Within moments of the sight of Applejack sprinting through the town like a pony Olympian, the four of her most valued friends privy to her run were converging on the local library. The general direction she seemed to be taking and the testimony of Derpy Hooves – who had passed AJ entering the library earlier – gave them some indication that the problem at hoof originated from the den of the town's resident bibliophile.
This knowledge was unhelpful to Rarity's now troubled condition. Seeing the pony she adored so obviously shaken up was one thing, and her immediate instinct was to give chase, find out what had troubled her and provide the consolation that only a marefriend could. The fact that AJ had already promised to speak to Twilight Sparkle in regards to her and Rarity's relationship only gave birth to wild speculation about what could have happened in said conversation – a scenario not helped in the slightest by the town's mailmare confirming that the cowpony had indeed visited the library. 'Something must have rubbed my dearest pony up the wrong way,' she thought with a feeling of unease brewing in her stomach. She daren't think of what that something could have been with the task she had assigned AJ fresh in the mind.
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were already on the scene by the time Fluttershy and Rarity had trotted through the town at their quickest pace. Dash was flying around the library, yanking at windows looking for an entrance, Pinkie energetically knocking at the heavy door of the oak tree and calling the name of the librarian. Not a reassuring sight for the fretting fashionista, knowing fine well that only catastrophic circumstances would force Twilight Sparkle into closing early.
“What's the matter here?” Fluttershy asked, more frightened than usual at the prospect of conflict between two of her companions.
Rainbow Dash responded first, groaning as she failed to pry open a first-floor window, “Jacks left here in a hurry and Twilight isn't answering. Something's up.”
“We've tried nearly everything!” Pinkie cried as she hammered at the door.
“Oh my. This isn't good...” Fluttershy murmured as she recoiled slightly. Rarity put a hoof around her companion in a vague attempt at reassurance.
“I'm sure if I get a good enough flight at it I could break the door into matchwood,” Dash deliberated as she floated to the ground, limbering up her forelegs as if ready to give the door a shoulder barge.
“The last thing I imagine Twilight would need is half the front of her home obliterated,” Rarity replied quietly but with enough force to make Rainbow certain of the seriousness behind her sardonic statement.
“What would you suggest then madame?”
“We could get Spike's key! Surely he'll have one!” interjected Pinkie Pie. Rarity greeted this idea with a firm shake of her head.
“He's otherwise engaged as far as I know. Something about helping Sweetie Belle and the girls with a school biology project.”
Dash couldn't resist the opportunity for a joke, “I'll bet he is. Something to do with anatomy, no doubt,” she snickered. Her laughter was only greeted with stony silence – and a stern glare from Rarity – which soon forced her into a hasty apology.
“What could the trouble be?” Fluttershy muttered with her eyes transfixed at the ground. A loud reply from behind caused her to squeak and flinch on the spot.
“I might be able to help you there.”
Everypony in the huddled group turned to face the source of the voice – none other than Roseluck the florist.
“What exactly do you mean by that?” Rainbow Dash asked with barely contained irritation.
“I mean,” Rose said as she moved closer, “I heard the commotion earlier. And it wasn't pretty, believe you me.”
“What are you waiting for then?” Pinkie exclaimed whilst pulling Rose into the small cluster, “Spill it!”
Rarity anxiously shuffled on her hooves. “I don't think we quite need to know all the details,” she said as shyly as the pegasus by her side.
“Sure we do! How we gonna get to the bottom of this if we don't know every detail? You see...” Pinkie queried whilst readying herself for another of her spur-of-the-moment songs. Rainbow Dash clasped her hoof over her partner's mouth before a single note could escape.
“Not the time or place, cupcake,” Dash near-whispered at the sight of a Pinkie Pie dejected at the denial of an opportunity to sing, “But I wanna hear what Roseluck has to say nonetheless.”
Rarity's voice grew a little terser as she addressed Rainbow once more, “I hardly think it will help matters any. Besides,” she turned her attentions to Rose, “how did you manage to overhear said confrontation?”
“I was coming to ask Twilight for her help in going into the Everfree to collect some of those rhododendrons you only get in there. Before I could knock and get in I heard a ruckus. Every word of it.”
“And you didn't think to leave and not butt into other ponies' private affairs?”
“What the hay are you getting so bent out of shape about?” Dash interrupted, taking umbrage at Rarity's increasingly confrontational tone.
“Is it not obvious?”
“You reckon this is about you and Applejack?” Pinkie asked, to which Rarity nodded.
“I already know it. You say you heard the conversation, Rose?”
“Mhm,” the florist replied, “And you're right, Rarity. Applejack came out and told Twilight. Twilight took it real hard – shouting at her, telling her she was selfish and the like. AJ never got a word in before running out.”
Rarity's legs buckled slightly as her worst fear was realised – that her fellow unicorn was disapproving of her liaisons with Applejack. All her complacency about how Twilight Sparkle would be accepting and happy was misplaced. The cold mist of uncertainty had well and truly descended on not only her thoughts of her and Applejack, but those of her and Twilight as well. Could she continue to interact with one of her best friends after what was surely such a harsh rejection that it caused Applejack to flee like a filly? Her brief silent meditation was halted by the comforting hoof of Fluttershy on her shoulder.
“I thought as much,” Rarity mumbled, holding back the urge to either scream profanity or collapse into a quivering ball of tears, “And I'm sorry for snapping a tad. I didn't want to face the possibility that is now most certainly a reality.”
“Aw, don't be sad Rarity,” Pinkie said with equal parts comfort and cheer, “You couldn't have known how Twilight would react. And you never know what caused the trouble. Maybe she was just having a bad day!”
“But I sent my dear in there alone like a lamb to the slaughter! I put her up to it – I should have at least tried to help her out.”
“You can't beat yourself up about it, Rare,” said Dash reassuringly, “The best thing to do is to try and make things right.”
'You can make things right. For Applejack, you can do anything.'
Her conscience was right. Here Rarity was, standing about feeling sorry for herself and listening to half-baked schemes at getting into the library for a confrontation (as much as she adored Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, they were hardly the Brains Trust) when the only pony in Ponyville who could possibly make the situation right again was herself. Shaking herself slightly in an attempt to free herself of those jitters that had struck on receipt of Rose's information she slowly walked to the door and rapped hard three times.
“Twilight, darling? It's me. What say you open up and you, me and the girls have a little heart-to-heart?”
Her sing-song tone seemed more forced than usual, but it must have done the trick nonetheless as the grand door creaked open with the aid of a violet haze. Everypony advanced on the threshold before a voice from inside halted them.
“Just you, Rarity.”
Snapping her head to look around in momentary fright at her friends, the reassuring smiles calmed her once more and Rarity stepped inside the Ponyville library to face Twilight Sparkle alone.
**********
Even though outside the town basked in glorious sunshine for the moment (a rain was scheduled to fall in the night), inside the library was an altogether different prospect. The larger of the library's windows had the curtains drawn, though the smaller ones that rarely let in much light still gave a slight view of the blue skies overhead. Nonetheless the large circular room gave off the vibe of an Edgar Allen Pony creation – candles dimly illuminating the grand space, shelves of books towering over the furnishings and inhabitants – which did little to alleviate the anxieties now firmly rooted in Rarity's mind.
“So,” came a voice from the shadows that caused Rarity to leap backwards in fright. She could just about make out the silhouette of Twilight Sparkle holding a glass filled to the brim with a deep burgundy liquid.
“How long?”
'Do it for Applejack.'
“I beg your pardon?” Rarity responded in a sweet tone.
“How long has the charade been going on?” Twilight asked before taking a deep gulp of her wine.
“I know nothing of charades, dear Twilight. If you are referring to the courtship between Applejack and I, however, it is just shy of a week since our first romantic encounter.”
Rarity's voice never cracked once. If she was to go down fighting for her love, if her friendship with Twilight Sparkle was to crumble this night, the least she could do was carry herself with her usual decorum. The terse silence was only broken by the ticking of clocks and the supping of mare-lot.
“And what possibly possessed you to romantically involve yourself with someone as alike to you as chalk is to cheese?”
Rarity advanced a little from the door towards the centre of the room.
“The same impulse that possesses you during your drunken fumbles with countless mares in nightclubs, I imagine.”
It seemed a low blow initially to Rarity, but it certainly provoked a reaction. After a moment Twilight set down her glass on the table next to her luxurious chair and stood up, ready to move towards the middle of the room.
“Those drunken fumbles aren't ones that will leave someone heartbroken and the fate of Equestria in danger,” Twilight stated, her voice peppered with slight hints of enmity.
“Oh, but they do leave someone heartbroken my friend.”
Twilight Sparkle was visibly flustered – she hadn't expected such a response.
“And I expect you know all about that, would you?” the librarian snapped back.
“I know about drinking, and I know about what it is to feel desperately alone. You neglect to remember our wild nights in Canterlot where we'd drunkenly set out together to find a conquest for the evening?”
Rarity moved ever closer to Twilight Sparkle.
“I acted that way because I needed the contact with somepony, no matter how fleeting and futile it was. In time I grew out of it after seeing what it was doing to me.”
“That is hardly the issue here!” Twilight exclaimed. She was most definitely on the defensive now.
“It is, my dear,” Rarity replied softly, “Not five days ago you were congratulating Fluttershy in regards to her relationship with Big Macintosh. Not two days ago you were embracing Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash for a similar development. You're the last of the lonely hearts. And I know how much that could hurt.”
“No you don't!” Twilight cried out.
“I do. Granted I'm lucky to have never befallen such a fate, but I know just how incredibly painful the loneliness can be.”
“But it wasn't supposed to be this way!” Twilight yelled, her voice now fraught with desperation. A breakthrough for Rarity!
“No?” she gently prodded.
“You bet it wasn't! It was all supposed to be so different from Canterlot. No longer the pony in the background while Moondancer or Amethyst Star stole the attention of any stallion who wandered by. Little bookworm Twilight – always the one shifted from the table so some jack-flank can stick his tongue in somepony's mouth, always the one without the date for the Derby Day Dance at school. Down here I could have been a somepony! Someone who draws everyone's attention for all the right reasons. Somepony who wasn't the third or fifth or seventh wheel for a damn change!”
“Twilight...”
“But no! Once again I'm the only pony left alone at night reading and stuffing my face with ice cream whilst my supposed best friends are all out cavorting and being loved up. The only way anypony will look at me with passion is if I'm half-wasted and up in their face acting like something I am not. It's not fair!”
“I know...”
“You don't! Why was I the last to know then? Why was Applejack so smug? Why?!” Twilight's voice near quivered with fury. Inside Rarity trembled at the sight of her friend so angry and upset but she had resolved to see this encounter to the end - an end where she'd be victorious. With a flash of her horn, she had lifted the wine glass from the table and unceremoniously splashed them in the face of the raging pony not five feet from her.
“I'm sorry it came to that, but you left me no choice.” Rarity calmly explained as Twilight unflinchingly stared at her with a potent combination of shock and wrath. She had to start talking, and fast.
“You are blinded by this notion that we are like those ponies you left behind when you moved here, or that you're just part of the scenery wherever you go. Nothing could be further from the truth. You are a somepony Twilight Sparkle. A somepony to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. And a somepony to me. You are one of my best friends – someone I'd fight a full-grown dragon to protect. Somepony I can confide in. Somepony as close to me as my own family.”
“I know Applejack may have come across as smug earlier, but you have to remember we're talking about one of the humblest ponies in the land. The pony you first properly met on arriving – who took you into her home and fed and watered you after a long journey. The pony whom you put your trust in when you let go of her hooves. If anything, she was eager to let the burden go and tell you. Do not take it as a slight that you were last to know – Fluttershy was just as in the dark as you were at the beginning of today. That was the way the cards were dealt.”
Rarity inhaled deeply and continued, Twilight's eyes still transfixed on her. “As for the lack of love, it is an unfortunate situation I shan't deny. If it were me that was in the same situation I would be turning my liver to foie gras. But everypony has their one pony whom they were made for. You shan't find them at the bottom of a bottle – no matter how much confidence Lady Liquor seems to bestow upon you – but you shall find them. A pony as wonderful and radiant as you deserves that at the very least, Twilight Sparkle.”
By the end of her spiel Rarity was but inches from Twilight – she tended to meander as she spoke at great length. Silence hung over the room as both ponies absorbed the confrontation. Rarity's mind worked like a steam engine as she tried to gauge her friend's reaction to no avail. Twilight Sparkle's face was stone-like, her expression completely unreadable. Rarity was a moment from tentatively pressing the issue (something she wished she did not have to do lest she receive another tongue-lashing) when a most extraordinary thing happened.
Twilight Sparkle began to cry.
At first it was a single tear down the cheek that Rarity attributed to her incessant staring, but seconds later Twilight broke down into floods of tears. These were not the crocodile tears of a filly caught stealing cookies from the cupboards, nor the almost insincere waterworks that Pinkie Pie could occasionally pull out of her locker in reaction to something sentimental. These were tears from the deepest depths of Twilight's soul. Every drop that fell was filled with genuine sadness and unfathomable levels of remorse. Rarity offered her forelegs to the bawling unicorn who gratefully accepted the hug by launching herself into her friend and burying her head in her shoulder.
“I'm so... so... sorry Rarity!” Twilight wailed into the soft fur, “I've been so selfish... and stupid!”
“There there, Twilight. It will be alright.”
“It won't!” the tearful unicorn lamented, “The girls... will all have heard. They'll hate me! I've ruined everything!”
Rarity pushed Twilight away slightly – still holding her friend close but looking deep into the sorrowful purple eyes across from her.
“Shall I have to pour another glass of wine?” Rarity asked, to which Twilight let out a sniffle that could be construed as a laugh.
“We're like a family. Not even Discord could pull us all apart in the grand scheme of things. If anyone will understand, it will be the girls.”
Twilight vainly attempted to wipe her eyes, “But... what about Applejack? I saw... the hurt I caused her. She'll never forgive me.”
“Darling, I know my dearest Applejack better than most ponies. She may be stubborn, but she is not bitter. Explain things to her as clearly as you have there. She will understand.”
“You reckon?”
“I know so. Though I'd give it a while before doing so. Even a pony as strong as AJ feels pain.”
Twilight once again nuzzled into her dear friend, leaning near to her ear. “Thank you, Rarity,” she whispered
“For what, Twi?”
“For knowing me and caring for me.”
Rarity held back a tear at this display of affection from Twilight, sighing contentedly.
**********
“After that the girls came in and we told them what had happened,” Twilight said, leaning across the breakfast table, “And they understood. Dash was a little more miffed about the whole thing. Then again that's what you'd expect. I still couldn't sleep though, and in the end I thought I'd get you here and try and make amends.”
Applejack sat across from Twilight Sparkle as stony-faced as she was when the unicorn began her tale. She tried to absorb everything, never interrupting even when Twilight started to tear up again at certain points. Her conscience chattered away all the while – one part of her mind constantly nagged at her to throw Twilight to the kerb, a piece of advice Applejack never intended to follow.
“Well?” Twilight asked tentatively after a moment's pause on finishing her story.
Applejack had known for a while what she wished to do to Twilight Sparkle.
“On yer hooves,” the cowpony said almost without emotion. Twilight looked visibly frightened as she rose from her seat and Applejack lifted herself from hers.
Applejack stared intently at the ground as she walked around the table, only looking up when she reached the unicorn. She could see pure fear in her eyes.
“Ya ready?” Applejack asked. Before Twilight could respond, Applejack had lunged for her.
Only to put her forelegs around her in a vice-like hug.
“Applejack... what're you doing?” said Twilight, struggling to breathe.
“It's what ah like ta call forgiveness, Twi.”
“Excuse me?” Twilight gasped. Applejack released her grip a little so as not to suffocate the pony in her grasp.
“Ah knew somethin' couldn't have been right for ya to react like that,” Applejack said, “And it takes a lotta courage to admit to yer faults. Ah know ah coulda been more delicate with the situation, and it tore me up to know ah coulda hurt ya. Like Rare says, ya'll are like family to me. You ain't no exception, Twilight Sparkle.”
“That bein' said,” AJ continued as Twilight returned the embrace, “Ah still got somethin' naggin' at the back of mah mind.”
“What do ya reckon about me and Rarity?”
Twilight tensed up a little and sighed. “I know that everything isn't always going to be rosy between you two. There'll probably be the occasional argument. That's the same with almost every relationship though.”
“'Cept maybe with Flutters and mah brother,” chuckled Applejack.
“True,” laughed Twilight, “But I know that you two are probably strong enough individually and together to work out any kinks.”
“So ya approve?”
“Yes, I do.”
Applejack once again gripped Twilight hard. It was the words she had needed to hear ever since she and Rarity agreed to embark on their path together.
“Ya'll have no idea how happy that makes me, Twi,” croaked AJ.
“I've a good idea,” Twilight responded with a knowing titter, that soon engulfed the two old friends in a fit of laughter.
“I guess I should probably head back for some sleep then,” said the librarian as the hilarity subsided. An idea struck Applejack at this point.
“Actually, Twi, could ya'll stay a little longer? Ah've some errands to run today and they're exactly the kinda errands ah could use yer help with. Ya can have the sofa for a nap now if ya so wish?”
“I'd like nothing more than to help my friend out today,” Twilight said with a smile, "After all, it's the very least I could do after all the trouble I put you through.
Applejack beamed back – 'Twilight's help will come in more than useful in mah preparations,' she thought.
**********
A knock at the door woke a disgruntled Rarity from her slumber. She had struggled to nod off a little in the sticky heat of the stormy evening and as such did not achieve her usual ten hours sleep on a Saturday morning. She so often needed them what with Sweetie Belle arriving for a visit at midday nearly every week.
She gazed at the clock – only ten in the morning. The drama queen grumbled all the way down the stairs as she forced herself into a dressing gown to answer the door. Derpy Hooves, the mailmare, stood there with a grin on her face and a letter in her grasp.
“I brought you a letter!” the grey pegasus cheerfully exclaimed.
“That's all well and good, dear, but why not post it under the door as normal?”
“Special delivery!”
Rarity was curious as she thanked Derpy and took the letter, watching as the mare floated off on her rounds. She looked at the envelope. On it was her name written in a familiar cursive script.
'What could Twilight possibly want at this time on a Saturday no less?'
She carefully opened the letter and scanned its' contents. As Rarity did so, all her exhaustion seemed to vanish in one fell swoop. Elation took its' place as she squealed more loudly than she would ever consider acceptable. The writing may have been Twilight Sparkle's, but the contents of the letter were most definitely not;
Rarity,
Old Town Hall Bridge. 7.30 tonight. Wear your finest.
Your Sugarcube.