“Erm… Long time no see, right, Rainbow?” Applejack said, chuckling nervously.
“If you consider a week a long time, then yes. Now, what do you want?” I repeated for the third time.
“I, um, just wanted to give you an update about what’s going on in Ponyville, you know?”
I rubbed my forehead to ward off the growing headache. “Applejack, you and I both know how terrible of a liar you are. If that was all, you could have just sent me a letter, not come all the way to Canterlot. Besides, it would still be weird even if you sent me that letter, considering that things aren’t exactly cool between us right now. Now tell me the truth, before I slam this door in your face.”
“Fine, fine!” Applejack said, panic entering her voice. “I came to talk to you! I wanted to apologize!”
“I’m not the one you need to apologize to,” I said coolly.
“I know, but the hospital is closed right now, right? I figured that I could come smooth things over with you tonight, and tomorrow I could talk to Twilight.”
“Fine. But you need to make it quick. I need to get to bed. I have an appointment with Twilight in the morning, because unlike some ponies, I care about her.”
She flinched back. “Darn it, Dash, that was a low blow. I care about her too.”
“Well then, why did you treat her like you did? Calling her a loony, then acting like she was going to rip your head off for no good reason doesn’t exactly scream ‘I care about you.’”
“Rainbow Dash, I’m trying to apologize! Do you think that Twilight would want us fighting like this?”
“Don’t you dare—” I began before I got a handle on my anger. After all, she was probably right. “Fine, come on in. This isn’t a conversation for the hallway.”
“Right,” Applejack agreed, following me back into my room.
“So,” I said, hopping onto the bed as Applejack pulled out a pillow and sat on it, facing me. “Start talking.”
“Well,” Applejack said, chewing on her lip a little, “I got to thinking at the end of our little talk at Sugarcube Corner. What I had said was way out of line. I mean, Twilight is my friend, but when I heard that she was in trouble, my first thought was that she might have hurt somepony. And that just ain’t right,” she added hastily when I started growling. “So I went home and thought long and hard on it. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn’t really know anything about what Twilight was going through.”
“Everything did go to Tartarus before Twilight had a chance to tell you everything,” I observed.
“Yeah. So I thought about how to fix that, and I think I came to the same conclusion that Twilight would have: I needed to read a book about it. So I went to the library—”
“Spike must have been happy to see you,” I said, smirking.
“I’ll say. It went pretty much the same way it did out in the hallway there. He was threatening to slam the door in my face till I got him to calm down,” Applejack said, smiling a little. “Little guy really loves Twilight.”
“So after you got him to let you in, I take it you checked out a book on A.C.M.S.?”
“Well… not just one.”
“Oh?” I said, curiosity creeping into my voice.
“I kind of… maxed out the number of books I could check out. I stayed up almost all night reading them. In fact, I only went to bed when Big Mac threatened to knock me out and put me in bed himself. He said he needed the help on the farm in the morning,” Applejack said.
“Speaking of the farm, how long are you going to be in Canterlot? I can’t imagine you taking the train all the way here for one night. And doesn’t your family need help on the farm?”
“Oh,” Applejack said, waving a hoof in the air dismissively, “we just hired a couple of extra ponies to help. And as for staying in Canterlot, I think I’ll stay for about a week. That should give me enough time to see Twilight at least twice, right?”
“You mean… you actually want to see Twilight?” I asked, slightly stunned. I hadn’t expected that, though in hindsight I should have. AJ wouldn’t have come all the way up here just to see me and then go right back home. Train tickets were a little too expensive for a pony to just come to Canterlot for no reason.
“Of course,” Applejack said, nodding vigorously. “Anyhow, we got a little sidetracked. After I checked out all those books, I went home and spent the next day studying.”
“You, studying.” I couldn’t keep the disbelief out of my voice.
“Argh! Why does everypony say that when I tell them that story? First Spike, then Rarity, and now you! It’s not like I can’t read or anything.”
“Well, your hatred of those ‘fancy mathematics’ is kind of well known.”
“This is different! I do hate doing math! This isn’t math!”
“Okay, okay. I get it. So when you,” I had to suppress a giggle at this point, “'studied,’ what did you find out?”
“A lot of stuff that made me feel guilty, that’s for sure. I mean, did you know that ponies with a severe mental illness are much more likely to be victimized by violent crime, not commit them? I thought it was the other way around!”
“I hadn’t specifically heard that, but I can understand that. When Twilight had her… episode, she seemed more interested in running from everypony. Twilight just seemed… scared,” I said.
“Yeah… I can imagine. The books said that ponies with A.C.M.S. would rather be left alone. And Twilight always likes her alone time.”
I said nothing, but my mind went back to when Twilight and I had first started dating. She had been really slow to open up to me emotionally. I guess even then she had been trying to come out of her comfort zone.
“Another thing I read,” Applejack said, breaking me out of my thoughts, “is that ponies with A.C.M.S. are more likely to get addicted to something harmful, like alcohol. And that made a lot of things click into place for me.”
“Oh? Like what?”
“Well, this is just me thinking out loud, but that might be the reason Twilight always turned down the hard stuff when I brought cider. Probably because she didn’t want to become addicted.”
“I’m not sure it works like that, Applejack,” I said.
“Well, my uncle used to be drunk all the time, and after he sobered up, he wouldn’t touch anything addictive, even if a doctor prescribed it. I dunno, I just got the same kind of feeling, thinking back on how Twilight acts around alcohol.”
Again, I said nothing, simply recalling Twilight’s admission in Doctor Hooves’s office that she once used salt sticks. Was that really why she wouldn’t touch Applejack’s hard cider? Was she afraid of becoming addicted again, just to a different thing?
Not that I would know at this point. I hadn’t noticed how she had stayed away from alcohol until Applejack had brought it up just now. But, in hindsight, she hadn’t even looked at the wine list anytime we went out to eat.
“Anyways,” I said, “What was the end result of you doing all this studying? You don’t need to lecture me on what A.C.M.S. does. I already heard it straight from the pony’s mouth, and you would have as well, if you hadn’t messed everything up.”
AJ winced. “Right, I should have known you would know more than me. You’ve been Twilight’s marefriend for a while. I guess that beats one night of studying.”
“Yeah. It does,” I said, “but here’s the thing that gets me. You’ve known Twilight for just as long as I have. How could you even think she would hurt us? You know how important friendship is to her.”
“It’s like Granny Smith always says, ‘ignorance breeds fear.’ Granted, I’ve never had that apply to me before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything. And,” she said, chuckling regretfully, “in this case my fear kept me from learning more. It was one of those, what do you call it, orb-thingy.”
“Some sort of orb? What?” I asked, totally confused.
“You know, that snake that eats its own tail?”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about, but that sounds like one stupid snake.”
“I guess so,” Applejack said, frowning. “But, back on topic, I want to make it up to you, and more importantly, Twilight.”
“Well, I do have an appointment with her tomorrow, but I don’t think the doctor would be as accommodating to a two pony visit this time. In fact I think the only reason I got in to see her before was because of her brother.”
AJ gave me a look. “The doctor’s brother, or…”
“No,” I corrected, “Twilight’s brother. And no, I didn’t know Twilight had a brother either.”
“Really? I always thought Twilight was an only child. Don’t know why though.”
“Probably because she never mentioned him. According to him, Twilight has always been terrible about keeping ponies informed about what’s going on in her life.”
“It sounds like it,” Applejack agreed.
“So anyways, you might be able to see Twilight on Friday, if you make an appointment tomorrow.”
“I hope so. I can’t stay in Canterlot for too long. I’m not made of bits you know.”
“Yeah. And this is changing the subject, but how are things back in Ponyville?”
“Well,” Applejack said, rubbing her chin, “it’s pretty much the same old, just a little quieter without Twilight. Oh! But guess what?”
“What?”
“Lyra and Rarity are heading to Canterlot soon too! They’re going to be taking part in that competition!”
“Really?” I said, intrigued. “The one where the pony’s invention that has the most potential to do good gets a grant to continue research?”
“The very same! I’m so happy for Rarity. This could be the boost that she needs to step into the limelight!” Applejack said with pride in her voice.
“Good for her!” I said, but my smile wasn’t entirely genuine. Twilight should have been competing in that as well. Or at least, before she had destroyed her notes.
“And one last thing,” Applejack said. “Spike said he should be up in Canterlot as soon as he finds somepony to watch the library. He has a couple of ponies he thinks might be good for the job, but he wants to pick the best. Wouldn’t want Twilight to come back to a destroyed library, now would we?”
“Right,” I said, then yawned. “Sorry to cut this short, but I need to get to bed. After that appointment with Twilight, I have to clean the whole hospital.”
“Sounds like fun,” AJ said with a chuckle. “So, um, are things allright between us now?”
“Yeah, we’re cool,” I said with a smile.
“Good, good,” AJ said, sounding relived. “Well, I need to get some shut-eye as well. Maybe I’ll see you at the hospital tomorrow?”
“We’ll see.”
“All right. I’ll talk to you later, Rainbow,” she said, as she exited my room.
As soon as she shut the door behind her, I collapsed back into bed, barely taking the time to make sure that my alarm was set for the right time before letting sleep claim me.