still squinting as if the number was blurrily in front of her face. How could she have forgotten that? Well...that wasn’t such an unrealistic question. Especially since she had been focusing on Twilight so much these past few days.

“Are you going to do something with your family?” Twilight asked.

Applejack shook her head. “Nah. There’s never really enough money around for birthdays. Except for Bloom, because she’s still young. But me and Mac haven’t done anythin’ for ours since Ma and Pa passed.”

Twilight hummed in response, deep in thought. Then, she gasped. “Hey! Why don’t we gather the girls and hit up Manehattan? Since you haven’t done anything for it in a while, what better way to celebrate than with your friends?”

Applejack didn’t really want to go, but she didn’t really want to disappoint Twilight either. Seeing the unbearably cute eager look on her face made her heart leap. She sighed, knowing she was going to regret what she was about to say. “Fine, we can go out tonight.”

Twilight threw her arms up in the air. “Whoo!” She then cleared her throat, and said, “Okay, turn your textbook to page seventy.”

The blinding lights of Manhattan hit Applejack’s face as she pulled her hat over her face; her friends walking beside her, the out of rhythm sync of their various heels clicking against the hard sidewalk. They had taken a taxi since Applejack’s truck was too small and the others thought it was better to just not drive at all since they knew all of them would be drinking. Especially Pinkie.

“Oh! We should go to Berry’s bar! Remember we used to go there before Twilight came?” The party planner asked as Rarity smacked her lips after putting on yet another layer of red lipstick.

“Go to the bar with Twilight?” Dash asked. “Yeah right! There’s no way she’d survive in Berry’s place!” She added, throwing her head back to laugh.

“And just why the hell not?” Twilight demanded, clearly offended. Applejack silently smiled at the pout on her lips.

“N-Not to be mean,” Fluttershy responded for her, “But Berry’s Punch Bowl isn’t a place for someone like you, Twilight.”

“Like me?!” Twilight repeated, her voice going up an octave. Applejack took that as her cue to step in.

“They don’t mean nothin’ by it, sugarcube, just, that its a rough place. It’s not for girls from Canterlot.” She immediately regretted saying that, because the glare she got and the eyebrow twitch that accompanied it indicated that she had definitely said the wrong thing, and she was no better than Dash.

They had been walking towards the new club down the street, but Applejack knew now that that was no longer their destination.

“I have a tattoo! I think I can handle a stupid bar!” Twilight shouted crossing her arms.

“You have a what?!” Rarity and Rainbow shouted at the same time, giving her almost identical looks of disbelief.

“Its a purple star, on the small of ‘er back.” Applejack responded.

“How do you know where it is?” Dash sneered.

Applejack blushed, realizing that what she had just said sounded very intimate. Of course, if Twilight didn’t cover it with make up and she bent down to pick something up like she did earlier it would be easily seen, but with the way Dash’s perverted mind worked, of course that would be the conclusion she would come to. “T-That ain’t the issue here!” She stammered.

“Darling are you sure you want to go there? Even I don’t think it’s such a good idea.” Rarity said, putting a hand on Twilight’s shoulder.

“If Applejack says we can go then I want to go. It is her birthday after all.” Twilight responded, looking at her with a surprisingly intimidating glare that basically told her she had to agree or else she’d stay twenty three forever, six feet underground.

“Let ‘er go. If anything happens we’ll just take ‘er home.” Applejack said, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. The mood on Twilight’s face quickly changed, and it was as if nothing had even happened. Applejack chuckled to herself, shaking her head. Look at that, she thought to herself, Ah’m not even with her and Ah’m already whipped.

The bar was a quaint little place, not too big, not too small, and also not too welcoming. The room wasn’t crowded, a few tables were dotted here and there. On two TVs hanging on the wall was an indistinguishable sports game being blared to the patrons down below. At the bar itself behind it was the bartender, who was cleaning out glasses for her next customers.

“W-Why are they looking at me like that?!” Twilight asked warily of the men she was referring to that were giving her lascivious looks from their table across the room she nearly held on to Applejack for dear life. The farm girl rolled her eyes. They had warned her. Why didn’t she listen?

Dash was in tears. She was laughing so hard she was gasping for air, Pinkie joining in. Fluttershy and Rarity tried to pry the princess off her shield, but to no avail. Twilight held on to her firmly. And as much as Applejack appreciated the fact that Twilight thought she was her big and strong knight in armour, the nails digging into her arm were beginning to hurt.

“Look Twi, me an’ the girls are here. We ain’t gonna let nothing happen to ya. So Just relax. For me? Please?” She begged, turning to Twilight who was now uneasily sitting on a bar stool next to her. The wary girl nodded, and much to Applejack’s relief, the pressure was soon gone. She doubted that she wouldn’t find bruise marks in the morning.

The bartender approached them, and smiled as she made eye contact with Rainbow Dash. “Well, well, well! If it isn’t my five favorite girls! What brings ya’ll to my here fine establishment?” She asked, her accent sounding like that of a person who lived in Hooflyn. She was about Twilight’s height, with scruffy magenta hair.

“Berry! What’s up chicka?!” Dash responded, bumping fists with the woman.

“Oh, nothing. Actually, if I remember correctly it’s someone’s birthday today, isn’t it?” Berry asked, looking directly at Applejack.

“Berry, I swear to Tatarus.” Applejack deadpanned, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

Berry gave her a mischievous smirk, then cleared her throat. “Happy birthday, AJ baby!” She shouted in a playfully seductive voice.

Applejack blushed, slamming her fist on the counter. “Goddamit, Berry! Ah told ya not ta call me that!” Applejack heard laughter, and whipped around expecting it to be Dash, but was surprised to learn that it was Twilight.

“And who is this pretty young thing? Wait, don’t tell me...You’re that cute new princess, right?” Berry asked her, eyebrow raised, finger pointed at her.

Twilight nodded a little, embarrassed by the compliment. “Yep, that’s me.”

“Don’t flirt with her Ber, She doesn’t go that way.” Dash snickered.

Applejack’s heartbeat skipped. She didn’t even consider that. What if Twilight didn’t go that way? Or at least, didn’t like her in that way? What was she going to do? It would be incredibly awkward for Applejack to express her desires and then to have Twilight basically tell her she just wanted to be friends. It would ruin their friendship with the sheer power of awkwardness.

“Well, nice to meet ya, your highness. The name’s Berry Punch and I own this place!” She stuck her hand out and shook Twilight’s, who was now looking considerably a lot more comfortable than before. “Now, in honor of the birthday girl,” Berry started, reaching up on the shelf behind her. She picked up a bottle of whisky and set out six shot glasses, filling each one with alcohol before placing it in front of each girl. “Every round of shots is on the house.” She smirked.

Applejack watched Twilight stare at the amber brown liquid in front of her with confusion and curiosity. “Yer supposta throw it back.” She tells her, pointing to the glass.

Applejack picked up her glass in example, and swings her head back as the liquid runs down her throat. “See? Now you try.”

Twilight hesitantly picked up the glass and put it to her lips, before throwing her head back, trying to imitate what Applejack had showed her. Unfortunately she had done it too quickly, and she winded up spitting it back up, coughing like she had been drowning.

“Easy there, sugarcube. It’s not a race.” Applejack comforted her as she patted her back to lessen the coughs.

“Speak for yourself!” Dash hollered before drinking her second glass. Pinkie was right behind her, watching her every move. Whiskey shots were their thing, and the contest that was brewing would be nothing but trouble.

Rarity passed her shot down to Pinkie, then flagged down Berry for a martini. “I unlike the rest of my friends, am a lady of sophisticated liquor. I would never drink such a barbaric drink in such a way.” She rolled her eyes as Pinkie downed her glass.

Fluttershy sat quietly, swaying side to side in her stool. She wasn’t much of a drinker, (even though she was a year older than Dash and Pinkie, who were both twenty.) So she had gotten a soda with cherries in it. She initially wasn’t going to come, but because she could never turn down time with her friends, here she was. She didn’t mind it though, seeing as everyone looked like they were having fun.

By now, Twilight seemed to be enjoying herself, and before Applejack knew it she was joining in with Dash and Pinkie. She was beating them, which Applejack could hardly believe what she was seeing. And she watched her for over an hour. And in this hour Twilight had become incredibly drunk.

“Did, did you know, that like, um, that Celestia used to tell the guards not to let me near any liquor?” Twilight asked, slumping over onto the counter.

Applejack sighed, thinking that she probably already knew the answer. “Why is that, Twilight?”

“Because, because, because I can't handle anything!” She finished, throwing her arms up before nearly falling off the stool. She giggled as Applejack caught her, glad she had gotten to her before her head collided with the hard wood floor beneath their feet.

“Ah can see that.” the farm girl mumbled, her hand reflexively reaching out, as Twilight almost fell again. Twilight giggled again, before downing yet another drink. She contemplated taking her home, looking around to see that the rest of the girls were doing their own thing. Dash and Pinkie were well, occupied with each other in a sense, and Fluttershy was gossiping with Rarity. So their presence would be rarely missed.

It was either take her home, or let her continue to make a complete fool of herself. And she wasn’t about to do the latter, seeing how it could potentially get her- and someone else- hurt. So the morally right part of her won. “C’mon Twi. We’re getting you home.” Applejack told the drunken princess as she pulled her to her feet. Twilight could barely stand. Applejack actually found this amusing. The girl was the definition of a rule abiding student, and yet here she was, more wasted than Pinkie was last Hearth's Warming.

“Okay, but as long as we let the cat out.” Twilight slurred.

“What?” Applejack asked out loud in sheer confusion as she hailed a cab. The car stopped and she helped Twilight in before getting in herself.

“Where ya goin’?” The cabbie asked, looking at them through the rear view mirror.

“Ponyville. Golden Oak Tree Library.” Applejack told him as Twilight slumped on her shoulder.

The car pulled off, and soon Twilight was asleep. This was the second time Twilight had fallen asleep on her, and Applejack had to admit, it really felt nice. Her warm body pressed against hers, it was, well, pleasant. Sure it would feel better if they were- No. she mustn't think like that. They were friends. Ah don’t think Ah can keep this up for much longer... Applejack thought, staring down wistfully at the sleeping girl who was now in her lap.

The tires screeched to a halt, and Applejack realized they were back at the library. She woke Twilight up, paid the man, and helped her inside as he pulled off. Once inside, Applejack laid Twilight on the couch. But she was no longer tired.

“Hey! Applejack! Could you, could you come here?” She asked, waving her arm in what Applejack presumed to be a motion to make her come towards her. Applejack complied and before she knew it, Twilight’s lips were against hers.

Her heart was pounding her head, her brain was screaming for her to stop, and Twilight’s grip was surprisingly rough. Just how she liked it. Despite how she knew this was clearly wrong, Applejack began kissing her back, breathing a sigh of relief as she finally indulged in the thing that she had been dying to do these past few days.

But she knew it was wrong. And being the honest girl that she was, she pulled back. And as much as it hurt her to do so, to see the confused, hurt look on Twilight’s face, she couldn’t do it. Not like this. Not with Twilight like this. She wasn’t sober. It was completely wrong.

“Ah’m sorry.” Applejack mumbled hoarsely before storming off to the bathroom, locking herself in it. She closed the door behind her and slid down it. This was too much. This was becoming too much to handle. She was going to go insane.

What just happened confused her, even more so than Twilight. Why’d she kiss me? She thought, crawling up beside the tub. Maybe it was just her being drunk. She rationalized. Even so, to return the favor would not be good. Twilight probably had no idea about what she had just don’t nor did Applejack doubt that she wouldn’t remember in the morning.

Fatigue overtook her, and before she knew it, not only was she lost in her own thoughts, but she was now lost in a deep slumber too.

Morning sunlight spilled through the blinds, and the door to the bathroom creaked open. Light footsteps entered, two cups of something hot and familiar clinking in the mystery intruder’s hands. One of those hands tapped Applejack’s face, and woke her up.

Her vision cleared, and in front of her in a long purple robe, was Twilight herself. “Hey.” She greeted hoarsely.

Twilight nodded and handed her the mug that she had placed on the sink before digging in the medicine cabinet for the aspirin. She took two for herself, then passed the bottle to Applejack who did the same.

Both took the pills in silence before washing them down with their coffee. Twilight stood there, unsure of what to say, and Applejack had almost the exact expression on her face.

“Why are you in here?” It was a simple question, a reasonable one. Why was Applejack in the bathroom, asleep against the tub? But she couldn’t answer, for if she did, then the memories of the night before would come flooding back. And she definitely didn’t want that. But honesty has always been her best trait.

“Do you remember anythin’ that happened last night?” She asked, making sure to ask slowly so that the other girl could think.

Twilight stared up at the ceiling as if it had the answer, and shook her head. “Nope. Why?”

“You uh, you got really really wasted. And kissed me.” Applejack explained as she blushed. She looked up at Twilight to see her reaction.

Twilight was equally as flustered, possibly even more. Applejack couldn’t blame her. Poor girl. She’s probably questionin’ her sexuality right now.

“D-Did we-” Twilight stuttered, the mug in her hand shaking.

Applejack became redder. “No, no, it was just a kiss.” She quickly assured. And suddenly Applejack was severely glad she had stopped herself, because she couldn’t imagine how she could have explained to Twilight something like that.

They stared at each other in yet another pocket of silence before Twilight turned around and left, mumbling something about going to start breakfast. Applejack just stayed where she was staring at the wall. If she thought things were complicated before, they were downright tragic now.

Author's Notes:

Pinkie and Dash kissed if thats what you think i was insinuating so yes thats what i was insinuating. Hooflyn is supposed to be the horse Brooklyn HAHAHAHA SO FUNNY HORSE PUNS! *rolls eyes* corny I know. and this took me sooooo long you have nooo idea! my back hurts! I feel like an old women! So you guys better comment! Also the next chapter is going to have an interesting twist. stay tuned! ;D