“Ah’m telling you, the most cider ever drunk in a single sitting was mah great granny, Hard Cider! It was her freakin’ cutie mark for land's sake!” Applejack shouted.
“And I’m telling you, everypony knows that Commander Hurricane’s son, Water Spout who drank the most! He drank half the bars in Cirra dry in one night!” Rainbow Dash shouted right back
“That’s just an old story!”
“And your’s is family myth!”
The two butted heads and glared for a moment.
“So…” Applejack backed off, “How are we gonna settle this?”
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Well, the two of us could have a little competition right here. Right now.”
“Celestial sake Rainbow, it’s two in the afternoon! You might have a problem. I was thinking something along the lines of asking someone who would know. Like Granny Smith.”
“No! She’s biased, of course she’ll go with your side of things. Weave got to ask someone who knows all kinds of important information like this, but isn't involved in the argument.”
“So… a bartender?” Applejack frowned. “ We’re not going to a bar at two in the afternoon.”
“No.” Dash pouted. “I meant the egghead down the street. If she doesn't know this kind of thing, she’ll at least be able to tell us where to find it.” Maybe a bar, Dash thought.
“Hm. Fine.”
“Twi? You in here?” Applejack called as they pushed open the library’s doors. The lights were on, but no one had answered when they knocked. The two ponies trotted into the main room and looked around.
“No sign of her,” Dash pointed out. “Let’s split up. You go see if she’s upstairs, I’ll see if a book looks like it would have an answer.”
“Alright, but i’m gonna check to make sure the book really has the answer.”
Dash watched Applejack trot up the stairs, trying not to stare at her flank as she climbed. She did not succeed. She shook her head, banishing the thoughts. She’s not interested, you've been through this Rainbow, she thought as she started scanning the shelves. That drunken night was just that. She likes Rarity.
“I know, I know,” she whispered, “but I can still dream.”
Dash listened to AJ knocking on doors one by one upstairs, and she kept looking at shelves of books. This would be so much easier if I knew how these were organized. Or what I was looking for. Quickly she sighted a book with a name she recognized. “The Whinnies Book of Records.” Well, Whinnies is a brewery, surely their record book would have this.
She had reached out for the book and started flipping through pages, looking for a table of contents, when Applejack reappeared at the bottom of the stairs. Rainbow Dash looked up at her friend, trying to read her expression. She seemed to be staring straight ahead, eyes wide, with her face blank.
“AJ?” she asked. There was no response. “Was Twilight upstairs?”
Applejack nodded and started walking to the front door. Dash placed the book back on the shelf and started trotting towards the stairs, keeping an eye on Applejack. That’s kind of weird, even for Applejack. Maybe Twilight told her it was Water Spout and she can’t take the loss. That doesn't make sense though, we've argued about almost everything by now, and both won about as many as we lost, so she should have been used to it by now.
Rainbow climbed the stairs and looked down the narrow hallway, the only open door led to, of course, the bedroom. What are these other rooms even for? All the books are downstairs, the lab’s in the basement, and Spike sleeps in her room, she wondered as she walked toward the open door.
Dash stuck her head, about to ask what was up with Applejack, and her jaw dropped. Reclining on Twilights bed were Twilight and Rarity, currently tangled in each other’s limbs. She could see that they were both passionately kissing, and oblivious to intrusion of their privacy. Rainbow Dash very slowly and quietly backed out of the room, tiptoeing down the stairs. Well. That answers a few questions.
She found no trace of Applejack in the library so she opened the door to leave and found her friend sitting on the steps just outside. She closed the door behind her and sat next to the farmpony. She looked awkwardly at her friend, who had lowered her hat and looked like she was trying to fight back tears. I know the feeling partner.
Rainbow put her wing around her friend. “I’m sorry AJ. I’m real sorry.”