"Umm, excuse me?" Creo and Rarity turned their heads to see Fluttershy, who standing beside both of the ponies.
"Fluttershy?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Oh, well, I hope I'm not bothering you, but..it's just that I have something for Creo, and I wanted to give it to him, if that's okay."
"You got me a present?" he asked, astonished.
Fluttershy softly blushed. "Oh, yes. I spent all morning and afternoon working on it, and I'd like you to see it, if that's okay."
"Sure it's okay! Let's see it!"
Fluttershy looked quite pleased as she opened up her saddlebag and took out a flower crown made from the daisies she had picked. "Here it is. I hope you like it, and I hope you're to allergic to daisies," she said with a hint of worry.
Creo was quite moved by this simple yet pally gift. "Oh, Fluttershy; this is so nice of you to do for me; and don't worry, I'm not allergic to any type of flower," he smiled. Fluttershy blushed and smiled back at him.
During this whole period of interaction between the two ponies, Rarity looked be getting more and more peeved that Fluttershy had interrupted her conversation with Creo, and was now at her most impatient.
"Would you like to try it on?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh, certainly!" Creo lowered his head for Fluttershy to place the crown on. However, just as she was about to, Rarity intervened.
"Oh, I'm quite sorry, Fluttershy," Rarity interjected as she put herself between Creo and Fluttershy. "But I was right in the midst of a very important conversation. So, if you don't mind?"
"Oh..well, I was really hoping to give Creo the gift I made for him."
"Well, I'm sure you can give it to him some other time. Besides, I was here first," Rarity replied, sounding more keen on having Fluttershy leave.
"But I've worked hard on this gift all day, and I wanted to see how it looks on Creo."
"Well, I've worked hard on my own gift for Creo yesterday and today! So that means I get to talk to Creo first!"
Creo was feeling uncomfortable from all this rude talk displayed by Rarity. Weren't she and Fluttershy supposed to be good friends?
It was at this point that Fluttershy felt like she should leave. But, she thought of Creo, and how important he was to her; she didn't want anything to get in her way of giving Creo his gift—not even Rarity. So, this was one time when she wasn't going to let her friends tell her what to do. "Well, I'm not leaving until Creo tries on his flower crown," Fluttershy replied, actually sounding a bit mad herself.
Rarity looked quite taken aback by Fluttershy's affront. "What?? How can you talk to me in such a manner??"
"Well, I can, and I did," she responded with much firmness, not backing down even a smidgen.
Rarity felt even more insulted than before. "You bite your tongue, Fluttershy!"
"No! You bite your tongue!"
"I will do nothing of the sort! if you think you can just come between me and Creo, you've got another ting coming!"
"Well, we'll just see about that!"
Both Rarity and Fluttershy were continuously altercating over who got to be with Creo right now, and it was getting more and more intense. Creo just could not believe what he was seeing and hearing. This isn't what he wanted at all when he met up with the girls. He was just trying to be friendly, like he always is, and now he felt somewhat responsible for the girls fighting, even though he didn't intentionally do anything at all. As Creo watched them quarrel, he knew it had to stop, so he was going to have to try and intervene, although he was not the best at confrontations.
"Now, girls, there is really no need to bicker over me. We're all friends here, after all, so I'm sure we can agree on some kind of compromise," Unfortunately, the girls paid no attention to Creo, for all they cared about right now was getting their own way. Creo felt helpless, with his feeble attempts unable to persuade Rarity and Fluttershy to cease their fighting.
Creo continued to think of what else he should do as the arguing continued. But then, he was suddenly drawn towards a voice coming from behind him.
"Hey there, Creo."
Creo turned around and saw Applejack standing behind him. "Oh, hello there, Applejack. I didn't realize you were here."
"Yeah, well, I'm here now!" she chuckled nervously, feeling foolish for saying that.
"Yes, well, as nice as it is to see you, I have a lot more on my mind at the moment, as you can plainly see," he stepped to the side and showed Applejack the two arguing equines.
"Whoa, nelly; what's goin' on here?"
"An incident that should never have occurred..." he responded with a sigh of grief.
Applejack looked concerned for Creo, as she didn't like to see him so dismayed. Now disregarding the feuding of her two friends, Applejack was focusing her attention on consoling the pony she cared for so much. "Ah may not know what's goin' on with those two, but ah can see it's upsettin' to yah."
"You got that right."
"Well, it just so happens that ah was already on my way tah meet yah, because ah wanted to see if yah wanted to go applebuckin' with me again today."
"You want me to do that with you again?"
"Well, there are still some more apple trees that need tah be harvested, and since ah know how much you enjoyed it before, ah thought you might like tah do it again. Plus, it would take yer mind off of yer troubles, and ah can see that's somethin' you need right now."
"Well..that's very kind of you to care about me, Applejack, but I really can't just leave—"
"Creo!" Creo turned and saw Twilight trotting towards him. "How pleased I am that I finally found you!"
"Oh, hi, Twilight. I'd really love to talk, but—"
"That's great!" she interrupted. "Because I just got this new book on local flora, and I thought it would be enthralling for the both of us to study it together," she said, sounding quite keen.
"That sounds like it would be great, Twilight, but I really—"
"Fantastic!" she interrupted again. "Let's head back to the library so can begin!" she began tugging on Creo's leg eagerly, with him feeling conflicted about what to do in this situation.
"Beg pardon, Twilight," Applejack interjected, which caused Twilight to stop. "But ah was just about tah take Creo to mah farm tah do some applebuckin', so ah'd think it'd be best for you to just strut along and let me and him get some real work done."
"What??" Twilight responded, taking umbrage of what Applejack said. "What do you mean 'real' work?"
"Well, ah'm sure studyin' and readin' books isn't as easy as it looks, but it's still no match for some real outdoor physical labor."
"I'll have you know that studying books takes a lot more effort than collecting some frivolous apples!"
"Ah don't know what that means, but I don't take kindly to it!"
"Well, I don't take kindly to the way you're speaking to me!"
"And the same goes fer me!" Applejack and Twilight had butted their heads up against each other's, both scowling at the other.
"Oh, no, not again," Creo said frantically as Twilight and Applejack began to argue just as Rarity and Fluttershy were doing. It was time for him to be the mediator again. "Please, girls, I beg of you: don't fight. No good can come from it."
"Well, ah'd be more than happy to not do any fightin' if Twilight would just back off!"
"Me fight?? This was all the cause of you!"
"Only because you wouldn't leave me and Creo alone!"
It seemed there was no stopping them now. The girls continuously blamed the other, going back-and-forth again and again. Creo felt dreadful for accidentally causing another feud between his friends. Why were they fighting over him? Did they really enjoy spending time with him that much? Creo mulled over these thoughts, but he just couldn't understand why something like this would happen. It didn't seem like things could get any worse for Creo now.