10:15 AM
Fluttershy turned and quickly pushed the palace doors closed, then slowly slid down them into a panting heap on the floor.
“Good heavens, darling! What happened?” Rarity cried, rushing to Fluttershy’s aid.
“BIG!” Fluttershy attempted to answer while catching her breath. “Lasers, masks, screaming, animals, attack, big, big, wolf, wood, woody wolfies, running, growl!”
“You were attacked by a big laser wolf in a mask with a woody?” asked Applejack.
“Goodness,” cried Rarity. “Did a wolf try to get fresh with you?”
Fluttershy gave Rarity a questioning look and shook her head no.
“Then what did happen?”
Fluttershy took a few more deep breaths then tried again pointing toward the palace doors. “Big wood wolves try eat me!”
Alarmed, Applejack and Rarity shot each other looks and Applejack went to the front doors, perking up an ear against one to listen.
Rarity followed behind her, taking out her pincushion and readying four of the sewing needles as weapons.
Applejack looked at her and whispered, “What’s four needles gonna do against a bunch of big wood wolves?”
“Well it’s not like they are giant wolves made of wood.”
“THEY ARE!” Fluttershy yelled. "Like hungry trees with legs and teeth!"
Rarity gulped and put the needles away. "Some of the m-monsters Twi and Sunset mentioned that exist in this world?"
“Okay, here’s the plan,” said Applejack, rearing up to place her forehooves against the door Fluttershy wasn't behind. “Open this door a mite with your magic so you can see out. If you don’t like what you see ah’ll slam it shut and you help push.”
“Right.”
Rarity focused on the door Applejack stood up against and it began to shine with a blue glow. Fluttershy, now no longer panting hard watched nervously as the door opened slowly.
Very slowly.
Very, very slowly.
“Rares? You even moving it yet?” Applejack whispered
“I’m taking it slow. I don’t want my face eaten by a giant wolf tree!” Rarity whispered back.
Finally able to see a crack of daylight between the doors, Rarity angled herself left and right to look through it. Not seeing anything dangerous she opened the door further. Then a little further. And further still.
“Whoa!” yelled Applejack as she fell over, unable to remain upright against the opening door.
“Oops, sorry, darling.”
“Oh, my,” squeaked Fluttershy. “Are they gone?”
“Seems so. And so are some trees by the forest’s edge. Must have been Rainbow’s … whatever that was.”
“Rainbow?!” Fluttershy perked up.
“That’s right!” Applejack added while righting herself on all fours again. “We saw her crash!”
“Rainbow crashed!? Oh no! We have to check on her!”
“Maybe you should rest here and we’ll check on her, sugarcube.” Applejack gave Fluttershy a pat on the mane.
“No, I have to go too,” Fluttershy determined while trying to stand and having a difficult time with it.
"Not if'n you can't even walk. We'll come back once we know what's going on."
Seeing Fluttershy's distraught expression, Rarity perked up, lighting her horn. “Oh! I have an idea!"
Fluttershy looked down as the blue glow also covered her and she felt herself lifting into the air. Her wings popped out instinctively and she tried to flap and run, but her six limbs were too tired to be effective. She gave up and simply watched as she was moved toward Applejack and then dropped, perpendicular, on her back.
Applejack and Fluttershy blushed slightly at each other before giving Rarity a matching set of questioning looks.
“We’re ponies,” she explained. “Embrace it!” She flicked her horn with a hoof to let go of Fluttershy and galloped out the door.
Applejack looked up at Fluttershy. "So now she's okay with being a pony?"
"Now she has clothing on," Fluttershy explained.
"Oh, right." Applejack chuckled before taking off after Rarity, eliciting a few squeaks from Fluttershy as she struggled to find something appropriate to hold on to.
Applejack caught up to Rarity easily despite the extra weight and faltering sets of hooves on her back.
Rarity took it in stride, keeping pace beside them and using her magic to pick twigs and other debris from Fluttershy’s fur and hair.
Neglecting to drop the items from her magic grasp resulted in a trail of objects floating and following behind them as they searched out their next friend.
"So," began Applejack to pass the time as they galloped, "is 'bucking' some kind of pony profanity? A ponefanity?"
Fluttershy blushed. "Um, I think it's one of those many-purpose words. It can be an innocent word, or something more … naughty."
"Wherever did you learn such a thing?" asked Rarity.
"Oh, well, you see …," Fluttershy blushed harder, "a little birdie taught me."
*** *** ***
10:30 AM
"Are you sure it was here, Rares?" asked Applejack.
"I'm positive it was at least near here," Rarity replied.
"There's a clear, um, 'path', leading this way," Fluttershy helped. Her position on Applejack's back letting her look around more freely, taking in all the damages.
"You mean path of destruction?" Applejack was more honest.
"I didn't want to say …," Fluttershy trailed off.
As they rounded another corner, following ripped up cobblestones, cracked windows, and felled signs, they got a look at a large, white, red, and pinkish building with a sign out front.
"Tell me that ain't a hospital," worried Applejack.
"I believe it is, darling," Rarity sighed.
"Oh, dear! A window on the third floor is broken," informed Fluttershy.
"Could you fly us up there to take a look?" asked Rarity.
Fluttershy looked at her friends then back to her wings. "Um, I'm not sure if I can get up there alone. My wings are still pretty sore."
"What if ah gave you a boost?" Applejack offered.
"And I'll help with my magic!" Rarity added.
Fluttershy gave her wings a single flap. "I can try."
"Wonderful!" Rarity cheered her friend on while trotting closer to the hospital. "So let's get under the window. Fluttershy, you can try to get off from Applejack's back and flap yourself to a hover."
"Sounds weird when you put it that way," Applejack commented as Fluttershy blushed.
"Well, I don't know the terminology," Rarity protested as Applejack crouched down to let Fluttershy climb off.
The tired pegasus pulled herself forward to Applejack's left but lost her balance, putting her face on the ground with her hindlegs still draped over Applejack's back. Applejack shimmied to the right away from Fluttershy to help her and she flopped to the ground. Applejack then walked back and offered her a hoof to help her stand up, using her newfound earth pony magic to keep her other three hooves planted so as to not fall onto her friend in the process … again.
Fluttershy dusted herself off while Applejack replied.
"Ah think Ah know what you're suggesting. We have Fluttershy hover above me and Ah'll push her up with my hooves then you horn her over the rest of the way?"
"We're using horn as a verb?" Rarity asked.
"Girls," Fluttershy attempted.
"Well, we say things like 'hand that over' when passing things with hands, so why not 'horn that over'?" Applejack insisted.
"Girls," Fluttershy attempted with a tiny bit less authoritative apprehension.
"I see what you mean, darling, but then why can't we say 'flap to a hover' when there are—"
"GIRLS! Eek!"
Applejack and Rarity looked around and then up to find Fluttershy already making the attempt at flying up to the broken window, but with a wing that didn't seem to want to keep pace.
She was losing altitude fast.
"Ah got ya!" Applejack rushed into position under Fluttershy, got a quick reminder that all of them except Rarity were naked, re-angled her eyes away from the hind section, and jumped up with all her might. Applejack's forehooves connected under Fluttershy's chest and propelled her back up, knocking the wind out of her in the process.
Then Rarity came beside Applejack, lit her horn, focused on Fluttershy, and pushed her up and over to the window. Not an easy task for the new unicorn who had yet to lift anything heavier than a mildly filled pair of saddlebags and a little sister. Fluttershy, still flapping as well as she could, kept dipping and swaying in the air, careening tail first into the wall twice.
Eventually close enough to do so, and while facing the correct way, Fluttershy reached out, grabbed the windowsill, and pulled herself in, falling to the floor inside with a thud loud enough to be audible from the ground outside.
Applejack and Rarity cheered. Rarity danced side to side, happy to have triumphed and that their friend was safe.
A series of additional thuds, seemingly timed with Rarity's motions, reminded Rarity to give her glowing horn another tweak. All the various forest objects and debris Rarity had pulled off Fluttershy fell to the ground and there was another thud from the room above.
"Sorry, Fluttershy!" she called.
"S'okay," came a soft, woozy reply.
In the hospital room, Fluttershy focused on getting her bearings, hoping that at least one of those bearings would stop the room from spinning.
Once complete, she got a good look at the far wall and noticed Rainbow Dash planted face down on a mattress, the rest of her splat against the wall.
"Rainbow!" she gasped, rushing to her friend. "Are you alright?"
"~I'm~a~pretty~pony~" Rainbow warbled, words further mumbled by the mattress.
"Yes, you are," Fluttershy assured her, petting her mane. "You're a very pretty pony."
"~Mmm~"
Fluttershy checked for injuries and then looked around the otherwise empty room. Seeing they were alone and Rainbow was without visible marks, a sly smirk grew on her face, and she leaned in closer to Rainbow's ears. "I could tie some ribbons in your mane and tail if you'd like."
"~Thank~you~"
Rainbow's murmur set Fluttershy into giggles. "Okay, Rainbow, I'll get all sorts of pink and purple ribbons and bows for your mane and tail. I can even put them into braids! Get Rarity to pick out some gowns and dress you in style! You'd be the prettiest pony ever!"
"~The~prettiest~pony~eve—w-what?!" Rainbow wiggled, hooves flailing out to try and push her face away from whatever was covering it. Fluttershy helped her out by pushing Rainbow's hind legs so she'd end up flopping onto the bed. "P-pretty pony? Who is?!"
"You are!"
"No way! I—" Rainbow had finally perked her head up and noticed the yellow pony in the room, then looked down at herself. "Oh, right." When Fluttershy giggled harder, she looked back up and turned to the side, pointing at her flank. "See this? I have lightning on my butt flank! I'm not pretty! I'm awesome!"
"Well, I think you're both. And always have been," Fluttershy smiled brightly at her oldest friend. When Rainbow gave her a twisted look, she added with another giggle, "Got you to wake up too! Are you alright?"
"Wake—?" Rainbow looked around the room. "What the?! I'm back in the hospital? It's even the same room! We gotta get out of here, quick! Wait! Which Fluttershy are you?"
That stumped Fluttershy for a moment until she remembered there were currently two of her in this world. "We have chemistry together." When Rainbow blushed, she was quick to add, "The class! I followed you through the portal, and yes, we need to find Pinkie so—"
"Then we both have got to get out of here before they try to dissect us!"
"Dissect?!" Fluttershy gasped, placing a hoof over her muzzle. "But why would—?"
"Remember how we had to break Sunset out that time?"
"Oh, my goodness! W-we need disguises and Pinkie's rubber chicken army, and—"
"Nope! We just need that window and our sweet wings!" Rainbow fluffed hers out and pointed to Fluttershy's.
Fluttershy looked back at her wings and smiled, also fluffing them out. "That's so much easier."
"I know, right! Come on, let's go!" Rainbow called, flapping over to the windowsill. "Hey, where'd this glass come from? Who broke the window?"
"You don't remember?"
Rainbow took to the air inside the room and pantomimed her reply. "I remember pulling off this awesomely sick stunt! I was flying all over town with a rainbow coming out of my butt. I wrote my name in the sky with it and everything!"
"It was coming out of your … really?"
"Yeah, I think it was like one of those optical illusions and it just looked like my tail was super long, but yeah." Rainbow landed and flicked her tail side to side. "Tail comes out of my butt so that means the rainbow did too."
"Oh."
"And then I saw you zooming out of the forest and I came over to, you know."
"Show off?" It was the natural answer.
"Yeah! But then these giant tree wolf things jump out after you and I kinda slammed"—Rainbow clopped her hooves together for impact—"into one of them and they all took off!"
"Oh no!" Fluttershy gasped. "You didn't hurt them did you?"
" 'Hurt them'?! Looked like they wanted to eat you!"
"Oh, they did, but they were just hungry. One of the puppies has a bad leg too. Poor thing."
" 'Poor thing'?! They—"
Rainbow cut herself off when she heard the sound of a cart rolling up to her door.
"Quick! Out the window!" Rainbow whispered, flapping over to the windowsill.
"Oh goodness!" Fluttershy galloped over, reaching her just as someone knocked on the door.
"Alright, Rainbow Dash," cheered a male voice, getting Fluttershy to turn and face it. "Time for your follow-up evaluation. With luck, you'll be cleared to go in 'ten minutes flat'!"
The door slowly opened and the voice continued with an added chuckle. "I'm sure you're just itching to launch yourself out that window."
Fluttershy eeped, remembering that they were aliens on this world and that she needed to get Rainbow out of the room.
And then instinct took over.
She leaned into her forelegs and kicked out behind her with both hindlegs. She felt a solid thump as she bucked her friend out the window.
"Aaaaaaaaa!" that friend cried on her way down toward the ground.
"Ah, Ms. Fluttershy," said the source of the voice entering the room. Here to visit Ms. Dash?"
"Yes!" she replied stiffly, ducking back slightly.
The doctor looked around. "Is she out?"
"Yes," she squeaked.
"Bathroom?"
"No—Yes!" Fluttershy covered. "B-bathroom."
The doctor came more fully into the room. "What? Is the window broken?"
"Uh …."
"You're not cut are you?"
"N-no."
The doctor lit his horn and the many glass shards were pushed to the side of the room. "I'll call a janitor to cast a mending spell right away. I suppose I might as well discharge the sheriff while I'm at it. Seems a cloud exploded on him. Too much water was placed in it."
"Oh dear."
"Oh, he's recovered already. Just a headache now."
"That's good."
"Please let Rainbow know I'll be back in a few minutes to see her."
"… Okay."
Giving her a kind smile, the doctor turned and left the room
"Whew," Fluttershy took a breath in relief only to remember a moment later what she had done to Rainbow. "Eep! Rainbow!"
Outside, the three girls below looked up as their other winged friend jumped out the window out of concern more than bravery.
They realized this was the case when it became clear she had forgotten she had wings.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" she screamed.
"Fluttershy! Flap wings!" Rarity cried.
Fluttershy opened her wings and flapped them as hard as she could. Applejack got in position to catch her. A blue glow surrounded her and slowed her down.
Rainbow Dash scoffed and simply flew up and grabbed her.
Unfortunately, Rainbow wasn't expecting Fluttershy to reach out and hug her around the wings.
The two winged girls fell right on top of Applejack, knocking her onto her back. "Oophh!" was her only possible comment with a face full of yellow feathers.
Rarity rushed up to the three of them. "Darlings! Are you alright?"
"Rainbow?"
"I'm fine, 'Shy."
"Applejack?" asked Rarity.
"Oophh!" Applejack repeated.
Fluttershy still had her four legs around Rainbow, trapping her wings. Her own wings were spread out over Applejack's face.
Neither of them could move, however, as Rainbow was on top and couldn't see with her face in Fluttershy's chest.
Rainbow blushed brightly once she realized where she was pressed up against, but that dimmed slightly when she also realized there was nothing there but fur. Though it was really soft and tickled her muzzle.
Applejack pushed but quickly stopped, worried about what she might have been pushing on when Fluttershy eeped again in a particularly high pitch.
Rainbow struggled but was caught in Fluttershy's surprisingly strong grasp, still shocked from the fall and possibly whatever Applejack had pushed on.
Rarity got all three of them in her magic grasp and tried to lift but gave herself a neck ache. She then wondered why the strain was in her neck and not her horn.
Rarity then changed to focus on Fluttershy's hooves to un-trap Rainbow. Once she got her blue glow to cover all four of Fluttershy's hooves without the rest of her, she pulled them all away from each other.
Finally free, Rainbow's wings pomfed out and she gave them a flap propelling her backward away from Fluttershy and straight into Rarity's face.
The collision was strong enough to lift Rarity's forehooves off the ground. Suddenly off balance, Rarity instinctively grabbed the closest thing she could find for support. This turned out to be Rainbow and they both dropped on top of Applejack and Fluttershy.
"Oof!"
"Ow!"
"Eep!"
"Oophh!"
With a push, Rarity got off Rainbow but sent herself on a roll, tumbling down the sides of her friends and landing on the ground.
Fluttershy was jostled out of her stupor and blushed, noticing Rainbow's face in what used to be her bosom.
Rainbow, feeling the weight lifted off her, checked over her shoulder first this time, and then flapped her wings to get off Fluttershy and landed next to Applejack.
Fluttershy took this opportunity to also get off Applejack by rolling to the side.
Rarity, meanwhile, had stood up, thankful that she landed upright—or belly down at least—so as to not damage her new dress, then had brushed it and herself off, just in time for Fluttershy to land on her back, knocking her to the ground again.
Applejack, now able to breathe air not filtered through pegasus feathers, picked her head up, fixed her hat, and rolled onto her hooves. "You two okay over there?" she asked as Fluttershy rolled again, getting off Rarity and onto solid ground.
"I believe we are now," said Rarity, checking on Fluttershy and her dress again.
"We really need to stop doing this," Applejack sighed.
"Doing what?" asked Rainbow.
"Falling on top of each other. This is the third—"
Rarity cleared her throat loudly.
"Second"—Applejack blushed—"time now."
Quickly, when it looked like Rainbow was going to question that, Applejack continued. "Alright, so now that we know where to find Twi—"
"We do?" asked Rainbow.
"Dash, that was the one goal we had. Ah thought you were going to do it in ten seconds flat."
"Um," squeaked Fluttershy, "I don't know where she is either."
Rainbow pointed a hoof at Fluttershy. "See? It's not just me."
"But I did get attacked by a cottage full of animals, lost in the woods for more than an hour, and chased back to town by a pack of large, hungry wood wolves. Even after taking the time to patch one of them up. They weren't friendly at all!"
Rarity and Applejack gave Rainbow a look.
"Hey! I was in the hospital!"
Rarity gasped, "Heavens! Whatever for?"
Rainbow blushed and looked away. "N-nothing?"
"But you're okay now, right?" asked Fluttershy with large eyes.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine. S'all good." Rainbow covered by shining a forehoof against her fur and trying to make it look nonchalant.
"Whew." Rarity, relieved, took another breath. "We know that Twi is in Canterlot. It doesn't seem to be far, but I've only seen it on a map without a scale so I'm not sure."
Applejack spoke up, pointing to a mountain north of the town, "Canterlot is that there castle on the mountain."
""That's Canterlot?"" exclaimed Rarity, Rainbow, and Fluttershy.
"Was Ah the only one doing the research?"
Three faces passed her less than happy looks.
Applejack cleared her throat. "Er, maybe Ah just got lucky?"
"So how do we get there? asked Rainbow.
"We take the train!" cheered Fluttershy. "Miss Cheerilee said our ponies all got on a train yesterday."
"And I have money for the train! I hope pony Rarity doesn't mind me borrowing it though."
"Oh, me too." worried Fluttershy.
"I could just fly there," Rainbow informed them.
"Ah think it best we stick closer together for now on. Besides, we don't know where in Canterlot she is. A couple likelies, but no guarantees." Applejack nodded to Rarity who was already puffing up in pride. "We can explain on the way"—Rarity deflated a bit, having been ready to gush about her three shops again—"but we need to find Pinkie first."
"HA!" Rainbow proudly exclaimed. "No problem! I saw her when I was being awesome!"
"Was this before you were laying out a trail of destruction in the town or during it?" asked Applejack.
Rainbow raised a hoof, pomfed out her wings, and opened her mouth to speak when Rarity simply pointed at the hospital's broken window.
Putting down her hoof and wings, Rainbow mumbled, "Pinkie's in the park."
"Which Pinkie? Because I was just there and didn't see any of them!" came a cheerful voice.
The four girls turned and found a bright pink earth pony smiling back at them.
"Ohmygosh!" she yelled. "I found you!"
"Pink—!" Fluttershy attempted only for the four of them to be pulled into a tight hug by the fifth. Pinkie's forelegs somehow stretching long enough to do that. Though not long enough to allow all four girls to continue breathing.
"I found you! I found you! I found you! I found you!" Pinkie cheered through the loveable, and potentially lethal, assault on her friends. "That's one 'I found you' for each of you. But where's Twi-Twi and pony me?"
"Pin—"
"—kie—"
"——can't—"
"———breathe!" the four squished girls took turns to exclaim as best as they could without air.
"Really?" asked Pinkie, letting go of them all. "I can breathe just fine!"
Back on the ground again, the four took deep breaths. Eventually, Fluttershy got up and attempted to hug Pinkie at a more safe intensity. This put them both on the ground again with Pinkie giggling through the resulting feather mask.
Pinkie returned the hug, blowing on the feathers a little to make a small gap, then retried her greeting. "Nice to meet you, I'm Pinkie Pie!"
"We know, Pinkie," said Rainbow after standing and un-collapsing her airway.
"I know you know Pinkie," Pinkie replied. "Now you know another Pinkie! Oh wait. Was there a comma in there?"
"Pinkie, darling," Rarity began, again brushing off her new dress after Applejack helped her up, "You're still the only Pinkie we know."
Rainbow and Applejack shot each other a quick glance, only just now considering what might happen once that changed. Fluttershy, also starting to consider such a situation, sobered up, letting Pinkie stand.
Pinkie giggled again, backflipping onto her hooves. "Actually, you know two now! You see, I'm new to town! I just happen to look just like a Pinkie pony you already know."
"We know," Rarity tried again, "you're not pony Pinkie."
"Wowie!" Pinkie started looking all over herself. "What gave it away? Do I have a not-pony something sticking out of me? That might explain a few things."
"We know because we're not ponies either, and we've been informed that all our counterparts are in Canterlot."
"Oh, okay!" Pinkie nodded immediately. "I've actually been informed that too, but you never really know with a Pinkie. So Now what?"
The other four girls looked at each other, trading glances. Finally, Applejack cleared her throat.
"Alright," Applejack said, "we're back together, we have a destination, and we have money to get there. Let's get to the train station." She looked around. "Does anyone know where the station is?"
"I got it!" Rainbow was eager to declare. "I know where everything in this town is! I've been all around and through it a ton of times, remember?"
Rarity again pointed at the broken hospital window.
"Yeah, well," Rainbow scratched the back of her head with a forehoof, "princesses are rich, right? Twi can cover things. And it's for a good cause!"
"Rainbow brings up a good point … in a roundabout way." Rarity tapped her chin before frowning at the dusty horseshoe she had done it with. "I don't like just leaving the town after all this property damage, no matter how accidental. And I don't want to leave it all on Twilight's treasury."
"Nothing for it, Rares. Some things are more time sensitive than others. We should find Twi first, and then take care of the rest after," Applejack said.
"If you're sure it's alright," squeaked Fluttershy.
"Wait! We're leaving?!" asked Pinkie. "We can't leave! I'm popping a not very surprising surprise party any hour now!"
"If it's a surprise party, why is it not very surprising?" Rainbow asked.
"Well, it's a surprise party because I yelled 'SURPRISE' out to everyone when I first left Twi's palace, but it's not very surprising because I was so excited to see so many new/old and old/new friends-to-be that I forgot I didn't have a party set up so I had to tell all those adorable ponies that the surprise party had to wait until I was ready, and then I started going around to invite everyone I saw to my Hi-My-Name-is-Pinkie-Pie-and-I’m-New-in-Town-Even-Though-I-Probably-Look-Just-Like-Someone-Else-You-Know-Who-is-Also-Named-Pinkie-Pie-But-I-Want-to-be-Your-Friend-Too-Party, so those ponies won't be surprised either. Also, Mrs. Cake is making posters about it."
"Yeah," Rainbow agreed, "that's not very surprising now."
"Pinkie! We weren't supposed to tell anyone we aren't really ponies!" yelled Rarity.
"We weren't?" gasped Pinkie.
"We weren't?" echoed Rainbow.
"If the locals find out what we are we could get into all sorts of trouble," explained Applejack.
"Oh," Pinkie giggled, "maybe that's why so many ponies ran away from me."
The other four traded looks."
"Maybe we should get on the train now after all," whispered Fluttershy.
*** *** ***
10:42 AM
"We're in luck," Applejack told Rarity, leaving Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy by the benches. "Next train to Canterlot is due to arrive in less than five minutes and the conductor says we ride for free!"
"W-we do?" Rarity asked, fidgeting on her hooves.
"That's right! The man—uh, stallion?—said it's on account of saving the town and all. So maybe you were right about the whole Twi and pony us's being at your shop for a special occasion. Maybe we'll see them all dressed up in their Sunday bests!"
Rarity smiled brightly at that but kept fidgeting. "Quite wonderful, darling. But, um, did you say five minutes?"
"Less than five! Talk about service. Seems things are getting better. We're back together, we're on the way to Twi, we even have our new pony bodies figured out!"
"But no time for a quick pop over to our world first?"
Applejack leaned over to see the top of the Twilights' cute mark spire visible over the town's buildings. "It's a bit of a walk. You wouldn't get halfway to the palace, let alone up the steps and back here in just five minutes. Why? Is there something wrong?"
"No, no, not wrong so to speak. It's just something I'd rather not do here." Rarity blushed.
"Well, what's the matter?" Applejack lowered her voice and leaned closer. "You know I'd help you in anything, Rares. Just ask."
Rarity looked in to her friend's eyes. "I'd rather not have help in this matter, just familiarity."
"We've been through a lot of embarrassing things today already. One more ain't gonna hurt our friendship. A hundred more wouldn't"
"Thank you, Applejack. I feel the same way, but this truly isn't something I want help with." Rarity began tapping her hooves.
Applejack put a gentle hoof on Rarity's wither and carefully held her in a one forehoofed hug. "There ain't nothing we can't get through if we're together; and it don't matter what world we're in or what bodies we have!"
Rarity looked back at Applejack, her eyes a little glassy. Rarity's fidgeting had only increased, however.
"Wow!" exclaimed Rainbow, swooping by as the whistle of an approaching train sounded. "I hope they have toilets on the train. Looks like Rarity needs to piss like a racehorse!"
Rarity blushed brightly and said nothing.
Applejack took a step back.
"Eenope."