//------------------------------// // Seven // Story: It's just Baldness // by Charlie_K //------------------------------// "A'right," Applejack nodded, "Ah'm impressed." When Rarity and Twilight had approached her that morning, engaging her in conversation regarding iced tea, a roof for the market stall, their mirror-world counterparts, all for the purpose of approaching the topic of Twilight's dabbling with nudism, she had thought it was all just idle chatter. She had never expected anything concrete to actually come about from it all. So naturally she was surprised when Rarity of all ponies actually showed up on this hot morning about the prospect of actually going through with putting a roof on the stand to help keep the bright sun, and the heat of the day at bay for both her, and her apples. It had taken some cooperation, a few of the right kind of tools, and a little less than polite language being tossed about, but the end result was really had to argue with. While more of a really big awning than an actual roof, made from a tan canvas that she was told would help block the sun while resisting either rotting or tearing -with a little tucked white and green horizontal striped overhang in the front for artistic flare- and mounting on a simple wooden frame, it would certainly fulfill it's intended purpose of shielding her from the summer sun. It would even fold down along with the rest of the stand for easy transport, without adding any excess bulk to wrestle with. "So can I assume that it meets with your approval, darling?" Rarity asked as she stood next to the farmer, also admiring the culmination of their work. "Oh hay yes," Applejack replied and nodded again. "What Ah don' get though, is where ya learned how ta do carpentry fer buildin' the frame parts fer hangin' the roof," she stated. "Well in all honesty, Applejack, I really didn't," Rarity replied. "It's just that building a physical construct has a lot of similarities to making a fine dress. One must know how the pieces go together for best results. Some skills just... translate well from one medium to another, if one is simply willing to stop and actually listen," she explained. Applejack just scratched the back of her head and shrugged her withers in response. "Ah'll take yer word fer it, Sugarcube. Ah might be able ta rebuild a fence, but Ah don' think Ah'd be able ta sew a fancy dress ta save my life." Rarity did her best not to giggle, remembering Applejack's efforts at sewing when their cutie marks were switched. Her friend had certainly tried her best at maneuvering an unfamiliar skill set, but even though her heart was in it... well the heart could only carry one so far. "Well if you'd ever like to try again at learning the ins and outs of sewing, I'd be happy to show you," she offered. Applejack chuckled in response. "Ah appreciate the offer, but Ah think Ah'm gonna hold off on that. Ah've already got enough new things on mah mind ta consider tryin' out fer mahself," she explained. "Oh really? Well if you say so, darling, but the offer is still good should you ever change your mind," Rarity replied. She wouldn't force the issue, but she could certainly approach it little by little, and gauge whether or not there was any further interest. "If you'll excuse me, I should really get back to my own work now. There's still a fair bit to do, and I promised Twilight I'd meet with her later this afternoon." "Yeah?" Applejack asked at the change of subject. "Ah haven' really been able ta speak wit' 'er much lately. Ya think she's got anypony else jaybirdin' by now?" "Hm, I suppose it's possible, but I really haven't asked her about it," Rarity replied and shrugged. "It's not really my place to be asking such. Even if it were, I don't want to come off like I'm treating the subject as if it's a hobby where one collects things; we're talking about ponies here, not little pottery figurines that one puts on a bookshelf," she explained. Applejack chuckled at that. "A'right, fair point," she replied and nodded. She knew she certainly didn't want to be thought of as a thing rather than a pony. "Hey, Rares, do ya mind swingin' by before ya go an' see Twi'? Ah... well Ah'd like ta ask 'er 'bout givin' it another try," she admitted somewhat hesitantly. "Oh really now?" Rarity asked. Applejack nodded in response. "Well, darling, there's certainly nothing wrong with that if it's what you want to do," she replied. "Well at the moment Ah'm jus' gonna be askin' a few questions. Ah'm thinkin' about tryin' fer Saturday night, an' Ah wanna know if she's free," Applejack asked. "Oh," Rarity replied, "I know it's not any of my business, but do you mind if I ask why?" Applejack shook her head in response. "Something ya said earlier, 'bout needin' more than a few minutes ta get an accurate picture. Ah figure, if Twilight doesn' mind me spending the night, it'd give me a perfect opportunity ta go about gettin' that picture. Ah don' have ta get up early the next mornin' since mah family doesn' work Sundays, so Ah wouldn' need ta go gallopin' back home. Ah could actually take mah time with it," she explained. Rarity nodded as she listened to Applejack explain, noting that it made a great deal of sense. She sincerely doubted that Twilight would object to the prospect having a friend over for the night, even if the friend wasn't expressing an interest in the subject at hoof. She wouldn't be at all surprised if Twilight welcomed Applejack to come for dinner as well. "Well then, I guess I'll see you again at closing time," she replied. As much as she was glad to see that somepony else was taking a healthy interest in Twilight's interests, that did nothing to change the fact that she still had orders to finish up before the day was done, lest she have to burn the midnight oil. "Have a good day, Applejack." "It'll be a lot better now wit' a roof ta stand under," Applejack commented, thankful for the intervention. "Do either of you have any idea what "jaybirding" is?" On a normal day the Cutie Mark Crusaders would congregate at the clubhouse on Sweet Apple Acres for the purpose of discussing what new endeavor they'd be attempting for earning their cutie marks. But on a day that was this hot, their meeting had been moved to the farm's swimming hole, and the reprieve of nice, cool water to lounge in. That was just fine by Scootaloo, as she enjoyed swimming just fine. "What?" Apple Bloom asked as she looked over at her, before trying to blow a clump of wet mane out of her face. "It's something I heard Rarity and Applejack talking about earlier, but I don't know what it means," Scootaloo replied and shrugged. "Is that something you'd know about?" "Ah know what a jaybird is. Maybe they were talkin' 'bout doin' some bird watchin' later?" Apple Bloom suggested. "Bird watching? At night?" Scootaloo asked. "At night?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Yeah. Applejack was talking about doing it Saturday night when she's got time to get a picture. Or something like that," Scootaloo explained. "Weird," Sweetie Belle replied, unsure of what else to say. "And she was talking to Rarity about this?" "Yeah. They said they'd talk to Twilight about it later and see if it was alright," Scootaloo stated. "Hmm," Apple Bloom muttered to herself. "Well then. Why don' we go ask Twilight 'erself if she knows wha' they were talkin' about?" she suggested. "It would make more sense than trying to figure it out for ourselves," Sweetie Belle replied. "Who knows. Maybe it's something we can get our cutie marks in." "A bird watching cutie mark? Isn't that kind of lame?" Scootaloo asked. "First, that's assuming jaybirding is the same thing as bird watching. Second, we're starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel in our search for cutie marks, aren't we? Even if it is bird watching, it can't be anymore lame than a juggling cutie mark, could it?" Sweetie Belle asked. "... Point taken," Scootaloo replied and finally shrugged, "let's get going then." Twilight let out a cross between a groan and a whimper, cringing as she squeezed her eyes shut tight. The headache she currently had was a doozy that was borderline migraine territory, and she was really hoping that there wouldn't be any border crossing going on right now. Today really wasn't shaping up to be all that good of a day with everything that had been going on. Right now all she could do was bury her head under one of the pillows on the library's sofa to shut out the light, and pray the pain would go away. Spike entered the room, doing his best to be silent in his approach. But his best was none too good this time around. "Spike, please, don't walk so loud," she groaned, voice muffled by the pillow that covered her head. "Sorry, Twilight," Spike apologized, before continuing his approach in order to set a glass of water, and several aspirin down on the coffee table. Along with an ice pack wrapped in a towel. "I brought you the usual, but I made it a triple this time," he stated. "Nnngh," Twilight grunted, internally wrestling with whether or not to put in the effort necessary to get her reward. Finally she decided to go for it, and lifted her head up. "I love you so much," she stated weakly as she eagerly swallowed the aspirin, and eased the cold compress onto her head. "You're not so bad yourself," Spike replied and chuckled. "I don't get it. You don't get headaches that bad for no reason. What brought this on?" he asked. "I don't know, Spike," Twilight replied, before easing her head back down under the pillow. "Although if I had to make an uneducated guess, I'd say I might've applied the illusion spell incorrectly. Rainbow Dash was complaining about how her skin felt when she was wearing the necklace. And my headache only came on after I wore it for an extended period of time without a break. It's possible that something got applied incorrectly, or there are complications from long-term use. Whatever it is, though, I'll figure it out when my head is no longer throbbing like it wants to split open," she stated and groaned again, regretting that she'd talked so much. "Alright," Spike replied and nodded, "If anyone stops by today, I'll let 'em know you're not up for visitors." "Thanks, Spike, I'd be lost without you," Twilight replied. "Tell me about it," Spike thought to himself as he stepped outside of the library. Twilight needed peace and quiet, so he was gonna do what he needed to do to get her that, and he knew just how to start. Lock the palace doors, and put out the sign stating that they were closed. It was a simple strategy, but it could prove to be an effective strategy. At least Spike hoped that it'd be an effective strategy for keeping visitors out. Right now it was all that he had coming to mind. He still remembered how Twilight had said the sign was entirely unnecessary, and how it wouldn't do for the Princess of Friendship to appear so standoffish by declaring her palace closed to the public. But he'd bought the sign anyway without her knowing about it, because he was certain that situations would arise where it would be demanded; like anytime a friendship problem arose, and he was left watching over the castle. "Just gotta hang this out front and lock the door," he said to himself as he pulled the door open... ... and promptly felt a hoof landing against his skull. "Ow!" "Oops. Sorry 'bout that, Spike." Spike rubbed his head and looked out to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders present. "Sorry, girls, I can't play with you today. Twilight's down with a bad headache so I've gotta keep visitors away and look after her," he stated. "She is? Well there goes that idea. We needed to ask her a question about something we can't figure out," Sweetie Belle stated. "Yeah? Well maybe you could ask me, and I can ask her when she's feeling better, and I can tell you what she said the next time I see you," he suggested. The three looked at one another, before nodding in agreement, finding that to be acceptable. "That'd work," Apple Bloom agreed, "does she know wha' "jaybirdin'" is?" Had Spike been eating at the moment, he would've choked at hearing the question. "Um... what?" he asked. "Jaybirding," Sweetie Belle repeated, "what is it?" So much for the hope that he'd heard them wrong. Where had they heard that term? There were only three others that knew about the use of that code term, so who had been blabbing? This wasn't going to end well, he was very sure about it. "Uh..." he replied uneasily, "well I don't know, but when Twilight gets back in, I'll be sure to let her know that you stopped by. Thanks for asking," he said quickly in an effort to shut the palace door and lock it tight. "Wait. Ah thought ya said Twilight had a headache. Now she's not here?" Apple Bloom asked. "Uh..." Spike paused again, now starting to panic, "she's... at the doctor?" he offered up in an effort to explain the inconsistency in his cover story. "Something's going on here. And you know what it's about, don't you?" Scootaloo accused as she frowned, really not liking being lied to. "Well I-" Spike started. "And if you know what's going on, Twilight no doubt knows what's going on," Sweetie Belle stated. "Well, yeah, but-" Spike continued. "She's here right now, isn't she?" Apple Bloom asked. "Well, yes, but-" "C'mon, girls, let's see what's going on here!" Scootaloo yelled. The next thing Spike knew, the three fillies had managed to run past him into the palace like he wasn't even there, and were quickly making their way down the hall. "Where would she be?" Sweetie Belle asked as they galloped away. "Knowin' Twilight she'd be in the library," Apple Bloom stated. "Crud, not good!" Spike stated as he forcefully slammed the door, sign forgotten as he hurried down the hall in an effort to head off whatever was going to happen. "Twilight! Incoming!" he yelled as he ran, hoping to give her enough notice to avoid being caught. He ran with a fierce determination to reach the library first. But determination alone wasn't enough to overcome his short stride, and actually let him catch up with the three fillies. Much to his horror, the sounds of varying screams could be heard as he closed in on his target location. First he heard the Crusaders scream, then he heard Twilight scream. Then the Crusaders screamed again, then Twilight screamed again. By the time he finally reached the library's doorway, and nearly crashed into the frame from coming to a sudden stop, the damage had already been done. Twilight looked like she'd woken up from a bad nightmare without realizing it, on top of looking quite embarrassed, and the Crusaders looked like they'd just seen some indescribable monster. Right now Twilight was trying desperately to hide behind the pillow she'd had on her head just a little bit ago. Not that it was going to actually do anything to hide the truth. "Spike-" Twilight started. "I tried to stop them, but they ran right past me before I could shut the door," Spike stated in response. He already knew that he was at fault for this, he didn't need it pointed out to him right now. "What... what's going on here?" Sweetie Belle finally asked, her voice squeaky as she did. "Why... why..." "Why're you BALD!?" Scootaloo shrieked. "It's a long story," Twilight replied and sighed, her headache increasing from the knowledge that she was going to have a very long, very awkward conversation ahead of her. "Spike, could you bring me my bathrobe? Please?" She was really not looking forward to this; either the explanation, or the potential fallout that was all but absolutely guaranteed to come in the aftermath. She was fairly certain that there was a 99.5 percent chance of things going badly in all of this. And she really didn't have the kind of luck that would actually let her experience that 0.5 percent chance of things not horribly exploding in her face. "Better make yourselves comfortable, girls..."