//------------------------------//
// I Love You for Psychological Reasons 
// Story: It Turns Out They're Windmills 
// by J Carp 
//------------------------------//

As the ungainly, motley group walked back to the school, Sunset marveled once again at Spike's apparently universal charm.  The little guy had done it again.

Twilight Sparkle held out the picture on her phone to Weeping and to Fluttershy, smiling shyly.  "Aww," Weeping cooed, "hey, buddy!"  

"He's cute, but don't be fooled," Twilight warned.  "He's always planning some new scheme."

"Yeah, that's like Flannery," Weeping replied.  He pulled out his own phone, apparently to call up his own picture, but he stopped and looked closer at Twilight's screen.  "Um... wait, is he doing a crossword puzzle?"

"Yeah, but it's just the Tuesday," Twilight answered.  She sighed.  "He tries to help with the Saturday, but he just gives up and writes 'bone' in all the four-letter words and wrecks it.  It's like, no, Spike, 'Bone' did not write 'Hard Road to Glory.'  'Bone' is not a word that means 'determined.'  'Bone' isn't even 'prefix meaning bone!'  It's never bone!"

Weeping was appropriately nonplussed by this, so Sunset glanced over at the rest of her friends, walking and talking.  They seemed to be in high spirits, which was a relief but not surprising.  Rainbow was right: the awful feeling from the teapot just immediately was gone, like she'd never felt it.  

Sunset glanced over at the final clump: the other Fluttershy, from Equestria, her Twilight-reminiscent special somepony, and Human Dancer.  The two Equestrians were gamely trying to make conversation with the human, which was not easy, given her obviously distracted state.  

"Say," the pony Moon Dancer was saying with forced breeziness, "do you listen to Swordfish Trombones?  I just recently got into him."

Human Dancer blinked in confusion.   "Um?  Oh, yeah, actually," she replied.  "Just a few months ago.  That's weird, huh?"

"What's your favorite album?" Moon Dancer asked.  "I keep trying to get Fluttershy to listen to him so we can talk about it, but it's just not her thing."

"His voice is just so raspy," Othershy said with very slight defensiveness.  "I like pretty music."

"Huh."  Human Dancer frowned, apparently more confused by someone disliking a growling folk singer than the existence of a magical pony clone of herself.  "I think his music is really pretty."  But from the way her gaze kept getting drawn to one of the other girls walking with them, it was clear what she was really thinking was pretty at the moment.

"That's what I say!" Moon Dancer agreed.  "It's so real.  You know?..."

Satisfied, Sunset finally directed her full attention to the one person in their group walking alone.  She knew her human friends were overjoyed to see Princess Twilight, but there was such an aura of misery and awkwardness emenating from her, everyone just instinctively gave her space.

Sunset, finally consciously accepting how much she disliked giving space to people who need to be given space, trotted to catch up with the princess and fell into step next to her.  "Hey," she greeted.  "Busy morning, huh?"

The princess nodded but did not reply.

"So," Sunset continued, determined to remain undaunted, "I was glancing back at some of the conversations you had in the journal with Weeping Willow, when you thought he was me.  I think I've pretty much figured out about how everything went down over on your side."  She glanced over at the other two aliens, then looked back at Twilight.  "The only thing I can't really tell is, which one was it?"

"Fluttershy," Twilight replied, looking straight ahead.

Sunset nodded.  "This might be weird, but... do you want me to come with you?  Because I don't really know them.  So you'll have somepony just there to support you?"

Twilight shook her head.  "I just want to get it finished, however it goes, with a minimum of complication."  But even with her misery, she glanced over at Sunset and offered a wan grin.  "You said 'somepony.'"

Sunset blushed slightly and rubbed the back of her neck.  "Yeah, well.  I get around Equestrians for ten minutes and slip back into the old dialect."  They shared a smile.

They reached the high school's parking lot and prepared to say the very strange kind of goodbye that you say when someone is simultaneously just going next door and into a realm with completely different rules of physics.  The Fluttershies threw their arms around one another tearfully.  "I'm so proud of you," the Equestrian said, and then she whispered something in her doppelganger's ear, eliciting a huge blush.

"I'll try," the human said, very quietly.

Fluttershy walked back to her pony colleagues and nodded gently, ready to go.

Princess Twilight and Moon Dancer glanced at one another awkwardly, but luckily Pinkie marched up to them, announced she was putting her farewell in the form of music, and began blowing through two kazoos simultaneously (Sunset realized after a moment she was playing 'Don't Stop Me Now' and somehow doing the harmony, too).  Both Princess Twilight and her estranged friend looked relieved for the distraction.  Pinkie finished and did a bow; they all applauded politely.

"Well," Princess Twilight said, "I guess we'd better..."

An exaggeratedly loud sigh interrupted her.  Sunset looked over to see a blue-skinned, silver-haired girl standing mopily in their midst.  

"Um," Sunset said.  

Trixie sighed again, louder this time.  She did not seem to have noticed that their group contained three pairs of identical twins.

Everyone stared at Trixie, whose silent appearance among them was, Sunset had to admit, a rather amazing feat.  

"Well, good morning, Trixie," Rarity greeted, doing her best to embody good manners.  "It certainly is... a surprise to see you."

"Trixie was not dumped!" Trixie asserted, staring glumly down at her feet.  There was a long pause.  

"It was a mutual decision!" she added. There was another pause.  

"My!" Rarity replied finally, glancing back in vain to the others.  "That's certainly..." she trailed off, helpless.  

"It certainly is!" Trixie grunted.  "She said Trixie didn't pay enough attention to her.  How was I supposed to know she was so sensitive about that??"

Sunset gaped blankly.  "We kinda had a whole big adventure because of it.  Remember?  She literally sang a song, like, explicitly just about how she doesn't like feeling ignored."

Trixie sighed.  She looked up at them with honest sadness in her eyes.  "Trixie has had a bad day," she said.  "She wanted to get her mind off it, so she went to find her... her friends."

The mood relaxed, and Sunset felt her heart going out to the poor girl.  Even some of the others with more healthy skepticism about magical braggarts seemed moved.  "Well, sure," Applejack replied.  "That makes sense, I guess.  What can we do?"

Trixie smirked.  "Trixie heard there's a word you can say that makes Sunset hop around like a bunny."

Sunset's eyes widened.  She grabbed the two people closest to her: Pinkie and Rarity.  "Yeah, could you give us a second, please?" she said, marching her two friends off to a nearby corner of the parking lot.

When she was far enough to be confident they would not be overheard, she crossed her arms and glared at them, especially Pinkie.  "No," she declared.  "Absolutely not.  Not in front of Pony Twilight."

Pinkie grinned.  "Okay!"  She cheerfully began to march back to the group, but Sunset grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked her back.

"Hold on!" Sunset hissed.  "If Trixie keeps just hanging around, she'll see the Equestrians leave.  And magic subreddits, sure, but we need as few people as possible to know the location of the portal to an entire other dimension."

Rarity frowned thoughtfully.  "I certainly understand that as a general rule, but it's just Trixie.  She's a bit much, but she's also quite harmless."

"Oh, no no no, no," Sunset blurted hastily.  "Trixie is absolutely the last person who should know how to get into Equestria."

"Really, darling?"  Rarity cupped her chin in her hand, thoughtful and confused.  "I thought you two were becoming quite close."  She sighed.  "And I admit, I thought of her a few times as inspiration during this whole recent ordeal.  I could never directly understand Fluttershy, because of my complete heterosexuality, but Trixie's openness and courage gave me an outcome to imagine for her."

"No, you don't get it," Sunset grunted.  "I like Trixie, really.  But she absolutely must not be able to get into Equestria.  Especially right now."

"I don't understand.  Why?"

Sunset glanced back at the larger group, noting they were mostly just standing there awkwardly.  She looked back at her friends.  "Okay, um, do you remember that little ranking system I mentioned earlier?  The one Fluttershy was really low on?"  She raised an eyebrow meaningfully.  "Do you wanna guess who is at the very top of that list, and who also is on the rebound right now?"

Rarity opened her mouth then closed it again then nodded.  "I see.  Yes, that would be something to avoid."

"Yeeeah.  So, we need a distraction."

Pinkie nearly vibrated.  "I have an idea!" she hissed.  "A big Pinkie idea!  But!"  She stared at them.

Sunset glanced at Rarity for help.  There was none.  She looked back to Pinkie.  "But...?"

"But I just met her!" Pinkie barked thoughtfully.  

"Just... what?"

"I'll do it!" Pinkie decided, shouting loudly enough that the others heard her.  "I'll take a big Pinkie risk!"

She darted over to the others, zipping through them like a rabbit.  She marched up behind Human Dancer (still staring plaintively at Twilight), picked her up like she weighed nothing, and deposited her in front of Trixie.

"This is Trixie!" she sang to Human Dancer.  "She lives in this dimension!"

She zipped in an unnecessarily large circle to stand behind Trixie.  "This is Moon Dancer!" she stage-whispered loudly, elbowing the blue-skinned girl meaningfully.  "She.... likes caaaaaaatsssssss."

The two girls stared at one another in pained silence.  Trixie looked even more uncomfortable than when she was talking to Wallflower, blushing and shivering.  Human Dancer did not look much better: she glanced around at the others plaintively.

Weeping Willow caught her eye and gave her a grin and a thumbs up.

Human Dancer grimaced, then nodded.  She looked back at Trixie, still awkward but with a straighter spine than before.  "Hi," she said.  "I do like cats."

Trixie clearly did not know how to respond.  Sunset waved, catching her attention, then gave a grin and a thumbs up of her own.

Trixie had a look of hesitation her face for exactly one second, then her jaw clenched.  The subsequent transformation was appropriately garish: there was a burst of color and suddenly Trixie looked two feet taller, standing there with her hands on her hips and a confident smile on her face.  "Hi!" she barked.  "I'm great and powerful!"

She thrust her arm up toward the sky and pulled back, from nowhere, a copy of the board game Life.  "Behold the magic of the Astounding Trixie!"

"Oh.  Um, that was very cool, but why..."

"It's a symbol!" Trixie announced, tossing the board game into nothingness again.  "It makes sense in the context of the act!"

"My goodness."  Human Dancer sounded honestly impressed.  "Because.... life is an illusion?"

"Exactly!" Trixie flung her arms in the air, delighted.  "Trixie is so glad somebody finally gets it!  You must be an expert at magic."

Human Dancer blushed.  "Well, I've studied a tiny bit of the history of legerdemain, but you must know way more than me.  Who are your influences?"

"Oh ho ho!  Trixie is her own influence!  Also The Amazing Kneebender, Cloudflare, Identical Twin, Identical Twin Jr., Staccato The Mysterious, Identical Twin III..."

As she continued listing off obscure magicians to the surprisingly rapt nerd before her, Sunset took the chance.  She rushed over to the Equestrians and gave Twilight a quick hug.  "Sorry about this, but gotta go while she's distracted.  Twilight... keep me updated on everything later, okay?"

Princess Twilight nodded, glancing back at the other Equestrians anxiously.  "Thanks, Sunset."

She watched them run to the statue and hurl themselves in, and immediately afterward, a pink hand grabbed her shoulder from behind.  "It's working!!" Pinkie hissed, indicating the improbable love connection happening right before their very eyes.  "This is a big Pinkie success!"

"So!  Cloudflare was the first to really stress the importance of the top hat.  The top hat is an important tool.  Of course, today, real magicians use giant wizard hats with stars all over them, but..."

'Big success' was not really the term Sunset would use, but she could not deny the warm feeling she got watching her sweet, obnoxious friend impress a cute girl.  

The rest of the group was just shamelessly ogling the interaction, with reactions that ranged from bewildered (Twilight) to amused (Rainbow Dash).  But Sunset especially noticed one of them.  Fluttershy clasped her hands at her chest, eyes sparkling, soft orange blush coloring her cheeks.  Sunset had seen this reaction once before, and it was when that chipmunk had finally given birth in the middle of that snowstorm.  Fluttershy was carried away by the adorableness before her, for sure, but there was another look on her face, too.  Optimism.  Excitement.  She was full of sweetness and joy and color, and finally ready to offer all of that to whoever wanted it.

"Huh," Sunset muttered to herself.  "Just like a gumball machine."





The three ponies emerged from the mirror in an ungainly hump.  Nopony knew what to say, so they had to pick themselves up off the floor in silence, disentangling their limbs while trying not to make eye contact.   Moon Dancer had hoped that, despite the fact that they sent the message to Starlight indicating everything was okay, that everypony would be waiting for them.  Twilight would be distracted by Celestia, Fluttershy would be cooed over by all her friends, and none of them would have to think about the conversation that awaited them.

But no.  The library was empty and quiet.  The books she had previously strewn across the floor still lay there.

They stood unnaturally in silence, Twilight staring in one direction, Moon Dancer staring in another.  Fluttershy glanced back and forth between them, pawing the floor anxiously.  She gave the kind of fake grin that would be comforting to a small foal and placed her hoof on Moon Dancer's shoulder.  "So," she declared.  "I guess."  Her voice cracked.  "We should talk about things."

Moon Dancer did not move.  "There's been an update," she said.  "Me and Twilight kind of had a fight this morning."

Fluttershy took a step back, frowning.  "Oh, dear.  How bad?"

Twilight and Moon Dancer glanced at each other awkwardly.  "The worst?" Twilight offered.

"Yeah, sounds right," Moon Dancer confirmed.  "Just imagine the worst and you're probably not too far off."

Fluttershy sat her haunches down on the floor, looking helpless.  "About... me?"

"Yes," answered Twilight.  "No," answered Moon Dancer.

There was a long pause.

"I guess it was because of you," Moon Dancer clarified.  "But it wasn't about you."

Twilight sniffled and looked down at her hooves.  "It's not because of her," she muttered, "it's because of me.  Because I messed up."

"That's true," Moon Dancer replied, the icy feeling tinting her gaze again just a bit.

Fluttershy hovered in the air, hugging herself.  "What did you say?"

Moon Dancer sighed.  "I was real mean.  Super nasty mean."

"That's true," Twilight replied, a slight crease beginning to form on her forehead.

There was another long pause.

Suddenly, the door to the library slammed open, Spike and Starlight sauntering in.  "I don't understand girls at all," Spike was saying.  "But weren't you, like, Trixie's first friend ever?  That does kinda seem like a big minefield."

"But we're so comfortable together!" Starlight argued.  "And she's got such a great rump!"

"Ewwww, Starlight, don't talk about Trixie's rump!"

"But she does!  She..."  Starlight trailed off as she and Spike noticed they were not alone.  They stared at the others, eyes wide.  Time stopped.

"Hey!" Starlight barked suddenly.  "You're back!  Sooner than we thought!"

Fluttershy waved timidly to her.  No one else moved.

Spike pointed to the books Moon Dancer had strewn about the room.  "We were just going to clean up, um..."  He fiddled awkwardly with his claws.  "Oh no!" he exclaimed.  "The hallway!  I left the oven on in the hallway!"  He  turned and began marching artificially out of the room.

Starlight just stared at them, frozen, a grin plastered on her face.  "Help!" she declared.

Spike marched in a circle around to where she was and began shoving her out of the room.  She kept grinning at them even out into the hallway.  "Thank you!" she bellowed as the door slammed behind her.

The remaining ponies sat in silence.  Fluttershy coughed.

"Yeah, so totally unrelated issue," Moon Dancer said.  "Starlight and Trixie are going to hook up and it's going to be the most awkward thing that's ever happened."

"I'm just going to forget you said that for now," Twilight replied.  "I'm barely able to tell my legs how to stand up, at the moment."

Moon Dancer closed her eyes, then she turned and looked at Fluttershy and Twilight.  "I'm sorry," she blurted.

They stared at her.

"I'm sorry for multiple things, but one of them is really important," she continued.  "Fluttershy, you had something happen to you that was alarming and unsettling."  Twilight hung her head in shame and Moon Dancer tried to ignore it.  "But then, I turned around and made the situation all about me.  That wasn't fair."  She sighed.  "Before me and Twilight... do whatever we have to do, I need to make sure you have priority."

Fluttershy looked surprised, but Twilight looked very surprised.  Moon Dancer suspected that her action was being interpreted as having demonstrated important friendship skills, and she felt a strange mix of pride and resentment.  

Twilight's expression settled comfortably into misery as the pegasus alighted in front of her, gentle as ever.  "Twilight," Fluttershy began, very hesitantly.  "You scared me the other night."

Twilight nodded.  "I know.  I knew while it was happening, but I couldn't stop."

"Are you attracted to me?" Fluttershy asked without stammering once, which was the boldest thing Moon Dancer had ever seen her do.

Twilight blushed and looked away.  "No.  I don't think so."

Fluttershy nodded.  "Okay.  I just wanted to make sure this wouldn't be confusing."  She gingerly threw her front legs around Twilight and embraced her.  

Twilight looked like a statue sculpted to portray the embodiment of discomfort, but after a moment, she relaxed very slightly into the hug.  "I love you, and I'm not mad at you," Fluttershy said.  She pulled back and looked at her friend with concern.  "But... why?  Why were you acting like that?"

"I don't know if I can explain it."  Twilight glanced around the room, maybe looking for a book that would help but coming up with nothing.  "I was having these thoughts and they were making me feel like I was a bad pony.  And it all just kept turning into a bigger and bigger deal.  And you... I just felt like it was really important for you to pay attention to me."

Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion.  "But why?"

Twilight sighed.  She glanced over at Moon Dancer.  "That... gets into the whole other thing."

For a moment, Moon Dancer was totally caught between terror from Twilight's brief reference to her and the warm, inviting look Fluttershy was giving her.  But the fear subsided, and the Fluttershy Feeling (it was Fluttershy Feeling #6, she recognized: a gentle but energizing self-confidence) only got stronger.  She slowly stood and walked next to her special somepony, very slightly leaning against her, and regarded Twilight.  "Okay, then.  I'm ready."

Twilight was clearly not ready, but she gathered herself and gulped.  "I'm jealous of you."

The very concept was so bewildering, Moon Dancer did not even register it before Twilight continued: "So... apparently we look and act like.  Did you know that?"

On autopilot, Moon Dancer replied, "I always thought you were more similar to Starlight."

Twilight grimaced at that, but she kept going.  "So, you and I are the same, but... but you got cool, and you got weird librarian-sexy, and you got all grown-up, and it's so intimidating to be around you, sometimes."

"I'm intimidating?"

"Oh, yes," Fluttershy confirmed.  "You're terrifying."  She sounded pleased about it.

Moon Dancer pulled away from her slightly.  "You think I'm scary?"

"No, I never have," Fluttershy clarified warmly.  "Not once.  That makes me feel special, sometimes, though."

"I don't know how to take this," Moon Dancer said, frowning.  She looked back at Twilight.  "I don't feel scary.  What would be scary about me?"

Twilight shrugged.  "You're smart, and you're opinionated.  And you, uh, kind of have a temper."

Moon Dancer frowned; she was not ready to feel anything yet about any of this, so she tried very hard not to.  "But you're the foremost expert on friendship in the entire world.  How could you possibly have insecurity about your social skills?"	

"There's more to social skills than friendship!" Twilight defended.  "You're not a dork, like me."

"I'm a total dork!"

"No, you're.... you're cool."

"You keep saying that," Moon Dancer said, raising an eyebrow.  "I have no idea what you could possibly mean.  I'm not cool.  Rainbow Dash is cool."

"Rainbow Dash is a different kind of cool," Fluttershy spoke up. 

"You're like Maud, kind of," Twilight said.  "She has all this confidence and poise, and she just does her thing and doesn't care what other ponies think. I don't know, she's cool!  Like you."

"Maud is cool?"

"You listen to jazz!" Twilight explained.  "Abstract art jazz where the notes are determined with a mathematical formula, stuff like that!"

Moon Dancer frowned.  "You're calling me a hipster, aren't you?"

"No!"

"Uh huh," Moon Dancer intoned, eyelids drooped.  "No, except exactly yes?"

"That's not the point!" Twilight snapped, stamping her hoof in frustration.  "You're just... ponies think you're cool, and it's intimidating sometimes, that's all."

Moon Dancer blinked.  "I need to invite the rest of the world into my head to see what it's like in there."

Twilight shook her head briskly.  "No, I promise I'm not trying to dismiss your anxieties.  It's just how you come across.  I'm a princess, and I know I'm good at friendship.  But I'm definitely not cool."  She blushed.  "And that's not even to mention... dating."

"What about dating?

"You date!"  This apparently contained all the meaning Twilight intended to convey, but it was not enough, so she clarified, "You date Fluttershy!"

Moon Dancer opened her mouth, but could not think of a response.  "I do," she confirmed eventually.

"Right!" Twilight declared, smacking one hoof into another for emphasis.  "See?  I've never dated anypony, and you're over here winning the Equestrian Dating Championships."  Fluttershy blushed hugely, but Twilight continued unabashed.  "I've never even really thought about dating.  It's this weird scary thing, and... and nopony's ever wanted to date me, anyway, so."  She hung her head and sighed.  "So I probably shouldn't even be thinking about it."

They did not say anything.  Moon Dancer had never seen this side of Twilight before, and a glance to Fluttershy showed that it was rare for her, too.  

"I don't think this makes any sense," Twilight said sadly.  "But this is why I was acting like that, Fluttershy.  I couldn't stop thinking about how Moon Dancer is cool and attractive, but I'm just not.  Not to anypony in my whole life, not even to somepony who already likes me as a friend."  She winced.  "It's unfair and I'm sorry.  But I just got so anxious about it, and... and I was all worried it somehow meant I was gay.  And I got stuck on the idea that if you liked me, I'd feel better."

Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  Then she looked at Twilight very seriously.  "Assimilation and contrast," she said.

"Um." Twilight was clearly not prepared for the conversation to go the way it did.  "Wwwwhat?"

"It's something I learned today," Fluttershy explained quietly.  "When two ponies are similar, then everypony who knows them well will pay attention to the ways they're different.  The differences feel like they're huge, because they're contrasted with the other pony."  She blushed.  "Something like that.  I never took psychology in school."  She gathered herself to look them both in the eye with some degree of confidence, and it was both warm and a bit scary to Moon Dancer.  "But... this sounds so silly to say out loud.  But, you're not my type, and you and Moon Dancer are similar, and Moon Dancer is my type.  And... oh, I can't explain it without messing it up."

Twilight tilted her head in thought.  "Is it kind of... when you met her, you were really paying attention to the ways she's different from me, and those parts are your type?"

"Yes!"  Fluttershy nodded gratefully.  "I knew you'd get it.  Thank you."  She looked up at Twilight bashfully.  "And I think, all the times you two knew each other, you were noticing all the ways the other was different, too.  And ways you thought she was better."

Moon Dancer glanced at Twilight, who looked as well put-together as always.  Captured and imprisoned in an ancient teapot, and still there wouldn't be a hair out of place.  Clean and organized and feminine.  

Moon Dancer sighed.  "I don't even think about this stuff, usually," she said finally.  "Just little moments.  I'll just remember how it felt to be in school on the bad days."  She looked Twilight square in the eye.  "Even though I know you don't look down on me, sometimes I feel like you do."

"I don't!" Twilight protested unnecessarily.  "You've been so strong through so much!  And it was all my fault, and..." She froze suddenly, then closed her mouth.  She turned her back on them, took a long, deep breath, then turned back.  

"We have to talk about the fight," she said.

Moon Dancer involuntarily recoiled.  "Okay!" she squeaked.

Twilight nodded.  She had clearly willed herself into Princess Mode; she just had a vibe of poise that radiated from her, despite her uncertain posture and facial expression.  "I know I messed up," she admitted.  "You asked me to give you time, and I didn't."  Before Moon Dancer could react, Twilight looked straight at her.  "But the things you said really hurt."

"I'm sorry," Moon Dancer said, almost reflexively. 

"Um."  Twilight batted the floor uncomfortably; it was an oddly Fluttershyesque move and Moon Dancer found it a little unnerving.  "Yeahhh.  But, I'm not bringing it up so you can apologize.  Some... stuff came out.  Stuff between us."

Moon Dancer narrowed her eyes and felt a slight icy feeling in her cheeks.  "I don't think I know what you're talking about.  I was just saying things.  I didn't plan any of it.  I didn't even think I was going to see you."

"Moon Dancer..."  Twilight looked up at her with pleading eyes.  "This isn't going to work if we're not both honest."

Moon Dancer almost got angry from that, but she felt a hoof tracing a gossamer path on her back, and the building rage was replaced with Fluttershy Feeling #10: secure, placid ease.  

Twilight scratched the back of her neck awkwardly and said, "I know you know part of what I'm talking about.  You said it yourself this morning."

Moon Dancer blinked, genuinely confused and realizing a part of her was not confused at all.  "My party?"

Twilight nodded.  "You've been holding on to that, haven't you?  Me not showing up?"

Moon Dancer glared.  "But Twilight, I'm not mad about that anymore.  We've talked about it."

"No, that... that's not the point."  Twilight sighed. "I don't mean you're still mad.  But you have been holding on to it."

She sighed, and the look on her face was just sad.  "I'm supposed to be this great expert on friendship, and I've gotten so much because of that."  Twilight gestured vaguely to her wings.  "But it all started when I hurt someone who cared about me, and I didn't even remember her until years later."

Moon Dancer did not say anything.  She felt like she already knew what Twilight meant, but could not find the knowledge in her memory when she tried.

"Sometimes, you make me feel like I stole it all."  Twilight's face fell.  "Like I don't deserve any of it.  The wings, the castle, the princess thing... my whole life.  It's literally the number one thing I'm afraid of after losing my friends or embarrassing myself in front of Princess Celestia."  She looked up.  "You knew I felt that way, didn't you?"

Moon Dancer tried to start to speak, but her throat muscles weren't working.  She felt a burning in her eyes and knew there was only one thing to say.  "Yeah, I knew that.  On some level.  And... oh."  She lay down, hugging her front legs to her chest.  "Oh, Twilight."

Fluttershy touched a wing gently to her nape.  "What is it?"

Moon Dancer sniffled.  "I was saving it."

The admission almost physically hurt.  "I didn't..."  She looked down at the floor under her head, where there were already a couple of tear stains.  "I didn't really know it consciously.  But it was my big gun."  

She looked up into Twilight's eyes, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do.  "It was like a spell only I knew, and I was gonna cast it when I really, really wanted to... feel stronger than you."

She felt a wing on her shoulder and she launched herself sideways and glommed onto her special somepony.  "Fluttershy!" she sobbed.  "I didn't mean any of the things I said to Twilight, you know that, right?"

"I know, sweetheart."

"They were a bunch of bald-faced lies!  I said she wrecked my life!"  Fluttershy somehow passed her a tissue she got from somewhere; Moon Dancer blew her nose and felt a gentle hoof patting her back.  "She never wrecked my life!  I was just mad!  She's my best friend!"

In in the midst of her breakdown, Moon Dancer suddenly realized she had never called Twilight that to her face before.  She froze.  Then she realized the hoof touching her back did not belong to Fluttershy.

She pulled away from them both, sniffling and blushing.  "I mean," she said, "good friend."

Twilight walked closer to her.  "You know, part of the reason I went so crazy?  I was so worried about losing you both if I went crazy, that it drove me crazy."  She chuckled ruefully.  "Listen, you and I have something really special that I can't get from anyone else in Equestria.  Something I really need in my life."  She sighed.  "But I think it's easy for each of us to forget how badly we can hurt the other.  And... I need to know if we can trust each other."  She sat and looked at Moon Dancer hopefully, almost bashfully.  "I want to.  But can we?"  

In response, Moon Dancer suddenly flung herself at Twilight, tackling her to the ground in a frantic embrace.  She was no longer sobbing, but rivulets of tears were still coming down her face.  They just lay there a few moments, Fluttershy standing awkwardly next to them, before a purple blob of magic literally picked the pegasus up and laid her down on top of them.  

Still crying lightly, Moon Dancer was surprised to find she was laughing, too.  She couldn't help it: The sight of them sprawled in a heap all together was so silly, the more she imagined it, the funnier it got.  They huddled together in a mound of laughter and tears.

Several minutes later, they pulled themselves apart and stood up, Fluttershy still leaning up against Moon Dancer's side, a small but joyous smile on her face.  Twilight stretched her wings and giggled nervously.  "Our fights are always such a big deal," she observed.  "I wonder why that is."

"Starlight said it was because we have baggage from knowing each other such a long time," Moon Dancer remarked.  "But I don't think that's all of it."  She shook her head ruefully.  "Buddy, we think too much.  And then we think too much about thinking too much, and then we think too much about that.  And pretty soon, we have these terrible demon monsters in our heads that are huge problems, even though they started as, like, Twinkleshine gave me a weird look during recess today."  She glanced at Twilight with a raised eyebrow.  "Hey.  Do you really think nopony has ever wanted to date you?"

Twilight suddenly blushed, wings seizing up against her sides.  "Wouldn't I know it if somepony had?"

"Twilight..."  Moon Dancer sighed.  "Look, did you even see my human self, this morning?  She may as well have been shooting little cartoon hearts out of her eyes at you."

"Uh.  Really?

"Yeah."  Moon Dancer smirked.  "Come on, can't you put two and two together, here?  I thought you were supposed to be smart."

Twilight's face fell into enormous, almost Pinkie-sized gobsmackedness.  "Moon Dancer..." she breathed, "did you ever..."

"Of course I did, ya doofus."  She could not keep herself from smiling.  "This adorable little genius wants to come over and read books with me?  You're how I knew I was gay."

Twilight stared gapingly at Moon Dancer, then at Fluttershy, then back at Moon Dancer again.  "How long?"

"Not long."  Moon Dancer noticed that her special somepony looked quite pleased this was coming out; she was the only one Moon Dancer had ever told.  "I was way, way over it by the time you left.  But for a few months there, I was spending eight hours a day just Twilight-pining."

Twilight literally smacked herself in the forehead (Moon Dancer realized she was where she must have picked that up from).  "So, let me get this straight," Twilight said.  "I had a huge freakout, all tied up in insecurities that you're more attractive and cooler than me and nopony had ever wanted to date me... and you used to want to date me."

"That does seem to be the case," Moon Dancer replied.  "And meanwhile, I had a huge freakout, all tied up in insecurities that you look down on me... and you trust me so implicitly, you believed in me to save everypony in the bookstore this morning."

They stared at one another for a moment, and then Moon Dancer glanced over at the other pony in the room.  "And while her special somepony and her friend were doing all this, what was Fluttershy doing?  She crossed dimensional boundaries to help a girl she'd never met come to terms with her sexuality."

"Oh!"  Fluttershy bashfully looked at the floor.  "Anypony would have done it..."

"No, they wouldn't have," Twilight replied.  "You did it.  It was huge and you did it like it was nothing.  And Human Fluttershy is going to have a better life because of it."

Moon Dancer sighed.  "We're done fighting, right?  We can just spend the rest of the day celebrating Fluttershy?"

To answer, Twilight conjured one of those little flappy noisemakers, put it to her lips, and blew.  "Fweee!" it went.

Fluttershy, for her part, was bearing the praise admirably, but luckily she did not have to keep it up longer, because the door suddenly slammed open.  They jumped in shock but did not have long to be surprised, because a pink earth pony was suddenly among them, hopping up and down in delight.  "I heard a party sound!" Pinkie chirped.  "That means everything's okay, right??"

They stared, too nonplussed to even blink, but Starlight stuck her head into the room, looking around in confusion.  "Uh... is everypony okay in here?  We were all in the kitchen, and then Pinkie suddenly ran off."

Moon Dancer saw Fluttersy's genuine smile at Pinkie's antics and felt herself slowly relaxing.  "We're just excited for Fluttershy's party tonight," she said, as Spike and Starlight walked in to join them.

Twilight, for her part, did not seem particularly relaxed.  "Um... this was a Pinkie Sense thing, right?" she asked nervously.  "Nopony was listening, were they...?"

"Oh, silly Twilight, of course we wouldn't eavesdrop on you!" Pinkie admonished.  "I'm not even wearing my catburgular suit!"

Twilight gave her a sideways glance for a moment, but then just sighed.  "Okay.  It's just, we talked about some... not very flattering things?"  She giggled nervously.  "Moon Dancer said Spike was going to contact the Princesses, so... I mean, I'd just want to be careful."

"Uh," Spike said.

"We called off the big emergency," Moon Dancer said.  "I think you miiiiiiight be getting a little paranoid there, Twilight.  The Princesses wouldn't have any reason to be around, much less listening."

"Oh, nuh uh!" Pinkie exclaimed.  "We did get your message about everypony being safe, but Princess Celestia wanted to stay in Ponyville anyway, for Fluttershy's birthday party!"  She grabbed Fluttershy's front hooves and hopped up and down.  "Isn't that super?? Princess Celestia almost never comes to a party!"

"Yeah, where is she, anyway?" Starlight asked, scratching her chin in thought.  "I haven't seen her for a while."

"Uh," Spike said, raising a claw.  "I just remembered, she told me, um."  He glanced around in agitation.  "The last time I saw her, she told me she was.  Um.  Going to try to find.  Uh.  A book to read."

Twilight raised an eyebrow.  "A book to-- what."  Her wings jutted out in terror, and she froze like a terrified statue.  The others glanced at each other in silence.

"Oh, my goodness," a sweet and maternal voice announced stiltedly from the other side of the room.  "What's going on?"  And Princess Celestia just stepped out from behind a bookshelf, enormous, implausible grin slapped onto her face.  

She beheld them all with grace.  Twilight was still not moving, but she was beginning to froth at the mouth.  "Well, good afternoon, my little ponies," Celestia said gently.  "I was just lying down for a... library nap, as is my usual afternoon custom, when all of your voices woke me up!"  She looked around to all of them in mock confusion.  "Did anything important happen while I was asleep and couldn't hear anything?"

Moon Dancer was half grateful to her kind princess for attempting to provide an out, and half confused at just how bad she was at it.  Twilight had begun to jitter in place like a half-broken steam engine.

Celestia looked back and forth among the ponies in the room, gamely keeping her phony grin.  Eventually, she just sighed.  "Come here, my little ponies," she beckoned to them.  "I've got a secret to share with you."

They all walked closer (Twilight needed Fluttershy to walk along side her, cooing gently in her ear).  Celestia glanced around the room as if looking for spies, and then she smiled down to them.  "I've learned many, many things about all the creatures who live in our wonderful world," she whispered conspiratorially.  "I like to think that diplomacy is one of my strengths, and I rarely find myself in an awkward moment.  But unfortunately, that means that when I DO find myself in an awkward moment, I'm sometimes left with no idea what to do."  She gazed down at Twilight, Fluttershy, and Moon Dancer.  "I'm sorry I overheard your discussion.  When I realized what was happening, I became a bit frozen."

"Oh, that's all right, princess, isn't it girls?" Fluttershy asked hopefully.  "We know you didn't mean to."

"Absolutely," Moon Dancer confirmed,

"Babzto tootin!" Twilight added.

Celestia was silent for one second, a look on her face that made Moon Dancer afraid she was going to burst into laughter.  But when she spoke again, it was as lilting and as kind as always: "Luckily, I've learned a useful little trick."  A dawnlike blob of magic grabbed a large book on a nearby shelf and hovered it over to them.  A golden retriever beamed at them from the cover.  "Puppies."

"Puppies?" Starlight asked.

"My little ponies, it's simply impossible to feel awkward while looking at pictures of puppies."  Celestial opened the book.  "The purpose of the book is supposedly to educate the reader about different dog breeds, but no one really believes that, do they?  The real purpose is the photographs of the puppies."

"Ooo!" Pinkie squealed.  "That one looks like a mop!"

"Which one is your favorite, Fluttershy?" Starlight asked.  "You're the expert."

"Oh, I can't possibly choose," Fluttershy answered.  

"I like the ones with the short legs," Twilight rasped from Moon Dancer's side, her body slowly becoming less and less rigid.

"Oh yes, I like them too," Celestia agreed joyfully.  She flipped through the book and found a picture of a long, short little puppy basking in the sun.  

Twilight actually smiled, and Moon Dancer felt her body leaning, very gently, against her own.