Growth

by Squinty Mudmane


8: Laying the foundation

“What a total jerkface! I can’t believe he talked to Pinkie like that! I mean, what kind of dad does that? Mine sure doesn’t!”

Marble only paid half an ear’s mind to Rainbow’s angry tirade as they walked. Even though it stung her a little every time the pegasus called her dad names, most of her attention was on Applejack walking next to her. Her cousin’s expression was gloomy and pensive, eyes focused on no particular spot a few feet in front of her.

“That old idiot deserves a good kick or ten to get some sense beaten into him! I know I’d love to give them to him!”

Luckily, Rainbow seemed perfectly capable of keeping her own conversation going without input from the other two. She flew ahead of them, then veered off to the right to deliver a mid-air kick to a tree—dislodging only a few sodden leaves—then landed on the ground to stomp forward angrily for a few steps before taking off again.

Marble edged a little closer to her cousin. “Applejack? You all right?” she asked in a low voice. Stupid question. Of course she’s not all right. Just look at her!

“Been better,” Applejack replied in little more than a mutter.

“—stupid hat down his throat and—”

“You, uh…” Marble glanced over at the ranting pegasus for a moment. “You wanna talk about it?”

Applejack raised her gaze to look at her, a wan smile on her lips. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine. Just old naggin’ thoughts.”

“Are you sure? Maybe talking about it will make you feel better. I really want to help you if I can, and I…” Shush! She already said it’s fine! Don’t make a fool of yourself again! “I’m good at listening,” she finished lamely.

“—pull that stick out of his—”

“I’m fine, sugarcube, really,” Applejack said, though her smile became a little more sincere. “I’ll tell ya if ya really wanna hear. It ain’t really a secret. Mind waitin’ until later, though?”

Marble nodded hastily. “S-sure. No problem. Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry—”

“You always this nervous, or just when talkin’ to me? I just said it’s okay.” Marble almost flinched at the words, but there was no barb in her cousin’s tone, nor had her smile diminished.

“Right. S—” Marble almost bit her tongue. “Right,” she finished with a nod.

“—and he’ll regret ever talking to her like that.”

With Rainbow finally running out of steam for her one-pony conversation, quiet fell over the orchard again. A couple of birds fluttered from treetop to treetop, cawing at one another. Eventually, the path led them to an open field largely devoid of green. There were patches of grass here and there, but most of the ground was bare, and had in places turned into rain-filled puddles of mud.

“Well, here we are, then,” Applejack said, indicating the field with a sweep of her hoof. Marble looked around carefully, in case there was something she was missing, but no matter how hard she strained her eyes, nothing about the field made it seem particularly festive. The only thing out of the ordinary was a stack of… something hidden away beneath a blue tarp.

Despite Applejack’s earlier warning, Marble couldn’t help but feel a tad disappointed. “But there’s nothing here…”

“Well, I did tell ya there weren’t much to look at yet. Still, this is where it’s all gonna be at.” Applejack shot a dubious look at one of the pools of mud. “Although those might be a problem. You really had to make it rain that much, RD?”

“Didn’t we already go over this?” Rainbow said with a hint of exasperation. “Look, it’s fine, we’ll just… wind-dry it, or have Twi burn it dry with a fire spell, or something.”

“We could fill it up with gravel,” Marble suggested. Both the other mares turned to look at her. “I mean, maybe it’s not ideal, but it’d give a somewhat flat and stable surface to work with.”

Applejack nodded thoughtfully. “Hmm… yeah, that’d work. Good thinkin’, Marb,” she said, smiling approvingly, and Marble felt a little flush of pride.

“Okay, but where do we get gravel, then? We don’t exactly have piles of it just lying around,” Rainbow said, hovering a few feet off the ground.

“Actually, that river between here and the city should have more than enough,” Marble replied, pleased to be able to contribute for once. “Gravel tends to collect naturally along the bottom or the banks.”

Rainbow furrowed her brow a little. “So we have to go diving for river rocks?”

“What, you got a problem with swimmin’ now?” Applejack asked with a wry grin, then looked over at Marble. “I guess if Dash here’s afraid of a bit of water, we’ll just have to do it ourselves.”

“Hey!” Rainbow pointed a hoof accusingly at Applejack. “I’m not afraid of water! I just don’t wanna do it!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow and smirked. “If you ain’t afraid, then prove it”

“Fine!” The pegasus twisted around and looked about to head for the river, but before she could flap her wings once, Applejack grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back down.

“I’m just messin’ with ya, RD,” Applejack said, chuckling. “Gosh, yer so easy to rile up sometimes.”

Rainbow stuck out her tongue and blew a rasp at the farmpony in response.

“Anyway, we should probably go find Twi, see how the preparations are comin’.” Applejack smiled at Marble. “Ya didn’t get a chance to meet her when y’all were comin’ into town, did ya?”

Marble shook her head. “The only unicorn we saw was a green one named… Lyre or Lyra or something, I think. Apart from Rarity, I mean.”

“Well, I think you’ll like her. She’s one of the nicest ponies I know,” Applejack said as she lead the way back towards the farmhouse.

“Just don’t ask her about anything science-y,” Rainbow added, giving Marble a serious look. “She’ll never stop talking. Ever.”

“Reminds me of a certain pegasus an’ the Wonderbolts.” Applejack tilted her head thoughtfully. “What was her name again?”

Rainbow let out a little snort. “Ha, ha, point taken.”

The walk back to the farmhouse was spent with light banter being exchanged between Applejack and Rainbow, and by the time they crossed the river on the road towards Ponyville, the gloomy pall the conversation with Marble’s father had draped over them had all but evaporated. Rainbow was—despite Applejack’s earlier teasing—excitedly telling them about her experiences at the Wonderbolts Academy and how ‘amazingly awesome’ it was to be able to be around the greatest fliers in all of Equestria on a daily basis.

Although Marble listened with interest to the pegasus’ vivid descriptions, she couldn’t help but find the whole thing somewhat alien, even without taking the idea of an academy the size of a small town floating in the sky into account. Even just the idea of a school was foreign to her; she knew most foals attended one, of course, but she and Blinkie had been homeschooled by their mother.

Ponyville was definitely more lively at this time. As they walked through the town, they came across numerous ponies of all three races, most of whom cheerfully greeted Applejack and Rainbow. Occasionally they came across strange taciturn pony-like creatures that Applejack told Marble were called ‘donkeys’. She was inclined to chalk those up as the strangest creatures she had seen until they came to the town plaza, which had, in the light of day, become a vibrant marketplace.

Standing in front of a stall selling fish was something Marble would have been inclined to call a monster had it not been chatting amicably with the owner of the stall, a scraggly-bearded earth pony stallion. It had the upper body and forelegs of an overgrown bird of prey and the backside of some kind of enormous feline. Marble only realised she had been staring at the being, mouth agape, when Applejack discreetly pushed her jaw back up into place.

“That there’s a griffon,” her cousin said helpfully. “They’re actually predators, but most tend to stay on their best behaviour ’round ponies. Not often we see ’em round here, though.”

“Wh-what’s he doing here?” Marble asked, doing her best not to sound like the wide-eyed filly she was. “Or… she? I, uh… I can’t tell…”

Applejack shrugged lightly. “Dunno, might be here for the festival, I suppose. I know Dash spread word about it to the goons in her academy class.” She studied the griffon for a moment. “An’ if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it’s a she. Males tend to be bigger, from what I’ve seen.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Marble said, tearing her eyes from the peculiar creature with some effort. Rainbow, meanwhile, had flown on ahead, oblivious to the temporary stop in the market, and they had to run to catch up with her.

As they moved on, it became increasingly apparent that they were heading straight for the odd treehouse Marble had seen when she first came to Ponyville. Of more immediate concern was the fact that every now and then, flashes of purple light would flare briefly from the windows built into it.

“Uhm, that tree… didn’t you say yesterday it was a library?” Marble asked when it was evident that it was their destination.

Applejack nodded. “Yep. Doubles as Twi’s home, too. She loves the smell of old books. It’s like catnip to her.”

“Oh, so you get to make fun of her but I don’t?” Rainbow groused before Marble could ask what ‘catnip’ was.

“Stop being a sourpuss, would ya?” Applejack said, which earned her another grumpy look from Rainbow. A minute later, they were at the door and Applejack knocked politely before opening it. “Hey, Twi. Mind if we barge in for a moment?”

“Oh, hey, Applejack! No no, please come in,” a bright and friendly-sounding feminine voice replied.

Whatever Marble had expected to see prior to entering the treehouse fell woefully short of the sight that greeted her as she walked through the doorway. It was not the interior that surprised her the most, although that was bizarre enough in its own right; books of all sizes and colours seemed to cover every inch of free space inside the hollowed-out tree trunk. Where there weren’t books, there were piles of notes and scraps of paper scattered throughout the room, though ordered in surprisingly neat stacks.

What drew her attention, however, was the mare at the center of this organised chaos. Her coat was a shade of purple and her straight-cut mane dark blue with streaks of pink in it. She was likely as tall as Applejack, but of a much less muscular build, perhaps even a touch on the gangly side. Around her floated about a dozen open books and unrolled paper scrolls, a plate with a half-eaten daisy sandwich, a cup of coffee, a quill and a bottle of ink, and a strangely resigned-looking owl, all enveloped in a shimmer of purple. The slender horn protruding from her forehead should have marked her as a unicorn, except she also had wings, which gave Marble pause. She knew of no kind of pony who had both horn and wings except… except…

Marble stared wide-eyed at the mare so casually referred to as ‘Twi’. “She’s a princess?!” she tried to exclaim, but it came out as little more than a squeak.

Applejack indicated Marble with a sweep of her hoof, seemingly enjoying her role of introducer. “Twi, meet Marble, one of Pinkie’s sisters. Marble, meet Twi Sparkle, our resident librarian, all-round outstandin’ friend and princess of… books, I guess?” She looked over at Rainbow for confirmation.

The pegasus nodded in response, her face perfectly straight. “Sounds about right to me.”

Princess Twi stepped forward with a somewhat sour smile on her face, the many objects that had floated around her left suspended in mid-air, except for the owl, which flew over to the top of the nearest bookcase. “Applejack, could you please use my full name when you introduce me?” Her smile became more genuine as she turned towards Marble. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Marble. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and regardless of what those two wisecrackers say, I’m not the princess of books, or letters, or magic, or whatever else they might have told you.”

What do I do? She’s a princess! An in-the-flesh princess, right here in front of me and oh no, she’s addressing me! Should I bow? Or salute? Kneel? Do something!

In her frantic attempt to make a good impression, Marble’s panicked body settled for doing all three things at once. Three of her four legs bent low to the ground, the fourth snapped up to her forehead in her best effort to salute, and her nose bumped against the hard floor as she attempted to bow her head low.

An awkward silence fell between them, broken only by little hiccups of laughter from Rainbow. “N-nice,” she managed to croak.

There was the sound of a hoof being shoved against a shoulder and a muted ‘ow’ from the pegasus.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Twilight asked, concern evident in her voice.

Is it a capital offense to run away from a princess? Marble thought as she desperately picked herself from the floor. No! Have some dignity! Show that you aren’t a complete bumpkin! She forced herself to stand up straight and adopted the best dignified yet respectful pose she could think of. It didn’t amount to much.

“H-hello, Your P-Princessly Majesty,” she stammered in spite of her best efforts.

Strangely, the princess looked as uncomfortable as Marble felt, shifting from hoof to hoof. “Uh, please, you really don’t need to bother with all that formality. Me being a princess is just a technicality anyway. I don’t really go for all that…” Twilight took a deep breath. “What I mean to say is, you can just call me Twilight. Or Twi. I won’t mind, honest.” She gave Marble a rather nervous smile. “Please?”

Marble did her best to return the smile. The sheer discomfort that almost radiated from the pri—uni—pega—mare calmed Marble, if only a little. “I, ah, uh… I’ll try, Y—Twilight.”

Twilight’s smile widened another notch and she nodded gratefully. “Thanks. To tell you the truth, all this—” she unfurled her wings and flapped them once “—it’s still kind of strange for me.” There was a rustle of paper as one of the neat stacks of notes collapsed, toppled by the rush of wind. Twilight winced. “Oh, shoot,” she muttered as she quickly began to pick the papers back up with her magic.

“She’s not kidding, you know; she’s still a total newbie when it comes to wing care,” Rainbow supplied helpfully. “She didn’t even know how to preen herself properly until a few days ago.”

“Hey!” Twilight shot the pegasus an affronted look while scooping up the papers, her cheeks reddening slightly.

“Just trying to make you more approachable,” Rainbow said, holding up her front hooves defensively.

“Remind me to thank you with a bouquet of Poison Joke,” Twilight mumbled as she placed the reorganised stack back on the table.

“Don’t let ‘er get to ya, Twi,” Applejack said with a small smirk of her own. “We were just droppin’ by to see how preparations for the festival were goin’.”

Twilight lit up in a fresh smile. “Oh, thanks for reminding me. The last of the materials arrived this morning, although I don’t think we’ll try having it sent by dragon mail again. Spike’s been sick all day, and I can’t seem to find coughdrops fast enough to keep up with him.”

Marble, who was just starting to feel moderately relaxed again, did a double take. “Sorry… did you say ‘dragon’? As in, big scaly leather-winged fire-breathing ‘raar’ dragon?”

Twilight rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “Well, uhm… yes. Minus the big leather-winged part. He’s got scales and can breathe fire. The ‘raar’ is debatable, at least if you don’t wake him up too early.”

“He’s kinda small, really,” Rainbow said.

“Might even say pint-sized,” Applejack added.

“Midget-y.”

“Diminutive.”

“Woah, lay off the dictionary there, smartypants.”

Anyway,” Twilight cut through sharply. “He’s resting right now. Otherwise I’d have asked him to come say hi. He usually likes meeting new ponies.”

Marble bit her lip for a moment, but curiosity won over the risk of offending royalty. “Isn’t it kind of… well, dangerous to have a dragon in a tree house full of paper?” she asked carefully.

If Twilight was insulted by the question, she didn’t show it. If anything, the smile returned to her face in full force. “Ah, you’d think so, but that risk can easily be countered by a small localised force field around any fire. Cut it off from oxygen and it can’t spread. Simple, but pretty smart, if I do say so myself.”

Right. Unicorns. Or alicorns, I suppose.

“So, uh, about that stuff for the festival?” Rainbow asked from the top of the bookshelf where she had taken roost, next to the owl.

“Oh, yes, right this way.” Twilight beckoned them to follow with a hoof, heading out the front door. They followed her outside around the tree to a large wooden shack, sturdily built and with a slanted roof, tucked away between two houses.

“Time Turner let me borrow his shed for storage,” Twilight explained as she removed the padlock from the door. “I’ll admit, I had my doubts whether I could fit everything in here, but it’s actually surprisingly spacey, more so than you’d think.”

The door swung open, revealing a doorway full of stacked planks and little else beyond that. Whatever was tucked away inside the shack was hidden from sight. Twilight looked over her shoulder at the three other mares. “Could you step back a little? I’m going to need some room for this.”

Marble took a few steps back, watching in silent awe as Twilight’s horn lit up with that purple shimmer, mirroring the one that enveloped the planks. Smoothly, without even nudging against the doorframe, the planks drifted out one by one and formed a new stack next to the shack. More and more followed, then came metal pipes, boxes and crates of various sizes, many of which rattled in a way that indicated they were chock-full of screws or nails, even more planks…

By the time the shack had finally been emptied, Marble would not have believed it possible that everything could have been able to fit inside the building if she had not seen it with her own eyes. She groaned inwardly as she realised how many times they would have to go back and forth to move all the building materials from here to the farm, a task that would more than likely last until the late afternoon at the earliest, but she quelled the demoralising feeling; this was a simple physical task that just required endurance, and that was something she had in spades.

She was just starting to move forward to pick up the nearest box when the entire massive pile of materials was enveloped by the purple shimmer and—Marble felt her jaw go slack again—rose from the ground in gleeful defiance of all laws of gravity.

A small part of her mind raged that it was blatant cheating to do what Twilight was doing, but the rest of Marble could only watch in mute amazement as the lean alicorn lifted the whole stack as effortlessly as Rarity had lifted the towels. She stared as Twilight turned around and began to walk back around the tree again, floating her ‘burden’ in front of her. Only when she felt someone bump against her shoulder did she tear her gaze away and turn her head to find Applejack at her side, grinning at her.

“It ain’t polite to stare, y’know,” she said with a teasing smirk.

“But—how can—” Marble sputtered. “Am I the only one who thinks this is the least bit impressive?” she demanded, feeling a bit foalish about the indignant tone in her voice, but at the same time too infuriated by the apparent lack of reaction from either Applejack or Rainbow.

“You get used to it,” Applejack said with a little shrug. “Well, no, that’s a lie,” she added as an afterthought. “But trust me, sugarcube, this ain’t the most impressive thing she’s done.”

Marble looked after Twilight again. She did not know which was worse, the ease with which the seemingly frail mare lifted what should have taken at least twenty fully grown stallions to lift, or the fact that one could grow used to a sight like this. It was… it was amazing and unnatural, that’s what it was.

Applejack patted her on the back and began to walk after Twilight, and Marble forced her legs into motion as well. Rainbow had decided to hitch a ride with Twilight and was sitting atop a pair of the crates like an impromptu throne. The purple mare seemed to pay her no mind.

“If it makes ya feel any better, I was gawkin’ the same way you are the first time I saw magic like that,” Applejack said cheerfully.

It did help, a little.

The walk back through Ponyville was a slow but steady affair due to the increasing traffic of other ponies, but the massive pile of floating wood and metal helped clear a path for them more effectively than Twilight’s polite warnings of “Excuse me” and “Coming through”.

“Hey, RD, why don’tcha go round up yer fellow featherbrains while we go back with this stuff?” AJ asked the idling pegasus. “We’re gonna need a lotta hooves to get this set up.”

“Already? We aren’t even out of town yet,” Rainbow replied, reclining on the boxes with her forelegs behind her head.

“Well, not everypony can fly there. We’re gonna need more’n just pegasi, y’know,” Applejack pointed out. “While yer at it, grab anypony else who’s willin’ to chip in. Some unicorns and more earth ponies too.”

Rainbow arose with a sigh and stretched her wings languidly. “Fine, fine, I’ll handle it.”

“Great. Just remember, the more, the merrier. Speaking of which…” Applejack whistled sharply at a beige-coated stallion. “Caramel! Get the boys and head over to the east field! We got some settin’ up to do!”

The pony being addressed snapped off a mock salute and called out to someone else, disappearing into the crowd.

Rainbow rolled her shoulders and flexed her wings a few more times. “Well, see you in a bit,” she said before unceremoniously taking off in a blur, disappearing up into the clouds over Ponyville.

“Five bits say she’s probably squeeze in another nap,” Applejack muttered, a little scowl on her face as she looked after the rapidly fading rainbow-coloured contrail.

“Applejack!” Twilight said with a note of chastisement in her voice, giving the farmpony a pointed look over her shoulder.

Applejack let out a little snort. “I ever tell ya ’bout that time I asked her to help me clean out the strangleroot infestation?” she asked, pushing on before Twilight could reply. “She offered to go an’ get some of her flight buddies to help out. I said ‘sure’, figurin’ more hooves were better. Didn’t show up until two hours later.”

“Maybe she got delayed by something?” Marble suggested carefully.

“’Bloom says she an’ her friends saw her nappin’ in one of the trees near their clubhouse,” Applejack said, letting out a little sigh. “Don’t get me wrong; when it really matters, she’ll be there for ya one hundred percent, but tryin’ to get her help for anythin’ less than vital is like herdin’ cats.”

Marble struggled to come up with an adequate reply to that, eventually settling for a soft “oh.”

“Just for the record, Applejack, you’ve told that story three times already,” Twilight said after a moment.

In the quiet that followed, Marble found her eyes repeatedly drawn to Twilight and the huge pile of goods floating in front of her. They had just crossed the river on the way back to the farm and the mare had not even broken a sweat.

“Aren’t you getting tired the least bit tired?” she asked, making both Twilight and Applejack turn their heads to look at her. Nice. Could you try and make that sound a little more accusatory? “I mean,” she quickly amended, “all that stuff must weigh a ton—several, even—but you’re not… that is, you don’t look…”

“Oh. Well, uhm…” Twilight let out an embarrassed little laugh. “Not… really. I mean, sure, prolonged use of magic will slowly but surely burn calories, which is why many unicorns have high-energy snacks at hand to—”

“See that cutie mark on her flank?” Applejack cut in, pointing a hoof at Twilight’s rear for emphasis.

“Uhm…” Marble felt another flush creeping onto her cheeks, though the tinge was likely nothing compared to what was making itself manifest on Twilight’s face right now. She looked at the cutie mark in a way that brief and respectful and definitely nothing else. One large star surrounded by five smaller ones. “Yes?”

“Applejack!” Twilight blurted. “That—You can’t just—First of all, technically, a cutie mark isn’t on a pony’s flank, but on her haunches, and—”

“My mistake,” Applejack said, unable or unwilling to suppress the grin that was spreading across her face. “See that cutie mark on her butt?”

“Wh—” The entire stack of building materials wobbled dangerously for a moment as Twilight’s face scrunched and her cheeks puffed, having adopted a distinct scarlet colour now.

“That there mark means her special talent’s magic,” Applejack went on, unperturbed by the daggers being glared at her as the alicorn did a little dance to bring her hindquarters out of sight. “It just comes to her like breathin’ does to the rest of—Woah, nelly!” she cried as she was suddenly lifted off the ground in a shimmer of purple.

“You two are walking in front of me from now on,” Twilight hissed through clenched teeth as she floated Applejack through the air to the front of the pile of materials.

The smirk plastered across Applejack’s face spoke of absolutely no regrets even as she was being carried along like a foal’s toy. “Sorry, Yer Highness. Can I at least get somethin’ to cherish this memory before I’m banished? A picture, maybe?”

Marble bit her lip as she followed Applejack, but since she was most likely already guilty by association… “Of her face or her butt?” she asked innocently.

Applejack threw her head back and laughed heartily, and the scowl on Twilight’s face twitched unsteadily. “You two are going to pay for this, just wait,” the alicorn promised as she set Applejack down on the ground again, but Marble could—to her relief—see that she was having a hard time not breaking into a smile as well.

“Better watch out, Marble,” Applejack said, still chuckling. “She’s probably gonna make us catalogue her books.”

Twilight let out a little huff. “I’ll have you know I catalogued all the books last week.”

Applejack looked over her shoulder at the alicorn with an expression of faux shock. “That long ago? Sheesh, somepony’s startin’ to slack.”

“Keep talking, Chuckles, and I’ll be cataloguing you into a bookshelf as well,” Twilight warned with a dangerous smile.

Another little snort of laughter escaped Applejack and she looked at Marble with a grin. “Royals, huh?”

Marble just nodded, unsure what to make of the whole exchange. Trading jibes and mild insults seemed to be the bread and butter of conversation for Applejack and her friends. Her father would consider it terribly rude and disrespectful, but it was becoming increasingly clear to her that what her father thought seemed to—more often than not—clash with what everyone else thought.


“All right, then, let’s see…” Twilight said, seemingly mostly to herself as she placed the building materials on the ground and began to rapidly divide the planks and pipes into individual stacks according to type and size.

“Just how much stuff did ya get, anyhow?” Applejack asked, watching as one of the plank stacks quickly grew taller than her.

Twilight waved a hoof in a vague gesture, her eyes darting between the neatly growing piles. “Oh, enough. It’s all pretty straightforward to assemble, though, and the more complex stuff comes with manuals.”

Marble looked over the name tags on some of the larger crates, jumping reflexively to the side as another box dropped down next to her. Trampoline, high striker, rodeo bull, whack-a-mole… She knew what some of those words meant individually, but their meaning in this context eluded her. For instance, she found it unlikely that one of these crates, large though they might be, contained an actual bull inside.

“Whatcha lookin’ at there, Marble?” Applejack asked, sauntering over to join her.

“Oh, I just, uh…” Marble almost sighed. Great, another chance to flaunt my ignorance. “I was just wondering what these things are, really. I don’t recognise any of the names.”

Applejack let out a little chuckle as she stepped up to the nearest crate. “Well, help me unpack ’em an’ you’ll find out.”

It did not take long for other ponies to start showing up. First to arrive were a couple of pegasi, including a pair of rather pretty mares with greyish-blue coats. They were soon followed by more pegasi as well as both unicorns and earth ponies. Twilight delegated tasks to the newcomers as they arrived, pointing them to the appropriate stacks of materials for whatever type of construction work she assigned them. Some of the unicorns, including the mint-green one Marble had seen in the confectionery shop, were sent to the river to collect gravel in a couple of the now-empty boxes.

The thing Marble and Applejack were assembling, the ‘trampoline’, turned out to be a large piece of some kind of sturdy fabric stretched tautly over a circular metal frame. Its purpose escaped Marble until Applejack told her to climb on it and jump. Once the initial shock of being launched three or four times as high into the air as normal had worn off, it was all she could do not to laugh and whoop at the brief sensation of flight. She only stopped bouncing when she realised she was drawing curious glances from the nearest other ponies, and a particularly amused look from Applejack.

“Thought ya might like it,” Applejack said with a smug smile. “Those things are great fun. Kids love ’em.”

Marble still felt a little giddy from the jumping session as she dropped onto the ground again. “I can see why. It’s really—” Something in her cousin’s words just caught up with her. “Wait, it’s for kids?”

The sly grin never left Applejack’s face. “Well, we all got a bit o’ kid spirit in us, don’t we?” The tip of her tail flicked playfully against Marble’s nose as she turned towards the remaining crates. “Come on, let’s see what else we got.”

Apart from almost bringing up the need to sneeze, the brief contact with the tail tip made Marble decidedly glad that her cousin was not looking her way. The red tinge on her cheeks was somewhat tempered by the glare she shot after Applejack, however; she couldn’t help but feel a little irritated at the other mare’s ability to repeatedly make her feel embarrassed.

There was a steady trickle of new arrivals, most showing up in groups of two or three, until there must have been close to fifty ponies at work in the field. Twilight stuck around to organise the new arrivals for a time, but excused herself and left after she remembered that she had a meeting scheduled with the town’s mayor. She did promise to arrange for lunch to be brought over, however.

Rainbow Dash eventually showed up, though it was quite some time after the last arrival. When Applejack inquired about why she was so late, the pegasus evasively told her about being waylaid by someone called Scootaloo, then quickly and enthusiastically took off to help the nearest group of pegasi put up a large, colourful tent before Applejack could interrogate her further.

“Who’s Scootaloo?” Marble asked, pausing in her work for a moment to watch in fascination as the pegasi flitted around the tent like bees around a flower.

“Lil’ pegasus filly who worships the ground Dash walks on. When she does walk, that is,” Applejack said, squinting a little as she carefully tried to fit a small gear onto its shaft. Marble glanced at her; the way her cousin stuck her tongue out the corner of her mouth as she tried to manipulate the little metal wheel with hooves that seemed almost oversized in comparison was… cute was the only word she could think of.

“It’s a bit funny, really; they ain’t related, but the filly looks almost exactly like RD, down to the windblown mane and everythin’,” she continued, blissfully unaware that Marble was staring in a way that was thoroughly impolite and which she quickly corrected by busying herself with her own work before Applejack looked up. “Well, except for her colours, o’course. An’ she can’t exactly fly yet, but she’s a devil on a scooter.”

“Are they friends, then? Rainbow didn’t sound particularly thrilled about meeting her,” Marble pointed out, scrunching her face a little in annoyance at her gear’s refusal to slide properly into place with the tell-tale ‘click’.

“One thing you should know ’bout Dash is that she’s got this too-cool-for-this-thing attitude about…” Applejack furrowed her brow for a moment, then shrugged, “well, pretty much anythin’ she thinks is too personal. She’ll just try to blow it off like it’s no big deal. Heck, it took her almost a year before she could show affection to her pet turtle when others were around.”

An orange hoof brushed against Marble’s left foreleg, and the contact—brief and fleeting though it was—almost made her breath catch in her throat. The soft fur touching hers was like a gentle caress. Just as quickly as it had reached out, however, the hoof withdrew again. Marble glanced up at Applejack, who was nothing but friendly smiles as usual.

“You were tryin’ to fit it on the wrong way,” her cousin said good-naturedly.

Marble blinked and tried to put the gear onto the shaft again. It slid into place without a hitch. “Oh,” was all she could say at first. At least this time her embarrassment stemmed from an honest mistake. She grinned sheepishly at Applejack and rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry. We don’t really have a lot of this delicate machine stuff back home.”

Her cousin chuckled lightly and patted her shoulder comradely. “Don’t worry, sugarcube. I wouldn’t have a clue ’bout this either if I didn’t have the manual,” she said with a nod towards the open booklet on the ground.

“Maybe we’d work faster if one had the instructions and told the other what to do?” Marble suggested. “That way we don’t have to go back and forth to double check with the manual.”

Applejack nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.”

They looked at each other silently for a moment, neither making any move. Marble cleared her throat. “So, uhm, if you go get the manual, I’ll just follow your instructions.”

“You mean you read from the manual an’ I’ll do the work, right?”

Eventually, a compromise was reached; they would take turns at being the one who had to sit with the manual and being the one who was allowed to work, changing roles once a building project was completed or the other started growing restless.

The sun had passed its zenith when another familiar face showed up; the soft-spoken yellow pegasus that had also been present at Sugarcube Corner—Fluttershy, wasn’t it?—came up the path towards the construction site pulling a veritable cartload of sandwiches and peculiar colourful little boxes. She made for a strange sight, the cart seeming as if it would be too heavy for her to haul on her own; Marble could only conclude that the dainty pegasus possessed a wiry strength that her lithe body belied.

She reminded Marble somewhat of herself, really. Like the pegasus, she had a fairly lean physique, at least when compared to Applejack or her brother. I wonder how she’d do back home? Marble thought idly, tilting her head a bit to try and get a better look at the pegasus’ hooves from where she sat. Not all the tasks around the rock farm required simple raw strength. Some needed a more delicate touch, something that the pegasus might—

“Y’know, ya could’ve just said it was gettin’ time to switch.”

“Uh?” Marble blinked and quickly tore her gaze away from the pegasus. Applejack was needling her with another of her infuriatingly smug grins.

“Then again, it has been almost, what, fifteen minutes or somethin’ since last?” her cousin continued, her expression turning into one of mock thoughtfulness as she tapped her chin with a hoof.

“Shush you,” Marble muttered, half-heartedly trying to bat Applejack across the nose with the booklet.

Fluttershy, meanwhile, had parked the cart roughly in the middle of the field and timidly rung the small bell attached to the side of the cart. Most of the ponies paused in their work to look over at her curiously, something the pegasus seemed rather ill at ease about.

“Uhm, excuse me?” she said cautiously, her voice barely rising above what could be considered a polite whisper. “If anypony is hungry, there’s a sandwich and a juice box for you here. That is, if you aren’t all too busy right now.” She shifted nervously on her hooves as she looked around at the faces staring at her with rapt attention. “I-if you are, I can just c-come back later. I won’t m—”

“You rock, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash’s voice called out from somewhere above. “You hear that, gang? Free meal!”

It wasn’t quite a mad rush, but the cart still quickly became surrounded by ponies. Fluttershy seemed more than happy to step aside and let them sort out the food on their own, instead having a quiet conversation with Rainbow.

“Was about time to get some grub, anyhow,” Applejack grunted, which her stomach assented to with an almost ferocious growl that startled Marble. “Though whaddaya say we finish up this doohickey first? No sense in goin’ yet if it’s just gonna turn into a big shovin’ match.”

“I’m pretty sure we could win it if it came to that,” Marble said with a little smile as she flicked back to the correct page in the manual.

Applejack chuckled. “Well, yeah. I’m just sayin’ it wouldn’t be very fair towards everypony else.”

They managed to add a grand total of one extra bolt to the contraption before they were interrupted by a rush of wind tearing the booklet from Marble’s hooves.

“Aw yeah, check it out, girls! Free food is the best food!” Rainbow declared, grinning excitedly from the spot between Marble and Applejack where she had seemingly just materialised and brandishing a pair of sandwiches and juice boxes. Fluttershy came gliding towards them at a rather more sedate pace, also carrying food.

“That’s ’cause ya always pay through yer nose for that premade foodstuff,” Applejack said, putting the tools aside in resignation. “When’s the last time ya made a meal on yer own?”

Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively at her and placed the sandwiches next to Fluttershy’s on top of one of the empty crates. “Yack, yack, yack. There’s tomatoes, basil, oregano or sweet peppers. Who wants what?” Before anyone else could even open their mouth, Rainbow snatched the sandwich closest to her. “Dips on the peppers!”

“Well, ain’t you friendly?” Applejack said dryly.

“Hey, you snooze, you lose.”

Applejack rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Marble and Fluttershy. “Well, you two go ahead an’ pick the one ya like.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t—”

“No, no, it’s fine, I—”

Marble exchanged looks with the timid pegasus, who almost immediately ducked behind her mane. It was a very effective curtain, even more so than Marble’s own mane.

“You go ahead and pick first. You’re the one who brought the cart out here to begin with,” Marble said, giving the other mare her best friendly smile. She wasn’t sure how much good it did, though; that mane was a very effective curtain.

“I-it’s okay. I don’t mind which…” Fluttershy mumbled. Marble had to strain her ears to hear that first part. The rest was simply lost in an inaudible whisper.

She looked over at Applejack for help, but her cousin merely shrugged. Time for a different approach, then. “Which of those three do you like the best?” Marble asked. “If you had to pick one, that is,” she quickly added.

Fluttershy’s head turned a bit, enough that Marble could see at least a sliver of a cyan eye. “Well, uhm, I do like tomatoes… b-but it’s not—”

Marble took the sandwich brimming with rich red tomato slices and gently but firmly placed it in Fluttershy’s hooves. She was treated briefly to a wan smile before both Fluttershy’s face and the sandwich disappeared behind the pink mane again.

“Well, that just leaves two,” Applejack said, stepping up next to Marble. “You want the basil or the oregano?”

“Uhm…” Marble looked at the two remaining sandwiches. Drat. It’d help if I actually knew what either of those two things were. “Uhh…” Great stalling tactic.

“No rush, o’course,” Applejack said mildly. Marble glanced at her.

“Okay, don’t laugh now, but I don’t actually know what either of those two things are.” Marble felt irritation bubbling up inside her as that telltale grin slipped back on her cousin’s face.

“Shucks, Marb, ya gotta get some more spice in yer life—”

“Yeah, I get it, I’m not as smart as you! Very funny!” she snapped, unable to contain herself anymore. “But do you have to make fun of me every time something like that happens? Why do you do it, anyway?” Her simmering anger rapidly deflated when she saw the crestfallen expression that flickered across Applejack’s face, replacing the easy grin she had worn.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to make ya upset. I thought you’d tell me to stop if it started botherin’ ya,” Applejack said with a little shrug, looking genuinely apologetic. Marble didn’t need to look into those green eyes for more than a second to verify what she already knew.

I really am a big idiot.

Fluttershy seemed to be trying harder than ever to hide behind her mane from the brief but heated outburst. Rainbow, however, was wearing the kind of wide, sadistic grin Marble had only ever seen on Blinkie when she was in a teasing mood.

“It’s because she luuurves you,” the pegasus drawled, her grin growing until it looked as if it might split her face.

Applejack turned around and gave Rainbow an exasperated look. “Seriously, RD?” she asked in a flat voice.

The pegasus stepped up to her and slung a foreleg around her shoulder, fixing Marble with a look that was almost overflowing with amusement. “You see, AJ is just so blubbery with all that touchy-feely stuff, she can’t come out and say what she feels, so she has to show it by teasing instead.”

“Right,” Applejack said in that same flat tone, shoving Rainbow’s leg off her back. “O’course, allow me to note that I tease most ponies I know. It’s called ‘banter’.” She shot the pegasus a withering look. “Heck, you spend most of the time where you don’t sleep on teasin’ an’ prankin’ others. Does that mean you wanna jump in bed with all o’ them?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Nah, just the hot ones. Which I guess leaves you out. Ooooooh!” She shook her hoof as if she had just burned it, grinning from ear to ear. When she looked around at the others expectantly, she was met with unenthused—and in Marble’s case, uncomprehending—expressions. She snorted and sat down to eat her sandwich. “Whatever. You guys wouldn’t know good humour if it bit your tail.”

“Y’know, you can be a right doofus sometimes, RD,” Applejack grunted as she took one of the remaining sandwiches and sat down as well.

Marble hadn’t moved—and barely breathed—during that whole exchange. Surely Rainbow had just been joking; it had just been part of the ongoing bickering between her and Applejack. I mean, that has to be it, right? She couldn’t possibly be serious, could she? No, no, that wouldn’t be—Applejack wouldn’t—would she?

“Hey, Marb,” Applejack said, tearing Marble from her thoughts. “Ain’t ya gonna sit down?” She, Rainbow and even Fluttershy were watching her, all of them already well into the process of eating their sandwiches.

Marble mutely sat down next to Fluttershy and took a bite from her own sandwich. It had a delicious, even exotic flavour that her befuddled mind barely registered. She didn’t know where to turn her eyes; looking at Applejack caused the myriad of confused questions and thoughts to boil to the forefront of her mind again, Fluttershy determinedly avoided eye contact, and every time she looked towards Rainbow, the pegasus waggled her eyebrows suggestively at her while nodding not-so-surreptitiously towards Applejack. Eventually she settled for looking at her food. At least that seemed largely harmless. She took another bite; it was a very good sandwich.

“So hey, let’s play a game while we eat,” Rainbow said in an upbeat tone. “You know, since we aren’t really doing anything right now, anyway.”

“Let’s not,” Applejack grunted in between mouthfuls. “Jus’ eat yer lunch, RD.”

“Uhm… what kind of game?” Fluttershy asked carefully. Marble raised her gaze as well. The blue pegasus was smiling again, something Marble was rapidly coming to view as a warning sign.

Rainbow’s eyes gleamed deviously. “There’s this fun little game called ‘matchmaker’—”

“Dash,” Applejack said in a warning tone.

The pegasus ignored the other mare. “It’s very simple; pick any two ponies, and then somepony else has to guess how they’d go together. Easy!”

Applejack chewed slowly, almost menacingly, on her sandwich, one eyebrow quirked. “You been hangin’ around Rarity lately?”

“Just try it.” Rainbow gestured with her half-eaten sandwich towards Marble. “I’ll go first. Let’s take you and Marble for starters, since you apparently already get along so great.”

Marble shifted nervously on the spot as the floodgates of her mind opened again; was the pegasus on to something, or was it all just a poor joke at her and Applejack’s expense? She glanced at her cousin, but the other mare’s expression was nonplussed and largely unreadable.

“Not doin’ this,” Applejack said curtly, chomping down on the last of her lunch.

A look of annoyance flashed across Rainbow’s face. “Come on, don’t be such a spoilsport!”

“Nope.”

Rainbow threw up her hooves in resignation. “Ugh, fine. Marble?”

Marble blinked rapidly, bewildered. “I, uhh…” She averted her eyes from the pegasus’ intense stare, wringing her hooves anxiously. I… Are we really doing this? Am I really doing this?

“Knock it off, Dash,” Applejack growled, punching the straw through the top of her juice box with her teeth.

Rainbow turned her attention to the other pegasus. “Fluttershy?”

“Oh, uhm…” The delicate pegasus seemed as uncomfortable as Marble felt about being put on the spot. “Th-they’d be, uh, they’d be… very nice?” she suggested timidly, glancing from Marble to Applejack, a little rose tint on her cheeks.

Marble felt a flittery knot forming in her stomach. We… we would? But we’re

Rainbow grinned triumphantly. “Hah! See?”

“Hey, ‘Shy,” Applejack said with sudden levity in her voice. “Whaddaya think of Big Mac an’ Cheerilee?”

“Oh, I think they’re very nice together,” Fluttershy said with a soft smile.

“How ’bout Twi an’ Princess Celestia? Ya think they’d go well together too?” Applejack continued in the same light conversational tone.

“Uhm… I think so?” Fluttershy looked thoughtful for a second, then nodded. “Yes, I… I think they’d be very nice together as well.”

“Oh! What about Caramel and Thunderlane?” Dash suggested enthusiastically, smiling widely.

Fluttershy bit her lower lip lightly, the blush on her cheeks returning in full force. “I-I think they’d be n-nice. Uhm, yes, very nice.”

Applejack idly took a sip from her juice box before continuing. “And how ’bout Roseluck, Daisy an’ Lily all gettin’ together for a big pile of girl lovin’?”

Fluttershy clamped both front hooves to her mouth. Her cheeks looked positively aflame now. “O-oh… my…”

Applejack quirked an eyebrow at her, the tip of the straw wedged between her lips. “Hmm?”

The pegasus swallowed audibly and pulled her bangs over her face for a moment. When she drew them back again, she looked only slightly less flustered and her voice was barely above a whisper. “Th-that’d be very nice. Th-they! They’d be very nice. T-together, I mean. Uhm, isn’t it somepony else’s turn soon?”

Applejack drained the last of her juice box with a rattling sound and discarded the empty carton in the nearest empty crate. “It’s about time to stop lollygaggin’ an’ get back to work, is what it is,” she said. Marble, who had only just opened up her own juice box, hurriedly tried to follow suit as her cousin turned her attention towards Fluttershy. “Thanks for droppin’ by with the food, ’Shy. Was mighty appreciated. Gonna stick around?”

The timid pegasus shook her head, the blush slowly receding from her cheeks. “Sorry, I need to go back home. I promised Hummingway and his bird friends I’d help with their choir rehearsals.”

“Oh, come on, it was just getting fun!” Rainbow protested. “One more round?”

“Yeah, no,” Applejack replied, adjusting her hat. “Sorry, Dash, daylight’s burnin’. Besides, don’t ya have a tree to nap in or somethin’?”

Rainbow put a hoof under her chin and looked towards the treeline. “Well, now that you mention it…” At the scowl that formed on Applejack’s face, she quickly flashed a grin. “I’m kidding!”

Any further comments were forestalled by a series of hacking coughs from Marble. In her eagerness to finish up her drink, she had ended up getting it down the wrong throat. She managed a muted apology after a couple of seconds of coughing and a forceful thump on the back, courtesy of Applejack.

After saying their goodbyes, Fluttershy headed back the way she had come with the now empty cart. Rainbow flew off to help one of the pegasus teams, leaving Marble and Applejack alone again.

Applejack turned towards her and smiled, rolling her neck. “So, ready to get back to it?”

Marble fidgeted a bit with her empty carton, still finding herself uncomfortable looking directly at her cousin. “Uhm… maybe we should, uh… Some of the other groups might need help and…”

“Hey…” Applejack said softly, and Marble felt the gentle touch of a hoof on her shoulder. It did little to soothe her tumultuous thoughts, but at least she was able to look up at the other mare. “You ain’t gonna let Dash’s teasin’ get to ya, right? She was just bein’ a smartass like usual.”

Marble let out a weak, nervous little laughter. “Right! S-sure, I’m not… I, uh… W-well, as long as you don’t feel weird about this. Us. Working together, I mean!”

Applejack chuckled lightly and took the juice box from Marble’s hooves, tossing it into the crate that had become an impromptu waste bin. “Don’t worry ’bout it, sugarcube. That ain’t the worst teasin’ I’ve had from Dash. Not by a long shot. Heck, it’s one o’ the reasons we have this competition an’ festival.” She trotted over and picked up the discarded manual from where it had come to a stop against one of their finished projects, smiling at Marble. “How ’bout you do the fun part an’ I’ll handle the dull readin’ for starters?”

Work resumed relatively seamlessly, the two mares once again taking turns at being builder and overseer. Marble still found herself rather tongue-tied beyond reading the instructions from the manual, but Applejack seemed content to make up for the both of them, chatting idly about her friends, family, life on the farm and in Ponyville in general. Words flowed from her easily, she smiled and occasionally cracked a light joke, and the more she talked, the more likely it seemed that Rainbow’s assertion had simply been a jest.

So why was it still so hard to stop thinking about it? Why was it difficult just looking Applejack in the eye, and even worse to look at her when she had her back turned?

And why, despite all these discomforts, had she felt that excited little tingle when Applejack had refused to split up?

All over the field, booths, benches, fences, tents large and small, and all manner of strange objects whose functions escaped Marble were sprouting up like very organized mushrooms. Prior to leaving, Twilight had left instructions—in some places even small, helpful signs—on how she wanted everything arranged. A large rectangular arena dominated the centre, which itself was further divided into smaller sections, while the tents and stalls were erected around the outskirts.

By the time that dusk fell, Marble and Applejack had assembled more than a dozen contraptions. Although she had only tried out the trampoline—even though Applejack had offered her the opportunity to give the others a go as well—she had done her best to memorise the names and looks of all the devices. She had done it partly so that she could later recount them to Blinkie, whom she hoped would share her enthusiasm for them, but also because it gave her something to think about other than Applejack.

It was getting to the point where she had to strain her eyes to make out the name printed atop the instruction pages, however, to say nothing of the smaller letters that went along with the illustrations.

There was a clatter of metal as Applejack put down her tools. “Well, I think that’s us done for today,” she said.

Marble looked up in surprise. “Huh? What, why?”

Applejack gave her a wry smile. “You’ve been squintin’ like a newborn puppy at that manual for the past fifteen minutes, so either ya need glasses or it’s just too dark to keep goin’.”

I have? That’d explain why my eyes feel so tired. “You sure we shouldn’t finish this up first?” she asked. It didn’t feel quite right leaving work half done.

“Nah, no point,” Applejack said with a little shake of her head. “If we can’t see what we’re doin’ or how to do it, we might just muck it up, an’ then we’ll have to take the whole thing apart an’ start over tomorrow.”

Marble nodded slightly. “Well, you have a point there…”

“Darn tootin’ I do. You mind puttin’ the manual an’ smaller bits back into the crate? Just so it don’t get blown away overnight or somethin’. I’m gonna go tell the others we’re stoppin’ for now.” As Marble began packing, Applejack trotted over to a stack of empty upturned boxes and climbed atop them.

“All right, gang, that’s us done for today!” she called out. “I just wanna thank y’all for comin’ by to help us! We’ve done mighty fine work in such a short time!” There was a pleased murmur and a couple of cheers as the various work crews put down their tools and whatever else they were busy with. “If any of y’all got unfinished stuff, just leave it or stick it into its crate if it fits! Our pegasi buddies have promised us a clear night, so no need to worry about rain! An’ if any of ya wanna come back tomorrow an’ finish up, that’d be welcome, too!”

As Applejack hopped down the boxes and headed back, Marble noticed another familiar figure coming up the path to the field, her pristine white coat appearing to shine even in the gloom that had fallen. She was carrying a pair of saddlebags that seemed loaded to the brim, and six lanterns, three on each side, were affixed to them as well, clanking gently against each other as she walked. Four more lanterns floated in front of her, enveloped in a soft blue shimmer. Despite her burden, she managed to maintain an air of supreme grace. While it wasn’t as much as Twilight had lifted, Marble still found it impressive in its own way.

Applejack waved at the unicorn as she walked up to them. “Well, howdy, Rarity! Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Hello, Applejack, Marble,” Rarity said, smiling radiantly and inclining her head to them in turn. “I hope you’re both doing well?”

“Sure are. What brings you out here, though? If you’ve come to help, I’m afraid yer a tad late. We were just wrappin’ up.”

Rarity placed the four floating lanterns atop the nearest crate. “On the contrary, darling, I’m right on time. Twilight asked me to spruce this place up with some appropriate decorations and lighting, and since I imagine the festival itself will continue quite some time after sundown, this is the perfect opportunity to test out some of my ideas!”

“And those lanterns are part of that testing?” Marble asked, looking at the lanterns curiously. The ones atop the crate looked similar, but those hanging from Rarity’s saddlebags were clearly different from each other. “They don’t all look alike.”

“You are quite correct!” Rarity said, giving Marble another of those dazzling smiles. “These—” she nodded at the ones atop the crate “—are firefly lanterns, while the others are oil and kerosene lanterns. They give off different glows, and I have to find out which are just right for emphasising and enhancing the atmosphere for different sections! Observe.” She adjusted a small knob on one of the firefly lanterns, and after a moment, it was filled with small drifting orbs emitting a pale green glow.

Marble stared at the swirling dots for a moment, almost hypnotised by their whimsical movements, until Rarity lifted one of the lanterns from her saddlebags with her magic and lit it as well. In contrast to the other lantern, this one bathed its surroundings in a warm, inviting orange light.

“Shucks, all we need is to be able to see in the dark,” Applejack said with a little shrug. “Just go with the ones that are cheapest to keep runnin’ through the night. There, job’s done.”

Rarity let out a little huff and stuck her nose up at the other mare. “And this is why Twilight put me in charge of the decorations. You wouldn’t know culture if it was sashaying in front of your eyes.”

“Yeah, yer inordinate knowledge on the finer points of lantern lightin’ is the envy of ponies everywhere,” Applejack said with an expression and voice of carefully moulded neutrality.

Rarity nodded graciously. “I’m glad we’re in agreement,” she said, tossing her head a little so that the long, elegant curl of her mane bounced lightly against her neck. Marble idly wondered how Rarity managed to get her mane in that shape. The only word she could think of to describe it was ‘elegant’.

It was probably magic. That seemed to be the answer to most questions regarding unicorns.

Rarity unslung her saddlebags and placed the remaining lanterns together with the rest. “Apart from that, Pinkie also asked me to remind you about the dinner at six.” She raised an immaculately trimmed eyebrow at Applejack. “I trust you haven’t forgotten about that?”

Marble almost bit her tongue; for a time, she had actually forgotten about it, her mind having been too preoccupied with… other things after the lunch. Applejack, however, shook her head.

“’Course not. We were about to head there right now, actually,” she said.

Rarity arched her eyebrow a little higher. “Right now? As in… right now-right now?”

“Well… yeah? Why?” Applejack asked, furrowing her brow a little in puzzlement.

“Well, I… I didn’t want to say anything earlier because I assumed…” Rarity shook her head. “What I’m trying to say is that your odour is slightly… you smell a little… ripe. You—no, I’m sorry; darlings, you two positively reek.”

Applejack twisted her head around to sniff herself, then leaned over to sniff Marble’s neck—much to Marble’s unease—before shrugging. “Smells like honest work. What’s the big deal?”

Rarity let out a sigh of exasperation. “The ‘big deal’, dear Applejack, is that one simply cannot go to a social event stinking of sweat, no matter how much you may fancy yourself a stallion. I’m afraid I have to insist that you wash off that layer of grime off before you go anywhere.”

Marble self-consciously tried to smell herself, though she couldn’t catch whiff of the kind of particularly repugnant stench that Rarity seemed to be experiencing.

“We ain’t havin’ tea with Princess Celestia,” Applejack pointed out. “Marb’s kin are farmers too, an’ Pinkie an’ the Cakes have known me long enough it shouldn’t be a big deal. Besides, if we dawdle for a shower now, we’re gonna run late.”

“Then you’re going to be late, but at least you’ll smell like a civilized pony,” Rarity said firmly.

“I’m… not sure running late is a good idea,” Marble said carefully, almost hesitant to get involved in the arguing. “My dad doesn’t approve of tardiness.”

Rarity gave her a sympathetic little smile. “I’m sorry, dear; I know it’s never appealing to have to start an evening on a wrong footing like this, but at times like these, a lady needs to keep her priorities right.”

A… lady? Me?

“Now come along, the sooner we get you two cleaned up, the sooner you can get going,” she continued.

Applejack set her jaw firmly. “Rares—”

“Ah-ah, no objections!” Rarity said. “I’ll drag you to the farm if I have to, even if that’ll make me all smelly and… icky…” The grimace on her face spoke of how little that prospect appealed to the unicorn, but her voice was firm and resolute.

Marble looked from one mare to the other; both looked equally stubborn and would likely continue to argue back and forth until dawn if given the chance. A small, cowardly part of Marble was happy to let them do so if it meant holding off on seeing her father again for a while longer, but the image of Pinkie’s pleading eyes sent that notion scampering back into its dark corner.

However, she couldn’t deny that Rarity had a point; now that the unicorn had mentioned it, Marble did think she could smell a certain unpleasantness about herself, and, although it hadn’t been like a day in the rock fields during summer, they had also been working hard assembling and moving those devices, even with the breaks when reading the manuals. And while her father disapproved of tardiness, he despised being unclean when eating just as much.

She stepped over to Rarity just as Applejack opened her mouth again, likely to form another protest. “Rarity has a point. If we’re going to be late, then we may as well make sure we’re clean for when we show up, right?”

Rarity nodded appreciatively at Marble. “Thank you, Marble,” she said gratefully before turning back to Applejack. “See? We have agreement here. And besides, this dinner is about Pinkie, not your pride in your rusticity!”

Applejack looked at Marble for a moment; it almost made Marble feel bad, turning against her cousin like this, but… No, like Rarity said, this wasn’t about siding with one or the other, it was about Pinkie.

Thankfully, rather than objecting further, Applejack shrugged lightly and walked over to them as well. Together they headed back down the path towards the farmhouse, Marble and Applejack in front of Rarity, who was carrying one of her firefly lanterns, this one emitting a pale yellow glow.

As they trotted along at a brisk pace, Marble felt a prickling sensation at the back of her neck. She glanced aside to find Applejack looking at her again. “What?” she asked a little more testily than she had intended, feeling slightly on edge.

“Nothin’,” Applejack replied, a wry little smile playing across her lips. “Just didn’t think you’d be as fastidious as Rares.” She let out a little yelp as Rarity’s horn jabbed at her flank. “Ow, hey!”

“I am not ‘fastidious’. I am socially cultured!” Rarity said with an indignant huff.

“That’s what I said! Sheesh!” Applejack complained, swatting her tail at the unicorn, which she neatly sidestepped.

Marble couldn’t help a brief little smile of her own. “Well, last time I showed up at Sugarcube Corner, I was covered in mud and dirt. I’d rather not make it look like a habit.”

“Fair point,” Applejack conceded, “though I just gotta point out we haven’t really wrestlin’ in mud or anythin’ now.”

Rarity let out a little groan. “Just get a move on, would you, you brute?”

The farm house was lit up from its windows much like yesterday and looked ever so inviting in the last dying rays of light on the horizon. Marble was already heading for the front door when Applejack spoke up.

“Over here, Marb. We got an outdoor shower ’round the side of the barn. Quicker to use that,” she said, leading the way around the back of the large building.

The outdoor shower, as it turned out, was a semi-circular brass tank open to the sky, likely to store rainwater, with a showerhead dangling from a tube at the bottom and a chain hanging from the side. Next to it was a simple wooden rack upon which Applejack placed her hat and hairbands as she loosened them.

Rarity looked around searchingly as she hung the lantern by its handle on the end of the rack, a little frown forming on her lips. “Applejack… where do you keep your conditioners?”

“Conditioners? Shucks, we ain’t got any of that fancy stuff,” Applejack replied with a little shrug as the band in her mane came loose.

The unicorn blinked. “Shampoo, then? Surely you have that.”

Applejack shook her head. “Nope.”

“Soap?” Rarity’s voice was almost pleading now.

“Oh, sure, we got a soap bar.”

Rarity let out a little sigh of relief.

“It’s in the bathroom in the house.”

“...”

The corner of Rarity’s eye twitched, her cheeks puffed, and for a moment, it looked to Marble like she was in the verge of screaming. Instead, she shoved Applejack under the showerhead with a forcefulness that seemed to surprise the much larger mare, yanked the chain and grabbed the dangling showerhead with her magic, guiding the torrent of doubtlessly very cold water straight down on the perplexed farmpony.

“Woah, hey, I can—” The rest of Applejack’s words were drowned by an almost hysterical fit of giggles as she was enveloped from head to hoof in the blue shimmer, invisible hooves scrubbing her mane and coat vigorously.

“Ra-Rarity, s-s-stop! I c-can’t—” Applejack tried feebly in between sobs of laughter, squirming and twisting futilely on the spot under the relentless stream of water. “—T-tickles!

Rarity was merciless, her expression grim-set and unyielding as she used her magic to scrub the other pony. “For goodness’ sake, Applejack, hold still! You’re making this more difficult than it needs to be!”

Marble could only watch the unfolding spectacle in horrified fascination, her once so proud and stoic cousin reduced to a gibbering, giggling filly under the ministrations of the unicorn. It went on for several minutes until Rarity seemed to finally deem her work finished. Applejack staggered out from underneath the showerhead, her soaked mane clinging to her neck and shoulders in a way that was very… it looked very…

“Your turn now, darling,” Rarity said, and Marble realised with a shock that the unicorn was right in front of her.

“But I—” she managed before Rarity firmly pushed her under the pouring water. She had a brief moment to feel the almost freezing water splashing against her until that sensation was pushed firmly into the background in face of the fierce magical assault that enveloped every inch of her body simultaneously. Despite what it had looked like on Applejack, it was not quite like being attacked by dozens of hooves all at once. Rather, it was like being attacked by dozens of feathers, reaching and tickling everywhere at once. No matter how she twisted, turned or danced, they were unrelenting, and a curiously detached part of her mind realised that the squeaks and fits of laughter she heard were her own.

Eventually—although a small part of her almost felt like it was disappointingly soon—the sensation and downpour both receded, and it was all she could do not to stumble gracelessly out of the shower and treat herself to a faceful of dirt.

“Towel?” she heard Rarity ask.

“In the house,” Applejack replied.

“Urgh! You are hopeless!

Marble looked up in time to see Rarity disappear around the side of the barn. Applejack shook herself, spraying droplets everywhere, then brushed a strand of clingy wet mane out of her eyes, smiling at Marble.

“Well, we sure gotta look mighty presentable now, huh?” she said cheerfully.

Marble nodded mutely. Even in the sparse light of the firefly lantern, it was hard not to notice the way the little sparkling droplets ran down Applejack’s face, neck, shoulders, chest, legs… No! Stop that! What is wrong with you? She mentally slapped herself and forced herself to look her cousin in the eyes.

“Though, if we weren’t late before, I got a feelin’ we’re gonna be now.” Applejack’s smile faded a little as she looked over her shoulder after Rarity. “Girl’s takin’ her time.”

“Why don’t you wear your mane loose like that normally? It looks good on you.”

Marble, this is your brain. Would you kindly tell me you did not just say—

Applejack looked at her in surprise for a moment, then chuckled. “Well, shucks, that’s kind of ya to say, Marb. Though I guess it’s just ’cause it don’t feel very practical-like, mane gettin’ in yer face when yer workin’ an’ all that.”

“R-right, makes sense,” Marble stammered and silently cursed her treacherous tongue to Tartarus. She was spared further embarrassment by a towel being thrown over her cousin’s head and another being proffered to her in a shimmer of blue as Rarity came back around the barn.

“Come on now, hurry up,” Rarity said as the other two mares dried themselves off with the towels. “You’ve got a dinner to get to, and I’ve got decorations to set up!”

Applejack’s voice was somewhat muffled by the fabric she was rubbing vigorously against her face. “Hey, if ya wanna switch, the offer’s open.”

“Absolutely not! I’d need to apply fresh makeup first and find a suitable outfit for the occasion, not to mention it’s been days since I’ve last had a proper hooficure, and—” Rarity let out a sigh of frustration, seizing Applejack’s towel and wiping the farmpony’s mane furiously, then seized it in her magic and yanked it back, swiftly tying it into a braid.

Applejack yelped and grimaced at the less than gentle treatment, trying to twist around and immediately regretting it as Rarity’s firm grip on her mane merely caused it to be pulled at by the roots. “Ow! Dangit, Rares, that hurts!”

“That’s what you get for not holding still when I tell you to,” Rarity said, a little smirk on her lips. “Now stop squirming, or do I need to put you in a leglock?”

The answer seemed to be ‘yes’, because Applejack almost immediately reared up and swiped her wet tail behind her blindly, catching Rarity right across the face with it. She spluttered, spat and shook her head inelegantly for a moment, the blue shimmer around Applejack’s mane flickering.

“I told ya a hundred times already; no braids!” Applejack tried to make a break for it while Rarity was distracted, but the unicorn leapt at her and tackled her to the ground with surprising ferocity, pinning one of Applejack’s forelegs behind her back with both front hooves while straddling her.

“I said hold still, darling!” Rarity hissed, grabbing Applejack’s mane in her magic again and resuming her work.

“Not a word to anypony about this,” Applejack muttered to Marble as the unicorn deftly arranged her blonde mane in a long, elegant braid.

During the whole thing, Marble had stood rooted to the spot, unsure whether to step in or not. In a way, it was oddly… reassuring to see her cousin humbled so for a second time by the delicate unicorn; to know that, as much as she might give the impression of it, she wasn’t always in control and certainly wasn’t infallible.

Marble nodded reassuringly at Applejack. “Don’t worry, I can keep quiet. The others are probably going to notice it either way, though.”

Rarity let out a little huff. “As well they should! I’m putting a lot of effort into this!”

“Can we at least leave out the part where I got marehandled by Rares?” Applejack groaned.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly…” Marble intoned with a little smile, making the appropriate gesture with her hoof.

“There… finished,” Rarity said, a little out of breath as she let go of Applejack’s foreleg and moved off her back. Applejack stood up as well, sporting a magnificent long braid that hung down the left side of her neck in addition to a rather displeased expression on her face.

“Great, can we go now?” she grumbled, tossing her head a little to flick the braid behind her back, though it simply slipped down her right side instead.

“In a moment,” Rarity said pleasantly and turned her head towards Marble, who suddenly felt like a mouse before a bird of prey. “Hmm… I think a chignon would suit you just perfectly…”

Marble had no idea what that was, but she knew they were running late enough as it was, and she was not particularly keen on being thrown about the same way Applejack had been. “Ah, that sounds nice, but…” She glanced at Rarity’s mane, which seemed to have come out significantly worse for the wear from the braiding session. “Perhaps you might want to, uhm, tend to yourself first.”

Rarity furrowed her brow a bit in puzzlement and gingerly raised a hoof to her mane. “Whatever do you mean, darling? I—” She froze. “Is… is that…?” Her eyes widened and her mouth moved soundlessly for a moment. “M-my hair! It’s a bird’s nest! I-I—I have to go!”

Without another word, or even a backwards look, Rarity sprinted off at a pace that surprised Marble, given the unicorn’s dainty frame. They both stood still for a moment and looked after the white silhouette as it disappeared down the road.

“Well… that’s one way to do it,” Applejack muttered. She grabbed her hat from the stand and turned to look at Marble. “I think it’s high time we got goin’ ourselves, though. C’mon.”

“Right.” Marble nodded and ran after her. I just hope Dad isn’t going to be too upset, she thought, though she suspected she already knew the answer to that.