Big Macintosh got to the library in almost record time. He immediately noticed the darkened windows and the closed sign. Regardless, he pounded on the door.
“We’re closed. Read the sign.” A voice from inside said.
Undaunted, Big Mac pounded on the door harder and harder until it came right off. Spike was able to jump out of the way just in time.
“Aw, come on!” He whined. “Now I’m gonna have to fix that!”
“I’ll fix it myself if you let me see Twilight.” Macintosh told him.
“Look, yesterday was a really bad day for her, so she just needs to be left alone, okay?”
Mac sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Look, just give me five minutes with her, okay?”
“I know Twilight better than anyone; what makes you think you can snap her out of it?”
“I just want to talk to her.”
Spike and Mac stared at each other for a long minute until Spike sighed and headed up the stairs to Twilight’s room. There was the sound of a door opening, some mumbled words, and Spike came back down.
“All right, she’ll see ya.”
Mac gave an appreciative nod and went up into Twilight’s room. The curtains were closed, the lights were out, and Twilight was in bed with the blankets over her.
“What do you want?” She mumbled.
“I just came to talk.”
Twilight rolled away from him.
“Leave me alone to die.” She said.
Big Mac sat down on the bed and tried to think of what to say.
“Twilight, I…uh, I know this whole trial thing was quite a blow to you.”
“Really? Whatever gave you that idea?” Twilight said with withering sarcasm.
“Look, I’m gonna try not to say what you’re probably already thinking. Yes, you shouldn’t have let Trixie run off the way you did, but you were right in some ways. If Trixie was detained in Ponyville, there’s no doubt quite a few people here would’ve tried to hurt her.”
“Yeah, a fat lot of good that did.” Twilight said bitterly. “Just another one of Celestia’s student’s screw-ups flaunted in front of all Equestria for all to see.”
“Twilight, I know how you feel…”
“NO! DON’T SAY THAT!” Twilight yelled as she angrily threw off her blankets and jumped out of bed.
Macintosh recoiled, surprised at the sudden reaction and Twilight’s messed-up coat, mane, and the old extra-large T-shirt she was wearing, an odd combination that she still managed to look fierce in.
“Don’t you ever say that!” Twilight snarled. “You have absolutely no idea how I feel! You think I wanted any of this? Do you? All I wanted to do was learn magic! I never asked to become Celestia’s student! I never asked to become an Element of Harmony! I never asked to become a warrior of Equestria, life saver, chosen one or whatever! Do you have any idea what that’s like? No, you don’t! Every single somebody in Canterlot judged me when I was growing up! If I didn’t act like I was taking my position as student seriously or didn’t do a spell correctly right away, they’d talk among themselves whether or not Celestia made a mistake. I barely saw my family because of my training and studying. I hardly ever left the castle and if I wanted to, I needed an escort! Sure, I wasn’t all that social when I was a kid, but being cooped up in the castle and learning magic day in and day out didn’t help! But you know what the worst part is?”
Big Macintosh was afraid to say anything.
“I’m always supposed to go along with these things because I’m expected to! ‘Twilight, stop worrying about Nightmare Moon coming back and make friends!’ ‘Twilight, go fight Discord without any help!’ ‘Twilight, your brother’s getting married in the middle of a crisis and his fiancé is totally not an imposter!’ ‘Twilight, you need to save a kingdom without any help at all as a test!’ Doesn’t anyone ever consider what I want, what I think? Don’t they think I get scared when I go up against these sort of things? Don’t they think I’m afraid my friends or I could get hurt or worse? Don’t they think I ever want to say ‘I don’t want to do this! Find someone else!’? Don’t they think I ever think about putting a bullet in my skull to stop the screaming in my head?”
Twilight slumped to her knees in defeat, tears already streaming down her face.
“Nobody cares about Twilight. All they care about is what she can do.”
“Twilight, that’s not true.” Big Mac said getting to his knees next to her. “Your friends care about you, Spike cares, your family, Celestia…”
“Celestia?” Twilight scoffed. “All Celestia sees is that cute little girl who was so happy to become her student. She has no idea how I really feel.”
“Have you told her?”
“…No.”
“Don’t you think you should?”
“Maybe. I guess. Probably. I don’t know.”
“Twilight, she’s your teacher. Of course she’ll listen to you.”
Twilight looked away and didn’t reply.
“Look, how about you clean yourself up and get dressed and I’ll take you out, okay?”
“…Okay.”
Big Mac patted her hand and began to rise.
“Wait.” Twilight said, grabbing his hand.
She slowly raised his hand to her lips and kissed his fingertips.
“Thank you.” She said.
Spike, who’d been waiting downstairs, heard Big Mac coming and jumped up to meet him.
“Well, how’d it go?” He asked.
Big Mac didn’t respond. He was staring at his hand like it had turned to gold.
Back at the farm, Applejack was in the barn working on her father’s old car, dressed in jean shorts and her shirt tied up at the bottom. Bent over the engine, she was so focused on her work, she didn’t notice a winged figure dropping down from the sky and sneaking up behind her, arms eagerly extended.
“Hello, daisy dukes!” An enthusiastic voice said, followed by a pair of hands giving Applejack’s rear a firm squeeze.
Applejack straightened up in surprise, nearly hitting her head on the opened hood. A pair of lean arms wrapped themselves around Applejack’s waist and a blue muzzle buried itself in her neck.
“Soarin, you…oh! Mmm…oh, you horny little pervert…mmm…” Applejack moaned as she melted into the embrace.
“Come on, cowgirl.” Soarin said. “You know I can’t resist those daisy dukes.”
Applejack broke free of the embrace and whipped around to look at the grinning Wonderbolt. He was clad in his uniform which clung to his body, showing off his athletic form, comparable to that of a Grecian marble statue. It also showed a certain part of his anatomy standing proudly at attention.
“What’re you doing here?” Applejack asked, trying not to stare at his Wonderbolt. “I thought you said training was gonna run for another month.”
“Yeah, it was, but I couldn’t stop thinking of you, so Spitfire let me go early.”
“Really?” AJ asked, folding her arms and making a face that was a combination of skeptic and amused, one of many faces Soarin loved. “That doesn’t sound like you at all.”
“Well…there was an…incident.” Soarin admitted sheepishly.
“Oh?”
“I, uh, I was in the showers for some, you know, private time and I had that picture of you in my locker with me, and these new recruits were being shown around and when they were brought into the locker rooms…”
“So, they caught you jerking off to my picture and Spitfire told you to get laid before you did anything else embarrassing?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s pretty much it.”
“You are such an idiot.”
“But I’m your idiot.” Soarin said, embracing her again.
“Yeah, you are.” Applejack smiled as they kissed.
The kiss started out gentle and tender but then quickly elevated to an all-out game of tonsil hockey and Soarin pinning Applejack to hood of the car.
“Whoa, whoa there, cowboy.” Applejack breathed pushing him off. “Mama ain’t planning on riding bareback.”
“Hey, don’t worry, I got the stuff.” Soarin said, unzipping his suit and pulling the protection out.
“Well, in that case…” Applejack grinned, pulling Soarin over to the nearest pile of hay.
“Granny?”
“Yes, Apple Bloom?”
“I heard weird noises in the barn.”
“What kind of noises, sugar?”
“Groaning and moaning and slapping and panting and gasping, and shrieking…”
“Uh, Apple Bloom, wasn’t Applejack working in the barn?”
“I think so.”
“Hmm, that Wonderbolt fella must be back.”
“How do you know?”
“Never you mind. Go play with your friends and stay away from the barn for the rest of the afternoon.”
“Are they wrestling? Cause Braeburn said that’s what he was doing when he took Lily to see the barn.”
“I said git!”