The trio soon found themselves at the farm, where they could see Sarge laying on his back, head against the gate to the farm, seemingly asleep.
"Sarge." Church said as he walked past him.
"Blues, what are you doing here?" Sarge asked as he flipped his stetson hat up
"I thought you were against resting." Tex said hesitantly.
"I am against it."
"Then why were you sleeping?"
"I wasn't sleeping." Sarge replied as he looked at Tex with a grin. "I was waiting."
"For what?" Twilight asked.
"Anything." Sarge said as he pulled his hat back down and laid his front hooves on his stomach. "Better to be prepared for everything than to be prepared for nothing."
"Good to hear, is Applejack around?" Church asked impatiently.
"Depends, what do you need to see her for?"
"I want to talk to her."
"About what?"
"That's really none of your business."
"Blue, any business related to the Apples is Red business, and Red business is my business." Sarge said, tilting his head back to just barely make eye contact with Church. "Now, don't make me ask again."
"Church wants to beg for forgiveness and see if there is anything he can do around the farm to repay the Apples." Tex said loudly.
"Blue begging and working in one day? Never thought I'd see that little double whammy." Sarge chuckled, then motioned his head towards the farm. "She's in there."
"I would have never guessed." Church said sarcastically.
"That's because Blues are scientifically proven to have smaller minds and don't understand basic logic!" Sarge said, either not realizing Church wasn't serious, or not caring and just wanted to make fun of him. "How else do you explain Delta being green?"
"Green is half blue..."
"It's also half yellow, cancelling out the blue part due to yellow being half the constitution of the color orange, which is also equal part red!"
"So you're admitting yellow and orange are both a part of red?" Church asked with a brow, now only wanting to annoy Sarge. "I'll have to tell Grif of this."
"Not entirely red, but connected." Sarge admitted reluctantly.
"And green is closer to blue than yellow is to red."
"By saying that you're also saying yellow is as close to red as it is to blue, and do you really want Grif on your side? Because I don't want him on mine..."
"Grif really is a bit more on the orange side."
"Get out of my sight." Sarge growled, pointing at the farm.
"Gladly." Church said and began walking away.
"That was confusing..." Twilight said quietly as she trailed after Church with Tex. "Were they really like this before you came here?"
"Of course not." Tex sighed. "Their arguments have become far more intellectual and easier to understand since they got here."
"You aren't kidding, are you?" Twilight asked with a smile, and Tex replied with a simple shake of the head.
With a small laugh, Twilight and Tex caught up with Church as he walked up to the door. Twilight sped up ahead of him and knocked on the door. The door slowly opened, showing a curious Sigma with his head tilted to the side.
"Can you go get Applejack?" Church asked from behind Twilight.
"Very well." Sigma nodded reluctantly, feeling a strange sensation in his head for a reason unknown to him.
Applejack came to the door several seconds later, followed by Sigma, who watched the encounter silently.
"Heya, Twi." Applejack greeted while Sigma tried to place what was missing about Twilight. "Nice day, ain't it?"
"Beautiful." Twilight agreed with a relaxed tone.
To Church, Tex and Applejack, Twilight seemed like her regular self on the outside, but to him, something seemed off about her. She was neither glaring darts of contempt at him, nor was she gazing at Church longingly like he expected her to be doing. Instead, she was smiling at Sigma, and though it was a friendly smile, he felt extremely unnerved about it.
"What brings ya down here?" Applejack asked while Sigma tried to place what was missing about her.
"I just wanted to thank you." Church murmured as he stepped next to Twilight. "I'm sure the fragments frustrate you daily what with them being hard to get along with, myself included. I just wanted to know if there was, well, anything I could do to help you around."
"Ya wanna help?" Applejack inquired with a curious smirk. "No offense, but you're as thin as a twig, so ah don't think ya could do much on th' farmin' front. An' ah heard about how much trouble ya have with magic, so ah don't think usin' that would be of any help either."
"Shut it." Church muttered as Tex chuckled at him, then looked back to Applejack. "I still kind of feel like an asshole for just dumping them on you though, and you can't be happy about having two more of them on such short notice."
"They're quiet an' don't seem keen on causin' trouble."
"But they're not not a burden either..." Church insisted.
"Ya really want t' find a way t' help in some way, don't ya?"
"Yeah."
"Ah see." Applejack said, raising a brow at him. "Can ya cook or bake?"
"Probably not."
"Then ah guess that's outta th' question." Applejack nodded. "How 'bout kids? How good are ya with them?"
"Well, I-" Church started, memories about Junior popping into his mind. Junior was basically like a kid. Sort of. "Not at all."
"Then makin' sure th' girls stay out of trouble ain't the brightest of idea either." Applejack said, shaking her head when Church opened his mouth. "Church, ah told ya, it's alright. Ya don't need t' do anythin' for me. They're stayin' outta trouble, well, mostly anyways, and they keep t' themselves. As ya'll can see we have enough food here for both sellin' as well as eatin'. Heck, we could probably make a few houses outta the remainin' apples every year."
"That's nice of you." Tex said, feeling sad that she didn't get to watch Church break a sweat for once.
"S'what friends do for each other." Applejack smiled. "But, while you're here, why not stay for some grub? Don't got any plans, do ya?"
"I don't think we do." Church replied as he turned to Tex.
"I could eat."
"Twi?" Church asked, now looking at Twilight.
"I don't know." Twilight said slowly when she saw Sigma squinting at her. "I did want to get back to the library..."
"Why would you want to do that?" Sigma asked ominously. "You wouldn't want to offend Applejack, would you?"
"I guess not." Twilight said quietly.
"Glad t' hear it." Applejack beamed, trotting back inside. "Ah'll go tell Granny Smith we'll be havin' company over."
"You're lucky everyone here is nice, otherwise you would've had a hell of a debt to pay." Tex muttered.
"Tell me about it." Church said as he walked ahead. "Well, let's go."
"You guys go on. I want to talk to Sigma." Twilight said, almost with a whisper.
"Er, alright." Tex nodded as she walked inside with Church. "Did we miss something?"
"You're getting that feeling too?"
Once Tex and Church had entered, Sigma drifted towards her and closed the door behind him, then began walking around Twilight in an attempt to intimidate her. Even as a colt that was half the size of Twilight, he normally would have made her shiver, but she simply watched him walk around her.
"What do you wish to talk about?" Sigma asked, stopping between Twilight and the door when he realized he was not being successful.
"I'm telling Church." Twilight said simply and Sigma's eye twitched. "I just wanted you to know that."
"Why would you do that?" Sigma stuttered, beginning to tremble with a small amount of fury. "What about Church being free?"
"If I let you make Church turn himself into what you want, then he won't be free."
"W-what about love? Surely you want to-"
"That doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is friendship. That means I know how to do something you don't, and that is putting others before myself, even if it hurts me to do it. It's his life to live, not mine. I care about him far too much as a friend to ruin his life." Twilight said, eyes pained. "Now, if you don't mind, I have plans with my good friends and I don't want to keep them waiting."