A Riddle or Twelve

by Idsertian

Day 3

’Third riddle solved, but the first two were easy; now you must go where good food makes you queasy.’

Applejack growled in annoyance and stuffed the riddle back in her hat. She had to give it to Rainbow, she’d been right about the difficulty of these riddles. She’d been turning this one over in her head all morning since the clasp had unlocked, and half the afternoon on top of that, but still no luck. Now Celestia’s… Twilight’s sun was half-way between noon and the horizon, and she was still no closer to figuring out the answer.

She grabbed the bucket of seed at her hooves and started distributing it to the chickens beyond the fence, watching the birds peck at the ground as she fumed over her lack of an answer once more. It felt like the thousandth time that day that she had done so, but she was darned if she was gonna have to wear that hat. Of all the things Rainbow could have picked as a forfeit for losing, that hat had earned her ire more than anything else she could think of.

She wasn’t sure if it was the colour, the simplicity of it, or the taunt emblazoned on the front, but it had definitely-

She was suddenly interrupted by a voice.

“Oh dear, you sound angry. Is everything okay, Applejack?”

Startled, she looked over at the source of the voice to find her sister-in-law, Sugar Belle, standing nearby, the pink unicorn looking at her with some concern. Applejack hadn’t even heard her approach; more to the point, she hadn’t even been aware she herself was saying anything. A small sense of embarrassment crept through her at the realisation.

“Oh, hey there, Sugar Belle,” she said, putting down the bucket of feed. “Heh, sorry about that. Guess I was so wrapped up in this riddle business, I didn’t even realise I was talkin’ to myself.”

“Riddle?” Sugar Belle asked, obviously confused. “It sounded like you were talking about a hat.”

“Eh, that’s part of it,” Applejack explained, telling her about the challenge Rainbow had issued, as well as the price of losing.

“Aw, that’s so sweet!” exclaimed Sugar Belle, earnestly. “Except for maybe the hat,” she added quickly upon seeing Applejack raise an eyebrow.

“Yeah, sure, “sweet”,” the farmer deadpanned.

“Oh, don’t be too hard on her, she’s obviously put a lot of effort into this. Besides, isn’t this sort of competitiveness normal for you two?”

“Yeah, I suppose you’ve got a point,” Applejack chuckled at Sugar Belle’s gentle chiding. Truth be told, she’d lost track of the amount of times she and Rainbow had both engaged in some bet or challenge over the years. “Just didn’t expect it to extend to birthday presents, I guess,” she added.

“So what’s got you so stumped that you resort to ranting to yourself about a hat?” Sugar Belle joked. Applejack reached into her own hat and pulled out the riddle, passing it to the other mare.

“This is the first clue for today, and I just can’t wrap my head around the darn thing.” She watched Sugar Belle’s lips move silently as she read the clue to herself.

““Good food makes you queasy?”” she repeated. The unicorn shook her head, her curly purple mane bobbing as she did so. “I… No, I don’t think I know the answer to this, either. If the food makes you queasy, then surely it’s bad food, right?”

“That’s what I thought!” Applejack agreed with a nod. “So it don’t make sense. And the answer can’t be eatin’ too much, otherwise it could be anywhere in Equestria that serves food!”

“So what does that leave?” asked Sugar Belle, a look of puzzlement crossing her face. She returned the riddle to Applejack, who put it back under her hat.

“You’re the baker, you tell me.” Applejack shook her head. “I’ve been tryin’ to work it out all day, but I got nothin’.”

“Maybe you should take a break? I’ve got to get back to Sugarcube Corner, why don’t you come with me?” Sugar Belle offered. “We could chat, you could clear your mind, and then I’m sure you’ll be able to think of something later.” Applejack thought for a moment, then nodded.

“I guess,” she said with a sigh. “The animals are all fed, at least, and what’s left to do can wait.”

“Good. It’s settled, then. Come on,” Sugar Belle gestured with a hoof and started walking. The pair left the farm and began the journey towards Ponyville, flanked on either side by bare apple trees and chatting away to each other as a light breeze blew the odd leaf across their path. They talked about life on the farm, how big Big Sugar was getting, and nothing much at all. They continued on this way until Sugar Belle asked:

“So how is Rainbow Dash, anyway? I haven’t seen her around for a couple of days.”

“She’s just fine,” Applejack replied with a half shrug. “But she’s been real busy lately with the academy. Whole new batch of recruits comin’ in, plus tests for last year’s class. And the new renovations to the academy. She’s been havin’ to stay in Cloudsdale a lot,” she added with a sigh.

“Sounds like you miss her.”

“Eeyup, but I can’t exactly complain. I stayed with her when she became a Wonderbolt, after all. Kinda comes with the territory.”

“Ugh, I don’t know what I’d do if Mac and I had to keep apart like that so often. I’d probably go crazy!”

“It ain’t easy, but the times when we are together make up for it. Besides, it ain’t like it’s forever. She’ll get more free time in a week or two, and then we can be together more.”

“That’s a nice way of looking at it, I suppose. You must really love her to be so patient.”

“Can’t imagine life without her, to be honest. She might know how to push my buttons every now and then, but she’s unbelievably sweet when she thinks no-one’s lookin’.”

“And sometimes when somepony is,” Sugar Belle commented slyly. When Applejack sent a quizzical look her way, she merely shrugged. “Just something I’ve noticed over the years. Rainbow’s definitely mellowed out about showing her affections to you.”

Applejack’s face was thoughtful as she considered Sugar Belle’s point. She thought back to when they were younger, all the furtive glances Rainbow would take around them before even considering anything like a hug, let alone saying something like “I love you”. She compared that to the memory of just last week, when Rainbow had kissed her goodbye on the cheek before leaving for work, in full view of Apple Bloom, Big Mac and Sugar Belle. A small jolt of surprise ran through Applejack at the realisation.

“Huh, you’re right,” she said. “I dunno how I never noticed-” She was interrupted by a loud growl from her stomach.

“That you’re hungry?” Sugar Belle interjected with a giggle. “What say we grab something to eat when we get to Sugarcube Corner? On the house.” Applejack grinned sheepishly.

“That sounds mighty fine, but you sure about that?”

“My treat. You’re family, and it is your birthday in a few days, after all.” Sugar Belle winked. “Come on, we’re almost there.”

She was right. The two mares had already reached Ponyville, and so began winding their way through the streets to the west, where Sugar Belle ran the town’s famous bakery with Pinkie Pie. The pair had done so ever since the Cakes retired, and the bakery had boomed in their capable hooves, becoming known well beyond Ponyville itself. A fact that impressed Applejack not just in and of itself, but also because Pinkie somehow managed to balance running the shop alongside being a mother, and helping Cheese Sandwich with his work, too.

That said, if anypony had the energy to do it, it would certainly be Pinkie. Not that Sugar Belle’s contribution was any lesser for it, of course. After she started working at Sugarcube Corner, her skills as both a baker and confectioner had quickly surpassed even that of Mrs. Cake, a fact the plump earth mare had taken great pride in before retiring.

As the bakery hove into view, Applejack thought back to some of her favourite treats made by Mrs. Cake, some of them not even apple-based. Treats like her flapjack bites that were always so soft and moist, her white-chocolate cookies that left a subtle ache in Applejack’s teeth, or her cherry bakewells with the icing that if she ate too many left the farmer feeling a little sick, or-

Applejack stopped dead in her tracks.

“No apple-buckin’ way,” she said to no-one in particular. Sugar Belle, having walked a few steps further than Applejack, turned around.

“Beg pardon?” she asked, looking confused. Applejack didn’t bother replying, instead she hurriedly fished the riddle out from under her hat once more, re-reading it silently. The last line clicked into place in her head.

‘now you must go where good food makes you queasy.’

She looked back up and past where Sugar Belle still stood with a puzzled look on her face, all the way over to Sugarcube Corner, with its gingerbread house appearance, and its cupcake roof.

“How did I not get that?” Applejack mumbled to herself.

“Applejack?” Sugar Belle asked. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s Sugarcube Corner,” she replied, gesturing with a hoof. Sugar Belle looked over and back.

“Yes, it is,” she said, looking nonplussed. Then Applejack saw the other mare’s eyes drop to the scroll in her hoof, and the glimmer of understanding appear on her features.

“What do ponies always say about the treats ‘n’ such at Sugarcube Corner?” Applejack asked.

“That they’re good,” Sugar Belle answered, smiling.

“And what happens if you eat too much of ‘em?” The answer left the lips of both mares at the same time.

“You get queasy!”

The pair laughed, Sugar Belle covering her mouth with a hoof.

“See?” she said, lowering her hoof again. “I told you you’d get the answer if you cleared your head.”

Applejack nodded, once again stuffing the riddle back under her hat. She couldn’t argue that the break from thinking about it had helped, but she wondered if she would have been able to solve it if she hadn’t been thinking of food at the time.

“Come on,” she said, walking towards Sugarcube Corner once more. “I guess I better go see what Pinkie Pie has in store for me.”

The inside of SugarCube Corner had, like the inside of Carousel Boutique, barely changed over the years. The same counters, the same tables, the same decoration, all just a little more faded and worn that it had been in its prime. Even the smell was identical, the same heady mixture of sugars and baking in progress. The only concession to anything new, was one particular table that Applejack vaguely remembered having been broken by a certain yak during a party a few years ago. Whether or not Yona had been the one to pay for it, she didn’t remember.

As the pair walked in, Applejack spied Pinkie Pie behind the main counter, her rump in the air as she attended to something out of sight. Her tail was tangled with some form of streamer, but she still somehow managed to swish it back and forth as she busied herself. At the sound of the shop’s bell she stood up, a happy grin appearing on her face at who she saw, but before she could utter a single word, a yellow and pink blur shot across the store, screeching to a halt in front of Applejack and Sugar Belle.

“Auntie Sugar Belle! Auntie Applejack!” Li’l Cheese exclaimed excitedly, hopping up and down in front of them.

“Hey there, young’un,” Applejack said, ruffling the colt’s curly mane as he turned to her from giving Sugar Belle a hug.

“Are you here to see momma?” he asked.

“Somethin’ like that, yeah,” she replied, walking up to the counter.

“Cheese, sweetie,” Pinkie Pie called across the room. “Why don’t you show Auntie Sugar the drawings you made while mommy and Applejack talk?”

“Oh yeah!” The colt jumped up and sped off towards the back of the building. Almost immediately, he reappeared and began dragging Sugar Belle away by the hoof, chattering animatedly about rubber chickens, dragons and, oddly enough, cotton candy. Sugar Belle gave Pinkie a somewhat forlorn look, her only words before disappearing through the doorway being that Applejack’s order was free of charge.

“You sure she’ll be okay?” Applejack asked with a chuckle. Pinkie giggled in response, nodding.

“She’ll be fine. Cheese adores her, and she loves him, really. He’s just really energetic!” She turned to Applejack, the light catching on some of the confetti caught in her mane. Somehow, a single lollipop had gotten stuck in there with it, not that Pinkie seemed to notice nor care.

“Sooooo?” the pink mare asked in a leading tone.

“So,” Applejack answered, matter-of-factly. “First, y’all can get me three of your biggest white chocolate-chip cookies.”

In the space of two blinks, a plate of cookies appeared on the counter, each one easily the width of her own hoof. She immediately grabbed one, wasting no time in devouring it, savouring the sweetness. Applejack made a small noise of pleasure as she swallowed, feeling the warmth of the freshly baked treat spreading inside her.

“Hungry?” Pinkie Pie asked with a small giggle.

“You bet.” Applejack wiped the crumbs from around her mouth. Reaching inside her hat, she produced the riddle for what seemed like the millionth time that day. She slapped it down on the counter and picked up another cookie.

“Second,” she continued, pausing as she took a couple of bites. She spoke around the mouthful. “Please tell me I ain’t gotta search this whole place like I did Rarity’s.” Applejack finished the second cookie as Pinkie read the scroll. She watched her friend’s face light up in a grin when she finished reading.

“Nope, no searching! I can just give you the next clue!” Pinkie exclaimed, much to Applejack’s surprise.

“Wait, you can? I thought Rainbow wanted to make a game of this?” The farmer wondered just Rainbow planned to make this one difficult. It certainly didn’t seem like giving away clues was the right way to get her to wear that hat. Not that she was going to, anyway. She’d take months of teasing over wearing that monstrosity, any day of the week.

“Well, there is one catch,” Pinkie conceded, sheepishly. She dove back beneath the counter momentarily. When she reappeared, she placed a large jar on the counter between them. It was sealed with a large cork held in place with a simple arm latch, and inside was a familiar looking scroll.

“You have to open this, first,” Pinkie finished. Applejack stared at the jar. It seemed simple enough, just lift the latch off of the arm covering the cork, raise the arm and remove the cork. She had plenty of similar jars back at the farm. She suspected that’s why Rainbow had picked it.

“Well that don’t seem too hard,” she said confidently. Grabbing the jar, she tried lifting the latch, only to find it stuck fast. She tried again, pulling harder and harder, finally resorting to using her teeth, but it remained immobile.

“What the…?” she started in confusion. “Pinkie, what the hay’s wrong with this thing?” Pinkie Pie just giggled in response, hopping up and down on the spot.

“Nope! You’ve gotta say the magic word! Or was it the magic phrase?” she stopped bouncing to rub her chin in thought. “No, it was definitely a word. Ooh! But you’ve gotta say it at the jar, and you only get three guesses!”

“More magic?!” Applejack stated incredulously. “And three guesses? What happens if I guess wrong?”

“I’m not sure, but Rainbow said if you get all three guesses wrong, the jar won’t open until tomorrow.”

“Of course it doesn’t. So I gotta get this right today, huh?”

“Sounds like it.”

“Well, do I at least get a hint?”

Pinkie Pie started and dipped under the counter once again. There was some rustling, and the pink party pony popped back up with a piece of paper clutched in her hooves. She dramatically cleared her throat before reading off of the paper.

“It’s something you like.” Pinkie looked at her, expectant grin on her face. Applejack just stared back at her, nonplussed.

“That’s it?” she asked. Pinkie shrugged.

“There’s more, but I can’t tell you the next one until you guess,” she replied seriously. “Rainbow was very specific.”

“I dunno, seems pretty general. I like a lotta things…” Applejack trailed off as she thought for a moment. Knowing Rainbow, the answer probably wouldn’t be too subtle. So far, all the answers had been painfully obvious after a bit of thought. It was likely something that the two of them, or even just Applejack herself took for granted, maybe even encountered every day.

A sense of smug self-satisfaction came over Applejack at that thought.

“Apples,” she said at the jar. She was rewarded by the same magic glow she’d seen over the past few days, only this time it enveloped the latch. Instead of fading, however, it persisted, shimmering slightly. Applejack’s confidence faltered, the feeling compounded when she tried to open the jar and found the latch just as immovable as before.

“Oooh,” Pinkie said, sympathetically. “I guess that wasn’t it. Oh well, next hint!” She shook her piece of paper straight. “It’s something that makes you happy.”

Once again, Applejack took a moment to think. It was another very general hint, as there were plenty of things that made her happy, but since this was all orchestrated by Rainbow, it was bound to have something to do with the two of them. What made her happy when she was with Rainbow? Well, plenty that she could think of, but only one thing that could really apply to both of them…

“Winning,” she said, with a slight sense of trepidation. The glow around the latch intensified, becoming almost solid. Applejack’s heart sank. This was harder than she’d originally thought.

“Huh, guess not,” Pinkie said matter-of-factly. “Okay, last hint: It’s something that likes you back.”

And then it all fell into place. Applejack pinched the bridge of her muzzle, squeezed her eyes shut and sighed in frustration, mostly at herself. Of course that would be the answer, why would she pick anything else?

“Rainbow,” she said, defeated. She opened her eyes in time to see the glow fade from the latch, disappearing completely without fanfare. The latch then flipped off of the arm, seemingly by itself. Many things had changed about Rainbow Dash over the years, but her ego had barely diminished. The fact she’d choose herself as the answer to a puzzle should have come as no surprise to Applejack.

“Looks like you did it, Applejack!” Pinkie exclaimed, prancing on the spot behind the counter. She looked excitedly from the jar to Applejack and back.

Not wanting to keep her friend waiting any longer, Applejack grabbed the jar, lifted the arm away and pulled out the cork, which came with surprisingly little resistance. She upended the jar, dropping the scroll inside onto the counter. Setting aside the receptacle, she quickly unfurled the scroll and read out the contents inside.

““From the land of treats and chocolate bliss; find a hit that was nearly a miss.””

“Oooh!” Pinkie enthused. She paused. “What does it mean?”

Applejack puzzled over the riddle. The first part was obvious, that was Sugarcube Corner. The answer lay in the second part, just like the previous riddles.

“A hit that was nearly a miss…” she repeated out loud. A thought, or rather a memory, struck her. “I got it!”

With that, Applejack tore out of the bakery up the street, past the mayor’s house, and headed for Cafè Hay. She and Rainbow had gone on a date there once, after the pegasus had mentioned the place in passing, something to do with Twilight, rain and that spare gala ticket. Arriving outside the cafè, she began threading her way through the mushroom tables, of which quite a few had been added over the years. The outdoor seating was empty, of course, ponies preferring the warmth indoors over the cold winter air.

After a moment, Applejack arrived at the table she’d been looking for. One of the older ones, it had previously been on the edge of the seating area, but had since been surrounded by newer mushroom tables as the cafè had expanded. On its purple and white spotted surface was a yellow vase containing some rather appetising blue flowers, and one very familiar looking scroll. The farm mare snatched it up in triumph, grinning.

“See? Y’all ain’t so clever as you like to think, Rainbow Dash,” she said to nopony in particular.

“Why’s that?” nopony in particular responded, that is to say, Pinkie Pie. Applejack jumped and whirled around with a slight nicker, coming almost nose-to-nose with the other mare, surprised that she had caught up to her so quickly. Or indeed at all, since she hadn’t told her where she was going. She began to suspect some truth to Rainbow’s tales of Pinkie’s apparent ability to follow somepony anywhere they went, though she decided to let it go for now.

“Well, uh,” she started, slightly disconcerted by her friend’s sudden appearance and expectant smile. “The clue was “a hit that was nearly a miss”, right? Well, me and Rainbow went on a date here once, this exact table. Everythin’ went well, except towards the end, when I got hit in the head by a stone thrown up by a passin’ carriage.” Applejack shook her head at the memory. “Hurt like heck, but otherwise I was fine. Anyway, it was real bad luck, ‘cos I was leanin’ forward to take a bite of food when it happened. If I’d’ve been sat up, it would have missed.”

“Ohhhh, so that’s what you meant!” Pinkie said, nodding in understanding. “I thought you two ran into each other!” Applejack chuckled, rolling her eyes.

“Heh, maybe once upon a time,” she said. “But I don’t think Rainbow’s crashed into anypony in quite a bit.”

“Yeah, you’re right, she’s definitely gotten better at her tricks. Still, it’s pretty odd Rainbow would pick this as a clue, don’t’cha think?”

“What do you mean?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, if this is supposed to be a birthday game,” Pinkie elaborated. “Why would Rainbow pick something that’s a bad memory for you? Wouldn’t she want to remind you of something happy?” She looked quizzically at Applejack.

Applejack stared at Pinkie, her own suspicions rising. She was talking an awful lot of sense, and on top of that, finding this clue had seemed pathetically easy given how Applejack herself had barely even figured out the clue for Sugarcube Corner. With a sinking feeling, she reached for the ribbon that wrapped around the scroll and tugged.

It immediately came loose from the clasp.

No magic, no resistance; just an ordinary scroll. Suppressing the small feeling of panic rising inside her, Applejack unfurled the scroll to find one simple line scrawled in Rainbow’s familiar scratchy writing:

‘Ha ha! Not that easy! You’re going to have to think harder than that! - RD’

“Oh, come on!” Applejack blurted out, almost yelling. She threw the scroll at the ground in frustration, watching it flutter away a few feet in the breeze before Pinkie caught it. She knew this was the answer! It had to be! What else could Rainbow have meant?

“I guess you guessed wrong, huh?” Pinkie asked, innocently, looking up from the taunting scroll. Applejack glowered, though she avoided directing her expression at her friend. None of this was her fault, after all.

“I guess so,” she replied in a sullen tone.

“Then I guess it’s time to guess again!” chanted Pinkie in an encouraging manner. Applejack couldn’t help but smirk at her enthusiasm. Pinkie definitely hadn’t lost her knack for cheering ponies up.

“I see a smile…” the confetti covered mare teased, draping a foreleg over Applejack’s shoulders and leaning in close, gently poking the farmer’s cheek with her other hoof.

“Alright, Pinkie, you win,” Applejack giggled, gently pushing her friend away. “But I ain’t got a clue where to start.” If this place wasn’t where Rainbow meant, then she couldn’t begin to fathom where she was supposed to go.

“Well, Rainbow thought you might come here,” Pinkie said. “And she said that if you did, to tell you that “you have to think big”. Whatever that means.”

“Wait, she’s givin’ me hints, now?” Applejack asked, thoroughly confused. “And think big?” Pinkie Pie shrugged.

“Got me… I figured it meant something special to you and Rainbow.”

Applejack shook her head. This game kept getting more and more obtuse. Between Rainbow’s apparent skill at hiding things, and the difficulty of these riddles, it would be a wonder if she ever actually finished it.

“I ain’t got any idea what that means, Pinkie.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. Well, you’re not going to figure anything out standing around out here in the cold, so why don’t you come back to Sugarcube Corner? I’m freezing my hooves off, and you still have a cookie left!” So saying, Pinkie trotted away in the direction the two of them had come, still carrying the scroll. With a sigh, Applejack followed her. Pinkie was right, she could at least finish her last cookie while she thought things over.

As she plodded back towards Sugarcube Corner, Applejack noticed a pair of pegasi standing nearby, a stallion and a mare. They were clearly a couple, having their wings draped over one another, and stood next to one of the town’s several statues, this one serving as the focal point for the large empty space near the mayor’s house. They nuzzled one another, their display making Applejack pine slightly for the lack of her own marefriend.

As she drew closer to Sugarcube Corner, the pair took flight, gently soaring upwards towards the few clouds drifting in the sky. She watched them for a moment, and then continued on her way. Inside the warm bakery, Li’l Cheese was excitedly chattering away to his mother about something or other, and Sugar Belle busied herself cleaning and organising. Applejack stood at the counter, munching on her last cookie, the background noise around her a mere drone as she lost herself in her thoughts.

A hit that was nearly a miss, think big… A hit that was nearly a miss, think big… The words spun around and around her brain, repeating themselves, and interspersed with them, the pair of pegasi she’d just seen outside, flying up into the sky.

Applejack stopped chewing. Odd, why would she focus on them? She’d never met those ponies before. She tried to shake the image from her mind and move her focus back on topic, but it refused to go away, like a piece of taffy stuck to the roof of her mouth. She tried to figure out how it connected to the previous hints, but the solution eluded her, just out of reach.

Examining it carefully, Applejack tried to break down the scene. They’d been standing together, they were clearly in love, they’d taken off into the sky… The sky? No, the sky was big, but obviously you couldn’t hit it with anything, and you certainly couldn’t hide anything there. Not unless you put it on a cloud, but even Rainbow wasn’t dense enough to do that.

No, it wasn’t the clouds that had caused the pegasi to get stuck in her head. The image of the two rising up played again in her mind. It was…

“The statue!” Applejack cried out. Cramming the last of her cookie into her mouth, she bolted outside once more. She barely heard Pinkie call out to her as she left. Careening around the corner of the shop, she sprinted over to where the two pegasi had been moments before, ignoring the small shots of pain from her knee.

Arriving at the statue, Applejack immediately began searching around the plinth. When that turned up nothing, she turned her attention to the plinth itself, and there, resting almost in plain view against the legs of the rearing statue, was another scroll. Rearing up herself, she knocked the scroll from its perch. Giving the ribbon a test pull, the earth mare breathed a sigh of relief when it refused to budge.

“Gotcha, you little varmint,” she chuckled to herself. Despite the difficulty in finding this one, Applejack was genuinely happy about doing so, given what it represented. Though it was counterbalanced by a sense of frustration with herself. She really should have thought of this first, instead of taking the hint so literally. She looked up at the sound of approaching hooves to see Pinkie Pie following her once again.

“Looks like you found it!” she announced enthusiastically.

“Yeah, and it’s the real one this time,” Applejack replied, tugging on the ribbon again to demonstrate. The raspberry glow of the magic flared and faded.

“Goody! I was worried for a minute you weren’t going to find it, which would be pretty sad, since I know Rainbow and Twilight put a lot of work into these scrolls, and I know Rainbow is really excited for you to finish, because then she can finally-”

The pink mare suddenly crammed her hoof into her mouth, her cheeks puffing out as she fought to choke back her words. Applejack narrowed her eyes.

“Rainbow can finally what?” she asked, voice heavy with suspicion. Pinkie just shook her head, hoof still crammed in her mouth. She removed it after a moment and exhaled deeply.

“Nope, sorry,” she said, holding up her hoof as if to stay any more of Applejack’s questions. “I promised Rainbow I wouldn’t tell you what’s going on, just like the others- Oops!”

“The others? So all y’all know what’s goin’ on, and I’m the only one in the dark?” Applejack asked, slightly incredulous. Pinkie nodded sheepishly.

“Mhm. It’s a big surprise! But it’s gonna be the best one ever!” she yelled, jumping up in the air for emphasis. A few pieces of confetti flew off of her tail as she did so. “Trust me, you’re gonna love it,” she added.

“If you say so, Pinkie,” Applejack said, smiling despite herself. Pinkie’s enthusiasm for anything was infectious at the best of times. “Anyway, I suppose I’d better be headin’ back to the farm-”

“Wait!” Pinkie Pie put out a hoof, preventing her from leaving. “Aren’t you gonna tell me how you figured it out?”

“I suppose it can’t do any harm,” Applejack acquiesced. After all, she’d told Rarity the story behind the scroll she had. She pointed a hoof at the statue.

“That statue, believe it or not, is where Rainbow and I had our first kiss,” she started, pride and little wistfulness in her voice. “When we were comin’ back from the cafè, I saw a couple of pegasi take off from right next to it, which-” She was suddenly interrupted by a loud gasp from Pinkie Pie.

“Which is when you started getting a nagging feeling that you were missing something, and then when you were sat in Sugarcube Corner, you couldn’t get the image of the pegasi taking off out of your head, and the words from the riddle and what I said that Rainbow said were going round and round your brain, but that just made you examine what you saw even harder, which is when you realised you were taking the riddle too literally, and that Rainbow wasn’t talking about actually hitting things, she was talking about things being a hit, which reminded you of something totally romantic she did on one of your dates!”

Pinkie finished her little speech with a pleased “squee”, and sat there grinning expectantly, not even out of breath. Applejack stared at her blankly for a moment.

“If you knew, why’d you even ask?” she deadpanned.

“Just a lucky guess!” Pinkie responded with a giggle.

“Right. Well, as I was sayin’,” Applejack carried on, the wind taken out of her sails a little. “Rainbow and I had been on a date that day. She’d taken me up into the clouds for a picnic, and we’d been up there for hours. She said she wanted to show me Equestria from above, but all I could think about was gettin’ down. It was cold, the cloud was damp, and I was nervous about the cloud-walking spell wearin’ off.” She smirked at the memory.

“I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t happen,” Pinkie said earnestly. “Twilight’s spells are really good.”

“I know, but without her around to re-cast it, I was worried somethin’ might happen,” Applejack admitted. “Anyway, nothin’ did happen, except Rainbow beggin’ me to stay until after the sun went down. She was pretty insistent, and I couldn’t even use the farm as an excuse, since I’d let her convince me to take the day off. So I gave in, and we stayed up there longer, huddled together and waitin’ for Princess Celestia to lower the sun. Probably the best decision of my life.”

Applejack took a moment to reflect, gazing at the statue of the rearing mare, lost in the memory she was about to relay.

“When the sun went down, I saw what Rainbow wanted to show me. These little lights started appearin’ down on the ground. Ponies lightin’ candles and turnin’ on lights as the dark came in. It was slow at first, but then more and more appeared, until all of Ponyville was lit up, and even Canterlot way over on the mountain.” She took a breath. “It was beautiful, Pinkie. And then, when Princess Luna raised the moon, all of Equestria was glowin’ like I can’t even describe. That’s when I realised somethin’…”

Applejack turned to Pinkie, who looked enraptured. So much so that she didn’t even interrupt to ask what.

“I realised,” Applejack continued. “That this was somethin’ only pegasi got to see. That she got to see. Earth ponies like me didn’t get to see Equestria lit up from above, twinklin’ and glowin’, so it was special to them, and to her. And she’d chosen to share it with me. Me. Little ol’ Applejack from Ponyville.” She felt a tear gathering at the corner of her eye and wiped it away, hiding the action by stuffing the scroll under her hat.

“That meant that, even though she might not ever say it, I was special to her. She cared enough to literally drag me up into the sky to show me somethin’ she took for granted, but knew I’d never seen. And I’d nearly ruined the whole thing by tryin’ to get her to put me back on the ground.” She cringed and turned her gaze from Pinkie. “I was an idiot. Afterwards, she put me down here by the statue and asked me what I thought. I couldn’t find no words to say, so I did the only thing I could think of: I kissed her. Full on the lips. When I pulled back her face was glowin’ redder than the apples on my trees.” Applejack laughed at the memory, the sensations of Rainbow’s lips and breath still strong after all this time.

“So you see, Pinkie,” she continued, looking back at Pinkie once more and smiling. “The date was a hit, even though my attitude almost made it a miss.”

“Wowee!” Pinkie exclaimed after spending a moment processing Applejack’s story. “That’s like, the most amazing first kiss story anypony’s ever told me, ever! I bet that beats out even some of the stories Rarity has!” She gasped and grabbed Applejack by the shoulders. “You should tell her! She’d love it!” Applejack gently pushed Pinkie off of her.

“Thanks, Pinkie, but I think tellin’ that story once today was enough,” she said with a small chuckle. “Though I imagine when she finds out that you got this story and not her, she’ll drag it outta me one way or another.”

“Hmm, good point. That pony sure does love her romance stories! So what’s next?”

“Next? Next is: I’m gonna go home, put my hooves up and have a good long think about this game Rainbow’s got me on.”

“Think?” Pinkie asked, looking confused. “What’s there to think about?”

“Well, at first, I thought this was one of her little games,” Applejack explained. “Just another of those competitions she’s always dreamin’ up, but this…” She gestured back at the statue. “This has got me wonderin’ if she’s tryin’ to say somethin’ else.”

“Ooooh! Do you know what it is?” There was a certain slyness to Pinkie’s tone, a subtle hint that she already knew both the answer to her question, and the one Applejack sought.

“No. Not yet, anyway,” answered the farm mare, eyeing her friend, but choosing to ignore her tone. Pinkie had already made it plain she wasn’t going to be forthcoming with any information. “But the fact she chose this as one of the riddles must mean somethin’,” she continued. “I got a feelin’ it’s gonna affect this whole game.”

“Well, I hope you figure it out!” Pinkie said encouragingly with another smile. “Anyway, I should probably be getting back inside, I imagine Li’l Cheese has talked both ears off poor Sugar Belle!” She turned to go but stopped, as if remembering something. Fishing in her mane, she turned back and held something out to Applejack.

“Do you want to keep this?” she asked. It was the scroll from the cafè. Applejack was about to refuse, but then reconsidered. Even if it was just a small taunt, it still represented some of the effort Rainbow was putting into this whole thing. Whatever it turned out to be.

“Sure,” she said, taking the scroll and securing it with the other one. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Good luck with the riddles!” With that, Pinkie hopped away and back to Sugarcube Corner, leaving Applejack on her own.

Casting another look at the statue, Applejack felt again that there was something else behind Rainbow’s motivations, some other goal in mind, but was tantalisingly out of reach. It was a feeling that stuck with her as she made her way home, and remained with her the rest of day, right up until she climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of twinkling lights all across Equestria.