//------------------------------// // Intermission - The Amnesiac // Story: The Stereotypical Necromancer // by JinxTJL //------------------------------// Applejack had a plan, and that all started with letting Rarity go, and going back downstairs to see Light. The first thing was easy enough, though Rarity had been real ornery at bein' put down. Her mane had been in a big ol' muss from the crush, and when she'd finally stopped screaming at Applejack, she'd pouted indignantly and firmly said: 'I am not going down there looking like this!' Applejack couldn't have cared less how she or anypony else looked 'less they were muddied head to hoof, but then Rarity had gone and trotted up to her bag to get some kinda fancy comb she 'parently kept on hoof, so Applejack had just gone on ahead of her. No time like the present: that was one of her own adages. Now, making shallow steps down the broad steps of the stair-tunnel: Applejack kind of wished Rarity had skipped the primping and just come along with her. Because as she'd passed the open kitchen on one side and approached the bottom floor, she heard something. A telltale 'clip' 'clop' of hooves on varnished wood echoing up the tunnel. Somepony was coming up the stairs, and as Applejack perked her ears to hear a deep, low grumbling, she was vaguely sure she'd heard that grumble somewhere before. And as that pony came up before her, she found she could've really used some mindless flattery. "Miss Twilight! Fancy seein' you here!" Applejack said in her brightest tone: tipping Her hat affably up in greeting to the purple pony in the tunnel before her. A'course, she was only pretending to be happy to see her. Not for nothing: it was 'cause Twilight Sparkle, the big fancy city mare who'd come by the farm earlier in the day after Applejack had been preparing for the celebration and dealing with family crisis after family crisis, had been altogether lemon-faced, sour-mouthed, spit-on-your-hooves rude. She didn't hold much against the mare, and if she'd take effort to apologize for her implications and whatnot, then she'd be pleased as punch to get to know the real her. 'Till then, Twilight was just a rude Canterlot mare who'd said something about how she 'wasn't in the mood for making friends.' And she hadn't seemed to have improved her 'what a quaint little farm' mood since this morning. Her head was bowed down low, her withers were tense, and from under her neat purple-and-pink bangs simmered a tired stare that set Applejack's haunches instinctively rising. What had her goat? The put-out mare, Twilight, sighed heavily: raising her head to more directly meet her eyes. "Of course you'd be here, too. The 'friendliness' of this town never ends." She groused, then quirked a brow, and Applejack had to remind herself that Twilight Sparkle was the type of big-wig city pony that held a grudge for being punched. "It's not that 'fancy' to see me here. This is my welcome party, isn't it?" Applejack blinked away the pretty thought of tying Twilight's front hooves to her back, and cocked her head in confusion. "It is?" She reached a hoof up to scratch at her head: playing as dumb as possible. "Heck, I was sure this was Berry Punch's sobriety party." ...She really had thought that. What was on that invitation Pinkie gave her? After the first few years and the first couple thousand parties, she'd stopped looking at the details and just skipped right to the time and place. Bless that filly's heart. Twilight looked even more put-out for a quick flash of angry eyes, but then it deflated in a second as she shook her head, sighed, and bowed her head back down. "...Whatever," she mumbled. "Say congrats to Berry and her bucket for me." Applejack blinked bemusedly and pressed herself to the side as Twilight pushed right on past her: head bowed and hooves low to every step all the way. Like a kicked puppy dragging its tail behind it. She didn't have to think very hard about what to do. "Hey, Twilight!" she called after her, just before she rounded the bend of the stairs. The purple mare stopped in her tracks, and though she didn't look back or raise her head, it was obvious she was listening. ...This wouldn't be that hard. Just... swallow her pride, and put her best hoof forward. It was the neighborly thing to do. Applejack set her jaw, swallowed something stony, and then let her frown rise into a hard little smile. "I'm sorry If'n I came on too strong; I been told I can be a bit much meetin' new ponies. Didn't mean to offend or nothin'." She blinked deeply, took a deep breath, and smiled wider. "An' by the by: welcome to Ponyville." She'd said it briefly, just 'cause she was brief, but she really did mean it. She didn't hate Twilight- she was only a half-rude stranger she'd known from the morning, nothin vengeful- and there was no reason not to try to cheer her up just 'cause she didn't much like her. It was outta her values. Her piece said: Applejack turned from the mare who seemed like the day had kicked her somewhere delicate, and trotted down the stairs. Her ears perked as she stalled slightly, and though she mostly heard the sound of the other mare going her separate way, she'd also heard something else. Something that... might've just sounded like 'thanks.' ...Still wasn't sorry, but she guessed she'd just take what she could get. Smiling, shaking her head: Applejack rounded the last bit of bend, and trotted down into the party. Shucks, how long had she been up there? The party as she'd left it had been sort-of small, sort-of loud, and mostly relaxed enough to tell that everypony who'd showed up right on time was more-or-less the kinda pony who'd show up right on time. Rarity was that way, and though he'd usually end up failing, so was Light. If it had been up to Applejack, she'd have showed up fifteen minutes late. And with all those ponies that only showed up when things started to take off, the party had kicked into a heckuva swing. She stepped past a none-too-modest group of ponies bouncing and banging their heads to a heady, bass-heavy groove that she didn't for a second believe was coming out of the gramophone that was playing earlier, and through another small crowd that- oh no. She recognized that pony. Her eyes tried to stay firmly locked to the direction of where Light had been sitting, but it was difficult not to turn and look at the loud call in her direction. "Hey Applejack!" A slightly short, slightly round, and very bright yellow mare had hailed her from a group standing and chatting to each other. Her off-golden curls bounced jovially as she waved to the passing Applejack, and though she tried- tried very hard not to engage, something instinctive turned her head. And as she met the grassy green eyes of Carrot Top, she could only wonder why her Granny's lessons on being polite had screwed her over so bad. "Yeah- hey there, Carrot Top," Applejack called back, and immediately tried to keep trotting forward through the shifting, gyrating mass of ponies. But then, of course, a hoof on her shoulder stopped her, and she was forced to turn to see with puckered lips and beady eyes. Carrot Top, smiled back at her, and now everypony she'd been talking to was walking over, too. "Now, where do you think you're going, farmmare~" came the uncomfortably sultry drawl of a pony who, surprisingly, wasn't even drunk. Applejack shifted shiftily back as two more ponies came up to flank the mare who was now running her hoof up Applejack's shoulder. One, to her left: a truly golden haired grey pegasus who smiled genuinely at her, and the other to her right: a deeply purple earth pony who seemed... happy. That one, at least, had some manners. A purple hoof smacked away the yellow one creeping way too close to tickling at her chin, and two scarlet eyes blinked apologetically at her. "Sorry, Applejack. You know she's just teasing." Applejack swallowed as she flicked her eyes quickly to the mare with too much nerve for her own good, who seemed to be mouthing something like 'no I'm not.' She returned her eyes to the right, and nodded jerkily. "S'alright, Berry. I'm used to it." she replied: slightly shaken by the attempt at 'teasing.' She wasn't and she never would be, but Berry Punch nodded anyway: her smile surprisingly reaching her not-sunken eyes. "Yeah, don't feel bad. She hits on most pretty mares, especially if they're all rugged and handsome like you." Applejack blinked in shock and dropped her mouth into a gape as Berry's smile in a second became so suave, and there was suddenly an extra-loud burst of laughter to her left. Without warning, the grey pegasus previously standing to Carrot Top's other side dropped down between the two grinning mares: hugging each of their necks into her chest. They seemed surprised, if Applejack wasn't sure they had stopped picturing herself in their beds, but then a grey face smiled up at her, and one yellow eye sparkling with mirth met hers. "Aren't they so funny! They've been trying to hit on each other all night, and now they're hitting on you!" She cracked an honest grin as Derpy Hooves squeezed the now-blushing couple of flirtatious ponies to her chest, and suddenly, everything seemed a little brighter. "Yeah, I get what you mean." Her own smile grew that much more menacing, as she leaned down and met the embarrassed eyes of the trapped ponies. "Looks to me an awful lot like they're jes' tryin' to make each other jealous." Both Carrot Top and Berry Punch's eyes grew wider, their faces grew redder, and they both shouted separate denials while trying to wriggle away from the iron-hooved mailpony at the same time. Applejack just leaned back and laughed into the air along with Derpy. Bingo. Looked like Carrot Top might finally stop making passes at her every time they saw each other. Be a relief: only so many ways of sayin she wasn't interested without gettin' mean, and she'd already been a few times. Applejack's laughter slowed to a halt, and she wiped a good-natured tear out of her eye: staring back at the town's resident best friend. "I'd owe y'all an apple cinnamon if you keep 'em comin' after me, Derpy." she offered warmly as she turned, and the grey mare gasped in delight: both eyes sparkling with joy even as the right traveled up. "You got it, AJ!" she cheered, and with a charming giggle, she planted one big kiss each into the yellow and red manes of her captives. Applejack chuckled as she trotted safely away, listening to the near-distinct sound of two mares yelling at a third, while the third just laughed and laughed. Warmed her heart, it did. Wasn't always those three got along like they were. She resumed pushing her way through ponies both familiar and not: offering a howdy or two as she reached the edge of party central. Coming out to the far right side of the library was a relief, and some kind of bunch in her shoulders unknotted as her sides freed up. And then, there he was. Her heart flipped in her chest, and her teeth found her lip unconsciously as she took one step towards the lonely brown figure. A hunched-over unicorn sitting at the sad little pink-and-purple table by the window: staring glumly out of it like he was the only one in the world. ...Wearing a brown party hat. And... he also wasn't alone, because there was a pony she recognized sitting across from him. Well. Applejack trotted forward cautiously: coming up at the edge of the table just in time to catch the tail end of the pale-colored earth pony's sentence. "-arrangement ruined! And then, they demanded I give them their deposit back! I mean, can you believe that! It wasn't even my fault- it should've been Daisy they were yelling at!" Roseluck, one of the least exciting, somehow most excitable mares in town had taken the seat across from Light, for whatever reason. She was leaned back on her small stool and chattering quickly at the pony across her, who didn't seem to be paying any attention based on how longingly he was staring out the window. Light Flow. Her best friend, being chatted up by one of the most boring mares in town. She'd save him. Neither pony had noticed her approach, so they both jumped as she roughly slammed her hoof into the table. Two sets of eyes immediately came to her, one irritated and one... she tried to focus on Roseluck, first. "Alright, Rose, ah think Light's had just about enough of yer blabberin'. Why don't y'all go find yer sisters and see if they got any more patience for it than all'a us here do," she asserted: leaning forward on the table in a way that made her seem much taller than the gardener. It wasn't that she looked down on gardeners and flower-sellers or nothin', just that they tended to be a mite less tested than farmin' types. Wasn't anything wrong with that, no: she'd just prefer somepony less... flowery. Roseluck, though... Most of the time, she was a sorta meek type. The kinda pony who, if somepony shouted at 'em, they'd flinch away and make 'emselves real small. The kinda pony who ponies tended to forget about when they weren't themselves makin' trouble. Sometimes, though... there was something... in her eyes... Something that unnerved her. In a single second, something passed across Rose's face too quick to catch, and Applejack's breath caught. Something too piercing to name stabbed at her chest, and it was all she could do just to lean on the table for support as their eyes met. Hard eyes. But then, the feeling disappeared, and Roseluck smiled beautifully at her. "I will now that you're here!" she chirped peppily, and pushed herself up and away from the table. Applejack stared after her with wide eyes and weak hooves, as the unassuming flower salesmare disappeared into the crowd. Freaky. Roseluck was freaky, and she always forgot to watch herself around her. She only stared after the... weirdo for a moment longer, before she slid herself into the chair she'd occupied just a moment ago. For more reasons than one; her hooves wouldn't stop shaking... She put her hooves up and rested her face into them as she took a moment to just... breathe. In and out, and in and out. "Thanks..." The voice was so familiar. So near to monotone, yet so full of uncertainty and hidden emotion just beneath the surface. So quiet, but how loud he could get- put her right to shame. It was the voice she'd heard near-daily for so many years. It was a voice she heard laughing warmly in her dreams. It was a voice that made it all go away, because when he was around, all her problems were just so small. Her hooves dragged off her face, and as her eyes met those two big circles of pure brown, it was suddenly like they were on the farm again. It was like none of it had ever happened- the amnesia- the heartbreak- the invitation- Everything was okay. She smirked, and rested her chin forward onto one of her waiting hooves. "What'cha thankin' me for? I didn't go askin' after it." she drawled: smiling daringly at him, waiting for him to bite back. His smile would curl. He'd close his eyes, lean back, and sigh: nothing less than a smug smirk on his face. 'You're right, I don't know what I was thinking,' he'd snark at her, and she'd laugh, and pelt him with an apple. He'd jump up yelling about manners, but then he'd take one off the ground and throw it right back at her. They'd go runnin' around trees and over hills, and he'd just never catch up. It was always so easy. "...Well, I really appreciate what you... did. That pony was... inane." His eyes met the floor. His hooves shuffled together. His ears dipped low, and his shoulders rose up as he leaned nervously into the table. His voice was quiet and meek, and full of something so close to gratitude that she'd... never... He'd... thanked her... She didn't realize she was crying until she tried to smile and tasted the salt. Light Flow, the pony who very clearly didn't remember a thing about her, jumped to attention across the table as she sniffled loudly, and drew a hoof across her face. "Oh! Did- Are you- I'm so- Please don't-" he babbled, reaching his hoof across the table towards her, and it was so close to Light that she couldn't help but choke out a wet laugh. She shook her head sadly, and dropped her hooves to lay on the table as she took an deep, unsteady breath. "S'alright, don't you worry none," she kept laughing: still feeling in every moment how more and more of her face heated and wet. Still, she reached out for his hoof that he'd offered and took strong hold of it: smiling back at the pony with nothing but strangeness in his eyes. "You're welcome, Light, I'm just... lookin' out after ya." She tried to keep her smile, but as Light jerked his eyes between her face and their hoof-to-hoof contact, she knew he wanted to let go. She felt him tug away. So she let him go, and it hurt so much. He cradled his hoof close to his chest like it'd been burned, and she shook her head: trying again to wipe the flowing tears out of her eyes as he focused his attention on himself. So close to Light. So strange. Look at her... She'd made such a fuss 'bout not crying earlier, and now here she was: fallin' apart. She needed to get a grip. Wasn't anything new that Light was forgetful. Just... needed to get a grip. She took a deep, calming breath, and though she didn't feel at all calm, and her eyes were still slowly leaking, she focused on Light. "Y'all don't remember me, do you?" she asked softly, and as his head whipped up to hers, it was obvious she wasn't really asking. He had the eyes of a pony run out into a busy Manehatten street. It was so obvious, as he stuttered for words and shook his head, that he had no idea what was really happening. "N-No! I- I mean- yes, of- of course- there's nothing- I wouldn't- I know-" Applejack laughed and shook her head: bending herself down over the table as she reached a hoof out across it, and her eyes were all the wetter when she looked back up at him: still smiling. "Come on, Light," she teased: her voice nearly warbly beyond comprehension. "...there ain't nothin' y'all can hide from your- your-" The words caught in her throat, and she bit her shaking lip as something in her chest broke. She doubled over: shutting her dripping eyes and whispering at the table, because she just couldn't manage any better. "-your best... f-friend..!" She stopped herself just short of a full sob: shaking uncontrollably for a long moment of tense silence that she wanted, in every second, to just end. And Light only... sat there. Doing Celestia knew what as Applejack... broke down. It was almost too much. Every second she looked at him she could only remember everything he wasn't. Everything he'd lost. Everything she'd lost... But it was Light. It was her best friend. She had to help him. She raised herself up: forced herself to look blurry Light in the wide, shocked eyes. Her face was a pickled disaster, she was sure, but she was nothing if not determined. So she bit her lip, uselessly wiped her eyes again, and promised herself she wouldn't ever collapse again. "I know y'all got amnesia." Her voice was worse than she'd ever heard it, and what she'd said barely came out through the thick coat of tears. But still, she sniffled, and as Light opened his mouth on what she guessed was knee-jerk reaction, she leaned forward and cut him off. "Y'all can't go 'round denying it. There ain't a single thing you remember 'bout me, and you should, 'cause there's a lot there!" The fierce batter of her words made Light physically recoil, but she didn't stop, even as his head began to shake and jitter oddly to the side. "We been friends longer than I can remember, and ah live on a farm, Light!" She slammed her hoof to the table, then jabbed it to the air. "Ain't much to remember out there 'cept trees and apples, so stuff like you an' me tends to stick out!" He tried to get up, then, but Applejack lunged across the table. Her hoof caught his, and as their eyes met, she saw his were filled with fear. She shook her head as his mouth gaped, and she tightened her grip as he tried to tug away. "I know 'y'all wanna run away an' pretend like none 'a this ever happened, but ah'm not lettin' you!" She was becoming frantic now: she could realize that. Her voice was getting too loud, and one or two ponies at the fringes of the party were looking their way with wide eyes. Light was looking back at them, too, and as he jerked his head between them and her, his weak attempts to yank his hoof away from her became almost frenzied. But she wouldn't let go. She'd never let her friend go on living a lie. She'd never let him lie to himself. She closed her eyes. She shook her head. She screamed. "If y'all can look me in the eyes right now, and tell me from the bottom of your heart that you remember my name, then I'll let you go!" She opened her eyes, and stared back into Light's. Fear. Sadness. Something too foreign to even describe. Like nothing and nopony she'd ever seen before. A pony lost in his own head. Too confused to even know what to feel. Recognition. "...Apple... jack..?" She'd never known joy. She'd never known relief. Not until those reddened, puffy lips parted, and nothing less than her name stuttered out on a soft breath. She blinked up at him through amazed tears, as the constant leaning pressure on his hoof went slack. She could hardly believe it. In a single moment, he'd said her name, and completely stilled in his attempts to escape. Now, he stood, halfway out of his seat: staring widely down at her. She nodded: kept nodding even as she mouthed nonsense and reached her other hoof out to grab at his. "Yes-" she managed, and Light slowly began to fall into a sitting position: his wide eyes never leaving her own. "...that's- that's me, I'm Applejack..!" He nodded slowly: his mouth opening slightly and his eyes still directly on hers. "You're... Applejack." he whispered, and something exploded in her chest. She was already halfway onto the table, but now she launched herself the rest of the way over it. Her hooves met him first, and by the time he'd realized to shout in surprise, most of her body was already wrapped around him in a hug. "Y'all remember me..!" she whispered thickly: rubbing her face and her tears and snot wherever she'd happened to land on his torso. He smelled like sweat and grime and ink and something foul but that was Light! It was Light, and he was supposed to smell like he never showered, because the dumb colt never did! She felt his hooves pushing up against her body, and she laughed through her teeth into his fur. He'd never liked hugs- never liked admitting he liked hugs, anyway. She allowed herself to be pushed back mostly onto the table, though her hooves were mostly held by his own, and her head was still halfway into his lap. His lidded eyes stared down into hers, and her joyful smile stalled at the sadness in them. He bit his lip, and turned away: pushing her fully back onto the table. "Please... don't do that..." he murmured, and she wasn't sure he'd ever heard him speak so softly. Applejack kneeled on the table, frowning as it wobbled slightly below her, and gnawed at her salty lip as she tried to catch Light's gaze again; his head stubbornly stuck out to the side: his eyes on the window. His hooves, now resting on the table just aside hers, shifted restlessly. "...Light?" she ventured, after a moment of hesitation. His head tottered- and for a second, she was sure he was about to look back at her, but he only sighed, and sagged his shoulders. He shook his head, and another, deeper sigh broke through his silent lips. "...I've got amnesia, Applejack..." came the quiet admission, and her heart skipped a beat at having it said out loud. Having him admit it. She blinked in muted shock as his hoof came off the table and rested against the yellowed panel of glass beside him: still staring out through it, though she could nearly make out his reflection in the darkened night. "...I know you must be confused, but... you have to know that I am too, because... I still don't even know how it happened..." His hoof slid down the polished yellow glass, and his head dipped. He shook it once, then turned: their eyes finally caught again. His were so... strangely... clear. Sad, and regretful. "I woke up this morning a stranger in my own body, only barely cognizant of where I was, and not even knowing my own name," he murmured, and a quiet gasp stalled on her lips. He... didn't know how he'd gotten amnesia? He'd woken up this morning as an amnesiac? It hadn't been... late last night, or sometime when he was deep in the woods? Something that would've made sense? That made things... just a mite harder... "Well- you know your name now, don't you? That means you must be able to-" She scooted forward as she spoke: brushing her hoof up against one of Light's. The effect was immediate. He tensed, grimaced, and jerked his hoof back away from hers. Memory flashed behind her eyes in a second, and she muttered a restrained curse as she shuffled back. "Please don't touch me, I'm- It makes me uncomfortable." he seethed through gritted teeth: holding the hoof she'd grazed to his chest. His hoof jerked back. Held to his chest like it'd been burned. She pursed her lips, and nodded: taking a sharp, stuttering breath as she rested her head against her chest for reassurance. "Okay," she managed, raising her gaze back up to meet Light's wary eyes, though a few tears slipped out for the trouble. She grit her teeth, and nodded again. "...Ah won't touch you again 'less you give me the go-ahead." She was used to this. He'd been a lot like that when they'd first met. It was alright; she'd just start from scratch. At that, a small, little smile grew over Light's grey, stormy face. She met it gladly: eyes still glimmering, and began to scoot backwards off the table. Was crazy a' her to clamber up onto it in the first place; she wasn't a filly no more- "Woah, what kinda party are you having over here, Applejack?" ...But before she could fully get off the table, she was stalled by a loud, raspy, boisterous voice coming in on her right. A voice she was never happy to hear, and one that usually spelled out some kind of imminent disaster. Applejack set her jaw, pasted on a frown, turned her head- and sure enough, it was exactly who she'd thought it was. Saunterin' up to the table like she owned it: a cup of non-alcoholic punch in her hoof and a cocksure grin on her blue face. Eyesore mess of a mane swept up over her shoulder- and Applejack was once again struck by the doubt that its color was natural. "Rainbow Dash." came a dual set of groans, and then both ponies who'd made them turned to look at each other in surprise. As Applejack had set her jaw and begrudgingly greeted the varmint, so too had Light sagged his shoulders and acquiesced to her presence. "Y'all remember Rainbow Dash?!" She couldn't help herself from leaning over the table and shouting accusingly at the brown unicorn, whose reddish mane shook wildly as he stuttered denials. Well wasn't this a mighty fine how-do-you-do. Wouldn't remember his best friend but he'd remember the apple-filchin' varmint they both agreed was a pest! What'd she ever done 'cept stuck by him his whole life!? Rainbow Dash, the forgotten third party, stared between the farmer glaring venomously and the nerd trying desperately to shrink into the floor. She frowned, and seeing no other option: clambered up onto the table between them. "Whaddya mean 'remember her?!" she shouted down at them, as both ponies stared up at her in half-shock and half exasperation: both of them leaning away from the table and her hooves on it. Dash smiled brashly at the attention as she'd grasped it, and raised her mug of watered-down juice to the air: grinning victoriously. "Who could ever forget the most awesome pony in Equestria!" she crowed: flapping her wings and shaking out her mane in a daring show of her stunning looks. She hoped the rest of the room was watching. But then, nopony cheered, and then, Applejack cleared her throat. Dash, feeling absolutely no eyes on her, frowned, and turned to look down at Applejack's face attached to a huge eyebrow. Woah... "Applejack, hey dude, what's up with your face?" she questioned: leaning and peering down at the farmer's white freckles, which for once seemed to be kind of... grey? Her expression immediately took a one-eighty, and she quickly set to rubbing both hooves furiously over her own face, but Dash had seen. Ooooh- she was hiding something! "Have you been crying?" She gasped, and leaned back in awe as Applejack, still rubbing her face, shook her head violently no. But that was a huge lie, and Rainbow knew it. "No, you totally have!" she cried, flapping once into the air, and hovering down around Applejack's head to try to leer closer. "Your cheeks are all, like, matted and stuff! And your nose is all runny and gloopy, and your eyes are all red, and your-" "Okay, miss observant!" Applejack yelled suddenly: throwing her hooves off her face as it had apparently become very clear there was no hiding from the Dash. Her cheeks- matted fur- bunched red with anger as she scowled up at the airborne pegasus still holding her cup. "I been cryin'; y'all happy now?!" Rainbow Dash, the most thoughtful pony in Equestria, frowned thoughtfully. "Why would I be happy that you've been crying?" She scoffed, and rolled her eyes: looking down at Applejack doubtfully. "What do I look like- an evil monster and the best flier in Equestria?" Applejack, who wasn't nearly as thoughtful as Rainbow 'thoughtful' Dash, continued to frown angrily at her: poking a hoof up at her face- but she couldn't reach. Couldn't hit her if she tried, anyway. "I think you got a big mouth! So don't you be goin' 'round spreadin' the word, you hear me!" she threatened. Rainbow gasped: genuinely offended at the implication. She curled herself up in an affront in the air: cradling her mug and its precious contents to her chest. "Woah, come on Applejack, I'm not a snitch!" she cried out, in absolute shock that anypony would ever even think that about her. Did anypony think that about her? Had ponies been talking? Who'd been spreading that around?! She had to go stop this rumor before it became a fact. She leaned back on the air, taking a cursory glance around the room to see if anypony was mouthing her name. "You know what, Applejack- I've gotta go." She glanced back at the farmpony, who was now predictably confused. Figured: it was hard to keep up with her in pretty much every way. She was just too fast. Rainbow shook her head, and flashed her most awesome, most dazzling smile to set Applejack's mind at ease. "But don't worry, your secret's safe with me!" With that, Rainbow 'confidence' Dash tucked away her latest confidence and leaned back: spinning in a tight half-roll to right herself and fly back towards the room. She already had an idea of who'd go around talking about her like that... Damn that Thunderlane and damn herself for choosing the biggest gossip on the weather team as a drinking buddy! As Applejack watched Rainbow Dash fly over the heads of every pony in the room before ducking down into the crowd, she found herself thanking whatever lucky star was hers that their paths only crossed once or twice a week. Aside wherever she must've laid low when she wasn't making trouble, she only had to deal with Dash on actual business every so often. The weather team had Sweet Apple Acres and its weather needs on file, thank Her Highness, but Rainbow Dash was a surprisingly dedicated captain. 'Parently kept a real close eye on scheduling conflicts, and brought 'em straight to her when anything affected the farm. She appreciated that kinda ethic. She didn't appreciate the 'apple sale' sign she'd stuck to her flank last time the calendar called for sun on watering day. "Did you notice?" Applejack blinked, and turned to Light. His face was... focused, in a way that usually meant he was thinking real hard about something, and his eyes were zeroed in right in the direction that Dash had flown off to. She stared at him for a second, turning her eyes and tilting her head to try to see whatever he was seeing off in the crowd, but there wasn't much except some ponies who plain didn't know how to dance. "Notice what?" she questioned, frowning as she turned back to Light: still staring intently with narrowed eyes. "How Dash just ran off all'a sudden? Er- flew off." Not that she was complaining. Really, she'd be more like to cheer seein' that multicolored tail vamoose. But then, Light shook his head. "No..." he murmured: his voice deep with thought, but still weirdly airy. "The entire time she was here, and even when she flew away... she never spilled her drink." Wha- Applejack peered down at the table. The spotless, no- hoofmarked table that, aside the prints of two different ponies, was spotless. She braced herself with one hoof, and leaned down off her stool to inspect the floor. Slightly dusty, but otherwise no stains or drips anywhere. She leaned back up, and furrowed her brow as tried to think through everything that had just happened. Four hooves climbing messily onto the table. She'd passed the mug off to hold on her wingtip, then passed it back to her hoof in an unbroken, fluid motion. She'd leaped into the air, but kept her mug even. Constantly flapping, and even leaning her entire body down at an angle to look at Applejack, but her drink stayed aloft and completely still in her hoof. She'd rolled easily in the air: entirely upside down for a fraction of a second, but... Dash had let go of her drink before she'd begun the turn- spinning in the air like she was lying in bed- then caught it in her hoof as she came right-side up again. And she'd done it so quickly, so easily, that Applejack hadn't given even a single thought to all she'd done: watching the entire time. Her punch had never spilled. Applejack sighed: placing her hooves across each other on the table, and leaning heavily into them. "That mare..." she muttered, shaking her head, and looking back up to where she'd flown off. "All the talent in the world, an' she still can't stop actin' like a filly." Light, across the table, nodded. "She could be truly great, if given the chance." Applejack leaned off her hooves: narrowing her eyes at her friend, still staring firmly into the distance, whose focused eyes were growing... darker. "I might only wonder where she'll be in a year's time..." He sounded... different. "Light?" she eased: peeking around at his face with concern. With only the call of his name, Light jerked like something had stung him, and though she immediately felt her concern jump as she leaned up onto the table towards him, he was already looking her way with normal, brown eyes again. "W-What?" he mumbled alarmedly, but it was gone. The... thing she'd seen in his eyes was gone. Something... wrong. Something dark. Something not Light. His eyes... weren't blue. They never had been. She was losing it. Applejack shook her head, staring down at the table and feeling how her tight chest slowly began to relax. "Nothing... It was nothing, sorry. I was 'jes-" she stopped mid-word, and looked back up to Light. His nervous, brown eyes stared back at her: the curiosity and fear within clear as day. She chewed on her lip for a moment before she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and cleared her throat. When she opened her eyes again, they were filled with a gentle ease. "-I was just wonderin'... what else y'all remember 'bout... Rainbow Dash." She didn't want to talk about Dash even a little bit, but... he clearly remembered her, and talking about what he did remember might help him realize what he didn't. At her suggestion, Light's face screwed up into a scrunched mess of confusion and reservation. "I'm- I'm not sure I really..." he began with a nervous lean away, but just as Applejack was opening her mouth to reassure him, he stopped. His mouth gaped slightly open as he stared blankly over her shoulder for a moment, and though she narrowed her eyes and leaned to check, there was nothing there except the wall a ways away. She turned back to him and... his eyes were clear. His mouth was closed, and he was staring at her with open, genuine honesty. "Okay," he said, and he'd said it normally. Not mumbled or muttered or stuttered, and for a moment of stunned silence, Applejack wasn't sure if she was still talking to the same pony. But then, he cleared his throat, glanced down at his still hooves on the table, and began to speak. "There still isn't much I remember, and most of the things I do remember tend to just... bubble up. One moment of nothing, then the next there's something there. Rainbow Dash was like that." He shrugged his shoulders: something about the casual moment seeming strange coming from him. "Spike and I were just coming back from the farm- your farm, wasn't it?" he suddenly tilted his head and asked her, and she only had a moment to nod before he was nodding too: smacking his lips. "Yeah, we were coming back from your farm when I asked Spike where we should be going next, and he said we were supposed to go find a pony named Rainbow Dash." He took a short breath, and hung his head: a clearly frustrated expression on his face. "That was all it took to remember her, and then I kind of wished I hadn't." he scoffed: rolling his eyes, and supporting his cheek on a hoof. "Things keep coming and going, but some other things keep sticking, and now all I can remember about Rainbow Dash and her freaky schema is how mad she makes me." The aggravated tone, and that stark outlook, it was- it was so close. Applejack found herself smiling, as she had the last time Dash had come up between them. "Yeah... y'can say that again," she cracked, and as Light regarded her for a long second, he smiled. His hoof came off his cheek, and his eyes focused more entirely on her from where they'd been roaming. "Yeah? Does she annoy you as well?" The way he was speaking was gradually losing its edge- its wear of fright and vulnerability, and as the mood around them lightened, Applejack found the smile on her face becoming... less forced. She blew out a breezy breath, and shook her head. "Y'don't even know the half of it." She narrowed her eyes, and leaned in as her smile became more daring; Light leaned in closer as well: clearly interested. "Can't even count the times I found her trespassing' on mah property, an' this one time- think it was about a year ago- I found her sleepin' up in one'a my trees like I keep tellin' her not to." She snorted out a quick chuckle. "Reckon' I might not even be able to tell this right- So, I find the varmint nestin' up in a tree like some kinda bird, and what do I decide to do? Well, I turn 'round, and I jes' give the tree a good hard buck s' what I do." Light's eyebrows jumped as his smile grew wider, and Applejack nodded. "It was like rainin' pegasi. There's a big shakin' up in the branches, and a couple 'a huge bangs, and Dash just comes crashin' down onto the ground from up above, headfirst!" Light was already laughing, holding his head and leaning onto the table, but the story wasn't done yet. She waved her hoof: catching his wavering attention as he struggled not to fall off the chair. "An, an- you'll never guess it- when I walked over to her lazy butt to kick her up an' to see if she was still breathin', she wasn't just breathing, she was still sleeping!" And then, Light did fall out of his chair. Went ahead and started rolling around on the ground like a little colt with his hooves grabbing at anything he could reach. Applejack leaned up over the table, and shouted down at him with a painfully wide smile on her face. "Can y'all believe that? She's lyin' there, covered in sticks and leaves with her hooves all around her after knockin' her head all around, takin' the biggest fall I swear I ever seen, and she's still snoring!" Applejack leaned back, a proud look on her flushed face as Light curled up onto the floor, clutching his stomach and howling laughter like it was the best thing he'd ever heard. Made sense. Some things could only change so much, and Light always loved hearing stories about ponies getting hurt. 'Specially if that pony was Rainbow Dash. ...He'd sure liked it the first time she'd told it to him, alright. Applejack, smiling, leaned over the side of the table as Light's laughs started to peter out, and she caught one teary eye open and staring back at her. "Y'all had yer fill, or should I start tellin' 'bout the time Dash thought 'paint drying' meant 'paint dried?'" Funny story 'bout a barn, a barrel, and a spelling mistake, but she left that part out tellin' it. Light, only barely managing the motion through wheezing out coughing laughter, violently shook his head as he braced himself up onto his stool. "No... No- please- I've- I've had enough." he gasped, laying his hooves against the edge of the table: staring down into his lap as he took deep, panting breaths. Eyup. He wasn't much to look it, but Light had a real appetite for jokes an' such. Usually he really only liked bad jokes and stories about- again- ponies getting hurt, but when he found something he liked- well, she'd found it. Applejack coughed into her hoof: Light's eye bouncing up to her as he seemed to finally find his breath. "So..." she drawled, smiling wolfishly, and perking her eyebrows at him. "...y'all remember me now, don'tcha? I mean- kinda hard to forget all the times we goofed 'round jus' like this." She tilted her head and rested it onto a hoof: waiting to see him nod, and tell her all about how his amnesia was all cured with the down-home proven remedy of laughter. Granny'd be proud. Except, as she stared expectantly, waiting with a smile to hear Light say the magic words that would make it all go away... ...his smile dipped slowly into a frown. He opened his mouth, and Applejack's brittle heart began to sink... "We're BACK!" The shout was sudden- loud to boot- and then every eye in the room was looking in the direction of the call and the loud 'slam' that accompanied it. She knew she'd looked, and she was sure- then proven Light had too. He was staring off into the crowd the same as her, and just like her, he probably wasn't seeing much of anything. 'Cept the crowd. 'Cause the thing about sitting at the edge of the room with the whole party aside them, was that kinda separated them from ponies coming in and out the door. "Y'all know what that's about?" she asked Light, and as he turned away from his stare, his face was just as lost as she felt. He shrugged: seemingly clueless. He usually was; not much change from his normal self, there. Applejack frowned. That voice had kinda been familiar, though... Wasn't that..? "Hiya!" And suddenly, there was Pinkie Pie. No better word for it- Applejack yelped in surprise as the pink pony that always knew how to be where she couldn't have been was suddenly at her side. She held a hoof to her racing heart as she struggled to re-find her balance after almost having fallen off the stool, and as she fixed the heart attack-inducing pony with a wide-eyed stare, Pinkie only grinned happily. "Pinkie! Y'all know I ain't got the heart 'fer yer random-as-heck surprises!" she cried: hoping that for once, that pony with the wild blue eyes and the impossibly fluffed pink mane would just listen! But Pinkie Pie, bouncing slightly yet still managing to put a hoof to her nose and giggle, seemed to hear her just as less as she always did. "What are you talking about, Applejack? Of course you have a heart! You're not the tinpony!" Pinkie patted her on the back twice, leaving Applejack staring blankly for answers that plain weren't there. Pinkie then turned to Light, who was staring widely at her with something like fear on his horrified face. "Hiya, Night-Light! How is it wherever you are?" She bounced on her hooves as she spoke, and that quick hop somehow ended with her standing right next to Light, and leaning on two hooves over the table in front of him. He shook his head rapidly, babbling some nonsense for a moment- though Applejack couldn't blame him- before his eye caught on something to his side, and he stared blankly after it for a long second. Applejack turned to look too, but there was nothing there. She turned back to Light- and his face was suddenly stony and focused on the still grinning, still tapping her hoof to some other beat, Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, why do you call me that?" he asked: his brows deepening with serious consideration. Huh. Pinkie Pie- whatever was going on in that mare's head- only tilted her head to the side, and hummed something that didn't mesh with the music in the background. "Hmmm... I dunno!" she chirped, leaning off the table and then forward to poke Light square in the nose. "Maybe because you're such a bright and warm pony!" Applejack snrk'd. She quickly covered her mouth with a hoof and tried to look nonchalant, but the damage was already done, and Light was glaring at her. Ah, well. Some things, y'can't change. She shook off the ironic moment, and turned to Pinkie Pie, who was... staring widely at her. "Um- hey, Pinkie," she stumbled, because when had she come back over here? She blinked, and those baby blues a hoof-length away blinked too. Applejack coughed. "Well- er- y'all know i'm just pleased as punch you're here, but-" "Applejack, you always say you're 'pleased as punch!' Why can't you be jazzed as jelly- or mirthful like marmalade?" The sudden interruption had Applejack stalling on the next word, and by the time she processed what was happening, Pinkie was frowning thoughtfully and staring up at the ceiling: knitting her brows together and muttering what sounded like sets of words. There was just no right way to talk to Pinkie Pie. Once again, Applejack shook her head, because what had she been saying? "Pinkie," she tried again, a little more forcefully, and Pinkie Pie's bright eyes looked her way again. "-Y'all were the one who made the ruckus at the door, ain'tcha?" At that, Pinkie nodded. Applejack stared at her, and Pinkie stared back. ... Pinkie gasped. "Oh, I forgot!" "There it is," Applejack mumbled: leaning on a hoof as Pinkie quickly turned, and began bouncing to the swelling crowd. Her voice floated out behind her, even with the thumping of some bass somewhere drowning most background noise out. "So, I know I should've been here to help Twilight meet everypony she has to meet tonight, but then I realized the party was missing somepony really important! And a party's no party if everypony's not invited!" By the time Applejack slid her eye from Light, who had his eyes firmly trained on Pinkie, the pony in question had already reached the edge of the crowd and disappeared into it: shouting over her shoulder the whole time. Only seconds later, she reappeared, dragging an unfamiliar pony behind her by a hoof. "So I raced on over to her house to get her here, and wouldn't you know it: she said she wanted to meet you two!" The pony, who she wasn't sure she remembered ever meeting before, was more or less flying through the air at the speeds Pinkie was approaching. By the time she came to a stop in front of her and Light- still grinning devil-may-care- the poor mare she'd ensnared had all four hooves off the ground. Heck, it'd been real impressive if she weren't a pegasus. Applejack looked the pony up and down as a set of slowly flapping wings gently carried the yellow mare to the ground- though, she sort of stumbled forward as her last leg unlatched from Pinkie Pie and came down faster than her wings. Long pink hair set in a nearly straight, wavy mane flew wildly as two sea-green eyes flew open in shock- or they might've already been wide with panic. Either way, Applejack shuffled quickly forward and threw a hoof to one of the mare's flailing limbs, just barely catching her before she fell flat on her face- not least of all 'cause her wings were lookin' more like cardboard than feathers. A squeak came from somewhere near the floor where the mare's head was, and Applejack frowned. Was that her? Sounded more like a mouse than a mare, but she'd heard worse. Well, no she hadn't, but she wasn't gonna tell the mare that. She heaved a grunt as she pulled the mare to her hooves as gently as she could, which was surprisingly difficult. Pegasi tended to be pretty light 'less they were huge, bulking monsters- crazy story, that was- but this mare was... well, it felt more like an earth pony was pullin' at her hoof, to be honest. She'd never felt a thing like it. Applejack blinked in honest confusion as the mare stumbled to a crouching position while still holding onto her hoof, and for a single second, their eyes met. One aqua eye nearly hidden behind a long drape of pink hair running down from her ear, and the other wide with- yeah, that was terror, alright. But then... those eyes closed, and the mare took a deep breath. A long, quiet breath, and she slowly tilted her head up until it was angled over her own. Then, in one motion: she let out the breath she'd held, tilted her head down to Applejack's, and opened her eyes. Aqua eyes that she could make a guess were usually more nervous than Light's, but then, they were filled with steely resolve. There was something... hypnotic 'bout that firm stare. "Uh... howdy?" Applejack managed through her intensely curious expression, trying to shake her hoof up and down in a greeting. "I'm..." She looked down at her hoof. That wasn't moving. As she tried to move it. "Applejack." She wasn't sure if she was still quite awake as she flicked her gaze back up to the mare with some kind of death-grip on her hoof, who had suddenly spoken in a very quiet, yet... incredibly strong voice. Not a waver nor a tremor. Like a mountain. She blinked. Couldn't do much else, really. "...Yeah, that's... me. How do y'all..?" She swallowed, and though she really felt like she should check over at Light, she found herself... unable to look away. From that... steely stare. Aqua eyes... Somethin'... hypnotic. "I'm sorry- I can't do it!" Suddenly, and just like that, the mare jerked away, and Applejack felt as though some... something had been torn from her. She placed a shaking hoof to her chest, over her heart, and leaned over the table as she took shakys breaths; the yellow pegasus mare flinching her whole body back, and throwing her head to the side in an awkward grimace as she backpedaled. But then- Pinkie Pie was there. The mare only got a single step back in a head-down retreat before her butt bumped into Pinkie's side, and then the much pinker pony had a hoof around her side and began to usher the suddenly shaking stranger forward. "It's okay, Fluttershy! Just go ahead and tell her, like we practiced!" The mare- Fluttershy- was shaking her head very fervently no. Her soft, terrified aqua eyes trained firmly on Applejack and pupils shrinking by every second Pinkie pushed her forward- but Applejack was somewhere else. Somewhere lost in a memory's memory, of something that had happened a long time ago. Fluttershy? ... ... ..! "You're Candy Voice!" ..? Applejack had opened her mouth, but it wasn't her that had spoken. All eyes turned to the pony that had apparently been forgotten, as he'd suddenly taken a precarious lean onto the table. His intense gaze was focused entirely on the oddly named Fluttershy, who herself was staring back at him with a strange look on her face, but all of that seemed a bit... ...had Light just remembered her? Or... hadn't he? Her friend shook his head, not taking his eyes off her, and pointed the one hoof not supporting him at the mare. "I remember you! It was- it was so long ago- we found you in the forest! You were crying over your mouse dying..." he pointed his hoof at himself. "-and I- I cheered you up!" Applejack's jaw dropped. Remembered Rainbow Dash. Seemed to remember Pinkie Pie. Remembered... somepony it'd taken even her a few minutes to remember. Didn't remember Applejack. Her head hit the table, hard, and she groaned out in a pain that was more in her heart than her head. "Is he gonna remember everythin' else except me?" she muttered, before taking a deep breath, and pushing herself back up. Fluttershy- the mare she also remembered now- was no longer being stronghooved or pushed forward by Pinkie Pie, and was now simply standing and mostly hiding her face behind her extremely long mane. Pinkie was just standing and smiling to her side, though that was an extra wide smile. "Wow! You see, Fluttershy? I told you they'd remember you!" Pinkie giggled and snorted once: throwing her hoof around the mass of hair's neck, and rubbing her face to it. "Light's like an elephant! He never forgets!" Applejack blinked tiredly, and turned to the brown unicorn with amnesia across the table, who unfortunately seemed too into staring creepily at Fluttershy to realize the irony. ...That seemed 'bout right. Half of a sliver of yellow face peeked out from pink hair, and as the quartered aqua eye was staring directly back at her, Applejack was struck suddenly by how... meek it was. It wasn't steely. It wasn't resolved. It wasn't even a bit hypnotic. Talk about a split personality.... or a splittin' headache. Where'd that mare with the iron hooves and the fiery eyes go? "U-Um... y-yeah, Pinkie..." murmured Fluttershy, as a smaller bit of her face peeked out. Her eyes- so strange- flicked restlessly around the room throughout the entire small movement, until they stopped first at Light, lingering for a long second, and then came to Applejack. They both stared at each other. Pinkie Pie clapped a hoof to Fluttershy's back, making the poor pegasus jump and yelp so pitifully that Applejack's heart clenched. "Come on, Fluttershy! Just tell her what you wanted to tell her!" Pinkie... wasn't much for the subtlety. Though Fluttershy pleadingly looked first at Pinkie's wide, grinning face, she wouldn't find anything except a flat wall of unflinching positivity there. She swallowed audibly, and turned haltingly back to Applejack. She took one step forward, away from Pinkie Pie- and that seemed a big step for her- and did her best to keep her constantly wavering gaze on Applejack. As she cowered. "Um- It- I'm- You already know I'm Fluttershy, but- -Um." She was remembering a bit more about that day she and Light had met Fluttershy, now. Applejack sighed, and turned her head to the side so she was looking at the wall and her ear was angled right towards Fluttershy. The mare was quiet. And shy- shier than anypony had any right to be. She didn't know her from Adam Apple or nothin', but that one short walk all'a those years ago had pretty much told Applejack exactly how to make Fluttershy comfortable. An orange filly with golden hair set in pigtails over each shoulder was walking alongside a slightly tall, very lanky yellow pegasus filly as they approached a bubble of white clouds high in the sky. The orange filly turned to look at the yellow pegasus at something she'd mumbled, and the pegasus had yelped as their eyes met, and hid her face into her long-ish pink mane. Don't make eye contact, for one. "I- I wanted to... ever since I was a foal.. I'd wanted to- um- well... ...I- I wanted to thank you... t-thank you... both." Applejack's ear perked, and she took a quick peek back around to the suddenly vocal Fluttershy, who had... seemingly found a second wind. She was still looking down at her hooves, but she'd mostly stopped shaking, and though her face was red like a tomato, her eyes had stopped flying about the place. She'd been a lot less shy as a filly. What had happened to her in the past... er, six- seven years? Applejack diverted her eyes again, though she felt a little silly talking to the wall. "If'n ya mean 'bout what Light an' I did way back when, don't you worry none 'bout it." She shifted slightly on her stool so her back was resting against the table. "Was just a matter of helpin' a cryin' filly lost in the woods: nothin' too special 'bout it." There was a moment of silence- besides the pounding party music- but then Fluttershy spoke again: her voice nearly... at a normal volume? "It... it was a long time ago, and it must not seem like- like much... But... when you walked me home and told me about what it was like living on a... a farm..." There was a pause, and Applejack had to fight herself to stop from looking. "...And, what you said about... passing on, and becoming... one with the natural flow of life... That everything... even when it dies... everything is still natural..." She couldn't stop herself from looking- just a little peek. Fluttershy was turned to Light: her eyes still very firmly on her hooves as she chewed relentlessly at her lip. But then, just as Applejack was turning away, she jerked her head suddenly up to stare directly at Light: a brilliant gleam to her expression. "If it wasn't for the things you said... back then, then I wouldn't... be here. I wouldn't have moved to Ponyville, or started- s-started taking care of animals. What you told me really..." Her face seemed to scrunch up: her cheeks reddening even more if such a thing was possible, and- if her eyes weren't playing tricks on her- a little line of something wet trailed down her cheek before she jerked her head back down again: her shoulders shaking slightly. "...really... inspired me." Applejack turned in her seat, to stare with wide eyes at the weeping mare, who for the past seven years hadn't ever even crossed her mind. ...Y'never really know 'bout the consequences of your actions. "Well, er- Fluttershy. That's- I gotta say, that-" she stumbled over her words for a moment, though she fell silent as she took to rubbing at the back of her neck: looking down at her seat with shame at her bumbling. Her hoof rubbed against the edge of her hat, and almost mindlessly, she let it travel up to rest on it instead as she blew out a deep breath. She looked back up to Fluttershy, and tried to let the feeling in her chest speak, instead. "That's... really touchin'," she admitted, and she couldn't deny her cheeks felt a little red. She glanced over to Light...and he was staring down at his lap: his face a sullen, dark shadow. She blinked: her brow furrowing in concern; though she turned back to Fluttershy a moment later. "I can't speak too much fer what... Light wants to say, but... knowin' that ah had such an effect on y'all... when ah didn't even remember y'all 'till just now... heck, makes me feel..." She swallowed heavily, and shook off the urge to look away: continuing to stare firmly at Fluttershy's hidden face. "...really terrible." There was no visible reaction from Fluttershy's mane of a face except that her body might've shuddered a bit more, but Pinkie Pie actually gaped at her. With... what might've been the first even slightly angry face she'd ever seen from the mare. Kinda gave her the shivers. But she wasn't done, and she shook her head energetically. "-That ain't all!" She glanced to Pinkie Pie, and relaxed slightly as her face lightened a bit. "...I mean, It makes me feel awful 'cause we never saw each other past that one day," Applejack ventured carefully, and like a lantern, Pinkie Pie's face lit up again. She sighed in relief: focusing her entire attention on Fluttershy again, and smiling slightly. "What do you say me, you and Light go out 'fer lunch sometime, an' you can talk all 'bout how you been since we last saw each other?" She glanced over to Light to make sure he was fine with that, and to see if he'd shaken himself out of his trance- but he was... gawking at her. His face blank and flushed, and his jaw moving soundlessly. Why? What had she said..? ..! Applejack slapped a hoof to her cheek as it grew very warm, and turned to shoot a burning stare into the wall. Light still didn't know much about her. He didn't know they went out to lunch all the time. As friends. With how much she'd thrown herself at him... and without him without fully knowin' just how many things they normally did together, as friends, an invitation to lunch might've sounded like... ...Did she just ask Light out on a date... with Fluttershy?! "Oh, Fluttershy, isn't this great!" The cheer came from Pinkie just as Applejack was thinking about leaping onto the table and jumping through the window, so when she looked back to the two mares sitting tableside, Pinkie had already thrown her hooves around Fluttershy and reared up to hug her to her chest. The mare- who she remembered was surprisingly strong- seemed a little more like a teddy bear as Pinkie swung her around in a crushing actual bear hug. Pink hair flying and hooves grasping for something to hold onto; her face was finally revealed, and it was pained. "You've been waiting so many years to finally see them again and then when you do they say they want to be your friend, and oh- it's just like how I always dreamed you must've been dreaming about this moment!" Pinkie slowed, finally, and though Fluttershy seemed dizzied and limp in her hold, Pinkie looked at Applejack with no less enthusiasm. Eyes sparkling and mouth chattering a mile a minute. "She'll be there, Applejack! I'll set up the time and the place and the reservations and the tables and the chairs and you guys are gonna have such a great time!" Fluttershy, only barely leaning up with her hooves trapped beneath Pinkie's, flicked her eyes nervously up to the pink mare's face. "Um- Pinkie Pie..!" she whispered, but then, Pinkie squeezed her to her chest again, and whatever she was about to say was lost in a wheeze. "It's okay, Fluttershy! Let your auntie Pinkie Pie take care of everything!" Applejack watched it all with no less fear than Fluttershy must've been feeling. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie gasped, and Fluttershy was relegated to being held by a hoof under her stomach- was Fluttershy really small or was Pinkie Pie even bigger than she'd thought- and the pink mare looked up to the ceiling as she put a hoof under her chin. Humming a loud tune that sounded... almost familiar. "Let's see, so Applejack's met Twilight, and Light's met Twilight..." Pinkie's back leg suddenly jerked, and then, like the ends of her body were being pulled, one of her ears perked up. Pinkie kept staring at the ceiling and shaking her head: tapping her hoof into the air as she seemed to check through an imaginary list. "Pinkie Pie's met Twilight, and Twilight's..." Her left eye- just her left eye- winked, and a incredibly loud growl rumbled out from her stomach. Pinkie nodded: smiling. "...upstairs meeting Rarity right now!" She gasped, and turned to slam her hoof into the table so suddenly that even Applejack jumped. "Do you ponies know if Rainbow Dash has met Twilight?!" Pinkie Pie... well, it was sort of a demand with how serious she sounded. As Applejack groaned in confusion and looked Light's way: Light, too, looked just as confused as she did. Glancing back and forth between her and Pinkie Pie, who was now staring burningly his way: he shrugged nervously. "Well... Rainbow Dash was on the Official Overseer's Checklist, and Spike said that Twilight had a copy, too, but I don't know if-" That was all she needed. She slammed her hoof to the table again: smiling brilliantly. "But there's no room for buts when friendship is at stake!" she cheered, and at that: she turned and ran away. She pushed herself forcefully into the crowd as several disgruntled pony shouts echoed through the room, and Applejack wondered whether anypony had been hurt yet. ...Pinkie was the only pony she knew who could run like that on just two hooves. There was actually one time she'd done the whole of the Running of the Leaves on just her back legs, which everypony she'd asked had agreed was impossible. ...Also, she was still holding Fluttershy. Not that it was any less important, but some things just had to come second. Applejack, shaking her head, turned back to lean onto the table. "That mare's got one speed, and that's breakneck," she groused. Light, who was still looking out into the crowd, only nodded: openly ogling the rest of the room. Suddenly, there was a loud, familiarly raspy shout from somewhere at the other end of the room. Applejack turned again to stare widely into the crowd, which a large part of had stopped dancing to also stare and to point at something... that seemed to be approaching... Pinkie Pie burst out of the crowd, now... carrying a whole pegasus under each arm. Applejack leaned back with a hoof on her hat, feeling like she should've whooped or hollered as Pinkie Pie ran up to the table: a large smile on one of the three faces there. Fluttershy, under Pinkie's left: still seemed too shocked to understand where she was or what was happening. She felt for the poor mare, she really did, but heck if she envied that kinda position. Rainbow Dash, under Pinkie's right: with a scary scowl over her face, and an empty mug clutched tightly in the only hoof not dragging along the air. ...She seemed to have spilled her drink quite a bit, if the big purple splotch on the fur of her face was any looker. Because Pinkie Pie was a ride just too wild for any sane pony. As Applejack left her mouth gaping in an attempt to say anything, Pinkie Pie giggled, and gave her and Light each a large smile. "We're gonna go see Twilight, now! See you later!" And then, Pinkie Pie turned again, and ran off into the crowd. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and all the energy in Equestria's bounds along with her. She and Light were left alone at the table, as the music and the noise of ponies partying trickled in. Though it still seemed... a mite quiet without that mare around. It always did. Was regular enough to wish she was somewhere else when she was there, but when she was actually gone, ponies tended to miss her. Hard not to; all eyes were usually on her, one way or another. "...touched by Chaos..!" Applejack turned and perked a curious ear and a frown towards Light: looking intently after where Pinkie had disappeared. "Pardon?" Cyan eyes. She blinked, and Light's sullen, brown eyes had tilted back to her again. "I just said that she was touched in the head, is all," he murmured, though his face seemed too reserved for the insult. Like he didn't really feel it. Applejack sighed, and tried to smile back at him. "Y'all don't gotta say that." Light shook his head and turned it to the side, but she leaned forward and tilted her own to catch his eye. "Ah know she can seem like the devil wearin' pink, but y'all know she only ever wants to make ponies laugh." She snorted, and Light's eye slowly slid towards her: a smile growing on his face. "Heck, there was a time she actually dressed up like a rodeo clown 'fer my birthday. Did a whole routine an' everything. Granny loved it." Light chuckled: her own laugh joining it. She nodded, smiling, and looked out into the recovering crowd affectionately. "Reckon the town'd be a much quieter place without her, and that'd be a much worse place to live." Light's laugh petered out, and he shook his head: smiling good-naturedly. But not... fondly. Applejack, though she still felt heartened by Pinkie's humor and cheer, couldn't help but frown. When she looked past the table, past the immediate and the loud: towards the unicorn with the quiet smile on his face and the blank eyes, she still felt... something was wrong. It was still wrong. It still wasn't Light. She bit her lip. "Light," she murmured, self-consciously rubbing her hooves together, and staring down at them. She didn't know if Light looked her way, but she kept speaking anyway. "I'm... I didn't mean to... invite y'all out like that without checkin' if it was alright first..." She flicked her eye up, to see Light staring her way with lidded eyes and a quiet frown on his face. She grimaced, and looked back down to her hooves. "I shoulda made sure it didn't... weird y'all out... it's not like- 'tain't anythin' big, or nothin'... I mean- we used to go out to lunch all the time, so..." She petered out. The memory of that old 'all the time' bringing something hot into her cheeks. "I was just tryin' to be nice, 's all..." she whispered, closing her eyes and trying- trying very hard not to cry again. It wasn't anything big. It was just lunch. Just like they did every other week. But not to him. He was all full'a the wrong ideas about the two of them. He still just... didn't know Applejack. "Hey..." She opened her eyes with a gasp at the soft call, and in a moment: turned up to see the steady brown hoof offered to her across the table. She blinked away something blurry as she turned then to Light, who... had a soft, warm look on his face. A sweet smile. Lidded, comfortable eyes. So unlike him... but almost... almost... She mouthed his name silently, and haltingly reached out to press her hoof against his, not entirely sure if what was happening was... happening. She met his eyes again. Soft. Warm. His voice... a whisper... "I would love to go to lunch with you, Applejack." She blinked rapidly, feeling with each one how something warm trickled down her face unbidden. "Y-You would?" she creaked out, trying to lean closer over the table towards him. He nodded slowly, spreading his smile into a shallow grin. "I will. And..." His eye drifted to the side, to the window for a long moment of staring, until he returned those tender eyes back to her: reaching his other hoof to hold hers on both sides. "...there's something I would really like to share with you..." he whispered, as the world seemed to grey around him. Was she awake? Was she dreaming? She'd... had dreams like this before... But... there were too many ponies here... and she hadn't ever had one'a those dreams... She nodded, transfixed, as Light leaned closer, and whispered softer. "There's just something else I have to do first." Her gaping mouth was already a frown- but she shook her head as he began to rise up. No. Don't leave her. Not without saying... "Will you wait for me?" he whispered, standing above her now: his hoof still holding hers tightly. She never wanted to let go. She didn't want him to go. But she nodded anyway. And his hoof let go of hers. He left, then. Quietly, and without another word. Trotting off into the crowd in... some direction; his eyes never once coming back to her. She was left a mess: gasping for shallow breath on the edge of the table, as she tried to remember where she was and what was happening. And then, a few minutes later, she began to stare out of the window. Her hooves crossed over themselves; frowning into the cold, lonely night. The full moon high in the sky, looking almost different from how she'd remembered it. The party around her still going strong. It'd be that way 'till the morning; ponies were supposed to stay up all night to celebrate the night before welcoming the sun back. Light used to love the tradition. Fifteen minutes later, the cracks started to show. In everything that had happened before her best friend with the strangely suave voice and the lidded eyes stood and walked away. There was something very, very wrong with how he'd left. How had she not seen it during? What... had gone through her mind? It was like she'd lost all sense. It was like... when he started talking... everything just turned sideways. Precisely one minute later, she remembered that Light's eyes were brown, and not blue. And then, she stood up.