//------------------------------// // I-XVII. Twilight's Slumber Party // Story: Hùndùn // by LoZLttP13 //------------------------------// Applejack was sitting on a tree branch, cutting away another branch with a hand bow saw. The branch she was cutting off from the tree was dead; Applejack had volunteered to do maintenance on Avalon's public trees for Mayor Meyer. Rarity had volunteered to help with the trees, as well, and so she was standing below Applejack, tidying up a bush with a pair of steel hedge trimmers. Once Applejack had cut the dead branch off, she allowed it to fall to the ground. The branch came only centimeters away from Rarity's face during its descent, causing Rarity to yelp in surprise. However, once the branch had hit the ground, Rarity looked skyward and said angrily, "Really, Applejack, did you really just need to let it fall?" "Oh!" Applejack said, leaning out over her perch to face Rarity. She added pleasantly, "Sorry, Sugar!" However, Rarity wasn't satisfied. "Are you just going to leave this here?" she said, pointing at the fallen branch. Applejack blinked. "Far as Ah can reckon, yeah." Rarity gazed incredulously at Applejack. "Really?!" she cried. "You're just going to leave that mess on the ground for somebody else to clean up?!" "Well, it ain't my job to sweep up the streets," Applejack replied. "Ah'm just supposed to cut all the dead branches off." Rarity sniffed. "You might not have been given the explicit directions to pick up the sticks you remove, Applejack, but it would still be courteous and considerate to do so. 'Go the extra mile,' as they say. Really, would gathering up the branches you remove be so hard?" Applejack sighed. "Look, Rarity," she said wearily, "even if Ah tried not to make a mess, Ah couldn't. Ah can't levitate stuff, and Ah can't stack the branches over my shoulder. Ah have to drop 'em." Rarity sighed. "Fine. Would you at least consider picking the sticks back up when you get back down, then?" Applejack looked up for a moment, thinking to herself. "Yeah, Ah suppose Ah could...." she muttered. "It'll make it take way longer, though. Uh, Rarity, do you think ya'll could help me haul the branches off when you're done trimmin' the hedges?" Rarity replied apologetically, "I'm sorry, Applejack, but I won't be finished pruning the hedges until the day after tomorrow." Applejack's eyes widened surprisedly. "Two days?!" she cried. "What in Tartarus is makin' you take so long?" Rarity shrugged, then resumed pruning the bush she was at. Rather than continue working, as well, Applejack watched Rarity for a few moments. She quickly received the answer to her question; she saw that Rarity was being overly meticulous and precise in her clipping away of the hedges' leaves, and that she was carefully ensuring that she was burning every fallen stick and leaf away, so as to avoid making a mess with them. "Ah know why you're takin' so long!" Applejack cried, again starting Rarity and causing her to look up. Applejack frowned and pointed at Rarity as she continued, "You're bein' real persnickety on them bushes!" Rarity frowned back up at Applejack, countering, "I'm not being persnickety, Applejack, I'm merely being thorough." Applejack pointed her saw towards the bush Rarity was working as she said, "Rare, your carefulness is gonna be there for about ten seconds before a gust o' wind or some caterpillars come along and ruin it! Stop worryin' about the details and just get it done!" "Well, maybe the quick-and-careless method works for you, Applejack, but I didn't become the respected designer I am today by ignoring the details! Every wrinkle must be smoothed, every stitch must be perfect! Regardless of weather my clients ruin their dresses or not, I owe it to them to do my very best for them; likewise, I'm going to give it my all in my job of tidying up Avalon's hedges for the sake of all my friends and neighbors!" Applejack looked up, then sighed, "No one's gonna be inspectin' the hedges and lookin' for mistakes, Rare...." "Well, I could well say the same about every individual stitch in one of my ensembles!" Applejack groaned frustratedly, then said, "Fine, whatever...." As the two girls continued to work, both were sour-tempered and refused to further acknowledge or talk to each other. Rarity began moving away from Applejack, gravitating towards bushes that led away from her, which suited Applejack just fine. Her attitude towards Rarity was rather poor at the moment; she didn't much care for Rarity's demands for her to work more, and she would be perfectly fine with not having to see her for a while. However, only a few minutes after they had stopped talking to each other, Applejack felt a drop of water hit her head. She looked skyward, and saw that dense storm clouds had gathered in the heavens over them. Applejack groaned, then slid down the tree she was sitting in as Rarity muttered, "It seems we're going to have to finish this later...." Applejack began to move towards Sweet Apple Acres. However, she heard Twilight's voice call from behind them, "Oh, hi, Applejack! Hi, Rarity!" Rarity softly smiled at Twilight as she replied, "Hello, Twilight Dear." Applejack turned to Twilight, as well, and saw that she looked slightly concerned. "Let's go to the library before it really starts pouring," she said. Rarity softly laughed as she replied, "No, it's alright, Twilight, you don't need-" "It's way closer than your homes are," Twilight said. She kindly smiled as she added, "Come on; just stay with me until the storm rolls over." With a short, weary glance at each other, Rarity said, "Oh, very well...." as Applejack muttered, "Alright...." With a satisfied smile, Twilight conjured an etherial shield over them all as they made their way to the Golden Oak Library. Once they had entered the hallowed oak tree, Twilight closed the door behind them as she asked, "Would you girls like some tea, or something?" Rarity nodded. "Yes, tea would be lovely, Dear." "Yeah, sure," Applejack grunted. Twilight filled a kettle with some water and set it over her stove as Rarity and Applejack took seats in chairs at opposite ends of the library. As Twilight worked, Rarity said curiously, "Where's Spike, Dear?" "He's visiting friends in Olympus," Twilight replied. "He's having a Steam party and sleepover at one of their houses." Rarity nodded. "I see. And what are you doing while he's gone?" Twilight shrugged. "Just reading. I don't do anything 'special' very often. I'm more of a 'quiet-and-boring' kind of person." Rarity laughed, "I don't think you're boring." "Doesn't mean I'm not," Twilight replied. She placed some tea leaves in one of her teapots, poured some boiling water from her kettle into it, then placed it on a tray along with some small cookies before bringing it to her friends. As Twilight served them, she added, "I think I might like to do something, though." After Applejack took a sip of her tea, she said, "Maybe we could do somethin'. Ah mean, we could go for a swim in the lake, or we could go have a picnic, or-" "The one problem with that, Applejack," Rarity interjected, "is that it's raining at the moment. We can't do anything outside." Rarity leaned back, took a sip of her tea, then suggested, "Perhaps we could go to the spa. Have you ever been to the spa with anyone, Twilight?" She grinned. "It's absolutely heavenly." "Ah ain't goin' to the spa," Applejack muttered. "It's gotta be a borin' waste of time." Rarity frowned at Applejack. "Have you ever been to a spa, Applejack?" she asked. Applejack shook her head. "Nah. Ah don't go for that sort of thing." Rarity made as if to say something in reply, but was interrupted by Twilight suddenly gasping elatedly. "I've got it!" she cried. She turned to her friends, wearing an enormous smile, and said, "Why don't we have a sleepover? In here!" "Tonight?" Rarity said, throwing a quick, anxious glance at Applejack. "The three of us?" "Of course!" Twilight replied. "I've never been to a sleepover before, let alone hosted one! Ooh, this will be so fun! I bet I can find a book about throwing slumber parties, then we can play games and-!" "Ahem," Rarity cleared her throat delicately. She smiled apologetically at Twilight as she said, "I'm sorry, Dear, but... um... I'm afraid that tonight wouldn't be a good night for me to join you for a sleepover." Twilight's elated smile quickly faded. "Wha-? ...Oh." she said quietly. "O... okay.... Um... why- why can't you...?" Rarity willed herself not to look at Applejack as she replied, "It's just an inopportune time, Darling. But I would love to have one another time." She gave Twilight a large, genuinely excited smile as she asked, "Do you know another day that could work?" Twilight looked away, her expression gloomy. "Well, no...." she said. "Not anytime soon. I don't know when the next day Spike is going to be gone is." "Well, we could have a sleepover in my house, then," Rarity said. A small, sad smile spread over Twilight lips as she quietly muttered, "That's kind of you, Rarity, but tonight's my only free night for a while, too." Rarity raised a brow in surprised puzzlement. "Why's that?" she asked. "On all my nights for the foreseeable future, I have to spend them doing research." At this point, Applejack, too, was gazing confusedly at Twilight. "Research for what?" she asked. Just before Twilight replied, however, her eyes suddenly grew wide with panicked realization. Her face paled, and Applejack and Rarity gazed astonishedly at her as she stood completely still and silent for a moment before hurriedly saying, "Um... for my doctoral thesis! On magical theory!" Twilight laughed, but her friends could detect a significant amount of anxiety in it. Rarity asked, "Your doctoral thesis?" "Y-yeah!" Twilight said. "I have to get doctorates in all branches of Sorcery before I can become the Royal Court Magician! I'm writing my thesis on Spellcasting at the moment!" Rarity confusedly replied, "But... isn't Celestia personally teaching you? Is she making you get doctorates before she lets you work for her?" Twilight hesitated for a moment before replying, "Uh- yes! She's mentoring me with a doctoral university curriculum." Rarity and Applejack were growing more baffled and suspicious every second, and they began to frown at Twilight. Applejack asked, "Uh... you alright, Sugar? Is there somethin' goin' on?" Twilight immediately shook her head. She smilingly said with wavering, bravely-attempted casualness, "No! Of course not! I'm just studying to get my doctorates!" Rarity and Applejack gazed inquiringly at each other, but after a few seconds ultimately decided to leave their line of query and stop from intruding further; they simultaneously concluded that whatever Twilight was hiding would most likely not be significant or interesting enough to be worth the effort to reveal. Twilight, meanwhile, seemed depressed again. She morosely continued sipping her tea, and after a few moments of watching her, Rarity sighed wearily and said, "Alright, Twilight. I suppose I could have a sleepover with you tonight." Twilight gasped joyously. "Really?" she said. Rarity nodded. "It's a bit... sudden, but I can still do it. I'll just have to go home and tell Sweetie Belle that I'll be gone for the night and get my pajamas and toiletries." Twilight ran towards Rarity and embraced her, crying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Rarity!" After gazing uncertainly at Twilight for a few moments, Applejack made a small, inaudible groan and said, "Alright, Ah suppose Ah could stay for the night, too. Ah'll just tell my family that Ah'll be gone." Twilight gratefully embraced Applejack, as well, causing Applejack to softly smile. Applejack wouldn't have done this, except that Twilight had never had friends before, was quite lonely, and it would probably absolutely make her day if she and Rarity would do something normal friends did with her. Applejack cast a weary glance at Rarity, however, and silently wondered if she would be able to spend an entire night under the same roof with her. Ultimately, however, she decided that the tension between them would likely quickly ease away. Once Twilight released Applejack, she excitedly began browsing over the bookshelves surrounding them as she cried, "I'll find a book to tell me how to it, then I'll throw us an amazing slumber party! This'll be so fun!" "I have no doubt," Rarity replied, smiling. She turned to look out one of the windows, and remarked, "Well, the rain seems to have died down. I'm off to my house for a moment, Twilight; I shall be back soon." With a polite nod, Rarity pulled open the front door and exited. Shortly thereafter, Applejack said, "See ya'll soon, Twi," before tipping her hat and exiting, as well. After about fifteen minutes, Rarity and Applejack returned to the library, wearing soft pajamas. Twilight was in her pajamas, as well, and was frying some fish and chips over her stove. Once her friends entered, Twilight turned to them and happily cried, "Hi, Applejack! Hi, Rarity! I'm making us some finger food for dinner; that's the first thing my book told me to do!" Rarity inhaled through her nose, and detected the scent of several delicious-smelling spices along with the mouth-watering scent of deep-frying potatoes and battered fish wafting from Twilight's kitchen. "That smells amazin'," Applejack commented softly. Twilight blushed a little and giggled. "Thanks," she said. "They'll be done soon. Make yourselves at home in the meantime." Rarity and Applejack both took seats in the library's armchairs, where they quietly sat. The silence between them was very awkward, and both wished to say something that could begin a friendly conversation, but neither trusted themselves to remain pleasant. In a few minutes, Twilight called out, "Dinner's ready, girls!" Rarity and Applejack stood up as Twilight continued, "Let's eat in the kitchen; we don't want to soil the library's carpets or books." Applejack and Rarity walked into the library's kitchen and sat at opposite ends of a small dining-table that stood there. Twilight piled some chips, battered fish, and small tubs of tartar sauce onto a large plate from her pots before sitting at the table with Applejack and Rarity and placing it exactly in the middle between the three of them. "Thanks for the meal," Rarity and Applejack both recited before reaching forward to take some. The moment Rarity bit away a portion of one of the chips, her eyes widened in surprise; this chip tasted even better than it smelled. It might have been slightly too salty, but a subtle combination of spices both familiar and unfamiliar to her that it was rolled through caused her to involuntarily make a small whimper and moan of pleasure the moment it came in contact with her tongue. As Rarity was astonishedly marveling over how delicious this chip was, Applejack suddenly cried, "Sweet Celestia, these are amazin', Twi!" Twilight made a pleased grin as she replied happily, "Thanks! I'm glad you like them!" Rarity found it incredibly difficult to not simply shove a slice of fish into her mouth; to prevent herself from doing this, she delicately picked one up and occupied her mouth as she brought it slowly up to her lips by asking Twilight, "Where in the world did you learn to make these? They are simply divine!" Smiling widely, Twilight replied, "This is actually the product of the traditions of both of my parents' families. My mother is Athenian; thus, hers is the culture that invented fish and chips. My mother's parents passed an amazing family recipe for fish and chips down to her. "Likewise, my dad is Shangri-Lan. Ergo, he comes from the culture responsible for curry; and in his family, they have not one, but many different recipes for curry; particularly for curry powders. When my father became apprenticed to my mother, my mother showed him how to make her family's famous fish and chips. As amazing as they were, he decided they could use a little improvement, and so he decided to add some curry spices to them. He chose which powder to add to them very carefully; when he decided upon one, he added it to them, and my mother immediately declared that it was the greatest fish and chips she'd ever tasted! Thus, my family's tradition of curry-spiced fish and chips was born." "Oh, you simply must give me the recipe for these, darling!" Rarity said. "Your mother was right; this is the best fish and chips I've ever had! What's the secret?!" Here, Twilight smiled mischievously. She held up her finger and waved it from side to side as she sang, "Uh, uh, uh. As you said, it's a secret, and I can't tell you." Rarity's jaw fell slack. "What?! Why not?!" she whined. "We Shangri-Lan never share the secrets of our curry with anyone but our descendants," Twilight replied. "They wouldn't be special if we just let everyone know how to do it." Rarity looked affronted. "What?!" she cried. "But you're mother's not Shangri-Lan, and she knows-!" "Nope," Twilight said, smilingly shaking her head. "She doesn't know the secret recipe for this curry powder, either." Rarity and Applejack gave stunned stares to Twilight, who laughed at them. "Yeah!" she said. "My dad has promised my mom that he'll take his secret curry recipes to his grave. My mom was really pissed, and said that he should give the recipes to her, since she gave him her own family's fish and chips recipe. My dad just laughed at her and said that that was why it wasn't special anymore, and so him keeping the recipe for the curry powder he used on them a secret made them special again." Twilight took and bit another chip as Rarity confusedly replied, "But, then... how- how do you know...?" Twilight pointed her chip at Rarity as she reminded her, "'We never share the secrets of our curry with anyone but our descendants,' remember? My dad taught the recipes to my brother and me, but made us swear that we would never tell them to anyone else except our children, and make them swear not to, as well. He often joked that keeping the curry recipes a secret was the best way to get a spouse, too; after all, if you give the one you love a taste of your curries, but never give them the recipes, then they'd be forced to marry you so they can have more!" Rarity and Applejack laughed, as well, then Applejack said, "Well, alrighty, then. That sounds damn clever, that does. Maybe we Apples should start keepin' our recipes secret from our spouses, too...." Rarity clapped her hands together, cheerfully saying, "Speaking of potential spouses, I suggest we play Truth-or-Dare! Why don't you go first, Twilight? Ask me who my crush is; that's the most classic question for the most classic slumber party game!" Twilight excitedly nodded. "Yeah! It's also one of the games that my book suggested!" she cried. Rarity sat back as she said, "Go ahead, Twilight. Ask, 'Truth or Dare?'" "Truth or Dare?" Twilight repeated obediently, scooting forward curiously. "Truth," Rarity immediately replied. "So... who is your crush, Rarity?" Twilight said. She didn't seem to be as excited to know the answer to the question as she was to simply ask it. Rarity daintily tossed her hair as she said, "Oh, pinning just one down? You make quite the demand, Twilight Dear!" She groaned with mock distress, giggled, and continued, "Well, if you insist... I suppose that my biggest one- at the moment, mind you- is Prince Poseidon." Twilight's eyes widened. "Poseidon?" she said surprisedly. Rarity sighed as she said, "An obvious choice, I know. I mean, what girl doesn't dream of getting swept off of her feet by Poseidon? Alas, I am but a mere mortal, and he is the immortal God of the Sea. Nonetheless, I must be truthful, and if I'm absolutely truthful then I must admit that if I could have any man, then I would have Poseidon, the fairest of all male Gods." Twilight blinked. She knew already, of course, that Rarity was ambitious enough to try for the hand of a Prince, but she had never imagined that she would actively fantasize about one of the Gods. Furthermore, Rarity had set her sights on Poseidon, who was widely considered to be the single handsomest- and therefore most unattainable- man in the world. With another toss of her hair, Rarity said, "So, that was my confession. Now it's your turn, Twilight. Truth or Dare?" "Truth," Twilight eagerly responded. "I told you mine; now you tell me yours," Rarity said, smiling. "Who is your crush, Twilight?" Twilight's smile slightly faded as she realized: she'd have to confess something she'd never told to anyone before. Rubbing her hair nervously, Twilight said, "Um... well, uh, I don't have just one, either...." It was Rarity's turn to be surprised. "Really, dear?" she said. "I would never have guessed. I've never seen you date anyone before...." "Yeah, but that's not because I don't like anyone. I thought I didn't have time for friends or anything else besides my studies." "Alright, then," Rarity said. "Why don't you tell us who your biggest crush is, then?" Twilight shook her head. "I don't think I could tell you who's the biggest, either...." "Alright," Rarity said. "Just pick one, then." Twilight looked up, then softly smiled. Actually, she felt perfectly comfortable telling her friends her crushes if she was allowed to pick which ones she decided to tell them. "Well," Twilight said softly, "one boy that I've had a crush on since I was little is an Angel named Flash Sentry. He's the son of the former Captain of the Royal Guard, and so he was a family friend who visited the castle a lot. He's a guard now, and I still saw him around the castle all the time until I came here." "That's adorable," Rarity replied. "Did the two of you ever share a romance while you were there?" "Well, n-no...." Twilight softly replied. "I avoided him all the time. Like I said, I thought that having friends or dating would just be a distraction from my studies. I also had a huge crush on Spike's sister, Sunset Shimmer. She was my upperclassman in the Olympus Magic Academy, and I think she really wanted to be my friend. She even became my brother's apprentice, and so I used to see her around Camelot all the time, too, but I still tried not to talk to her." Rarity's smile faded. "Oh. I'm... I'm sorry, Twilight," she said. Twilight shrugged. "Well, she actually eventually became Flash's girlfriend, and both of them were good friends with my brother, so it all evens out, I guess." Rarity nodded, sat silently for a moment, then turned to Applejack. "Erm... Applejack!" she said. "Your turn now! Truth or Dare?" "Dare," Applejack immediately replied. Rarity's eyes widened. "W-what...?" she said. "Dare," Applejack repeated. "Didn't ya'll hear me the first time?" Rarity gaped at Applejack for a moment. She glared slightly at her; was Applejack really just going to violate the spirit of the game and leave Twilight without any more support? "Uh... Applejack," Rarity said, "are you sure you want a dare?" "Yeah," Applejack replied, glaring back at her. "Ah don't have no intention of tellin' you anything about my 'crushes,' or whatever. That ain't none of your business!" Twilight frowned anxiously at the visibly building tension that built between them for several seconds before Rarity smiled wickedly and said, "Very well, Applejack. Here's your dare, then: I want you to wear a mud mask!" Applejack's eyes widened, then narrowed again as she replied, "Fine! Then Ah dare you to go stick your head in a bucket o' cold water and ruin your hair!" Rarity began to say something in reply, but Twilight anxiously interrupted them by shouting, "Um- how about a pillow fight, girls?" while picking up a throw pillow from one of the chairs beside her and throwing it playfully at Applejack. Astonishedly, Applejack took the pillow and stared at it for a moment. After a few seconds, however, she looked up, leeringly smiled at Rarity, and quietly said, "That sounds good to me." Applejack hurled the pillow as hard as she could at Rarity's face, which caught Rarity completely by surprise and sent her sprawling down to the floor. Growling furiously, Rarity stood up and hurled the pillow back at Applejack, who dodged it as she picked up another throw pillow to throw back at Rarity. Prepared for it this time, Rarity telekinetically caught the pillow in midair before smirking and willing it to fly back at Applejack. Applejack easily dodged this, as well, but Rarity immediately levitated it back around and struck Applejack in the back of the head, causing her to fall face first to the ground. Applejack quickly got up, roaring with rage, but as she and Rarity brought up pillows over their heads with which to strike each other again, Twilight cast a pair of etherial barriers between them as she anxiously said, "Okay, bad idea. Let's not have a pillow fight." Rarity and Applejack glowered at each other as they lowered their pillows and Twilight worriedly looked down, desperately searching her own mind for some way to salvage the evening. After a few moments, however, her face broke into a smile as she gasped and said, "I've got it! Why don't we tell scary stories?" "Ah think Ah'd rather just go to bed," Applejack muttered, still not looking away from Rarity. "For once, I agree," Rarity said. "If I attempted to tell a scary story at the moment, I'd like tell the tale of the sloppy, ill-groomed monster who drove all of the townsfolk out of a village with only her foul stench!" "That ain't as scary as the story of the snob-monster whose head was so far up her own ass that she suffocated!" Applejack spat back. Twilight interjected, "Okay. Can I tell you girls a scary story before we go to bed?" Twilight asked desperately. After a moment of glowering consideration, Applejack and Rarity both reluctantly groaned. "Fine," Rarity said. "But make it a quick one." Twilight grinned. "Oh, I will," she said. Twilight took a chair as her friends took seats as far as they could possibly get from each other in the library's plush armchairs. She extinguished the library's lights and conjured up a small fireball that eerily illuminated her face as she began, "One there was a lonely Human man who desperately wanted a wife...." Applejack and Rarity were both still initially sour-tempered as Twilight began weaving her tale. They even found themselves growing a little bored as Twilight described how he met a kind, sweet girl who was polite, attentive, and faithful to him. However, as she slowly began to describe subtle oddities that the man discovered about the girl, Applejack and Rarity both found that their foul tempers began to flow away, slowly being replaced by unsettlement. In only a short time, Twilight began painting a picture of a very disturbing and dangerous young woman who killed everyone the man complained about, and Rarity and Applejack were both absolutely shaking with fear when Twilight reached the end and concluded that the man ultimately rejected the woman in fear, causing her to be so heartbroken that she immediately messily murdered him before killing herself, as well. Once Twilight turned the lights back on, she saw that Applejack and Rarity were both as pale as ghosts and were trembling as though they had just seen one. She smiled triumphantly; her story had done exactly what she had intended it to do: it dispelled all of the hard feelings between them, for now they were filled with sheer terror instead. Twilight stood up and said, "Well, it's getting late! We should go to bed now!" She nodded up at her bedroom as she said, "One of you can use Spike's bed, and one of you can use my bed or the sofa down here. Which would you girls prefer?" Applejack and Rarity were still trembling. "Ah...." Applejack said softly. "Ah think Ah might want to share a bed with someone." Twilight grinned. "Alright!" she said. "So, you want to sleep with me?" "Uh, actually," Applejack said, casting a glance at Rarity, "Ah think Ah'd like to share with her." Twilight smiled elatedly. However, though she believed that this indicated that Applejack had forgiven Rarity, the truth was that Applejack was still upset with Rarity. However, her mind was so badly shaken that she wanted the comfort of knowing that there was somebody beside her, and as angry as she was at Rarity, she also didn't trust Twilight not to do anything indecent to her as she slept; since Rarity was only attracted to men, Applejack was more assured that she wouldn't. Rarity silently nodded in agreement. "Y-yes, I think that'll work," she said. Grinning, Twilight nodded and said, "Well, it's settled then. Let's go to bed!" After they had all brushed their teeth, Twilight turned out the library and bedroom's lights, bid her friends goodnight, and crawled into bed. Rarity delicately slid into Spike's bed, but Applejack roughly jumped on beside her. "Ahem," Rarity whispered, "could you be a bit less rough, Applejack? You're disturbing the bedspread." "Shut up. Go to sleep," Applejack gruffly replied. Rarity quietly groaned as she nestled beneath the covers. However, after a few minutes, Applejack turned over and pulled the blankets with her, leaving Rarity uncovered. "Applejack!" Rarity hissed. "Stop hogging the blankets!" "Be quiet...." Applejack muttered. Rarity roughly pulled the blankets back over herself, this time leaving Applejack uncovered. With a furious glare, Applejack attempted to jerk the blankets back, saying, "Give them back, you-" "ENOUGH!!" Twilight roared, startling both of them. She turned on the lights, and her friends were taken aback at how angry and upset she looked. "Why are you two fighting?" Twilight asked in equal parts exasperation and desperation. "I don't understand! Why have you two been at each other's throats all night?!" "Because she's an uncouth slob!" Rarity shouted, pointing at Applejack. "No, I ain't!" Applejack shouted back. "You're the uptight snob-" "How did this start?" Twilight said. "What got you two upset at each other in the first place?" "She almost dropped a branch on my head!" Rarity cried. "Ah said Ah'm sorry, alright?!" "And she said she had no intention of cleaning it up!" "Well, maybe if ya'll weren't so slow with them bushes, maybe ya'll could've helped me, if ya'll wanted them branches cleared off so badly!" "So that's what this is about?" Twilight said. "You're fighting over your tree-pruning?" "Yeah! 'Cause she's a persnickety perfectionist!" Applejack shouted. "No, you're just an inconsiderate, lazy slacker!" Rarity shouted back. Before they could get too far into arguing again, however, Twilight interjected, "Girls, from the sound of it, you're both right." Rarity and Applejack turned astonishedly to her. "What?!" they said together. "How can we both be right?" "Well, we should clean up after ourselves when we make a mess," Twilight said. "But we also need to not worry too much about the details. Believe me, I can sympathize with both of you; I'm all about efficiency, but I think a job should still be done properly, too. Have either of you considered that maybe if you both just listened to each other, you might have understood each other much more quickly?" Applejack and Rarity said nothing for several moments, then gazed at each other. They realized that Twilight was right; they had both been correct, and they really should have listened to each other. "Princess Celestia taught me that that's why it's good that we're all different," Twilight added smilingly. "We all have a lot that we don't know, and everyone else has some wisdom that we can learn from." Rarity and Applejack both looked down guiltily. "We're... we're sorry, Twilight," Applejack muttered. "Ah mean, we got so riled up over such a silly thing...." "We all make mistakes, too," Twilight said with an understanding smile. "What's important is not that we made them; but that we learn from them. So why don't we all learn to learn from each other, forgive each other, and get some sleep?" Applejack and Rarity smiled up at her. "Yeah," Applejack said. "I most certainly agree," Rarity answered. The three girls laughed together, then Twilight turned out the light again as she called out to her friends, "Goodnight." "Goodnight," Applejack and Rarity chorused back. They pulled the blankets back over themselves, shared an affectionate hug, said "Goodnight," to each other, as well, then they, along with Twilight, quickly fell into a deep and restful sleep.