//------------------------------//
// Getting Them All Together 
// Story: (SiC) Part 8 - They Will Know By Our Love 
// by Brian Jacko 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight Sparkle was in her library with the other girls. They were taking a break from playing games and were now reading the Bible. Today, they were reading the King James Version because Rarity had fallen in love with it. It seemed that each pony had a preference for what translation they preferred to read. Applejack liked the N.I.V., Pinkie Pie loved the Amplified version because the word Amplified was appealing enough to her on its own. Twilight Sparkle obviously loved the E.S.V., Fluttershy was submissive and read any version that the girls wanted to read, and Rainbow Dash preferred the E.S.V. version with Twilight because she felt that Twilight Sparkle knew what was the best. However, Rainbow Dash sometimes liked to pull pranks and bring out troll translations to make Twilight Sparkle angry. They would now all take turns reading their favorite translations on different days. 

Twilight Sparkle looked at her notes and then said, "It's the shortest verse in the Bible, girls. Jesus wept. Does anypony know why?"

"Oh! Oh! Oh! I know!" Pinkie Pie said as she frantically waved her front hoof around in the air.

"Go ahead, Pinkie Pie," Twilight said.

"It's because He was mourning for Lazarus!" 

"Some ponies may think that, but I have a different perspective. When Jesus wept, He was weeping for the lost ponies at Lazarus's funeral."

"How does that make any sense?" Applejack asked.

"Because Jesus had four days to mourn. He knew that this stallion was dead and He knew that He would raise this stallion back to life. I guess that it's easier to explain this all by asking a simple question. What is more sad and tragic? A pony who dies in the faith, or a lost pony who is destined for the gates of Hell, never being able to escape eternal torment? Even though they saw and were with the Messiah, they still refused to believe despite the many miracles that He had performed. Remember, Hell is the total absence of God."

"But you said that God is with us now here in Equestria, right?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"He is, but we are not in His full presence until we get to Heaven," Twilight answered.

Pinkie Pie put her front hoof to her chin. Her face spoke of deep concentration. "So how come when that mare with the bleeding problem touched His robe and was healed, yet He still asked who touched His robe? Wouldn't He know?"

"That's because when Jesus asked who touched Him, He already knew who it was, but He used the question as a device to point the mare out in a very large crowd surrounding Him." Twilight Sparkle smiled when she thought of an example and continued. "Think of it like this, Pinkie Pie. We're in a party with a group of ponies and you told me earlier that you wouldn't eat any of the cookies. When I go over to get a cookie, I notice they are all gone, but I see that you have cookie crumbs all over your face and that you are chewing. I might ask, well, gee. I wonder who ate the last cookie in this jar? I already know it was you, but I'm just using the question to bring you out. Does this make sense?"

"Yes, but did you really have to use me as the cookie thief?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Sorry, it was the only example I can think of," Twilight said.

"And a pretty accurate one too I reckon," Applejack said.

Pinkie Pie frowned at Applejack.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm just bein' honest!" Applejack said. 

"Now back on topic," Twilight said. "A fun fact is that back in those day, it was very holy for Jewish ponies to mourn at funerals and they hired professional mourners. Since it was a custom for Jews to mourn at funerals, there were MANY ponies there. Thousands witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead."

Pinkie Pie put her front hoof to her mouth in shock. Ponies pay me to throw parties and to cheer them up! How could ponies be professionals at mourning! That would seem like the total opposite of what I do. Crying and sadness can be contagious!"

"Mourning is very important and still is a holy and good thing to do, Pinkie Pie. There has to be times of sadness for loss. We can't always be throwing parties all of the time," Twilight said.

"Wow! Do you think that God will raise other ponies in this day and age back from the dead? Why did Jesus wait so long to raise him?" Pinkie asked.

"Sure! Miracles do happen. There are stories of ponies being pronounced dead and then coming back to life. It's very, very rare, but it does happen. Lazarus was dead for four days and was buried. It was to show that this stallion was truly dead and that there could be no other possible explanations except that Christ truly did raise him back to life from the dead."

Rainbow Dash bucked the door open and startled everypony inside. "Hey girls! Guess what?!" 

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shot back. "Please be more gentle and considerate! This is a library and ponies need peace and quiet!" 

Rainbow Dash ignored her friend because she was so excited. "Guess what!?"

"Shhhh!" Twilight said as she put her front hoof to her mouth. "What, Rainbow Dash?"

"All of your flanks are as big and heavy as tanks!"

Twilight Sparkle and her friends looked at their flanks. 

"My flanks are like flanks of steel, Rainbow Dash," Applejack said as she tapped her front hoof on her cutie mark. An actual hard sound could be heard as if she were tapping her hoof against steel. 

Twilight Sparkle poked at her flanks and they jiggled a bit. 

The rest of her friends did the same. 

"Oh my," Twilight said. She looked at her belly and gave it a poke. The results were not too pleasing. "It looks like we have been a bit too sedentary."

"And you all know what the Bible says about our bodies being temples of the Holy Spirit," Rainbow said. "We have to take care of our bodies and keep them in shape to be healthy."

"I guess that I could take a brisk walk every now and then," Twilight said. 

"And maybe I could cut back on the potato chips," Pinkie Pie said.

"I think I'm still upset about the loose skin after giving birth," Rarity said.

"Um, there's only one gym in Ponyville and whenever I walked past the gym and the doors opened, I was blasted with that terrible Wub-step music. It reminded me of what D.J. pon-3 plays and it would terrify my animal friends."

"Uh, I think it's called Dub-step," Rarity said. 

"Those wub-wubs sound terrible! It sounds like a mixture of sirens blaring and jammed toilets trying to flush," Fluttershy said.

"That sounds like a very odd description of Dub-step," Pinkie Pie said. "All I know is that I Iove Happy Hardcore music!"

"Shhhhhh!" Twlight said as she put her front hoof to her mouth again. She looked back and at the other ponies in the library that were trying to read. "Sorry," she whispered to them. 

Rainbow Dash came closer and sat down next to her friends. "I think I know just the trick."

"What do you have in mind, Rainbow?" Twilight asked. 

"Fluttershy had it right all along! We're going to the gym!" Rainbow Dash said. 

"I ain't need no gym!" Applejack said. "I got flanks of steel and I don't understand why ponies spend money to work out when they can work 'round the house or actually work hard at their jobs."

"Some ponies have sit down jobs, Applejack," Twilight said. "You obviously work your hooves off with the kind of labor you do."

"Dern tootin!" Applejack said. "Ya'll can just come to my farm and pay me to do my labor if ya'll want a good work out."

"Uh, Applejack," Twilight said. "Working on the farm is great exercise, but the machines at the gym make sure to work out every single muscle."

"That's blasphemy to us farm workers, Twi!" Applejack said. "Ain't nothin' better and more accurate when it comes to gettin' in shape from farm work."

"Sorry," Twilight responded. 

Rarity was really nervous about joining a gym. Even though she mostly recovered from her past rape incident, she still was a little bit nervous around stallions and the gym had some very strong stallions.

"So is everypony down?" Rainbow asked.

Pinkie Pie bounced up and down and said, "Oh! Oh! Oh! I want to go because they have bright lights in the gym and it makes my brain go, zip, zoom, kapow!" 

"Shhhh!" Twilight said again. Twilight poked at her belly once more and spoke in a much quieter voice now. "I think I have been adding one too many pews in this temple. It's time to renovate this place. I'll tell you what, since no pony has brought any cash, I can pay however much it costs and then you all can pay me back later for your fees."

Rainbow Dash looked at her three remaining friends. "And what about you girls?"

"Um, as long as they have those nice whirlpool thingies, then I guess I can join....as long as the music is not.....too loud."

"And you, Rarity?" Rainbow asked as she turned her attention to her. 

"I'm a bit nervous," Rarity admitted. "I know it's wrong of me to be afraid, but that whole rape incident has scared me a bit."

"Hey, don't be afraid. You're forgetting that you have me and Applejack to watch your back. It's not like you'll be going alone. You can't let your past incidents ruin your future plans by restricting yourself so much."

"That's true, I guess that I can trust you girls to protect me," Rarity said. "I wouldn't feel safe without Applejack."

"Ya can get all the protection you want from Rainbow Dash, I ain't budgin!" Applejack said. 

"I guess I'll pass then," Rarity said.

Rainbow Dash put her front hooves on her hips and looked at Applejack angrily. "Hey! If Rarity will only go if you will go Applejack, then you really should go. She's afraid and she only feels safe around you. Please, be selfless and go for her well being."

"It's ok," Rarity said. "I don't want to force Applejack into something that she doesn't want to do. Maybe I can find some other way to get into shape."

Rainbow Dash came over and put her two front hooves against Applejack's face and drew her near to her face. 

Applejack's faced was scrunched up and her lips were all scrunched up because Rainbow Dash was putting so much pressure on her cheeks.

"Listen, Applejack," Rainbow Dash said. "I know that you can be as stubborn as a mule sometimes, but Rarity really needs you to go to help her. She not only needs to get over her fears, but because she also needs to get back in shape. Don't become so stubborn like the time when Big Macintosh was injured and you thought that you could harvest all of the apples by yourself during Applebuck season."

Applejack swatted her front hoof at Rainbow Dash and knocked her back. "No! I ain't payin' a bunch of bits to do work when I can get paid to do work on the farm!" 

"It can't be that expensive," Rainbow Dash shot back. "I heard that they have some kind of special deal where the more ponies join in a group together, the better the discount will be."

Rarity sighed and said, "Hey Applejack, I can pay for you if you decide to come."

Applejack put her head down and sighed. "I still don't see the point in joinin' when I can work hard on the farm."

"Applejack," Twilight said. "There are additional benefits to joining the gym. The gym can improve your stamina and strength so that you can actually perform your work better on the farm. I'm sure that you can show up some of the stallions there with your muscles. Just look at yourself!"

Applejack flexed her front leg and a giant muscle popped up.

Twilight continued, "It would be a very selfless act if you went for the sake of Rarity. She even offered to pay for you. You are by far the physically strongest pony out of our group. I'm sure that you could impress all of the stallions with your raw strength and power. Maybe you can show them a thing or two about weight lifting. It could also be a really good social experience for all of us to go." Twilight Sparkle looked at her yellow Pegasus friend and asked, "Right, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy put her head down and let out a soft whimper. 

Feeling defeated now, Applejack closed her eyes and said, "Alright girls. I'll go."

"And you'll stay near me in case I don't feel safe? I heard that the gym can be crowded and noisy. I just have this intuition that it might remind me of my past," Rarity said.

"Yeah, I'll be yer body guard. I'm sorry that ya feel so afraid, sugar cube. I won't let anypony hurt ya." 

Rarity hugged Applejack and said, "Thank you. I know this is difficult for you to do, but it will be so much more fun if we go together as a group. You remind me of Samson in the Bible." 

"Ok, ok, ok, no need to thank me. I guess we can sign up now," the strong farm girl said. Applejack thought about Rarity's comment and said, "I guess I'd better not cut my mane, huh?"

The girls giggled at that thought.

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "Do you all want to know what Applejack has in common with the temple veil?" Pinkie Pie waited for an answer, but none was given. Pinkie Pie took out sunglasses and put them on her face. "They are both totally ripped!"

Twilight Sparkle face hoofed. 

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash said. "Where did you get those sunglasses?"

Pinkie Pie slid the sunglasses down on her nose so that her two eyes could be seen. "I borrowed them from you, Dashie! You own like two hundred pairs of them anyway."

"It figures," Rainbow said. "Don't touch my stuff without asking me."

"But sharing is caring, right?" Pinkie Pie asked. 

Rainbow Dash snatched the sunglasses from her and put them on her forehead. "It's not cool when you don't ask permission, especially when I kind of have a personal collection of these."

"Why do ya have a collection of sunglasses, Rainbow Dash? Do I need to be prayin' 'bout that?"

"Uh, it doesn't hurt to have a few pairs for backup in case they break. You know that the sun can get in your eyes, especially when you're clearing out the clouds." Rainbow Dash put her front hoof in the air to emphasize. "One does not simply own too many pairs of sunglasses when it's their job to clear the skies." 

"Or when it comes to thinkin' that ya gotta look so cool all of the time," Applejack added. "Whenever I see ya wearin' them, yer always on the ground anyway."

Rainbow sighed and said, "I guess that there are additional benefits to wearing them too, A.J." Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight and said, "Hey, Twi, do you think that you can send my sunglasses back to my house? I think that it might seem a little bit weird to work out at the gym while wearing them. I don't have a lock to lock them up in the lockers anyway."

"Knowing ya, I wouldn't put it past ya to wear them as ya work out anyway, R.D.," Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack with anger.

"Don't give me the stink eye like that! I'm just bein' honest!"

Twilight sparkle used her magic and levitated the sunglasses off of her head. "I'll just give this to Spike to hold onto for a while."

Rainbow Dash looked at the safe in the room and asked, "Can you lock them up in your safe, Twi? I don't want anything bad to happen to them."

Twilight Sparkle levitated the sunglasses over to Spike and said, "Spike will put them away for now. I think that you're getting way too attached to your possession of sunglasses, Rainbow Dash. They will be fine and you can pick them up later."

Rainbow sighed. "Ok, I guess you're right. I am kind of too attached to my sunglasses."

Pinkie Pie perked up and said, "Don't worry, Dashie. You'll always be about twenty percent cooler, even without your sunglasses, but Jesus will always be two hundred percent!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight Sparkle was the only one who figured it out and she had a smirk on her face.

"It means that Jesus is one hundred percent stallion and one hundred percent God," Pinkie Pie said.

"I can't argue with that," Rainbow Dash said. "Although I never really thought of it like that. That was quite clever of you to think like that, Pinkie Pie, but there is no percentage of a number to calculate how awesome Jesus is."

Spike held the sunglasses in his claws. "I can send these sunglasses back to your place," he said.

"Wow, that would mean a lot to me! Can you please put them on my kitchen table? Thanks."

Spike nodded his head yes and then focused hard on where he was going to send the sunglasses. "Come on Spike, you can do this," he said to himself. Spike used his magical fire dragon breath and sent the sunglasses away. "There! All better! They should be on your kitchen table when you get back home!"

Princess Celestia was sitting in her palace reading friendship letters with her sister when suddenly, a pair of sunglasses hit her in the head and startled her. 

The two Princesses stared at the sunglasses that were laying on the floor between them. 

"Wow. Those are quite...." Princess Luna paused for a moment as she thought of a word to describe the sunglasses. "Cool." She used her magic to levitate them onto her face. "How do I look, my sister?"

Princess Celestia teleported the sunglasses off of her sister's face and onto her own. "I think it's much more appropriate if I wear them being that I'm the one who deals with the sun. You're not going to go blind by staring at the moon."

"But we could have our reputations ruined if we were ever caught wearing them. Especially by royalty and the upper class at Canterlot. They would turn their snobby noses upwards and away from us with disgust. Who wears sunglasses anyway?"

Princess Celestia thought about this for a moment. "Rainbow Dash! These have to be for her, but why would they get sent here?"

"Maybe she wanted us to look cool for once," Princess Luna said as she teleported the sunglasses back on her own face. She then summoned a mirror and looked at herself. "Dark shades of sunglasses look perfect on the Princess of the night!"

Princess Celestia teleported the sunglasses back on her face. "These things are really easy to get attached to. I almost feel about...." The princess paused as she tried to think of a percentage. "About twenty percent cooler wearing these, if that makes any kind of sense."

Princess Luna took the sunglasses once more. "My dear sister, I think it would be sagacious if you let me hold onto these. You do remember that one time when you lost Twilight's letters by mistake and sent her an apology letter. We wouldn't want this..." Again Princess Luna thought of a proper word to use to describe the sunglasses...... "precious artifact to get lost or fall into the wrong hooves."

Princess Celestia took the sunglasses once more and said, "Age before beauty."

The two Princesses began arguing back and forth as they kept taking the sunglasses. They both used their magic to teleport them back on their faces and this caused the sunglasses to break apart. Each Princess ended up with half of the sunglasses on their faces.

The broken sunglasses quickly slid off of their faces and fell to the floor.

"Well, I guess that solves our problem. We both now have half a pair," Princess Celestia said.

A guard burst through the doors and said, "Is there a problem my Princesses? Do you need assistance with anything?"

The two Princess looked over at the guard with red cheeks that spoke of embarrassment. They were being rather immature, but in a fun, silly, and playful manner. Sometimes royalty has to have fun every once in a while.

Princess Celestia perked up in a more serious posture and used her magic to hide the broken sunglasses behind her back. "We were just discussing......matters. We apologize if we were being too loud. Please, we did not mean to concern you with our bantering."

The guardspony bowed and said, "If I may be of any assistance, I am always here." He turned and began to walk out of the room.

The two Princesses eyes followed him and when he closed the door they both began to giggle. 

Princess Celestia used her magic to mend the broken sunglasses together. "I think we should put these away for now. It's getting in the way of reading our letters." 

"How about you let me hold onto them for now?" Princess Luna asked.

Both Princesses stared into each other's eyes and then laughed. 

"How about I just put these on the little ledge above the fireplace for now? I'll put it directly in the middle right in-between us. We'll never get back to reading and responding to our letters if we keep fighting over these sunglasses," Princess Celestia said as she levitated the sunglasses over to the ledge.

"That works," Princess Luna said with a wink. 

The sun Princess placed them on the ledge and then went back to reading her letter. 

Princess Luna grinned and used her magic to slide the sunglasses just slightly over more to her side.

Princess Celestia looked up and noticed the slight difference in its location. "Oh, it is on!" 

Back at Twilight's library the ponies continued to talk. "Dashie is so cool even without her sunglasses, but Applejack has some real mean horse power behind her!" Pinkie Pie said. 

"Or more like pony power!" Applejack said. 

"Darn right!" Pinkie Pie said. She stuck her hoof out for Applejack. "Pound it sister!"

Applejack grinned and banged her front hoof against Pinkie Pie's hoof and sent her flying backwards. Pinkie Pie landed hard against a bookshelf and many books fell off of the shelf and piled up around her. 

Pinkie Pie sat there dazed for a bit. A single book fell off of the shelf and hit her in the head. "I uh, think we might need to go over some Bible verses about being gentle, Applejack." 

Rainbow Dash got up and waved her hoof in the air as to signify to follow her. "Come on girls. Let's go sign up at the gym now."

Twilight looked at Spike and asked, "Hey Spike, will you be ok to watch the library and clean up that mess?"

Spike saluted her and said, "Of course!" He then giggled and said, "Make sure to come back with flanks of steel like Applejack."

"That might take some time," Twilight said. 

Rainbow Dash opened and held the door as her friends stepped out. "Come on! Hurry up, Applejack. Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya." As Applejack walked by, Rainbow's curiosity got the better of her and she gave Applejack a hard slap on her flank as she walked out the door. Rainbow Dash pulled her hoof back rapidly and looked at it. "Wow! That almost hurt! Applejack really does have flanks like steel."

Applejack turned and asked, "What are ya even doin' touchin' my butt, Rainbow Dash? Yer not bein' a funny filly with me, are ya?"

Pinkie Pie bounced up and down and asked, "A funny filly!? Do you mean a silly filly? Because I'm a silly filly! I'm tons of fun, but hopefully when I lose weight, I also won't lose any of the tons of fun, if that can be weighed by any means." 

Applejack put her two front hooves to her head as if her brain was hurting from trying to comprehend how Pinkie Pie thinks. "Pinkie Pie, I can't even begin to understand how yer mind thinks, but I meant something else entirely different."

"It's just a jock thing, no harm intended," Rainbow said.

"I reckon that's a bit weird to me, maybe keep yer hooves on Soarin's flanks and not mine."

"Ok, sorry about that," Rainbow Dash said. "Let's get going."

The ponies left and began to make their way to the gym.