She sighed, and as she began the menial task of floating all the trash to the trashcans, righting the table, and pushing in the chairs, her mind started to drift; Celestia's words, and how they had turned out, in a very roundabout way, to be true; Applejack had inadvertently freed Twilight from the bonds of the Pinkie Promise, but not at all the way Twilight had imagined. She remembered the Princess's expression, as it always was; Caring, smiling, coy and canny at once. As if the Princess knew something she didn't; As if it was always supposed to be this way, and she knew exactly what was going to happen.
It didn't seem terribly unlikely that she DID know what was going to happen.
Twilight stopped for a moment, trash hovering just over the trash can, trying to remember everything the Princess had said, in case there was anything she'd missed;
"...do you remember when you learned about truth and promises?"
"Being able to share your feelings...."
"So what brings my most faithful student to the Royal Canterlot Library at three AM?"
"...but I had some important matters to attend to with my student."
Wait. That last one; There was somepony else there, wasn't there? Twilight strained to remember; Sleep deprivation does nothing for one's memory, but Twilight's mind's eye eventually made out the shape of a green unicorn. Ah. Yes. That's right; They were in a gallery, his gallery. The memory drew a wince from the purple pony.
Twilight had rather rudely brushed him off, after all; She certainly hoped the Princess would not think badly of her for that! The alicorn can not have been well rested herself, yet she composed herself quite well at Twilight's sudden appearance, while Twilight had bitten the stallions head off. But Celestia hadn't reacted too badly, if Twilight remembered correctly. She'd simply said something like, "That was very rude... You never know when another pony may have the answer to your problems."
"Huh? What was the Twilight?" Spike turned around to face her quizzically, a handful of appletart slipping unnoticed back to the grass. Twilight hadn't even noticed that she'd said the last part out loud, nor did she noticed Spike's reply. Her eyes suddenly brightened; It had to mean something!
Twilight chucked the rest of the garbage swiftly, and then threw Spike onto her back with magic; She didn't know what it meant, but she knew that she had to go find that "Buffalo Painter" or whatever and confront him immediately!
---
Several minutes later, Twilight and Spike were stepping through the library door. Well, Spike was stepping. Twilight was sprinting.
"Twilight, what are you in such a big rush for? Didn't you already check our library?"
"Yes Spike, but I'm not looking for Prairie's information here. I'm going to see if there are any spells for long-distance teleportation."
Twilight raced around shelves, looking anxiously from title to title;
Subtropical Climate and You
Legends of the Forbidden City; Tartaros
Equestrian History for eggheads
"No, no no no NO!"
It's gotta be around here somewhere...
"Hey Twilight..."
"What Spike?" Twilight moaned, "I'm looking for something!"
Ignoring her, Spike went on;
"Well, I was wondering.... Couldn't you just teleport a normal distance a few times until you're in Canterlot?"
Immediately, Twilight brightened up. "Of course! It'll take a little longer, but I don't have to learn to do that!!"
But fate would be Celestia-damned if Twilight was going to follow a simple plan successfully; Just as her horn began to glow, with her mind's eye picturing the outskirts of Ponyville in the direction of Canterlot, an orange hoof once again assaulted the door.
"AUGHH!" Twilight groaned, but this time the spell dissolved without sending her flying through the door. Spike started to answer it, but Twilight was racing down the stairs at the object of her frustration like a bullet toward a target sign. The baby dragon shook his head and turned back to some books he wa rearranging. It simply wasn't worth the trouble.
Twilight flung open the door to reveal a sorry sight;
Puffy eyes, no hat, exhaustion creeping out of every hair, Applejack stood in front of Twilight humbled.
"So..." she drawled, unable to meet Twilight's eyes, " I been doin' some thinkin'."
Twilight wanted to urge her to expound, but caution kept her silent. Applejack was a frightened deer and Twilight could not afford to scare her off by being too forward.
Silence.
Still, Twilight thought uneasily, Applejack might benefit from a bit of gentle prodding.
"And?" The cautious inquiry did not startle Applejack, but made her turn her head even further down, as if it had somehow amplified her shame.
"Well... Yeh might be right... Y'know....about... Prferwnot..."
"I'm sorry?" Twilight strained, one ear lifted to try to understand Applejack's slurred mumbling.
"I said, Y'all er right about Prerfrenwhatnnt..."
"What?"
"Y'ALL ER RIGHT ABOUT PRAIRIE FIRE!" She finally faced Twilight, disheveled as she was, eyes pleading for something that Twilight was the wrong pony to give. " I'm sorry! I cain't stand this whole business, it's been tearin me apart since I was a filly!"
Applejack's head fell, and Twilight could hear her cry, even though the tears never fell. She put a hoof on her friend's shoulder.
"Applejack, I'm so very sorry." Twilight raised her head up, so that they met eyes. It broke Twilight's hear to see, by far, the strongest pony of the group so hurt. She tried not to translate that into resentment for Applejack's brother; Hate wouldn't solve anything, and there were going to be enough emotions going on when they finally did reunite without Twilight throwing her's in.
"Twilight.... D'ya really think findin' him will solve anything?"
"I know it's a risk, but a lot of time has passed; At the very least, we have to give it a shot. If repairing your heart is what we stand to gain, we have no choice but to try." Twilight was confident as she spoke, and whether Applejack thought what she was saying made sense or not, the cowpony was about ready to try anything.
The orange mare sighed, broken. "If yah say so, Twilight."
Twilight beamed. "I'm so glad you decided to make amends with Prairie Fire, Applejack, you're really going to-"
"Make 'mends?" Applejack sharply cut in. "I never said nothin' about makin amends! I'll help you find him, but I'm more like to buck him in the face than make amends with'im."
Twilight started to protest, but seeing Applejack's stern expression, and not wanting to lose the opportunity, she sighed and relented. Hopefully, Applejack would come around when the time came, but if she pushed the issue now, Applejack might just as easily discard the whole idea altogether.
Instead, she decided to let Applejack in on the lead.
"Well, I met with Princess Celestia late last night to discuss-" Twilight started, but Applejack's sudden sharp glare made her stutter. "T-to, er, discuss some spells," Applejack relaxed a little, "And, weeell, long story short, I think I know the next pony I need to talk to about the whereabouts of your brother!" Twilight declared.
Applejack looked rather unimpressed with Twilight's declaration, and just groaned, "Alright Twi, where is this mystery pony, and where do we find him?"
Trying not to betray her deflation at Applejack's lack of reaction, Twilight continued hesitantly, "Well, he's a green unicorn artist, displaying his work in the Royal Gallery, and-"
"Whoa, now hold on there, Twi. Y'all said you knew who to talk to to find my brother, yeh didn't say ya had FOUND my brother!" Applejack's eyes were quizzical as she spoke, now watching Twilight carefully.
There was a momentary pause as Twilight's expression moved into confusion, consideration, realization, and suddenly-
"UGH! Of course! Buffalo Paintbrush, why didn't I realize this sooner? I'm an expert on aliases!" Without any more explanation, Twilight ran toward an inner room of the library, where reference books were stored.
"Buffa whatsit now?" Applejack inquired, following with a rather unimpressed expression.
"Indigenous flowers, indigenous flowers, aha! Here it is, Indigenous Flowers and you; From Allium to Willow Curly."
She floated a thick green book over to a podium to flip through the pages, and landed on the page that said "Castilleja;"
"Twilight, what-" Applejack started, but was cut off by Twilight's harsh "SHH!"
So Applejack just read;
Kingdom: Plantea
Order: Lamiales
Family: Orobanchaceae
Genus: Castilleja
A genus of about 200 species, Castilleja is often referred to by one of its common names, Buffalo Paintbrush or Prairie Fire.
---
One hour and a long explanation to a confused Applejack later, the two mares found themselves standing on a train platform on their way to Canterlot. Since they had left the library, they had hardly spoken, leaving Applejack alone with her thoughts. She shifted uncomfortably on the platform, seeing yet another afternoon that was bound to pass, but it was here for the moment, and she supposed that would have to suffice. She didn't have the whole day for this, but it needed to be done, whether it was late or not.
It was still a good half hour before the train would arrive when a dramatic scream of "WAAAIIT!" came from the direction of the town. Twilight, Spike and Applejack wouldn't have even turned if they had not recognized the voice; After all, what pony would be looking for them?
But in turning to the direction of the cry, they were indeed correct in their identification of the voice: Rarity came flying through the streets and to the platform, traveling hat and saddlebags flopping gracelessly in the wind. When she finally made it to the two gaping mares she gasped for a few moments before stuttering out,
"Fluttersh- huff- told me, -huff-, you two were, -huff- going to Canterlot, -huff- going with you - huff- find Prairie, -PHEW-!" and she half-collapsed dramatically in front of them.
Gathering that Rarity intended to join their quest in finding Prairie (Although at this point, it was more like confronting him; He had already been "found."), Twilight nervously gauged Applejack's reaction; This could throw Applejack off completely, considering how tenuous her decision to go through with any of this was in the first place.
Before anypony could say anything, the train was rumbling up. As the door opened, Applejack tersely jerked her head toward it, and all that needed to be communicated came through. The four boarded what was the longest train ride of Applejack's life so far. What the end of it held, she had no Equestrian idea.
As they settled into the cabin, Twilight chose the seat near but not adjacent to Applejack's, leaving a little breathing room for the tempermental mare. Slowly, in the hopes of offering some comfort, she remarked half to herself, half to Applejack, "You know... In Equestrian Philosophy Volume IIV, Marekowski talked about trains. He said that, "All of life is one long train ride after another."" Brightening, she finally took a direct look at Applejack, hoping that some kind of enlightenment would reflect in the orange pony's eyes, but to her disappointment, Applejack was staring out the window glumly.
"Great, sugarcube," She mumbled absently. Twilight dropped her eyes, uncomfortable, and carefully snuck over to Rarity's side of the cabin. Seconds stretched on, and the train rumbled ahead. A bout of laughter erupted from a neighboring cabin, a cruel symbol of the stark difference between now and last few times they had ridden a train together.
Applejack was glaring out the window, Rarity was absorbed in writing down a few notes about inspiration she'd gotten on the way here (An artist never rests! She liked to say), Spike was counting his scales, and Twilight uncomfortably twiddled her hooves, feeling suddenly like a filly in a room full of strangers. Still, Twilight had never been more sure that this was the right thing to do; if the pain of this issue could put this big of a rift between such loving friends, then to mend it would bring them that much closer.
If Applejack would let it.
Twilight's mind seemed to be uneasy with that; Applejack's assent was not truly given yet; She had agreed to see Prairie. But so far, what that really meant was known to nopony but Applejack herself, and Twilight could only steal nervous glances at the brooding orange mare to even hope to guess at it. She half-wished she could use the same memory spell she'd use to un-Discord her friends, but she felt like she shouldn't interfere; This was Applejack's life, and her choice to make.
The most Twilight could do was support her. As much as Twilight knew this to be true, her heart ached for her to do something, anything. It was her responsibility to fix this! But it wasn't, and she forced herself to keep out of it; at least, beyond what she had already done. The quiet hum of the train filled up her mouth, leaving no rooms for any further words she might have been tempted to spill.