Rarity sat beside the bed and watched Pinkie twitch under the covers.
She'd been forced to enter the hospital room exceedingly slowly, for she knew if she woke Pinkie up, then Pinkie would feel the need to be "on". She was just like that. Even when she was in as much pain as the rest of them, she tried to put a smile on their faces...
Rarity knew what that was like, to feel the need to deflect. To find your worth in what you provided for others. Except Rarity had learned to be selfish, to be ambitious. Pinkie seemed perfectly content to be the way she always had been. But of course, Rarity wouldn't have been able to tell even if that wasn't true. Between the two of them, one of them was good at masking her emotions and it wasn't Rarity.
"Did you find who hurt Pinkie?"
Maud sat across from her, on the other side of Pinkie's bed. She'd placed Boulder on the table beside Pinkie's bed to watch over her. She looked, somehow, more emotionless than normal.
Rarity didn't answer. She knew who was responsible, of course. It was painfully obvious. But she didn't have any evidence. She also didn't want to expose the creature responsible, not when doing so would not only hurt them but their entire family as well, including ponies that Rarity knew and loved.
She stared at the covers, watching them slowly rise and fall with Pinkie's shallow breaths. She reminded herself of Stinging Nettles' body, under that wagon. If anypony had deserved such a fate, that mare had. She wasn't sure why, but tricking ponies into taking their own lives seemed so much worse somehow than taking those lives yourself.
But if the murderer had been mistaken, if they had targeted the wrong pony, just as Pinkie had been the mistaken target of the cyanide, then it would have been a different unicorn lying there in the road, with their skull cracked open like a walnut.
It could have very easily been Rarity.
Slowly, she stood and walked around Pinkie's bed.
"I'm guessing that's a no?" Maud asked, as Rarity exited the room.
She had to get out of here, out of this building which stank of bleach and death. Fresh air; that's what she needed. She paused though, at the possibility that it would make things worse. That the sweetness of the flowers planted just beyond the clinic's front entrance would only remind her of that dreadful scene.
Stinging Nettles had been killed just outside the gardens after all. Would Rarity ever be able to smell gardenias and tulips again without thinking about it? About the blood pooling at her hooves, about the smear of red on the bricks of the wall...
"Rarity? Are you alright?"
It was Applejack. She'd been the one to pull Rarity away from the scene, while everycreature was panicking or screaming. She'd been the one to report what had happened to Flash Sentry as well, while Rarity just sat and stared at nothing.
Now she was holding a mug of something. Cider. Fresh from a Sweet Apple Acres keg and heavily scented with cinnamon. Celestia knew where Applejack had gotten it, but that question was too far from Rarity's mind to be important at just the moment.
"Drink this, sugarcube."
Rarity felt a hoof on her shoulder, steadying her, and twisted to see that Apple Fritter had come up behind with a similar expression to Applejack.
Rarity had the insane urge to push the drink away and start screaming and flailing about. But she knew if she started, she might not be able to stop. So instead, she opened her muzzle and drank deeply, almost emptying the mug in one long, unladylike gulp. The coolness of the liquid dissipated the heat of her headache and the sting of the acid across her delicate palette got her blinking again.
"Applejack..." She said, staring at nothing in particular, as she lowered the mug.
"Yes, Rarity?"
"How do you make cider?"
Applejack laughed. "Rarity, you helped us make some, remember? When the Flim-Flam brothers first came to-"
"Yes, Applejack. But that was for a cider-making competition. Is that really how you make it when you aren't in a rush?"
"More or less. Course we cut the core out normally, just cause they make it a little more bitter."
Rarity nodded and took another sip of the cider.
"You'd barely notice if you weren't a cider maker of course, but it's the details that make the difference."
Rarity nodded again. The details. Ah.
"Apple Fritter?"
"Yes, Rarity?"
"Why is the core more bitter than the rest of the apple?"
"Oh, uh...is...is this some kinda metaphor? You know about what's inside of ponies or somethin'?"
Rarity shook her head.
"Well, the core is more bitter cause it's there to protect the seeds. And the seeds are more bitter on account you aren't supposed to eat them."
Rarity nodded slowly. "Yes, of course." Slowly she turned to face them. "I don't know much about cooking, certainly not as much as you two...let alone Pinkie. All the same, aren't you not supposed to eat apple seeds because they're...poisonous?"
Applejack and Apple Fritter shared a look and frowned in unison. "Well, yeah, but you'd have to eat so many for it make any difference..." Applejack began.
Rarity nodded. "But if you crushed enough apple seeds, like you crush apples for cider, you could make a solution which was just the poison, no?"
"Well, sure, but it'd take dozens, I don't know, maybe hundreds of seeds to do something like that!" Applejack answered.
Rarity nodded again. "But the poison that's in apple seeds...it's in other things, too, isn't it?"
Applejack nodded and began listing off all the different seeds and fruit stones which contained cyanide in them. Rarity stopped her with a raised hoof.
"Applejack...Apple Fritter...I know who the murderer is. But to catch them, we are going to have to do something...drastic."
The National Desserts Competition had been put on hiatus, which was enough to draw the attention of the Canterlot Times. And as soon as the Canterlot Times realized that one of the judges, who happened to be a member of the Elements of Harmony, had been poisoned, every paper in Equestria wanted to know what had happened, what was happening and what would happen at the competition. Rarity considered herself lucky that she'd had one day to investigate where the gardens weren't besieged by ponies with cameras and microphones.
Now Flash Sentry and the rest of the palace guard had been relegated to keeping the dozens of reporters from swamping the deserted gardens and harassing the contestants within, as well as providing security for Pinkie's room back at the hospital.
It was a crisp afternoon and Rarity had been forced to drink excessive amounts of coffee just to stay awake. She lamented how badly this murder investigation was going to throw her forward-fashion Fall line out of whack and comforted herself with the thought that, once this was all finally done, she could submit herself to the throes of completely irresponsible naps.
A single cloud hung in the sky over Canterlot as she gathered both contestants and judges in front of the statue of Tirek, Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow.
"I want to thank you all for coming. Rest assured, that after today, the competition will resume as normal. Although I suspect many of you may feel the need to drop out, somewhat lowering the number of entrants." Rarity said, before trying and failing to stop herself from yawning.
Sweetcream Scoops, Sugar Belle, Saffron Masala, Cinnamon Chai and Apple Fritter stood on the lawn, in the shadow of a topiary of Discord (he'd insisted on giving the trio of statues behind Rarity something "pretty" to look at after their installation in the garden). Zesty Gourmand and Mulia Mild stood to either side of the statue, watching Rarity with more suspicion than any of the contestants.
"I just wanted to apologize for how long it took me to solve this case." Rarity said. "The truth is, that I knew something was wrong the other day when I first visited this garden...I just wasn't sure what it was until this morning when I had a conversation to my good friend Applejack." Rarity yawned again, but this time was able to keep her mouth almost closed for the whole thing. "Where was I? Oh yes...I tried to warn Pinkie..." She stared at the ground glumly. "...she loves food so much. Perhaps even more than I love fashion." She gave a little laugh. "She told me something important before she was poisoned...she said that when you cook something, you put a piece of yourself in it. And when it's eaten, that piece you put there is gone forever..."
Slowly, she lifted her head. "She loved this contest. I rather suspect all the nonsense sniping at each other that the lot of you have come with will have somewhat ruined that love when she gets out of the hospital. But I also believe that her love of food will withstand this incident, for which you all should be glad. Rest assured that as merciful a ruler Twilight is, the punishment for killing a cult leader would pale in comparison to any of you being held responsible for dimming Pinkie's light." She cast a baleful gaze at Zesty. Then she cleared her throat. "We are going to walk together to each workstation and check all of your ingredients as we go. One of you-" Her speech was interrupted by third yawn. "-has a vial containing the cyanide used to poison Sweetcream Scoops' supply."
"Shouldn't I be exempt from this?" Sweetcream asked.
"Certainly not." Rarity took the pause in the conversation to sneak a fourth yawn in. "We are checking everyone's ingredients, and we are doing it in front of every creature involved in this competition so that there will be no opportunity to for any creature to hide anything."
"What about Gustav?" Mulia asked. "Where is he?"
"He's being interrogated by the guards as we speak." Rarity said.
"Does that mean he did it?" Cinnamon asked.
"Well, we'll have a chance to find out when we search his table, now that he's gone." Rarity said, already beginning to trot in the direction of the stalls.
"Rarity, if this is true..." Zesty shared a glance with Mulia. "Mulia and I should be allowed to leave. We are not contestants and since you are checking only the contestants' ingredients, there's no reason we should be forced to participate in this...charade!"
"If you wish to exit the garden, you are well within your rights to do so, Zesty. But rest assured there are unicorns by every exit to the garden and pegasi in the turrets overlooking it. Any creature who leaves without express permission from me, will be shackled and brought to the dungeons for further questioning." Rarity said, marching past her and ignoring the shocked faces of the participants behind her.
"You can't do that?"
"This is an outrage!"
Rarity glanced back at them and smiled, like she was about to unveil a new sundress. "Shall we begin with our dear griffon friend?"
They started with Gustav's creme brulé. Then they moved to Saffron's gulab jamun, rasgulla and toasted coconut ladoo, then Cinnamon's banoffee pie, then to Apple Fritter's fritters, then Sweetcream's double chocolate peanut butter mashmellow encrusted swirl with sea-salt twist.
And finally, to Sugar Belle's apple and almond pie.
There were the normal ingredients to be expected. Brown sugar, flour, apple crumble pie crust, eggs, sliced apples, honey, cinnamon, plus a little dish of crushed almonds and a large knife for slicing apples. Sugar Belle had actually completed a pie the previous day, which now sat on the edge of her table and going shamefully untasted.
There was also a little crystal bottle, barely bigger than the cinnamon shaker, containing a clear liquid. Rarity levitated it up off the table as soon as she saw it and cast a spell to sense for cyanide.
The vial glowed bright purple in response to her magic, before returning to its regular color.
"Zesty, would you do the honors of double checking the contents of this vial for us all?" Rarity asked as Sugar Belle watched in horror.
Zesty sighed but her horn buzzed with magic and the same effect was revealed.
"Well, that just about settles it, doesn't it?" Rarity asked, tucking the vial into a cushioned velvet pouch and then placing that into her saddlebag. "A vial of cyanide amongst Sugar Belle's ingredients."
"But I...I didn't..." Every creature turned to look at Sugar Belle, who was as equally aghast as them, and desperately trying to summon an explanation.
She looked between them all, their faces a mixture of disgust, confusion and fear. Then her eyes locked with Apple Fritter and a calm understanding came over her. She took a shaky step forward and everycreature shifted slightly to maintain their distance from her.
"Please, Rarity...I've never seen that vial before in my life." Sugar Belle said, in a low voice. "It's true, I-I lied about who I was...I hated Lullabye but...but I would never...please, Rarity..."
Rarity stepped closer and to the surprise of most of the attendants, wrapped both hooves around Sugar Belle's shoulders, pulling her into a hug. "It's alright, darling...I know you didn't do it."
"That's it!" Zesty glowered. "This sham of an investigation has gone on for long enough! The vial was in her ingredients! She was the only one of us connected to the mare that died! And she had the ingredients to create cyanide poison! Apples and almonds! If she didn't do it, who did?"
"Are you...certain about this, Rarity?" Saffron asked, puzzled.
"Oh, yes, I'm quite certain. But I didn't have the proof I needed until roughly half an hour ago." Rarity said. Then she turned to face the one cloud in the sky. "Oh, Mr. Le Grand? You can come down now!"
There was the flap of wings as the griffon descended, landing just beside the shocked Apple Fritter and meticulously adjusting his chef's hat.
"Gustav, be a dear and tell every creature here what I told you to do before I requested everyone meet me by the statue?"
Gustav cleared his throat. "You asked that I sit on the cloud that the pegasi procured for you and watch Madame Belle's stand with my 'eagle-eyed vision' until you signaled otherwise."
"And did you by any chance happen to spot anything while you were there?" Rarity asked.
Gustav opened his beak to reply, and a hoof slammed into him, throwing him into Saffron, Sweetcream and Cinnamon in one go. Then Apple Fritter grabbed Mulia around the neck with one hoof and grabbed the knife that Sugar Belle had used to chop apples with the other.
"Don't none of you move! Especially, you Rarity! I see you try to do any o' yer fancy magic I make what happened to Lullaby look sweet by comparison!" Apple Fritter snarled. Her accent was suddenly thicker, her voice heavier, her eyes screwed up in an expression of uncomprehending rage.
Sugar Belle stared at her in total shock and then at Rarity's nonplussed expression in even more shock.
"Apple Fritter, do you really think taking a hostage is going to improve your situation?" Rarity asked, as gently as she could. "There's nowhere to go."
"Says you. Maybe you lied about them guards being all over the place. Or maybe they'll zap me as soon as they see me with Miss Mild at knifepoint...either way I ain't about to stand trial for my crimes. I ain't waiting for you to reveal to my family I'm a murderer!"
Rarity sighed. "There isn't going to be a trial, Apple Fritter. Your experiences with the Order of Lunar Temple have affected your mind. Princess Twilight will understand that. If you let her, she can help you. You can become the pony that your family thinks you are...you just have to do the right thing."
Apple Fritter let out a little scream of frustration. "Damn you! Why couldn't ya keep yer muzzle out of other pony's business? Why couldn't ya jest leave well enough alone!"
"Apple Fritter, I-I don't understand," Sugar Belle looked between Apple Fritter and Rarity.
"Ah was part of the cult, you idiot! You were Mane Cook and I was White Apple. Not that you'd remember...you ran away and left me and my family to lay on the ground bubbling at the mouth from the cyanide Lullaby had us drink!" Apple Fritter cried, pressing the edge of the carving knife closer to Mulia's throat.
By this point, the shock and confusion had faded from everycreature save Sugar Belle and they were all standing again and forming a semi-circle around Apple Fritter.
"All you stay away! Ah'll kill 'er! Ah've killed before! Ah can do it again! None of you try to get any closer or else!" Apple Fritter shrieked, swinging the blade back and forth for emphasis.
"You survived the poison, just like Pinkie will." Rarity said calmly. "You were given a second chance at life, Apple Fritter, with a second family. Don't throw it away."
"You think I'm gonna listen to your honeyed words after you played the fool outta me! How did you figure it out anyhow!? How did you know?!" Apple Fritter demanded, continuing to back away from them all, but keeping her eyes on Rarity.
Rarity took a deep breath. "Hot sauce."
"What?!"
"You said you poured hot sauce on Sugar Belle's almonds. Sugar Belle is a talented chef. She would have noticed something so viscous, even if it wasn't brightly colored, as I suspect the majority of hot sauce is. Then I remembered something Pinkie said...about how your apple fritters tasted like they were store bought. Now why would you go to the trouble of coming to Canterlot and entering this competition if you had no intentions of actually baking? Why put yourself through all this trouble, entering a competition that would end being so cut-throat..." She cleared her throat. "If you'll pardon the expression. It was obvious that you didn't come to compete." Rarity stepped closer. "And then you told me about Sugar Belle's past. The Apple Family are honest...but they are also loyal. They would never rat out a member of the family to save themselves. So, I began to wonder what it was you were hiding, why you might have lied about what you put on Sugar Belle's almonds, and why you were so desperate to shift focus onto her."
She took another step forward and this time Apple Fritter noticed it.
"You stay away! Just keep back from me, or else!" She screamed, swinging the blade in her hoof wildly.
"And it occurred to me that perhaps Lullabye didn't come here looking for Sugar Belle. She came here looking for you, Apple Fritter. She hated that you survived her little game, and she knew you would be able to identify her, just like you were afraid that Sugar Belle was going to identify you. No creature will blame you for what you did to her, Apple Fritter. You are a sick pony. You are not well. Please...let me help you."
Apple Fritter glared back at her. Rarity's eyes met, momentarily with Mulia's. One good jerk of an elbow and she could probably incapacitate the wild Pony who'd tackled her. Not only were mules stronger than ponies, but Mulia was trained in all kinds of self-defense. Apple Fritter was just a crazed mare with a knife in her hoof, high on the adrenaline of desperation, but ultimately untrained in combat.
Rarity shook her head though. This had begun with violence, the most unspeakable kind of violence. The kind which a creature is tricked into performing on itself. It would end peacefully if it was the last thing she did.
"If you won't listen to me, please, listen to her." Rarity said, her eyes shifting to the hedge which Apple Fritter was backing into.
Apple Fritter's eyes opened wide, and she twisted to face the bush, pausing mid-stabbing motion when she saw Applejack stepping out from around the hedge.
"Apple Fritter." Applejack said, her eyes wet but her voice terribly firm. "I know you're scared right now. I know you're scared that we won't love you no more if you admit what you did and let the guards take you in. But that's not right. You're still part of our family. We're not gonna give up on you. Not unless you do. So, please put down the knife."
Apple Fritter's hoof trembled. Then she let go of Mulia and let go of the knife and plunged into Applejack's hooves, grabbing hold of her and shaking against her with great wracking sobs, shaking her head and screaming to the high heavens. Rarity quickly levitated Sugar Belle's knife back to its place on the table, giving it a good scrub with a nearby sponge while every creature save Sugar Belle fled before things got worse. Then she smiled at her weary face, warped in the reflection of the unstained blade.
There. Good as new.
Then she took a deep breath and blasted Sugar Belle's pie into another hemisphere with a well-placed charge of energy from her horn. She sighed as she stared at the blackened remains. It was sad day when any piece of art was destroyed, but Rarity was quite certain that this one was would have glowed just as brightly as the bottle in her saddlebag. And she had no intentions of leaving out a delicious looking poisonous pie for some well-meaning palace guard to take a bite out of.
Sugar Belle stared at where the pie had been and then turned to look in Apple Fritter's direction.
"I-I don't understand..." She said.
"I'll explain it all later." Rarity whispered. "But for right now, I think Apple Fritter needs your help. I'd understand if you were reluctant to lend it...all the same I think it would aid her immensely if somepony in the Apple Family with a...similar background...granted her a little perspective."
They were at Joe's. It was the only bakery still open by the time that they'd calmed Apple Fritter, then slowly walked her out of the garden and into the palace to relay her confession (plus Rarity had needed to find Spike and ask him for a very special favor). Sugar Belle had decided to stay back at the palace and to accompany Apple Fritter until she was in a more "stable" place mentally.
Luckily, Pinkie was already feeling better, and Applejack and Rarity thought it only right to take her mind off the past two days of nauseous hell, by bringing her their regular table at Joe's shop and piling a plate of donuts between them. Normally Rarity avoided such greasy confectionaries, but after a long day she was thankful for sustenance of any kind.
"But what was Gustav going to say?" Pinkie asked, after they'd related the whole story.
"He was going to reveal he'd witnessed Apple Fritter planting the vial in Sugar Belle's ingredients. Before I gathered everypony, I'd requested his help ascertaining the identity of the murderer. He became quite amenable when I promised him a position in the royal kitchen." Rarity said. "It was about time Twilight was introduced to the fineries of Marisian cuisine anyway..."
"Y'know you could have asked me to spy on Apple Fritter for ya, just like you could have told me you knew she was the one that was guilty." Applejack said, biting into an apple turnover, and having her irritation successfully abated by the delicious ooze within.
"Jacqueline, you are a master of the culinary arts, an intelligent buisinessmare, an expert rodeo pony and one of the bravest creatures I know. You are neither stealthy, nor particularly adept at keeping a secret." Rarity said. "I apologize for concealing so much from you for so long, but I knew you'd give the game away had I informed you sooner."
Just then the bell over the door tingled and Saffron Masala stepped inside, and, looking rather sheepish sat down beside Rarity. Rarity sighed. Every creature liked a good mystery. Even when they were soaked in tragedy and pain, ponies wanted to know how they ended, how the clues all fit together. It was a universal kind of pleasure, like strolling through a garden or eating a freshly baked pastry.
"Ooh! Ooh! Maud's got a question! Go on, Maud, ask them! Ask them!" Pinkie said, prodding her sister lightly with her hoof.
Maud, who'd insisted on coming with Pinkie from the clinic and who'd made it her job to sniff all of Pinkie's donuts before giving them to her to make sure they weren't poisoned as well, glanced at Pinkie and then at Rarity. "Actually, Boulder is the one with the question." She said, gesturing with her hoof to the rock on the table in front of her. "He wants to know why Apple Fritter put the poison on Sugar Belle's table to begin with?"
"Jacqueline, perhaps you'd care to explain it to them what I did to you?" Rarity asked.
Applejack snorted and took off her hat. "Rarity figured out something was amiss about Apple Fritter...we've already gone over that part. So, Twilight put her in contact with some friends of ours at the J. Edgar Hooves building and they showed her a file they had on Apple Fritter. Turned out she was one of the three survivors of the Order. She drank the poison Lullaby gave her and ended up in the hospital. It wasn't until after she got out, she met Goldie and became part of the family...of course, we always knew she had a rough past from the start. But we just never imagined it could be this bad..."
Pinkie nodded. "Then why did she poison me then? Because she was part of an evil cult?"
"No. She never meant to poison you, Pinkie." Applejack stopped herself. "Well, technically, yes, when she started out, she meant to poison you and Zesty and Mulia when you ate Sugar Belle's pie. That's why Sweetcream caught her sprinkling cyanide on Sugar Belle's almonds. She was tracing them with poison, so the three of you would get sick and Sugar Belle would be kicked out of the contest."
"But...why?" Saffron asked.
Applejack shook her head. "Apple Fritter's parents, although you could barely call them in my humble opinion, they decided they'd rather drink poison then look after her. And they wanted her to do likewise...she didn't think she deserved to have a lovin' family after that. She was afraid that Sugar Belle would recognize her as another member of the Order and when she did, everythin' about her past would come out and we'd all turn against her."
"That's terrible!" Pinkie said.
"Yeah, well, she thought the only way to make sure no pony would believe Sugar Belle was to frame her for poisoning somepony else. Then Sweetcream caught her, and she had to poison her to make sure she didn't tell Sugar Belle. Except you ate the ice cream before Sweetcream could taste-test it."
Pinkie paused for a moment. "That makes sense." Then she grabbed another donut.
She was stopped by her sister, before she could chow down though. Maud leaned over, gave the pink frosting two long whiffs, then exchanged a look with Boulder and before she'd even finished nodding Pinkie had already inhaled the treat.
"I feel so sorry for her..." Applejack said. "It's tough losing somepony. But losin' everypony all at once...I don't exactly blame her for what she did that mare Lullaby...or Stinging Nettles...whatever her name was."
"Ah, but it wasn't revenge, it was fear." Rarity said. "Apple Fritter was afraid Stinging Nettles would expose her, just as she was afraid of Sugar Belle. From the second I heard her obviously fake story in that deplorable little hotel room of hers, I knew something was wrong. So, I asked her to accompany me, to help with the case, so I could keep an eye on her. Then last night, while we were at the clinic, Applejack brought me some cider. It reminded me how my parents always warned me against eating the apple's seeds when I was a filly. So, I asked Applejack about the seeds, and she mentioned that one of the fruits which has cyanide in it besides apples...are almonds."
"Technically, only bitter almonds." Pinkie interjected between mouthfuls of fried bread.
"Yes, well, I'd assumed that Apple Fritter had tried to poison Sweetcream and I knew she'd killed Lullaby Solfège. But I had no idea what her original plan was until that moment. She'd put the cyanide on Sugar Belle's almonds because she'd known they would just taste like bitter almonds to the judges. That's when I told Applejack we needed to search everycreature's ingredients. I knew Apple Fritter would jump on the chance to frame Sugar Belle and put an end to the investigation once and for all."
"So...you lured her into revealing herself to Gustav?" Saffron surmised.
"Yes. I was afraid she might not take the bait at first." Rarity admitted. "But it was the only thing I could think of to get her to reveal herself. She'd been sneaking around, poisoning Sweetcream's ice cream and pushing carts down hills without anycreature noticing. I needed her in a wide-open area with an aerial observer...and I needed to be able to anticipate her next move."
"Speaking of Sweetcream, what is gonna become of her now? Or the rest of us for that matter?" Saffron asked.
Rarity smirked. "Well, let's see. Gustav just a new job, one that he'll probably be too involved in to continue in the competition, if I know anything about how little Twilight understands of cuisine. Apple Fritter is undergoing psychological counseling, Sugar Belle has lost all interest, and will probably just wants to go home...not that I think any of us can blame her. That just leaves you, Sweetcream and Cinnamon. If you three could just come to some arrangement, you would each get 500 bits."
"What do you mean? One thousand split three ways is not five hundred." Saffron said.
Pinkie smiled. "Good catch!"
"She means that the only reason Cinnamon Chai entered the competition was because she planned on givin' the winnings to you." Applejack with a disapproving glare in Saffron's direction.
Saffron blushed. "It...would be wrong to accept such generosity from her after everything that has happened."
The bell jingled again, and Rarity smirked, although only Pinkie seemed to notice.
"Well, why in tarnation not? For Pete's sake, two of my relatives were part of a cult and Pinkie Pie just survived being poisoned. Why can't you get together with somepony you love?" Applejack demanded.
Saffron lowered her gaze to the table. "Her mother refused me permission to marry her. I cannot force her to choose between the pony she loves and her family."
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Is that it? Y'know, my grandfather didn't approve of my dad. Now he's like a second father to us. Things change. Ponies change."
"Yeah, and even if they don't, her mother isn't the one marrying you." Pinkie said, barely able to contain the wild grin curling across her face.
"I understand your reluctance, darling." Rarity added. "But I'm sure if you talked through about this matter with Cinnamon Chai, the two of you could reach some manner of compromise."
"Or at the very least, closure." Maud said, despite having no context for the conversation and having never met Saffron until this moment. "When Boulder got jealous of me and Mud Briar the three of us went to counseling. Now we're as close as can be."
Saffron shook her head. "I will not drive her apart from her mother. It is better for us both that we go our separate ways and just find somepony new."
"But I don't want somepony new!"
Saffron turned, shocked to find Cinnamon standing right behind her, holding the missive that Rarity's little scaled helper had delivered to her half an hour ago, requesting Cinnamon come to Joe's shop on "royal business".
"I love you, Saffron." Cinnamon said, falling to her hind knees. "You're a beautiful mare, with a wonderful way around the kitchen. If my mum is the only thing coming between you and me getting married, I'd rather tell her to stuff it up a chimney then spend another night without you!" Cinnamon declared.
Saffron looked away. "No, Cinnamon...it will never work, please, I just..."
Cinnamon took Saffron's hoof and pulled her closer until they were muzzle to muzzle. "Tell me you don't love me, and I'll call the whole thing off."
Saffron stared into Cinnamon's eyes and then the two of them kissed in the grandiose and over-the-top way that only fiancés can.
"Well, that's just about the most foalish thing I've ever seen." Applejack said, before taking a bite of an apple turnover.
Rarity just smiled and leaned on one elbow, too exhausted to maintain proper posture. "Be nice, Jacqueline. It's young love...it's supposed to be foalish."
Pinkie took the opportunity to saddle up next to Rarity, allowing the unicorn to lean her perfectly combed head against her own aggressively frizzy mane. "Thanks again for everything." Pinkie whispered, in a voice that was sweeter than all the donuts in the shop.
Rarity was already snoring. But the warmth of the mare beside her and the warmth of the fried dough and powdered sugar digesting in her stomach were enough to bring a smile to her face.