Big Macintosh and Rainbow Dash are Dating and Everypony Freaks Out

by BlackM

A stirring afternoon

Big Macintosh and Rainbow Dash are Dating and Everypony Freaks Out

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A stirring afternoon
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Finally, the last of the trees had been torn down and collected, and Mac was on his way to deliver the load to the barn. It had been such a hard day of work, even more so as Rainbow Dash had yet to return since leaving for the library. Big Macintosh didn’t worry, though. He knew that she was probably busy helping her friends out or she was dealing with something that might’ve gone amiss between them. If there was a serious or lengthy problem, she’d have gone to him. So if she wasn’t back yet, she was either busy or still with her friends.

Although, he wished she would come back soon. If they were going to have this party tonight, the sooner she returned, the sooner they could finish work, and the sooner they could prepare for the party.

The trees had been dumped near the compost heap of the barn. It’d take some time for the leaves to wear away and fall so that the wood could be taken to the lumberyard for profit. It was too much hassle doing it manually, stripping every branch and tree of their leaves. They’d wait until the leaves’ hold on the trees weakened before shaking any loose ones away, then it’d all be swept up and dumped into the compost bin, where they would start over as feed for new apple trees.

Only one chore remained, one that Rainbow Dash was supposed to help with; scan the field for weeds and dry spots. Had the pegasus been there, she’d have it done in no time at all, and that’d have been an impressive feat considering how expansive the fields were. Too bad she hadn’t returned. Oh well, he thought. There was still the tanker to check on. If Rainbow Dash didn’t return before he was finished, he’d have to do the spot checks himself, and that would take forever, he feared.

Thinking back to his fillyfriend and the news, he wondered why no mares had yet to show up on their doorstep and accuse them of a criminal offense. Only a few times was it joked about how irresistible he was, with his good looks and charm, and Big Macintosh never took them seriously. But he knew a few ponies did, and the fact that nopony had yet attempted to ‘take him back’ worried him. If everypony in town knew already, then what was distracting them?

Spoke to soon.

“Oh! Um, h-hello Mr. Macintosh,” Fluttershy managed to utter.

“Evenin’, Ms. Fluttershy,” he gave her a nod before resuming his way to the tanker.

As he walked, he mentally prepared himself for the predictable onslaught of questions concerning his relationship with Rainbow Dash. The two ponies loved each other very much, but even he knew what a huge difference there was between him and Rainbow Dash. It wasn’t uncommon for polar opposites to become couples, but there was never any shortage of doubt, and this pairing was no exception either. He had gone over every possible reason why they liked each other and had an answer prepared for just about anything a jealous mare would ask him.

He was surprised that Fluttershy, of all ponies, would be the first to approach him, though.

After a few minutes of silence, Macintosh decided to get it over with, “Can Ah help you?”

Fluttershy had been hovering, trailing him from behind, having difficulty figuring out how to start. Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen on her way here, and only her coltfriend knew where she might be. She was hesitant, though, as it was likely that Rainbow Dash would appear any minute.

“U-Umm,” she started, but found it difficult to continue, “…how’s…Rainbow Dash doing?”

She’s trying to be subtle, he thought.

“Doin’ fine,” he answered.

“O-oh, that’s good to hear,” she said, then fell silent.

A few more steps of silence, and she tried again.

“U-Um, is she well?” she asked.

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh replied.

More silence.

‘She sure is draggin’ it on,’ the stallion thought.

“U-umm, she’s been helping around, yes?” she asked.

“Eeyup.”

Even more silence.

“…I ask because…well, she’s, uhh…” she trailed off into silence.

“Lazy?” the stallion finished.

“Err, yeah,” she confirmed, “She’s not a very hard worker…”

“Nah, she’s just efficient,” he stated.

If any bird or cricket was nearby, they didn’t make themselves known.

“…but I guess she’s very helpful, with her…uh, rain making…convenience,” Fluttershy said.

“Very,” he replied.

If a pin fell on the soft and lush grass, it would still be heard when it landed.

“…I don’t suppose…she’s watering any trees right now,” the yellow pegasus said thoughtfully.

“Nah she’s in town,” the stallion answered.

It was so silent, there was noise being borrowed from across the landscape. One could hear a very funny anecdote by a royal guard within the Canterlot castle if they listened hard enough. Something about a monkey…

When the guards ceased talking because a superior had called for their attention, Mac’s words finally registered to Fluttershy, “Wait, she’s not here?”

How weird. Her hesitance had disappeared altogether, Mac thought.

“Nnnope. Hasn’t returned since she left to Twilight’s,” he said, “Should be back soon, though.”

“O-Ohh,” she uttered in disappointment, “W-well then. How’s Winona doing?”

She wasn’t interested anymore in the original topic.

“Wit’ Applejack. She’s sheddin’ an awful lot, though,” he answered, the shed coming in close.

“Oh, that’s normal. It’s almost summer, after all,” she said, followed by a pause, “Well then…I’ll just leave you to your work then. Later!”

Big Macintosh looked back to see Fluttershy fluttering her way out of the farm and towards the library that could be seen in the distance. The stallion was confused; that conversation did not go exactly like he thought it would go in his head. He expected more flirting or more obviously voiced disdain. She only came for Rainbow Dash, though that was innocent enough.

He turned back to the barn shed’s door and unlocked it. The light poured within, revealing a wide array of tools that could have been mistaken for weaponry. Pitchforks, rakes, shovels, a machete, just in case, a mower, a tractor, a lawnmower, a wood chipper, a, broken, chainsaw, and, ultimately, the huge water tanker. It had only been used since the last Winter Wrap Up, but the dry season was coming, and it needed to be checked for leaks.

As he moved aside tools to give him space, he thought back to Fluttershy and how oddly she acted. She’s been friends with Rainbow Dash the longest of the others, that much he knew. And then she comes around asking for her after they break the news that they’re dating. She was surprised and disappointed when she realized Rainbow Dash wasn’t at the farm. While such activity wasn’t much to be suspicious of, the reason for Fluttershy’s odd behavior was pretty obvious.

“Hm. Never took Fluttershy for a fillyfooler,” he said before getting to work on the tanker.

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Ponies sure are active today...
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“Hmm? Pinkie Pie!”

On her way back to the farm, the pink pony suddenly heard her name being called out. It was a rare moment where she was the one being sought out, but a welcomed one. Pinkie Pie looked up to see Ditzy Doo flittering back and forth as she attempted to land, only to go face first into the dirt. However, her rear end tipped over and forward, bringing the pegasus upright and on her rump. A bit dizzy, the pegasus shook her head of any loose dirt as the pink pony greeted her.

“Good afternoon, Ditzy! You’ve been working on your landing, haven’t you?” Pinkie Pie congratulated.

Ditzy Doo spat out dirt from her mouth before talking, “Thanks! I knead to work on making it softer though so that I don’t hurt myself.”

“Well, you’re getting there!” she gave the pegasus a confident grin.

Ditzy Doo smiled too, the splotches of earth showing up on and in between her teeth, “So, listen. I was at Sugar Cube Corner after I finished my mourning shift.”

“Oh? Then what happened?” Pinkie asked enthusiastically.

“Well, the cakes were so busy baking, that they hardly had anything good left in stock!” Ditzy Doo said, waving her arms around in despair.

“That means two things,” the pink pony joked, then gasped expressively, “How terrible! Sugar Cube Corner should always be full of scrumptious snacks!”

“I asked the Cakes about it. They said you’ve all been busy lately,” the pegasus said with a hoof to her chin.

“Oh yeahhhh,” the pink pony said as if she realized something, “Mr. and Mrs. Cake have been busy tending to their foals, and I’ve been busy helping out my friends. We did save the town from that Diamond Dog biker gang last month,” Pinkie placed a hoof to her chin at the memory, “Ooh! And there was that time we fended off a swarm of wyverns last week. And after that we saved the town from an incoming volcano.”

“Yeah, it’s been a,” Ditzy Doo’s eyes straightened as they drew a circle, “cuh-RAAZY week for us, huh?” and her eyes reverted back to normal, “What a shame too. I wanted to pick up some of my favorite snacks. Like doughnuts, danishes, cookies, cupcakes, swirls, rolls, pastries, éclairs, tarts, macaroons, cannoli, cream horns, fig bars, strudels, turnovers, brownies, scones, wafers, and bear claws! Mmm.”

As Ditzy finished listing her favorite treats, Pinkie Pie had just finished eating a bag of cooked banana chips.

“Aww, I’d have that stuff stocked for you, but we’ve all been very busy!” Pinkie Pie continued, “School’s almost over, Rarity’s business is booming, the Apples are preparing for summer, Rainbow Dash has been helping them out, and I’m preparing a-”

It was then that Pinkie’s party meter spiked.

“GAAAASP!” she worded, then began to trot in place, “The party! I need to tell everypony about the party! Oh, but I’m still preparing it!” she turned to the confused pegasus, “Ditzy Doo! How convenient of you to be existing there!”

Suddenly, the mare’s arms stretched out to where the eyes could not follow and returned with a giant bag of letters.

“Ditzy Doo, can you help me pass out all of these letters to every pony in Ponyville?” she asked with an endearing smile, “It’s Big Mac and Rainbow Dash’s ‘Coming out with their relationship’ party! And I’d be able to get all of these letters out in time for me to finish setting up the party!”

“Whoa,” the fish eyed pegasus said as she marveled at the size of the bag with one eye, “But if you’re so busy, how did you have this bag of letters prepared?”

The pony shrugged, “It’s actually just copied and pasted from the other fic that has no continuity connected to this one,” she answered, then paused, “…just kidding! I have sacks of letters scattered all over Ponyville in case of a party emergency. They don’t have the actual time and locations, so when you spread these around, tell them it’s at Sweet Apple Acres at seven o’ clock on the dot, so don’t forget!”

“Ohhh, gotcha!,” the pegasus said as she gave her a salute, “I’ll be happy to help, Pinkie Pie!”

“Yay! This is gonna be a great party!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she handed Ditzy Doo around half of the letters from her bag.

And then Pinkie’s entire body began to shake rapidly and fiercely. All the letters in her hoof were thrown and scattered as her bag rustled wildly. Ditzy Doo was surprised by this and backed up, then watched as she convulsed for two and a half minutes straight. When she stopped, Pinkie Pie only smiled.

“See? That means it’ll be a party nopony forgets,” she said with a wide smile, the pegasus smiling in agreement.

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Let's hope it's the good kind of memory...
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“Um, knock knock?”

The shy pegasus peeked through the library door, worried that something was amiss as she found it half open, but mostly worried that Rainbow Dash was still here. No rainbow or worries, to her delight; it was just Twilight Sparkle there by herself, with her pet owl and broom sweeping up the library.

“Oh, good afternoon, Fluttershy,” the unicorn greeted, “Pardon the mess. I just had a meeting held here.”

“Oh, it’s fine. My place is usually messy too, sometimes worse,” Fluttershy said, shuddering at all the times she had to wash her hooves because of some of her careless animals, “I, um, came to see if Rainbow Dash was here.”

“Oh, she was here earlier,” she placed the broom aside, next to a roosted Owlowiscious, “But Rarity came by before I could tell her something.”

“Ohh,” Fluttershy said, sinking to hide her embarrassment, “Okay then.”

“What do you think, Fluttershy?” Twilight said as she walked up to her.

“Uhh,” that was a weird question to ask, “Umm, well, it’s really inconvenient for me because, well, I was looking for her, but… if she’s at Rarity’s-”

“Err, no, I mean,” Twilight interrupted, apologetically, “About Mac and Dash dating. What do you think?”

“Oh, umm…” the pegasus didn’t know what to say. She was sad, of course, heartbroken even, but she couldn’t say exactly why. She was hoping to confess it to Rainbow Dash, in private. But then it came to her, would she keep it a secret? Would she encourage her to tell the others? She was really afraid of being perceived differently because of her sexuality, and Rainbow Dash would want to tell the others for her own good, as she’d put it. She was starting to reconsider seeking out Rainbow Dash for this…

Before she could give an answer, somepony busted the door open, frightening the daylights out of the pegasus, “Twilight! We have evidence!”

Fluttershy zipped to hide behind Twilight. The unicorn was confused, but mostly upset that somepony would be insensitive enough to barge in without knocking. To her surprise, it was Flitter and a dizzy Berry Punch.

“Evidence? Evidence of what?” she asked.

“I still say we should have at least gotten some bricks,” Berry Punch commented out loud.

The room stared at her. Even Fluttershy peeked from her hiding position to silently judge the drunkard.

“Anyway,” Flitter resumed, “Rainbow Dash! She’s totally a fillyfooler!”

Both Twilight and Fluttershy responded at the same time, “What?!”

Even Owlowiscious, who had picked up the broom and was doing Twilight’s chore, dropped the broom in surprise and hooted, “Hoot?!”

Flitter nodded excessively, “I was right! I was soooo right! I saw everything!”

“Hold on, what did you see?” Twilight asked, “Because it sounds to me like you were spying on her. You were supposed to scout the town for information about her, and then report back to me your findings. Any reason you went and took your own initiatives?”

“Uhh…” Flitter tried to forge an excuse in her head, “I didn’t…because…I wanted to prove my theory right away and I could only do that by checking at the source.”

“And jeopardize everything?” Twilight said stressfully, “Rainbow doesn’t need to know about this, and this is supposed to be a scouting mission for information. We don’t need to involve her directly.”

“Wait, jeopardize what?” Berry Punch noted as she looked down from the ceiling, “Are we involving pumas too?”

Once again, the room stared at her. Even Owlowicious, who had picked the broom back up and continued sweeping, took the moment to give the pony a displeased stare.

“Berry. Please stay quiet for the remainder of the conversation, before you hurt my ideas,” Twilight demanded, then rubbed her head, “Or give me a hangover.”

Feeling all eyes on her, the nauseous pony sat on her rump and puffed her cheeks as the ponies continued to converse before her.

“Anyways,” Flitter resumed again, “What does it matter? You’re the one with the intent to break them up!”

Twilight was taken back, “I am not trying to break them up! I’m just trying to learn more about their relationship!”

“Yeah, by getting the whole female population of Ponyville in on your little game,” Flitter shot back, “How is it that what I’m planning is different than what you’re doing?”

“Wait, what plans?” Twilight asked, “Are you plotting something against my friend?”

Flitter froze in place, shocked that she let that one slip out.

“Did I…say that out loud?” she questioned herself.

Before Twilight could interrogate the pegasus more, a mailpony called at the open door, “Invitations!”

Without warning, four letters flew into the library like spinning stars of paper death. One got lodged into Berry Punch’s mane, one nicked Flitter’s cheek, causing her to bleed and some strands of hair to fall, Owlowiscious intercepted one aimed at Twilight by catching it with his beak, and one zipped in a circle before landing gently right in front of Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry if any of your pets got hurt,” Ditzy Doo cried from outside, “But I’m in a reel hurry! Party’s at Suite Apple Acres, seven in the morning!” and with that, the mailpony fluttered away, the sound of her having difficulty with a tree branch outside was heard afterward.

“In the morning?” Twilight said as she kindly took the letter from her pet’s mouth, “She probably meant in the night.”

Twilight opened the letter and read it as the rest did the same, excluding Berry, who was having difficulty removing hers from her mane. Eventually, she gave up and left it there, deciding to wait for the others to tell her about it. Owlowiscious flew away to some part of the house; the sound of cabinets opening could be heard.

“Huh, Pinkie’s throwing the party, no surprise,” Flitter said.

“Of course it’s not Surprise, it’s Pinkie,” Berry chimed, then quickly hushed herself before she could be scolded by the unicorn.

“Actually, Rainbow Dash did mention something like that earlier today,” Twilight said as her pet owl returned, with a box of band aids. She took one and gave it to Flitter, who applied it to her cheek as Owlowiscious put the rest away.

“Thanks,” Flitter said, then looked back to the invitation, “So, tonight, at seven, huh? That’s…almost too perfect…”

“Perfect for what?” Twilight asked accusingly, “For your plans?”

“What plans? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Flitter said with a shrug, feigning innocence.

“But wait,” Berry spoke, defying Twilight’s word, “Weren’t you just telling me about exposing Dash as a fillyfoo-”

The pony was quickly silenced as Flitter delivered a buck to the drunk’s face. Berry Punch didn’t seem hurt from the attack as she was giggling when she landed on the floor.

“Expose her? In front of the whole town?!” Twilight was disgusted, though not at the fact that Flitter had just given a pony a nasty horseshoe shaped bruise on their face, “I don’t know who you think you are, but something like that is NOT okay with me!”

“What, are you trying to call me out on this?” Flitter retorted, locking foreheads with the unicorn, “You’re the one who interrogated her against her will, who called the entire meeting together just because you’re jealous of her!”

“Me? Jealous of her? For what!” Twilight said as she started pushing against the pegasus.

“Come off it, Twilight. You’re like an open book,” Flitter pushed back, “And we all know you’re jealous of her and Big Macintosh!”

Twilight stepped back, Flitter losing her balance and falling to the floor, “What? No way! I’m just upset that the proven compatibilities between two ponies have been thrown out the window!”

“What proven compatibilities?” Flitter muffled from the floor.

“You know, like, the psychology of love,” the unicorn attempted to explain, “It’s like…okay look.”

Twilight turned around and looked down at Fluttershy, who had been silent during the whole conversation.

“Fluttershy, you like Big Macintosh, don’t you?” Twilight asked all of a sudden.

“Wh-what?” she responded.

“You’re both quiet, shy, gentle, you two are a perfect match for each other!” Twilight said a little too enthusiastically, “You like him, don’t you?”

“Not that I’m agreeing with you or anything,” Flitter spoke up as she lifted herself from the floor, “But everypony likes Big Macintosh. No big surprise.”

“So you do like him, don’t you?” Twilight said, giving Fluttershy an endearing look.

“Umm,” Fluttershy sank lower to the floor before she answered, “Actually…I…like somepony else…”

“Wh-What?!” Twilight said, shocked.

Flitter burst out laughing, “Ha! So much for proven compatibilities! Maybe love isn’t a sorting machine like you think, Twilight!”

Twilight looked back and forth between the two ponies in distress, “B-b-b-but Fluttershy. Don’t you find Big Macintosh in the least bit attractive? Isn’t his personality, which is an exact reflection of you in every shade of your personality, in any way appealing to you in the image of an ideal coltfriend?”

Fluttershy sank further into the floor, “Umm, that doesn’t necessarily mean I should like him…”

“Haaaaaaa!” Flitter hooted, “Look’s like the psychology of love is just a load of baloney!”

“B-b-but, if you had the chance, would you?” Twilight persisted, “If the situation was just right, would you, could you, see yourself being interested in Big Macintosh?”

“Sheesh Twilight, you look like the sky is falling,” the other pegasus in the room taunted.

“Wait, it is?” Berry Punch questioned, then looked out the window, “Scootaloo wasn’t lying?!”

If Fluttershy sunk further into the floor, she was either able to compress her size when necessary like an alien lifeform, or the floor was quicksand. Yet, that’s exactly what she did. She thought over her question a little carefully though. If the situation was just right, did that mean if she wasn’t a fillyfooler? She couldn’t see herself as being straight, but being a bisexual, she could imagine herself being curious. Could she imagine herself being curious for Big Macintosh?

“I…guess?” she shyly answered.

Twilight exploded in joy, “YES! That proves my point!” she said triumphantly.

“Hardly,” Flitter said with a deadpan expression.

“You be quiet!” Twilight said, pointing to the other pegasus, “I have factual evidence, and what do you have?”

“Oh yeah,” Flitter said to herself, remembering why she came here, “Evidence of Rainbow Dash being an actual fillyfooler.”

“Oh yeah? And where is this so called evidence of yours?” Twilight challenged, her face showing a bit of enjoyment.

“Well…no,” Flitter took a step back, but held it together, “But I will have some, and I’ll show you all at the party later tonight!”

“Oh yeah? Well, whatever you’re planning, I can’t let it bring harm to my friend,” Twilight said defiantly as she trotted to the door, “So, I’m going to make sure that you don’t get to that party!”

“Oh yeah? How?” Flitter asked, challengingly.

“Easy. I’m going to tell Pinkie Pie your plans, and she’s going to take your invitation away!” Twilight threatened.

At this, every pony in the room gasped with fright. Everypony except Flitter, who stared at the unicorn as if she was supposed to be taken seriously.

“T-Twilight! Isn’t that a bit extreme?” Fluttershy pleaded, sliding to meet her hooves.

“Flitter! Don’t do it!” Berry Punch warned, “You don’t want her to take your invitation away! You don’t know what you’re getting into!”

Flitter disregarded her, “Do what you want! But you’re gonna have to try better than that if you want to stop me, Twilight!”

“Then you’ve left me with no choice! I must go and find Pinkie at once. Then you’ll sorely regret it,” Twilight said, turning her chin upwards and away from the pegasus.

“Yeah, I think I can live with that,” Flitter said, “C’mon Berry, we’ve got evidence to find.”

“But, the world is falling apart!” Berry Punch said in dismay, “I’ve got to get everypony ready for the end!”

Flitter rolled her eyes, then proceeded to trot out the door, “Fine, whatever. I can do this by myself anyway.”

“Wait! Let me get you a helmet, at least!” Berry Punch yelled as she followed her.

Finally, the library was quiet again. Owlowiscious had just finished sweeping the library floor and roosted comfortably in his seat. Twilight watched as the pegasus and tipsy earth pony went their separate ways, one of which teetered a bit. With the tension receding, Fluttershy figured it’d be a good time to ask the unicorn an important question.

“Umm,” Fluttershy uttered as she stood up, “You said Rainbow Dash went with Rarity, right?”

“Oh! Good idea!” Twilight said, missing Fluttershy’s question, “You go find Rainbow Dash and warn her about Flitter’s evil plan. I’ll go find Pinkie Pie.”

Fluttershy would be upset that she was being ignored, again, but this time the situation was a bit more serious.

“But Twilight, don’t you know what happened to the last pony who got their invitation taken away?” Fluttershy pleaded again.

“No, I haven’t heard about it,” Twilight said.

“Exactly.”

Silence.

“Well, I’m gonna go find Pinkie then,” Twilight said, “Hopefully she doesn’t mess up Flitter too badly, whatever she does.”

“She doesn’t mess up anything,” Fluttershy tried to explain.

“Look, we don’t have a lot of time. Go find Rainbow Dash, quickly, before Flitter gets whatever evidence she thinks she has against her.”

“R-Right,” the pegasus said as she fluttered away.

“Owlowiscious,” the unicorn turned back to her pet, who was in the middle of grooming himself, “Guard the library while I’m gone. Think you can do that?”

Owlowiscious flew from the foyer and towards the kitchen. He then returned to his roost, with a long sharp kitchen knife in one talon.

“Good. Hopefully I won’t be out long,” Twilight said as she closed and locked the library door.

Meanwhile, as Fluttershy was slowly making her way to Rarity’s boutique, she thought to herself what she was going to say. Obviously, the news, but what else? If she had the chance to, would she confess to the pegasus? Could she? Maybe she really was a fillyfooler and that she was using Macintosh for cover up, but that was mostly wishful thinking. She wished she could just tell her already, but she also wanted to hide from her and never think about making her confession ever again. But Angel told her that she’d feel better afterward, and that there was nothing to lose.

However, according to Flitter, some ponies seemed to have it out for them. Out of jealousy? Most likely.

“Tank was right,” Fluttershy said to herself, “This is all going to fall apart very badly very quickly if nopony does anything about it. Okay, first things first. Find Rainbow Dash, then let the rest come out naturally.”

She gulped.

“Easier said than done…”

---
Something is going to go down, definitely...
--

“Still no sign of her?” Scootaloo asked wearily.

“No,” Apple Bloom answered, “Maybe we should try Sweet Apple Acres?”

The three fillies had been scooting around in the patented scootsmobile, which was really just a wagon tied to Scootaloo’s scooter, in search of the driver’s pegasus idol. They had searched everywhere where the pegasus would be, according to the winged filly, from the bike park and the gym to the open field park and the derby course. They even tried going back to the gym twice to see if she was there and they had just missed her. It was doubted, however, that Rainbow Dash would visit any of those places and, when questioned, Scootaloo merely shot back if they knew of any other places she regulated. Apple Bloom replied with Sweet Apple Acres. They were all quiet after that.

Scootaloo groaned, “That’ll take us all day. And besides, if she was there, we wouldn’t need to tell her what Big Macintosh wanted us to tell her.”

“Wait, how is that bad?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Because then we won’t get our messengers cutie marks!” the filly whined.

“I thought we were doing this for our Relationship Rescuers Cutie Marks?” the apple filly pointed out.

“I don’t think it’ll matter if we can’t find Rainbow Dash,” Sweetie Belle said, scanning the alleys and the house windows.

“Maybe we should ask around?” Apple Bloom suggested, “Ponyville’s big. Maybe somepony’s seen her.”

Scootaloo sighed, “Sure. Why not? We’re wasting our time anyway.”

The fillies looked around for the nearest pony that may have been affiliated with the rainbow pegasus as of recently. They were on the road by the edge of town, so only a few ponies had business around these parts. One mare in particular caught their eye, one that Apple Bloom recognized.

“Hey, let’s ask her!” the filly said, pointing to the orange maned mare.

The fillies rode their way towards the mare who was just leaving the flower shop. Scootaloo steered the scootsmobile to park parallel to the mare, who seemed unfazed by their appearance.

“Oh, hello girls. How can I help you today?” Carrot Top asked.

“Good afternoon, miss Carrot,” Apple Bloom greeted, “Have you seen Rainbow Dash anywhere?”

The other two fillies noted Apple Bloom oddly while Carrot Top looked to the sky in thought, “Actually, she was in town a few hours ago.”

“Really?” Scootaloo chirped, “Where’d she go?”

“Well, she flew off to somewhere. Didn’t quite get where she was going,” the mare answered, to the dismay of the three fillies.

“I knew this was a waste of time,” Scootaloo said melancholically.

“You don’t know anypony who might’ve seen her recently?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Oh, everypony in the Weather Team knows her, and I have a friend who happens to be in it,” Carrot Top answered.

“Well, do you know where we can find her?” Scootaloo asked, dreading the thought of having to search some more.

“Actually, if you wait a few moments…” Carrot Top said, as she fell quiet.

There was noise in the flower shop they were chatting in front of. There were sounds of a scuffle, metal clattering, glass breaking, and a cat shrilling, until finally, a charred and smoky pegasus pony popped out of the front door holding a satchel full of invitations. Her mane had a young flame alit, but nopony seemed to take notice.

“I-Invitations!” Ditzy Doo shakily said, then threw four letters to the ponies. One invitation floated gently into Carrot Top’s hoof but the other three made the fillies cry in pain as they struck them.

“Oh, Ditzy, right on time,” Carrot Top said, not hearing the fillies’ cry of pain, “These three fillies wanted to know where Rainbow Dash was and I thought you could help them find her.”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, I’ve scene her earlier,” she said as she tapped her head and her eyes rotated, “It was during my mourning root.”

“In the morning? That’s useless info,” said the orange pegasus filly as she rubbed her shoulder from where the letter struck her.

“Butt she did leave to tell her other associates about sum special news,” she continued, then remembered something, “Oh rite. Those letters are for a party later on tonight. Suite Apple Acres, ate o’ clock sharp! Or was it seven?”

“A party at the farm?” Apple Bloom spoke up while holding her eye, “Girls, do you know what this means?”

“That we can go home and wait for Rainbow Dash there?” Sweetie Belle said with a nasally voice.

“No, she means that we have until the party to save Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh’s relationship before Miss Cheerilee ruins it,” Scootaloo continued.

“Hah, oh you girls,” Carrot Top laughed, not taking them seriously, “What sort of silly adventure are you up to?”

“We’re going to save my brother and his fillyfriend’s relationship!” Apple Bloom stated as she stood proudly.

“We’re going to do whatever it takes to make sure that those ponies are happy and nopony else interferes!” Scootaloo exclaimed, a hoof held skyward.

“We’re going to keep their ship afloat and guide them into the sunset in the name of love!” Sweetie Belle proclaimed as well, her nose clearing up.

Both fillies and the adults looked at the unicorn oddly.

“Y-yeah,” Apple Bloom continued, “Because we are…”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER ‘SHIP RESCUERS, YAY!!” they shouted in unison.

Carrot Top rubbed her eyes although Ditzy Doo didn’t seem disturbed by the shouting. Actually, the tiny flame in her hair had been extinguished by the wave of noise, so perhaps she did have a reason to be pleased.

“Yeah…so,” the orange mare turned to her friend, “You saw her in the morning? Who’d she go see?”

“Oh!” Ditzy Doo’s brain did something again, “Those other two fliers. The lazy ones. Chase Clouder and Thunder Lame.”

“Thunder Lame?” Sweetie Belle repeated as, well, bells went off in her head, “Diamond Tiara said something like that to Rumble last week. It made him really mad.”

“Oh yeah, that must bee his brother,” Ditzy Doo confirmed with a nod.

“I know where Rumble lives,” Scootaloo spoke up, “If we find him, we find Thunder Lame, I mean, Thunderlane. And then we can keep looking for Rainbow Dash!”

“Well what are we waiting for?” Apple Bloom questioned, and they were already on their way as Scootaloo was revving the Scootsmobile.

“Thanks Carrot Top and Ditzy Doo!” Sweetie Belle called out as they rode away.

“See you at the party, Carrot Top!” the earth pony filly shouted back as they waved goodbye to the two mares.

As the two adults finished waving, the winged one turned to the other and asked in honest curiosity, “Who were those ponies?”

“The little rascals that pretended to be moles in my farm once,” Carrot Top replied.

Back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they had been scooting for several minutes before curiosity got the better of the driver.

“Hey Apple Bloom, how do you know that lady?” Scootaloo asked.

“Huh? Ya mean Carrot Top? Oh, she owns a carrot farm right across from ours,” the apple filly answered.

“Wait, that was her farm?” Sweetie Belle spoke up.

“Yeah. Ah mean, she runs a carrot farm. Her special talent is carrots,” the filly explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Y’all never made the connection?”

“So wait, those were her carrots we ruined,” Scootaloo recalled, “Didn’t you get in trouble for it, Apple Bloom?”

“Not really. Actually, she gave the family some dirty and mangled carrots the day after,” Apple Bloom thought, “She told us some moles ruined them the other day.”

“Well, good thing nothing bad happened,” the unicorn filly stated, “And now we know a chainsaw does not substitute for a drill.”

More minutes passed before Apple Bloom got curious.

“Speaking of ponies, how do you two know Rumble?” she asked, “Ah haven’t seen him around in school at all.”

“That’s because he and his brother moved into town a while ago,” Scootaloo answered, “Pinkie Pie held a small party. You weren’t invited?”

“Wait, she was at Appleloosa that week, remember?” Sweetie Belle spoke up.

“Oh yeah, you’re right,” the apple filly said, “Y’all should’ve seen the place, girls. There were buffalo! They were so big and fuzzy!”

“My sister went there once,” the unicorn spoke up, “Maybe we can all go there again for vacation during the summer.”

“Do you really think Rarity would want to spend such a long time at a dusty place like that?” Scootaloo pointed out, “She seems like a bit of a shut in to me.”

“Hey, Appleloosa’s rustic, like us,” Apple Bloom defended, “It’s only a little dusty.”

“Yeah, and Rarity isn’t a hermit crab,” Sweetie Belle defended.

The scootsmobile came to an abrupt stop as both the driver and the earth pony filly stared at Sweetie Belle. The unicorn filly looked back and forth as if she had said something painfully stupid.

“…what?”

Fortunately for Sweetie Belle, they had already arrived at Rumble’s house, redirecting their focus to their original mission. The pegasus home was basically just a shack with several clouds overhead, but it housed all of their necessities as the residents were outdoor folk.

“Hey, we’re here,” Apple Bloom exclaimed, “Do you think he’s home?”

“Maybe. He’s supposed to start school next week,” Scootaloo said, dismounting the scootsmobile as they left their helmets behind.

As Sweetie Belle got out of the wagon and placed her helmet inside, a thought occurred to her, “Wait, shouldn’t we be in school right now?”

The other two fillies, however, ignored her and went to the front door to knock.

“Umm, okay…” she uttered.

They knocked on the door, and within seconds, a colt came up to see them.

“Oh, hey Scoots,” Rumble said, then noticed the other two fillies, “Oh, these are the friends you talked about?”

“Good afternoon,” Sweetie Belle greeted, but then noted the position of the sun, “Uh, I mean, good evening. No wait. I mean, good…before evening?”

“She means hi,” Apple Bloom finished for her, “We were wonderin’ if you could help us wit’ somethin’.”

“Yeah, see,” Scootaloo was quick to start, “We’re looking for Rainbow Dash and we were wondering if maybe your brother had seen her.”

“You mean Thunderlane?” Rumble asked, “He’s been out since this morning,” at this, the three fillies frowned, “But he’s usually at Cloud Chaser’s place.”

“Oh. Do you know where that is?” the earth pony filly asked.

Rumble nodded, “I can show you where it is.”

“Well hop in!” Scootaloo exclaimed as they boarded the Scootsmobile again. She put her helmet back on as she asked, “Do you have your own helmet?”

Rumble shook his head, “I don’t need a helmet. I can fly.”

The pegasus filly scowled as the others put on their own helmets, “Yeah, sure you don’t.”

After locking the house, Rumble fluttered in the direction of Cloud Chaser’s house, with the three fillies following closely behind in the scootsmobile. Once again, conversation stirred, but in secrecy from the two pegasus foals.

“Hey Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle started in a low tone.

“Yeah?” she answered in the same tone.

“You think Scootaloo…you know, might like Rumble?” she asked modestly.

“What? What gave you that idea?” Apple Bloom returned.

“Well, Scootaloo’s been hanging around him for a while now since he moved into town,” she explained and shrugged her shoulders, “I was just thinking out loud.”

Apple Bloom hummed in thought, “Maybe…but then again, there aren’t that many pegasus ponies in Ponyville, much less foals. Maybe she’s just hangin’ around him to learn how to fly.”

Sweetie Belle sighed in relief, “That might explain it.”

It was Apple Bloom’s turn to be curious, “But wait, why’d you ask? What does it matter that Scootaloo has other friends?”

The unicorn began to sweat, “Umm, just a bit concerned, that’s all. Wouldn’t want Rumb- I mean, Scootaloo to spend too much time around others…”

Apple Bloom didn’t catch her rather obvious nervousness, “There’s nothin’ to worry about. Friends can be friends with other friends. All that does is get us more friends, and what’s the problem with that?”

Sweetie Belle wiped her forehead, “You’re right. There’s nothing wrong with having more friends.”

A few minutes passed by before the crusaders and Rumble made it to a rather large cloud hanging low to the ground. It was actually a house built entirely of clouds, though it was much smaller in comparison to another estate owned by a certain rainbow pegasus. The roof of the floating home could be seen from below, but it was hard to tell if anypony was inside.

“Here we are,” Rumble said as the scootsmobile braked to a stop, “I wonder if they’re home. They don’t really get out much. Hey Cloud Chaser! Flitter! Is Thunderlane there?” he shouted.

There was a rustle in the cloud home above, followed by the faint sound of hoofsteps, extra faint since the floor was made of clouds.

“Rumble?” a tired voice called out, “Is that you?”

“Thunderlane!” the pegasus colt called out.

Soon enough, the door opened, and peering over the edge of the cloud was Rumble’s big brother.

“What…” he yawned loudly, “What are you doing here?”

“Scootaloo and her friends wanted to ask you if you had seen Rainbow Dash anywhere,” he said, then got curious, “You sound sleepy, bro.”

“Huh? Oh yeah. I was having…” he lazily thought of an excuse, “A sleepover with Cloud Chaser.”

“In the middle of the day?” Scootaloo asked.

“Stallions don’t have sleepovers with mares,” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“Yeah they do,” Sweetie Belle spoke up, “My sister Rarity lets stallions sleep over at her place all the time.”

“Ohhh, so that must mean it’s ok then,” the earth filly said, “Hey girls, we should do that sometime. We might even get our cutie marks for it.”

Thunderlane couldn’t help but stifle a chortle and snicker. The curious and innocent looks on their faces was enough to get him to stop.

“Maybe you should hold off on that one for a while, girls,” Thunderlane said, “Cloud Chaser’s a sort of…professional, you see.”

“Can she teach us?” Scootaloo asked excitedly. Thunderlane chuckled loudly in response.

“I…I don’t think she can train you girls. You aren’t exactly of age yet,” he wiped some tears from his face.

“Is it because we can’t fly?” Apple Bloom asked, Scootaloo glared at her, “But we got compansies…compensions…compulsive…accomplices?”

“Compensations?” Sweetie Belle finished.

“Yeah that! Compensations!” the filly continued, “Ah got strong hooves and Sweetie’s a natural entertainer.”

Thunderlane couldn’t hold it in anymore. He started to laugh out loud, proceeding to loll around on the cloud, not caring how close to the edge he was.

“You guys…you’re killing me here!” the adult pegasus cried, “J-Just wait for it. When the time comes, she’ll be able to help you out.”

The girls groaned, “I wish it was soon, though,” Apple Bloom bemoaned.

Rumble playfully rolled his eyes and looked back up to his brother, “So anyways, have you seen Rainbow Dash today, big bro?”

Thunderlane had just recovered from his laughing fit to hear the question, “Rainbow Dash? No, not really.”

The three fillies sighed in disappointment, “Well, that was a big waste of time,” Scootaloo said.

“Hey Cloud Chaser,” Thunderlane suddenly called back into the house, “Have you seen Rainbow Dash today?”

More shuffling and hoofsteps was heard, and then Cloud Chaser was seen over the edge of the cloud, her hair looking a lot messier than normal.

“Really, Thunderlane? Hadn’t we seen her before earlier today?” she told him, then looked back down to the foals below, “Oh hey kids. What’s u-”

“You saw Rainbow Dash!?” Scootaloo interrupted and fidgeted anxiously, “When?! Where?!”

“Whoa, okay. Settle down, squirt,” Cloud Chaser replied, then turned to Thunderlane, “It was early this morning, remember? Around eight or something?”

Thunderlane tapped a hoof to his chin, then his wings flared up in realization, “Ohhh, now I remember. Hey did Flitter ever come back after that?”

“Yeah she did, while you were out getting ‘the toys’,” Cloud Chaser nudged him.

“Not in front of the kids, CC,” the stallion whispered to her, the foals twisting their heads in response.

“Right, anyhoo. She said she was going to some meeting because of the news,” Cloud Chaser revealed.

“Meeting?” Apple Bloom repeated.

“What news?” Scootaloo asked.

“Toys?” Sweetie Belle brought up, “Is that what you’re supposed to bring in a sleepover with boys?”

The unicorn, however, was ignored, “Yeah, Flitter seemed a bit upset with the whole ‘Rainbow Dash is dating Big Macintosh’ thing, so she went to the library for the meeting,” Cloud Chaser explained.

“That’s Twilight’s place. Maybe she’s seen Rainbow Dash somewhere,” Apple Bloom suggested.

“So…now we have to go to the library?” Scootaloo said dismally.

“Remember,” Sweetie Belle nudged and whispered to her, “It’s for the cutie marks.”

“For the cutie marks!” the pegasus filly exclaimed, wings flared up, “Thanks for all your help!”

“Y’all are goin’ to the party, right?” Apple Bloom asked as the scootsmobile started.

“Party? Oh, I’m always down for a party,” Thunderlane proudly proclaimed, then turned to Cloud Chaser and murmured, “What party?”

“We’ll be there,” Cloud Chaser seemed to ignore him, “The farm at seven, right?”

“Ayup!” the earth filly nodded just as the wagon revved on.

“Bye Rumble!” Sweetie Belle called out as they drove away, then remembered the other two ponies, “Bye Thunderlane and Cloud Chaser!”

The three ponies waved until they disappeared in the distance. Thunderlane spoke up, “They seemed like nice kids.”

“Yeah, but leave ‘em alone for two seconds and they bring a swarm of wyverns to town,” Cloud Chaser noted.

“Hey Rumble,” the pegasus stallion suddenly said, “That orange one your fillyfriend or something?”

The pegasus colt blushed noticeably as he raised his hooves in defense, “What? N-No way!”

The two adult pegasus smirked, “But didn’t you say she-”

Rumble interrupted his older brother by holding his ears down with his hooves and chanting, “LALALALALALALALALALA.”

---
The clouds are gathering, metaphorically speaking...
---

“And so, I wandered around town for several minutes until I decided to come here,” Spike explained as he poured the tea pot.

“Oh my. That sort of behavior is inexcusable,” Rarity said in disgust before calmly and classily sipping her tea.

“Twilight hasn’t been herself all day, come to think of it,” Rainbow Dash said as she added another sugar cube to her still bitter tea.

“I know what you mean,” Spike agreed, putting the pot away and taking a seat with the two ponies, “She left this morning all normal like and, when she returned, she made me go to the mayor about some meeting or something.”

“What was the meeting about?” the unicorn asked.

Spike placed a claw on his chin and thought about it, “Well, I wasn’t really there for it. I went back to the mayor’s to get a list, but when I returned, she bucked me out as soon as I gave it to her. It was really weird.”

The pegasus crossed her arms, “Hm. Something’s eating her. I think it has something to do with the news.”

“Hm? You mean the fact that you and Big Macintosh are dating?” Rarity asked, “How would that make Twili-” she stopped herself as her eyes widened realization, “…oohhhhh.”

“Ohh what?” both Spike and Rainbow Dash asked.

Rarity’s lip curled into a grin, “I think I know what’s wrong.”

“Tell me!” Spike demanded as he leaned forward, “I don’t want to have to deal with Twilight as she is for an unprece…unpredi…unknown amount of time,” Spike’s enthusiasm then changed to a thoughtful one, “Wait, actually she’s been giving me a lot of free time today. I hardly did any work,” his energy returned, “Don’t tell me! As long as she’s focusing on other stuff, I don’t have to work so hard anymore,” his excitement then faded into one of worry, “But wait, what if she focuses too much? She’ll stay up all night organizing and plotting, again!” he looked back to Rarity, this time in fear, “Tell me! Or actually, don’t tell me. I mean, tell me, but don’t get me involved if it needs fixing. Actually, don’t get me involved at all. Actuall-”

“For Celestia’s sake, Spike,” Rainbow Dash intervened and placed a hoof in the dragon’s mouth, “Just let Rarity talk.”

The unicorn had been calmly drinking her tea as the dragon was talking. She was going for another refill just as Spike apologized.

“Right, sorry Rarity,” he said, then shut his mouth with his hands. He still couldn’t help but muffle, “Conffinvoo ffleeze.”

“As I was saying,” she said, putting the tea pot down, “I think the source of Twilight’s aggravation might be because of jealousy.”

“Twilight? Jealous?” the pegasus said, almost in disbelief, “I had a hunch, but she didn’t make it very obvious. I mean, what does she have to be jealous of?” She then turned to Spike, “She doesn’t really get out much, right?”

The unicorn was rarely seen outside of her library, so it was assumed she was hardly social, her friends being the only exception. Still, Rainbow Dash wanted confirmation on the dragon’s part.

“Uhh, right. She’s been getting out more since we moved from Canterlot, actually,” Spike explained.

Rainbow Dash scoffed, “Still a closet egghead. And because of that, she shouldn’t be surprised when her friends start going out with colts. If she really wanted one for herself, she should get out more.”

“Actually, Rainbow,” Rarity spoke up, “Some stallions do find her reclusive and studious personality to be an attractive trait. Why, I bet some would give their left hoof to ask her out.”

The pegasi’s eyes widened, “Seriously? But she’s a shut in, and a know it all. And she spends a lot of her time reading than actually doing things. Who’d be into that?”

The white unicorn simply chuckled, “Oh Rainbow Dash, who are you to call a pony’s taste into question? After all, you’re the one dating Big Macintosh after all.”

It took her a moment to realize what she was talking about. Thinking back to her conversation with Twilight, the similarities she shared with Mac was stark. Apparently it was so hard to believe she was dating him that the entire town had wanted to know. Not to mention, Macintosh was probably the pinnacle of stallionness in town.

“Huh, I suppose you’re right,” the pegasus admitted, “I mean, even I thought I’d be going out with an athlete or an Olympian or something. Mac kinda is like that, though.”

She took a moment to think over the stallion.

“Nice, toned body, handsome mane, pretty green eyes, adorable freckles, and a goofy grin that just,” she let her body convulse for a bit at the thought, “Man, is that why Twilight’s jealous? I’m surprised the whole town isn’t after me yet.”

Rarity chuckled while Spike rolled his eyes. The dragon preferred the company of Rainbow Dash along with other ponies just to even out the masculinity of the area, but, of course, even the pegasus was susceptible to girly moments. Oh well, at least it’s only for the duration he was here.

And then, going on a record here, Rarity had another idea come to mind. Since remembering she had spread that nasty rumor about Rainbow Dash, Rarity had been nerved at the thought of the pegasus in front of her finding out. She dreaded the thought of confronting her past mistakes and maybe even losing some of her friends because of it, and then Twilight had to go and nearly bring about that scenario too early. She figured, she could absolve that dilemma by spreading another rumor while getting a little payback as well.

Or she could just come clean with it now.

Nah, this was a better idea.

“Actually, Rainbow Dash,” the unicorn spoke up, “I do believe Twilight is jealous, but of the wrong pony.”

“Huh?” Spike and Rainbow Dash both said, then the pegasus continued, “What do you mean by that?”

Rarity took a little sip of her tea before continuing, “You see, I believe that Twilight Sparkle is actually…a fillyfooler. And that she has a crush on you.”

Spike was the first to react, but Rainbow Dash followed shortly after with, “What?!”

“Haven’t you noticed it yet?” the white unicorn said slyly, “The way she looks at you ever since she heard the news, did it not look envious?”

“But, that’s crazy!” Spike exclaimed, “Twilight can’t be a fillyfooler! She just can’t! It’s not possible!” the dragon then turned to Rainbow Dash, his previous shock and disbelief gone for the moment, “What’s a fillyfooler?”

The pegasus gave Rarity a look, who replied with an indifferent shrug. Unsure of what to say, she decided to be blunt with the dragon, “Well, you know how ponies are, like, one mare and one stallion?”

Spike nodded.

“Well, some ponies are into another mare, or another stallion. We call the first one fillyfoolers,” she finished.

“Ohh,” the dragon said, then realized what Rarity was telling them, “Wait, that can’t be right. Twilight went out with a colt once.”

“Really?” the unicorn said in surprise. On one hoof, she could’ve been debunked and called out as a liar, but on the other hoof, there was some unknown history on Twilight’s part she was about to learn, the kind she was interested in.

“Yeah, but…it didn’t go too well,” Spike looked down in thought, “She returned home one night, and the prom dance was in a week, and she was all sad and angry. I think he broke her.”

“Oh. Wow,” was all Rainbow Dash could say. Well, that and, “And I think you mean, he broke up with her.”

Rarity took the moment to cement her claim, “See? I bet that colt was so bad, she was turned off from stallions afterward,” she said, then took a moment to sip her tea, “Tell me, Spike, what happened after that?”

Spike dug out the first memory that came to him, “She started reading a lot more. Books like Daring Do, Amazon Adventures, that one castle series, and a few with seaponies in it…hey wait,” his eyes widened, “All of those books star a female lead.”

The unicorn chuckled, “Good catch there, Spikey,” she congratulated, the dragon modestly placing his hands behind him, “Such a thing would be hard to miss, normally.”

“So wait, lemme get this straight,” Rainbow Dash intervened, “Twilight has a crush on me? I get that she might be a fillyfooler, but why me?”

“You know, all of those books are of the action genre,” Spike pointed out, “If somepony wrote a book about your life, Rainbow Dash, I bet it’d have ‘action’ listed twice.”

“What Spike probably means is, you’re the ideal mare for her, based on her favorite books,” Rarity simplified, “Figures she’d want somepony to bring her out of that stuffy library.”

It was starting to make sense, “I see…well, this is awkward,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head, “I mean, I’m dating Macintosh now so…what do I do? Do I talk to her about it?”

The unicorn shook her head, “Wait for her to come to you. She needs to come to terms with the reality of it all first. Once she feels like she’s ready, she’ll let you know.”

“And what am I supposed to do?” Spike asked, worried.

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll ask for your help about it first, my dear. And you’ll be ready to help, yes?” she said sweetly.

“Oh-h, uh, of course Rarity,” he saluted her, “Twilight can always count on me. I’m very dependable.”

From behind him, an upset shrill alerted him.

“Oh, one sec.”

Spike took the tea pot from the table and brought it to another, much smaller, table.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. More tea, miss Opal?” Spike asked.

The cat groaned impatiently, meaning yes. Spike filled the cat’s tea cup until it was full, then set aside the pot.

“Two lumps, right?” the cat nodded, “Alright.”

Once the sugars were in place, he stirred until the tea was prime. Opal simply meowed the nicest sound she could make in appreciation, although it sounded more like he wasn’t needed anymore.

Spike took the tea pot back, then looked to her other tea party guest, “And you, Gummy?”

The crocodile did not make eye contact, nor did he move his eyes at all. Gummy just blinked, his tea cup yet to be touched.

“Uhh, okay then,” and with that, the dragon returned to the table where the other two ponies sat, “Like I said, dependable.”

Rarity chuckled, but Rainbow Dash stared down the alligator across the room from her, “What’s Pinkie’s gator doing here?”

“Oh, he’s been here since this morning. I think Pinkie left him here on accident,” she answered before sipping more of her tea, “It was right after Applejack left that he turned up. And I have no idea when she’ll pick him up, occupied with setting up the party at the-”

“The farm!” Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted as she sprung into the air, “Horse apples I forgot! I needed to help Macintosh finish the chores today!”

“Oh, that sounds bad,” Rarity stated in a bit of worry, “I feel awful about holding you up.”

“Nah, it’s my fault. I just forgot what with all that’s happened today,” she looked to the door, “Hey, sorry but I gotta dash.”

“No need to apologize, go to your stud, dear,” she said with a wink.

“I will,” Rainbow Dash replied with a wink, “And stop calling me a deer. I’m a pegasus, not a double unicorn.”

And with that, Rainbow Dash flew out the door, on her way to the farm.

“…she does know that just because deer have two horns doesn’t mean they can use magic, right?” Spike asked.

“You’re asking the wrong question, Spike,” Rarity replied.

Back at the other table, Opal tested her cup before she dunked her tongue into hit, feeling the satisfyingly warm tea splash around. She gulped and resumed her conversation with her associate Gummy, in, of course, a form of communication that other ponies and dragons couldn’t understand.

“So, as I was saying,” she said with her chin held up, “He had the gall to call me fat. I thought I had misheard him at first, and I wanted to clarify, but then he decided to be snarky and call me fat again the long way. Can you believe the nerve of some people?”

“…” Gummy said in a classy voice.

“I was about to let the infidel taste my well polished claws,” Opal continued, “But Fluttershy pressed her hoof onto my head and all felt right in the world.”

“…” Gummy replied, acknowledging Opal’s story.

“Why, if it weren’t for her, she’d have been one bunny short of a cottage. I must say, that pegasus has some magical hooves,” Opal finished before taking a drink.

“…” Gummy stated, bringing up a good question.

“Oh, I don’t know what she’s up to now,” the cat said with a paw to her chin, “Perhaps the same old caring for her animals sort of business. Although I do hear Winona was due for a checkup today. I wonder how that went down?”

“…” Gummy said with modesty.

Opal chuckled, “I hope so. Our Pony Pet Playdate is due in two days, and I’d hate to track Winona’s fur on my paws again. And I do hope I get to speak with Angel again. He deserves something for that big mouth of his.”

“…” Gummy asked.

“Oh? A party tonight?” at this, Opal seemed delighted, “That means Rarity is going, which also means I’m having the Carousel Boutique all to myself again. I should invite all of my friends for our own party. Oh, but if only I had known sooner,” Opal said in dramatic dismay.

“…” Gummy comforted.

“Well, I suppose you’re right. Better late than never,” she said as she took another splash of tea, “Maybe we can invite the other pets too. I favor the chance to teach Angel a lesson sooner than anticipated, and Owlowiscious is always a pleasure to talk to.”

“…” Gummy pointed out.

“Oh, you’re right. Winona can’t come until she’s been groomed, she’ll track fur all over the place,” Opal realized, “And if Rarity ever found out, she’d disown me! Not that I fear her, of course, but I’m not exactly an outdoor cat.”

“…” Gummy proposed.

“You will?” Opal asked.

“…” Gummy said with an invisible smirk.

“What’s that?”

“…” Gummy said as subtle as possible.

“Is that all? It’s a deal,” Opal said, nodding happily.

“…” Gummy said.

“I’ll go prepare the DVDs then,” Opal said, getting off her chair, “Hopefully all goes well tonight.”

“…” Gummy agreed.

---
That gator thing sure has a way with words...
---

“Big Macintooooosh!"

The stallion in question had just finished refilling the water tanker for the second time when he heard his beloved grandma call out to him. He hopped off the ladder, turned off the hose, and trotted back towards the farm. On the front porch stood the wrinkly mare known as Granny Smith who appeared to have woken up from her nap as she was smacking her dry mouth.

“You called, granny?” the stallion questioned.

It was a few seconds before the old mare realized she was being addressed. Seeing her grandson there, she tried to remember what it was that she needed of him. She knew it was something important.

“What time is it?” she asked in all honesty.

Mac took a look at the sun and deducted the time, “’S about three in the afternoon,” he answered.

“Consarnit. Ah’m not supposed to be awake yet,” she replied, then took a moment to scan the field, “Where is ev’rypony anyhoo?”

“Apple Bloom’s wit’ her friends, out fetchin’ Rainbow Dash, Celestia knows where she is, an’ AJ s’possed to be out in the field plantin’ repellants last Ah recall,” Big Macintosh answered to the best of his memory.

“Soo, who’s in the barn?” she asked.

Just then, the sound of wood breaking brought their attention to the building in general, followed by the distant voice of a high pitched pony.

“Ah think it’s Pinkie Pie,” the red stallion answered, looking a bit confused as to why he was hearing the sound of property damage.

“That loopy, pink pony friend of AJ’s?” Granny asked, “What’s wit’ all that racket then?”

“She s’pposed to be settin’ up a party for-” that’s when Mac remembered that Granny had yet to hear the news, “For uh…Granny, Ah forget to tell ya somethin’.”

“Meh? What is it?” the elder asked.

“Y’see, Pinkie’s settin’ up that party for a new pony couple in town,” Macintosh continued, finding it hard to explain himself to his grandma. He had no trouble telling Applejack about the news, so why was it harder to tell Granny?

“In the farm? Our farm?” although she was old and her wit had dulled, the elder was quickly piecing together the clues, “Is it one of our own?”

“Well, yeah,” Big Mac shyly explained, “And a certain rainbow pony…”

Granny Smith had an expression of surprise for a moment, then gave an approving nod and a warming smile, “Oh my, this is reason for celebration. ‘bout time she an’ AJ got together.”

“Ah knew you’d under- wait what?!” the stallion said, reasonably surprised.

“After all, she came to the farm like a street cat that had been fed,” she chuckled, “O’ course it was because somepony had done claimed her, it seems.”

Big Mac shook his head, “N-no granny, that’s not what Ah-”

But before he could continue, a sharp sound of wood exploding came from the barn, giving urgency to the two ponies.

“Consarnit boy,” Granny Smith exclaimed, “Go an’ see what’s all that racket’s about. Ah needs to catch up on my shuteye,” and like that, she slowly turned around back into the house.

“B-but Granny,” but the faint noise of splitting wood and a glare from his grandma silenced him.

The door closed and Big Macintosh sighed. Though his grandma was normally understanding and keen with her morality, she was a bit loopy herself, and that Apple family stubbornness didn’t help either. He could only hope to correct her before the party so as to prevent any confusion. The hardest part would be the hooves beating him if he failed, whether by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, or both.

Oh well. The barn needed to be inspected of the noise anyway, especially if Pinkie Pie was in it. As Big Macintosh made his way towards it, he could only hope that the pony wasn’t causing too much damage. Maybe she was breaking up the trees he brought over from the field by Whitetail Woods, he thought hopefully. In that case, she’d have saved him a week of hard work splitting the trunks for firewood, not that they needed it because winter was on the other side of the calendar, but that’s beside the point.

When he actually got to the barn, though, such fantasies were far from reality, to his horror.

There were big holes in the side of the barn, with cake batter and streamers trickling down from them.

Upset, Big Macintosh trotted towards the mess while keeping calm. That pink pony had a lot of explaining to do.

“What in tarnation is goin’ on over here?” he asked out loud as he entered the barn.

In the time that Pinkie had been left to set up the party, she had done a considerable job of covering the entire place in party paraphernalia, so much so that it was barely recognized as a barn anymore. Confetti blanketed the floor like snow after a blizzard, streamers practically drenched the ceiling like spider webs in a thousand year old house, and tables were set up holding chips, cakes, drinks, and snacks, with a heaping helping of confetti on each one.

“Oh! Hi Macky!” Pinkie Pie greeted from her party cannon, “What brings you here? It’s not even time for the party!”

Macintosh took a moment to take in what had become of the barn. His hooves plowed through the blanket of confetti as he walked in, “Ah just…heard noises…why are there holes in our barn?”

“Ohh, you mean windows,” the pink pony said with a smile, “This place could do with a bit of ventilation, don’t you think?”

“No, Ah don’t think so,” Mac replied bluntly, “It’s a barn. It don’t need windows.”

“Well, the party cannon thought otherwise,” she said, rubbing the shiny surface of her contraption, “Halfway through decorating everything, some of the thingamajiggers in the party cannon got all wacky and started firing things in chunks.”

Big Macintosh shook his head, “So, wait. After the first time it got messed up, you didn’t even bother to fix it?”

“Nope! Like I said, this place could do with a few windows, don’t you think?” she said with a pleading smile.

Big Macintosh, however, was not swayed, “Nnnope.”

“Aw come on,” Pinkie Pie pleaded, “I mean, it’s going to be a big party, so having a few windows in here would help. Like so.”

Pinkie Pie zipped out of the barn and reappeared on the other side of a supposed ‘window’ with two sock puppets emulating party guests.

“Hey Jim,” she said, mimicking a rougher voice, “This is some great party, but have you seen Carrie anywhere?”

“No,” the other sock puppet, a bit nasally, replied, “But I think she’s inside.”

Then, from the other side of the barn, across another ‘window’ a third sock puppet appeared, “I’m over here,” it said in a high pitched girly voice, “I was just chatting with Susie. She went inside for some punch.”

Two more sock puppets appeared behind the punch bowl, “Did somepony say my name? I’m in the middle of a conversation with an Elementary School friend of mine.”

“Hey Susie,” the sock puppets from the other window spoke up, “We’d like to get acquainted with you since you know our friend Carrie.”

Big Macintosh, in the meantime, was utterly confused by these sock puppets he was watching, “How am Ah…seein’ this?”

The sock puppets continued, “Oh certainly. And thanks to these windows, I don’t have to walk all the way around for that. How convenient!”

Finally, the sock puppets disappeared and Pinkie Pie reappeared behind the stallion. He was fearful of her sudden presence, admittedly, but that fear turned to irritancy when she talked again.

“See? Having these windows up make the communication in a party much easier, don’tcha think?” she said with a hopeful grin.

Despite her very persuasive display, Big Macintosh had to deny it, “But, you wrecked our barn, and we need it for summer.”

“Oh, yeah. I know that,” she said with a slightly bashful shrug, “But you can always repair it, right?”

The ludicrousness of having to repair her handiwork grated at him enough to the point of losing his cool. With a despairing sigh, Big Macintosh glared and spoke.

“Look, Ah don’t know what goes on in your head, but even you should know that there are consequences to actions,” as he spoke, Pinkie Pie was beginning to shrink under him, “The only reason Ah’m lettin’ you host this party is for Rainbow Dash, an’ while she might like these sort of parties, they have a lingerin’ effect on us. Clean up and damages are left to us, an’, while you do help out an’ all, we can only take so much. So if you still wanna host this party, regardless of what you’ve done, Ah’m gonna have to ask you to pay a fine for these ‘improvements’ you’ve done to our barn.”

The pink pony stared at the stallion for what seemed like seconds. When the message finally got across to her, she turned chipper again.

“Oh, is that all?” she said as she bounced back up to standing height, “Sure!”

Taken back by this sudden spring, Mac hesitantly replied, “Uhh, okay. So, that’ll be fifty bits from you, for the new wood and paint.”

“Fifty?!” Pinkie Pie said in shocked, then checked her invisible pockets. Finding that she was short on cash, she turned to the stallion with pleading eyes, “Um, can I pay in baked goods?”

Big Macintosh, having exhausted himself of talking, simply stared.

“Baked goods, including cupcakes?” she pursued.

He kept staring.

“And cakes?”

Still staring.

“…smiles?”

It’s a wonder how he hasn’t blinked yet.

“…a foal’s laughter?”

“You have a month,” was all he said before he left the barn, leaving Pinkie Pie in the mess that was the barn.

“Phew. Mrs. Cake was right. Parties are costly,” she said, wiping her brow, “Speaking of which, I wonder what’s going on at the Sugar Cube Corner?”

---
How is Pinkie to get all that money...?
---

“I’ve already told you, I don’t know anything about Rainbow Dash liking fillies. Now, are you going to buy something or not?”

Since the meeting ended, every mare that took part in it had made it their mission to go and scout the town for information, as instructed by Twilight. A good majority of them had realized that it was lot of work with little reward, however, and slowly segued back into their calm routine of live in Ponyville. But for those who actually took it seriously, getting that information was harder than it seemed, whether they were searching subtly or…in Lyra’s case, not as subtly.

“Are you absolutely sure?” the green unicorn pressured, “Because I need to be as sure as a cupcake has frosting on it.”

Mrs. Cake didn’t know what language she was trying to speak, but she heard an order in their somewhere, “Chocolate or vanilla?”

“Vanilla please,” she said with a smile.

Meanwhile, in the same bakery, Caramel and Blues were seated, both with donuts and a cup of coffee on their respective halves of the table. Like before, it wasn’t the blue one’s idea to be here, especially as it was where Pinkie worked, but he agreed to because of two things; Pinkie was still at the farm, and he could use a cup of coffee right now.

Caramel had a slightly different reason. He did want some coffee, but he was hoping to share it with somepony else. The only problem was that a certain mare was here as well.

“Why is Lyra pestering Mrs. Cake?” Caramel asked.

“You’re not gonna go and join her, are you?” Blues asked, sipping some coffee.

Caramel chuckled at his friend, “No, I’m actually honestly curious.”

Blues mimicked his laugh, “You’re actually interested in something other than mares?”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” the stallion explained, “I mean, I’m interested in something a mare is doing, if that counts for anything.”

“With you, it does.”

Caramel hummed affirmatively as he drank from his coffee, creatively flavored with cinnamon and, unsurprisingly, caramel.

“But really,” he said, putting his drink down, “Why are ponies asking around? She’s dating Big Macintosh, the rumors aren’t true, mystery solved.”

“So you think.”

Lyra suddenly appeared before them, with a vanilla cupcake levitating before her with a bite wound.

“Look at you two, all snug and comfy without a care in the world like some chipper couple,” she said as she took a bite of her cupcake.

“Lyra, we already discussed this before,” Caramel said, looking a bit insulted, “We’re not a couple. …and I’m not gay.”

“But you two obviously wouldn’t know about how severe something like that is,” the unicorn continued, ignoring the stallion, “What would you know about it?”

“Hey, I’ve dated hundreds of mares before,” Caramel was quick to answer, “And I’ve even slept with a few.”

“I don’t think that’s what she meant,” Blues chimed, taking another sip of his coffee, “And the less we hear about your escapades, the better.”

“For all of us,” Lyra agreed, taking another piece of cupcake, “Those poor mares though…”

“Hmph, you sound jealous,” the stallion said smugly.

“Please, if I wanted to date a filly willy stallion like you, I would…” Lyra tried to say, but found herself short of ways to finish her sentence, “…you know, I really can’t go any lower than you out of all the stallions in Ponyville. And I would know, I’ve seen a list.”

Caramel scoffed at her remark, but it spurred Blues to speak.

“Wait, there’s a list?”

He was ignored, however, as the other two ponies continued to chat.

“So, Lyra, what were you badgering Mrs. Cake for, just now?” he said in an almost taunting fashion, hoof on one cheek and elbow on the table, “Need more rainbows in your diet or something?”

Lyra returned his attitude with a snarky tone of her own, “Why yes, I would like some extra spice in my life, with a steaming pile of raw wingpower on the side.”

Blues merely rolled his eyes and drank his coffee in silence. He had known Caramel for a while, and while the stallion wouldn’t hesitate to propose a date with just about any mare in town, Lyra was the exception. All he knew of the two was that Lyra had turned him down after he inevitably attempted to ask her out, and then he moved on to Bonbon, which she has prevented him from approaching out of the goodness of her heart, as she’d put it. Since then, she’s been a sort of rival to him, and while it was refreshing to see Caramel not flirting with a mare for once, their arguments were immature, and that was a generous description.

Speaking of whom, the other mare, Bonbon, was also in Sugar Cube Corner, enjoying her own coffee while reading a newspaper. Her existence came to attention at the call of two fillies.

“Bonbon!” chimed a filly, “I’ve been looking for you. Are you going to open the candy thop thoon?”

The filly that was talking was an up and coming candy maker by the name of Twist. Her lisp was unmistakable, among her curly red hair and oversized glasses. According to the town, Bonbon had been tutoring the young one in candy making among peppermint canes, and she’s been shown to be very promising. Rumor has it that she would inherit the shop soon, but that was a glorified claim. The other filly was Archer, a blue earth pony with a special talent in archery, but nopony cared about that. Except for Blues, of course.

Bonbon turned to the two fillies and put on a bright smile, “Very soon, my little ponies. I’m just here taking care of her.”

Back at the other table, Lyra and Caramel had somehow devolved into a rock paper scissors match off, with Lyra leading two to one. Scratch that. Three to one. How they were engaging in such a battle of luck with just hooves was a mystery.

Blues eventually had enough of the two and got up from his seat, having finished off his coffee. Like Bonbon, Blues felt the need to take care of Caramel because of how often he would humiliate himself in an attempt to show off to the females. The truth is, he was all talk and no trot, as he would melt into a pool of self conscious problems and low self-esteem when confronted by an actual willing mare. But when he bumped heads with Lyra, it was safe to leave him be, as the two usually bickered for an hour or two.

But he wasn’t going to leave the bakery just yet.

“Afternoon, Bonbon,” he greeted the mare, then turned to the filly, “Hey there, kiddo.”

“Hey there, Blues,” Archer said to her older brother, “What are you here for?”

He shrugged, “Same reason Bonbon is; keeping Caramel out of trouble.”

Twist then tapped Blues’ shoulder, then pointed to the other table. The four of them saw Caramel shaking a can of soda fiercely, blushing a bit, as Lyra watched smugly.

“I swear to Celestia…” Bonbon said as she took a big gulp of her coffee.

“What is Lyra here for, anyways?” the blue stallion asked the candy maker.

Bonbon and the other two fillies both turned to him, the latter two being just curious.

“Oh, some stuff about a mission or something,” Bonbon said vaguely, “For some reason, all the mares in town started poking around about Rainbow Dash and her,” she glanced at the fillies in front of her, “Taste.”

“Is she talking about that colorful chewy candy?” Archer whispered to Twist. The two were ignored by the adults.

“So is that why she was bothering Mrs. Cake?” Blues replied. They heard something explode and liquid dripping, followed by angry shouting belonging to Mr. Cake, but they didn’t need to look to guess what had happened, “But why would she know anything about that?”

“Well, she and her husband are taking care of Pinkie and all, plus, she’s close friends with Rainbow Dash and everything,” Bonbon said, taking a sizable sip of her coffee, “Lyra was prodding here wondering if she and Pinkie were closer than friends.”

There was a faint feeling of heartbreak in the blue pony’s center, but he quickly brushed it off, “O-oh. I guess that’s valid.”

“Where is that pony anyway?” the candy maker asked, “I haven’t seen her around much today.”

“Oh, she’s at Sweet Apple Acres as far as I know,” the blue stallion replied, “But she was at Twilight’s a bit earlier for a meeting.”

“A meeting? Lyra said something about that,” Bonbon recalled, “When she returned, she and every other mare started their whole investigation thing about Rainbow Dash.”

There was the sound of wood clacking in the bakery, and the four ponies turned to look. Apparently, they had been given mops to clean Caramel’s spill with, but it had devolved into childish swordplay with the sticks they were given. Fortunately for them, they had finished cleaning up, but the wet floor was too slippery as Caramel lost his balance, to Lyra’s delight.

“Looks like she’s a bit distracted,” Blues noted.

“If I said she had the attention span of a trout, it’d be a compliment to her,” Bonbon said, putting away the newspaper.

“Oh, speaking of childish adults,” Archer quipped, calling attention to herself, “Ruby’s mom came to school today, and left shouting about a meeting.”

“Huh, the same meeting, I’ll bet,” Bonbon thought out loud, “I swear to Celestia, if the drunk’s involved in this as well in any way,” but she didn’t finish as she just drank the rest of her coffee.

“Come on, Bonbon. How bad can it be compared to Lyra taking part in it?” Blues stated as they watched the unicorn in question slide along the suddenly wet floor on her posterior, followed by Caramel giving chase.

“You have a point there,” the candy maker replied.

“Hey Archer,” the blue adult suddenly asked, “And Twist, you know anypony else that might be in on this thing?”

After a moment of thought, the red head spoke first, “Thady’th mom went. Actually, a whole bunch of ponieth were abthent thith afternoon.”

“Noi and I played at the arcade because her sister was busy at the time,” Archer added, “We’re going to the park later with Dinky because her sister’s still busy.”

“You mean the carrot one, right?” Lyra joined in as she slid to a stop before them, “She was assigned to Sweet Apple Acres along with the toothpaste pony after the meeting.”

Before she could’ve been asked for anything else, Caramel mischievously bumped into her and sent the unicorn rolling. He chuckled as she crashed into the wall, but then attempted to flee when he saw she was coming back for them. The two ended up sliding into the hallway and the clatter of pots falling was heard later.

“I can see where this is going,” the earth pony mare said as she stood up.

“Wait, you’re going to leave her behind?” the blue stallion asked.

Bonbon stepped carefully across the drying but still slippery floor, “I suggest you do the same or else pay for the damages with your friend.”

Blues complied and motioned for the two fillies to follow the mare. The shouting of Mr. Cake could be heard just as they reached the dry floor of the entrance, followed by Lyra and Caramel pointing hooves at each other.

The blue stallion shook his head, “Those two need to go out already.”

“I agree,” Bonbon replied.

---
Is every adult here a child at heart?
---

Meanwhile, out in the field of apple trees, Applejack, having been unseen for a good portion of the day, had just finished setting up the repellant on the trees that needed them. Even though only half of the trees on the farm were to be equipped with the repellants, such a task would have taken all day due to how expansive their land was. But thanks to Applejack’s faithful dog Winona, locating the trees was easy and done efficiently, and proved to be invaluable help to the pony.

As much as the pegasus denied.

“Well, you should’ve come earlier then,” the cowgirl replied, hauling the empty cart back to the farm.

“Hey, I was busy back there,” Rainbow Dash defended as she hovered by the pony, “I fulfilled my weather duty quota, Twilight interrogated me like a criminal, and Rarity washed me. My time kind of just slipped away.”

“More like half of the day,” Applejack shot back from the cart, “Not to mention you promised to help around the farm today.”
The pegasus sighed, “Yeah, I know. I’ve just been occupied, that’s all.”

The earth pony huffed, “Well then, why don’t you go meet with Big Macintosh an’ plow them fields like Ah told ya to? And dirt better be the only thing you two are plowin’.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “Really AJ? That isn’t all we think about, you know.”

“You two have been goin’ out for two months. Don’t tell me it never crossed your mind to ditch your duties an’ work the hay instead,” Applejack retorted.

The pegasus groaned, but found it fruitless to pursue the argument. Besides, she still had something to ask her about, something that she came to Applejack for especially.

“Hey AJ, I need to ask you something,” the tension of the previous argument was gone from her voice.

“Can it wait?” the cowgirl had little tolerance for the pegasus’ when it came to getting work done; even less if it was stalling.

“Not really,” the pegasus returned, “But I’ll make it quick.”

Applejack rolled her eyes and kept walking. Whatever she had to say, it better be good, “So what is it?”

Rainbow Dash stalled for a bit, rubbing the back of her head, before coming up with a proper introduction to the issue, “Okay well, I have this friend, you see.”

She was talking about Twilight, of course, but Rarity’s advice from earlier lingered in her mind. She’d hate for Twilight’s sexuality to be leaked out into the public without her discretion, but she didn’t know what to do about it in the meantime. Which is why she needed a second opinion as soon as possible.

“A friend, Ah see,” although, it didn’t sound like Applejack believed her, “An’ what happened?”

Rainbow Dash folded her arms in an attempt to conjure up an example.

“Well, she just learned that another friend of hers is dating another pony, and she kind of has a crush on her,” Rainbow Dash went on, “So, this is kind of confusing.”

“So, wait. You’re askin’ for help on tryin’ to deal with it?” Applejack replied. Although she was still holding onto the disbelief that Rainbow Dash was really asking about a situation she was in, that couldn’t be right given, well, she came out to dating her brother just this morning.

So maybe she’s telling the truth.

“Kind of,” the pegasus continued, “She wants to make sure that the two of them are happy and alright with each other, but I can’t help but think that she’s just a little bit jelly.”

“Jelly?” Applejack replied, “Like, cherries or strawberry?”

When she realized that she was in this situation again, the pegasus groaned while placing a hoof to her face and quickly corrected herself, “Ugh, no, I mean, jealous. You know, J-E-L?”

Applejack nodded in response, although it wasn’t the correct spelling.

“Anyway,” Rainbow Dash continued, “So yeah. She’s been handling it a bit extremely, and I’m just wondering if it’s something to worry about yet.”

The earth pony hummed as she thought about what she was told. She knew now that her ‘friend’ wasn’t really just the pegasus herself, but she didn’t know who exactly the friend was. It could’ve been the other girls, but Rainbow Dash also had other pegasus friends in Ponyville, and narrowing them down would be almost impossible.

If this new couple she was referring to would be her and Big Macintosh, then it was important to help out however she could in this case, for her sake especially.

“Well, for starters, you’ll wanna keep a close eye on ‘em,” Applejack started, “Make sure that whatever she’s doin’ ain’t for anythin’ nasty like tryin’ to split ‘em up, or to steal one away.”

Rainbow Dash followed along. She knew it was almost unbelievable for Twilight to attempt anything terrible like that, but the unicorn could be unpredictable when she was upset. A famous example would be the Smarty Pants incident from months ago. In that case, it was important to keep these notes in her head, especially for the party later tonight.

“If anythin’ does come up,” she continued, “You need to set things right before they get any more wrong, and get her to come to terms wit’ the reality of everythin’.”

Rainbow Dash took a moment to process these words and found them to be acceptable advice along with what Rarity told her earlier. If Twilight did something crazy, which has happened before, it was up to her to set things right, more so considering she was the object of her affection.

“Hmm, ok,” Rainbow Dash finally said, “Thanks for that.”

“Yer welcome,” Applejack obliged happily, “Now, if there ain’t anythin’ else you need to ask about…”

“Nah, I’m good,” she said as she started to hover higher, “I’ll go and get to helping Big Mac with those chores.”

“Don’t forget the seeds for the summer harvest,” she shouted as Rainbow Dash flew away in search of her coltfriend.

While Applejack and Rainbow Dash where having their chat, Winona had been faithfully trailing her master during the trek back to the farm. Along the way, though, she had stopped to itch off some excess fur a good distance away, and her entire coat needed to go to make room for the new one. It was almost all off, though; she was getting the last bits out. Right as she finished for the day, she was approached by a good friend of hers.

“Hm? Oh, why if it isn’t mah good friend Gummy,” she said to the reptilian that somehow knew how to find her, “What brings you ‘round these parts?”

“…” Gummy greeted, “…”

“Oh? A party, at Opal’s place?” Winona repeated, “What’s the occasion?”

“…” Gummy explained.

“Ah see. Well, it just so happens that there’s a party goin’ on over here later, so Ah suppose it makes for perfect timin’,” Winona explained happily.

“…” Gummy mentioned.

Winona blinked and looked over herself and her still clinging strands of fur, “Oh dear. Ah’m still a sheddin’ mess. Ah’ll need somepony to groom me before Ah can go. Ah’d hate to miss this party. They don’t happen a lot.”

“…”Gummy said haughtily.

“Say, think you can shoot a message to Angel for me?” Winona asked, “Ah need a groomin’ from Fluttershy soon before the party.”

“…” Gummy agreed.

“Ah’m ever grateful,” she then looked back to the direction where Applejack had long gone, “Oh, Ah’m bein’ called. Pleasure talkin’ with ya, Gummy.”

And like that, the dog ran off back to its owner, leaving the alligator alone in the fields of Sweet Apple Acres. Actually, he wasn’t really alone.

Far off from his location, behind an apple tree, two ponies came out of hiding in order to assess their finds.

“Well, that was weird,” Carrot Top said as a unicorn approached her.

“What, the dog barking at the croc?” a blue unicorn with an hourglass cutie mark asked.

“Oh, no. She always does that with the other animals,” the other pony answered, “I mean, the thing Rainbow Dash was talking about.”

The unicorn, known as Minuette, took a second to recollect what she heard from the pegasus.

“How hard is it to link ‘jelly’ to the word jealous?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but we’ll figure that out later,” Carrot Top said, “That whole ‘friend’ thing bothers me.”

“You think she was referencing herself?” Minuette asked, “But if that was the case, it doesn’t make sense since she already has a coltfriend.”

“Unless,” Carrot Top started, “They’re not really going out. She has a secret crush on one of her friends.”

Minuette took a moment to recall how the conversation went down, “If one of her friends already has a coltfriend, which one is she talking about? As far as I know, they’re all still single.”

“Well, that’s why we have to keep investigating,” the earth pony explained, “We find out who they are, get them together with Rainbow Dash, and bam. There’s our proof for the secret theory.”

“So, who do we check with first?” the unicorn asked.

Carrot Top thought hard. Among the pegasus’ friends, which of them were most likely to have gotten a coltfriend recently? She didn’t know many of her friends personally, but some were too hard to miss. Two of them were shut ins, one was the farmer that Rainbow Dash just talked to, so that left either the pink one or the fashionista.

“Rarity,” she finally said.

---
It's like they're doing this deliberately...
---

It took a while to ride back to town on the scootsmobile, but soon enough, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were at the town library where Twilight was. Or was supposed to be. To their dismay, they found the library closed and nopony home. With no other lead, they decided to stay and wait for the unicorn to return.

“When is she coming back?” Scootaloo complained, “It’s been hours!”

“It hasn’t been an hour,” Apple Bloom retorted, “We’ve only been here for, like, two minutes.”

Scootaloo fiddled with her handlebars before replying, “I mean, like, how long it’s been since she left.”

“Wait, how do you know she’s been gone for that long?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“She doesn’t,” the apple filly shot.

“And neither do you,” the pegasus filly returned.

“What, are you some sort of time master now?” Apple Bloom said, getting to her hooves from the wagon.

“No, I’m saying we don’t know how long Twilight’s been gone, so it could’ve been hours,” Scootaloo replied.

“Yeah, that’s such a specific amount,” the filly said sarcastically.

The unicorn filly sighed as the two started arguing again. Sometimes she thought the two argued just to argue, as they hardly accomplished anything whenever the two acted up. She thought being a Cutie Mark Crusader would be the best thing that’s ever happened to her, but as the failures piled on, they got increasingly restless. They were getting desperate and stressed out, and the two fillies would take it out on each other more often while she just sat back in the sidelines waiting for the two to cool down.

Maybe it was time to take a break.

Before Sweetie Belle could come to a positive life changing conclusion, she saw something in the window out of the corner of her eye. Closing in to take a closer look, she found that the kitchen light was on, but all the other lights were off, and she could swear she saw a figure shifting about in the darkness.

“The top speed of a Peregrine Falcon is not three hundred an’ twenty miles per hour!” Apple Bloom said loudly.

“Is so!” Scootaloo shouted back, “And you pronounce numbers without the and!”

Frustrated at their pointless fighting, Sweetie Belle interrupted, “Girls! Can you two please stop arguing over homework and come and look at this?”

The two shared a nasty look before giving in and walking up to the window to see what the unicorn was talking about.

“Finally,” she breathed before speaking, “Okay look. Isn’t the library supposed to always be open?”

“Well, except for at night,” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“And when Equestria’s in danger,” Scootaloo added.

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I know that. But look closely.”

The three fillies all zoomed into the window to see just what was the unicorn filly talking about. After only seven or so seconds, a figure whooshed by the light from the kitchen, shocking the girls as they stepped back.

“Whoa! What was that?” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“It looked like somepony broke in,” Scootaloo said, and then a spark went off in her eyes.

“See?” Sweetie Belle said to the two, “Maybe Twilight’s still inside? Maybe she’s in danger?”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go in and teach that intruder a lesson!” Scootaloo proudly exclaimed as she clapped her hooves together, “We might even get our cutie marks for it!”

The three fillies were getting excited at the thought of beginning their careers as crime fighters and getting a cutie mark to show it, until a certain problem became clear.

“Wait, how are we s’pposed to get inside?” Apple Bloom brought up as she looked over the giant tree.

Scootaloo didn’t have an immediate answer, “Oh, uhh…”

But Sweetie Belle did, “Well, if the intruder got in, then there must be a way in. Maybe they got in through the second floor?”

Looking up, they did see that a window was left open, the balcony window to be precise. However, it wasn’t something that could be accessed immediately, unless you could fly or had a really tall ladder.

“Hey Apple Bloom, do you have a ladder at home?” the pegasus filly asked as she turned to her.

“Well, yeah. But we can’t exactly just go back an’ get it,” she answered, “Time is of the essence.”

“Then we’ll just have to climb it. Good thing I’m already pretty good at tree climbing,” Scootaloo said as she started leaning up against the library.

As Apple Bloom followed, Sweetie Belle started thinking sensibly, “Wait a minute, can’t we just call somepony else for help?”

“And get our cutie marks for what?” Scootaloo shot back, “Whistle Blowers? Tattlers? No thanks.”

“You comin’ or what?” Apple Bloom asked as she carefully climbed the walls of the library.

With no other option, Sweetie Belle reluctantly began to climb the library tree. It was an odd sight, the three most destructive fillies of Ponyville, climbing a tree house in an attempt to break and enter. Any reasonable adult would be concerned more for the homeowner that the fillies, but the only ponies in the vicinity were two fillies keeping quiet as they watched the troublemakers make it to the balcony.

“Okay, now what?” Sweetie Belle asked as she settled her hooves onto the balcony. She joined the other two as they peered into the darkness of the library.

“Now, we go inside and confront the intruder,” Scootaloo said confidently.

“Don’tcha think we need to get a candle first or somethin’,” Apple Bloom asked.

“I’ll take care of that,” the unicorn filly suddenly proposed, “You two just look out for the intruder. They won’t just let us capture them.”

With a plan set, the three fillies were determined to step into the library in hopes of taking down the mystery intruder. That is, as soon as one of them took the lead.

“Y-you go first Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said.

“What? N-no, Scootaloo goes first,” the filly replied as she went behind the pegasus and pushed, “It was her idea.”

“Huh? N-no way,” she replied as she reached around and pushed Sweetie Belle to the lead spot, “Sweetie’s the one who saw the intruder first. She gets to lead.”

“What?” the unicorn said as she stepped away from Scootaloo, “But I’m supposed to be the one getting the candles. You two are supposed to cover me while I do that.”

As they argued, they inched further and further into the darkness of the library. It was only a matter of time until they were completely past the border where the window divided the inside from the outside when it was closed. A few more steps away from a trespassing violation, and…

WHAM.

Without warning, the window shut on the three fillies, frightening the daylights out of them. Of course, the curtains were still open, so they still had the light of the sun protecting them. But it was a frightening experience nonetheless.

“Wh-who shut the door?!” Apple Bloom demanded frightfully, “Was it you Scootaloo?”

“N-No, it wasn’t me,” she replied, “Sweetie Belle?”

“I didn’t touch anything…” the unicorn filly replied.

At this point, the three fillies realized that they did not like being inside dark places without an adult supervisor. The fact that the library was made out of the tree meant that the walls and everything else were uneven and nonlinear, creating some ghastly images in the illusion of darkness. Mysteriously, the light of the kitchen was off when they entered the library, though it had yet come to light to the young ponies.

The apple filly spoke first through her jitters, “S-Sweetie Belle, you go and look fer that candle like you said you would.”

“Oh, r-right,” she responded, “Well, let’s go.”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo led Sweetie Belle away from the window, but were cautious about leaving the safety of the light cast from the balcony. With a bit of urging from the unicorn behind them, the two fillies trekked carefully towards the stairs. When all three fillies had left the light of the sun, that was when the curtains mysteriously slid shut, cutting off the only source of illumination in the foyer, save for a few tiny openings.

“Ah!” they all shrieked, then Apple Bloom turned to the unicorn, “Sweetie Belle, did you do that?!”

“N-no…” she was beginning to regret ever agreeing to this, “I-I think it was the intruder…”

Not willing to abandon their mission just yet, Scootaloo steeled her nerves and said, “Th-then we need those candles right away. Come on, Sweetie Belle.”

Through what little light there was in the library, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were able to trek down the steps from the balcony, albeit as slow and cautiously as possible. As soon as they touched the foot of the stairs, Sweetie Belle speed trotted towards where she guessed the candles would be.

“Where does Twilight keep her stuff?” she asked as she rummaged through the drawers in haste.

“M-maybe by her desk?” Apple Bloom suggested.

Scootaloo, despite how scared she was, found it in her to jeer at the earth pony filly’s suggestion, “Uh, I really don’t think Twilight would own a desk. She’s a unicorn; they don’t need them.”

Spurred by her sass, Apple Bloom temporarily overcame her fear and returned, “What, are you blind? There’re desks all around us!”

The pegasus filly returned her remark, “Of course I’m blind. Do you see how dark it is?”

Sweetie Belle also overcame the plague of fear the darkness was permeating, but only out of annoyance. The two fillies were arguing again, and it’d be a while before they were useful again. So she searched through the absurd number of desks in the library, hoping that some of them might contain a candle and, even better, a matchstick.

“Yeah, of course. Like you’ve eaten a carrot before in your life,” Apple Bloom shot back.

“You’re one to talk! You noticed all the desks in the room first!” Scootaloo retorted.

As the two continued arguing, Sweetie Belle was growing frustrated. Not just at her friends, but also because of the increasing failure of finding a candle to light. She had found a matchbox a few desks before with her eyesight getting better in the darkness, but a candle would make things brighter than just waiting to adjust to the darkness of the room. Only a few more left to check, if her friends didn’t get on her nerves first.

“That is not how you measure the atomic weight of gold!” Scootaloo returned.

“And that isn’t how you say the full scientific name of a humpback whale!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“I found it!”

The two arguing fillies stopped talking and turned to the unicorn, proudly holding all that was left of a burnt out candle. It was an inadequate candle, but it was the best the filly could come across.

“Huh? We’re supposed to light that?” Scootaloo said defiantly.

“Is there even any wick left in that thing?” Apple Bloom asked.

The pegasus filly, however, corrected her, “Uh, you mean string.”

“Yeah, the wick,” the apple filly repeated.

Not feeling like arguing again, she just rolled her eyes and looked to the unicorn, “Ok, so, wick or string, how are we going to light it?”

Thankful that they had stopped their senseless bickering, Sweetie Belle exhaled, “With a matchstick, of course,” she said as she brought out a box.

“Can you even light it?” Apple Bloom asked, “Doesn’t look like it’ll last long.”

“Well, it’s better than nothing,” the unicorn said as she set the candle down and retrieved a match from the box.

The three patiently waited as Sweetie Belle fiddled with the matches. Still lacking magic, she had to hold the box with one hoof and strike with her mouth, and then set something alight before burning herself. It was harder to do and took a while, but eventually she mastered the craft of lighting a matchstick.

“Got it!” Sweetie Belle said through her teeth, clamping on the lit match.

Just as quickly as she had said it, a gust of wind blew by, snuffing out the match and therefore the light. From surprise and the overwhelming smell of smoke, Sweetie Belle dropped the match and stepped back, feeling a presence looming over her and the girls.

“What was that?” Apple Bloom said, the jitters coming back to her, “Ah’m not the only one who saw that, right?”

“You mean that feathery thing that flew by?” Scootaloo said, restraining her shivers, “Y-yeah.”

“I thought you two were supposed to be on the lookout for the thief,” Sweetie Belle said, half scared, half upset.

“We were,” said Apple Bloom, as by now the three were huddled together, “We just saw the thing go by just now.”

“Ugh, no, that’s not what I meant,” the unicorn said, slowly getting upset, “I meant- Ugh, did you not see anything while I was looking?”

“W-Well, we were kinda…distracted…”Scootaloo admitted.

“Well, it was your fault, bringin’ geology into the matter,” Apple Bloom jeered.

“What? You can’t even name the oceans, and you’re calling me out on homework?” the flier retorted.

“Ok, that’s it!” Sweetie Belle interrupted, turning to the girls in defiance, “Every time we go out and try to get our cutie marks, you two would rather spend your time arguing!”

Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at her as if she was serious about bringing this up now with a culprit on the loose in the same house.

“We can’t go outside for two minutes without you two fighting over something stupid like the metabolic system of a sloth, or what falls faster between a sperm whale and a pot of petunia flowers,” she continued.

As Sweetie Belle ranted, the other two shifted their attention to a figure above the unicorn, noted by its glowing yellow eyes and a glint of metal, shaped like a smile.

“You know, maybe arguing is your special talents! Because whenever we’re out looking for cutie marks, that’s all you two do, and I’m sick of it!”

“Uhh…”, “S-Sweetie Belle?” both of them tried to say as the figure loomed closer to the filly.

“I just don’t get you two,” she continued, finding it hard to stop, “You both so desperately want cutie marks but we can never cooperate enough to do anything right. I had to test out the floor buffer because you two wouldn’t stop fighting over who got to ride it first, and look at what happened!” she pointed to a band aid at the base of her horn, “I almost got detention because of you two!”

“Sweetie Belle!” the two fillies shouted, clutching each other in a fearful embrace.

Still seething, the unicorn turned around to unleash her wrath, but instead, her spine shivered with cold just as the shadowy figure overtook her.

“AHHHH!”

And like that, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo made a break for it out of the library.

But they never got far.

Comments

[Daemon_Spectre]

“It’s actually just copied and pasted from the other fic that has no continuity connected to this one,”

fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/256/6/1/season_2_countdown__pinkie_pie_by_closer_to_the_sun-d49pm5a.jpg
and also: first e.deviantart.net/emoticons/t/trollface.png

[Daemon_Spectre]

derpyhoovesnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/it_begins.png

[SP00KY NINJA-PON3]

Books like Daring Do, Amazon Adventures, that one castle series

Are you referencing the show castle, or are you just spouting names

GERONIMO!!!

[djthomp]

Owlowiscious is scary.

[moguera]

Dammit Rarity! You do not put out a fire by dumping alcohol on it.

[Shadow Scryer]

Urgh, I swear it seems like everyone in Ponyville besides Dashie, Spike, Big Mac and possibly applejack is either stupid, immature or just a douche (I think Rarity's a combination of the first and third... same with Flitter but more vindictive). And I think Applejack's stupid in general!

Particularly enjoyed it when Twilights theory was visciously shot down.

Looking forward to seeing how Dashie and Mac deal with the situation, bit I have a bad fealing things are gonna get worse before they get better.

[Zemious]

I'm impressed. I didn't think you could top your third chapter but you did. I'm very curious as to how you'll conclude this, you're setting up oodles of potential laughs for the big party, so much so that I feel like a 6 year old unsupervised at a candy shop. Highlights for this chapters; Rarity completely disregarding her moral lesson on gossiping, and CMC shenanigans.

[Verbose Soubriquet]

Chaos and confusion and everybody freaking out. No two characters have the same version of the same story, and they jump to more conclusions than a shipping-obsessed fanfic writer.
I love it.

[Aziraphael]

“Sheesh Twilight, you look like the sky is falling,” the other pegasus in the room taunted.
“Wait, it is?” Berry Punch questioned, then looked out the window, “Scootaloo wasn’t lying?!”

or what falls faster between a sperm whale and a pot of petunia flowers,” she continued.

Awesome story references? Awesome story references indeed. And I like what you did with Derpy's speech, that was a nice touch

[Ninjuto]

Are you misspelling Derpy's parts on purpose?

[Jake8765]

1559851 I know, with all the dozens of separate storylines going on at once, gossip spreads fast. I nearly skimmed through this, so much words.
And yes, everypony blows everything out of preportions.

[Shadow Scryer]

1562718 Yeah, I'm curious what she'll do when she finds out it all leads back to Rarity for spreading the rumour about her in the first place.

While on the subject of Rarity, I'm pretty sure she's running for the title of 'Biggest douchebag in the universe'. Seriously, who spreds rumours about their friends? Especially ones that potentially ruin said friends reputation? (Maybe I'm forgetting something, but is WAS her who started the 'Rainbow Dash swings the other way' rumour right?)

[Jake8765]

1562980 Wait, Rarity's behind all this?!

[Shadow Scryer]

1563002 I THINK so. I'm pretty sure everyone except Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy's flipping out because Dashie 'stole' Big Mac when they thought she wasn't like that due to a rumour Rarity started... and recently decided not to come clean with.

And as for the others, Twilight's going nuts because her prescious logic doesn't count for shit, Pinkie's Pinkie and Fluttershy's dissapointed Rarities rumours WEREN'T true.

But that leaves the CMC and I don't think even they know what they're thinking.

[BlackM]

1559149 I don't remember leaving that bit in...

1559161 It began a while ago.

1559287 I'll be honest. I made them without looking to make a reference. I'm not an avid book reader to throw a witty shout out there, and I wasn't going to pretend to.

1559393 He had training. (by the way, you are the 100th commenter on this story. )

1559500 Thickening like a hard boiled egg.

1559737 I'd compare the fire to an oil fire, but alcohol is equally less helpful.

1559808 Fixed.

1559851 Ponyville has this collective conscious system that gets the best of everypony. Nopony's really thinking about it. And yes, things are going to get worse before they get better. It's like watching a trainwreck in slowmotion.

1559900 I thought the multiple story threads would be difficult to follow but I'm glad you're enjoying it.

1560059 It'll keep on coming, you can count on it.

1560812 I thought the second one could've been done better, but thanks.

1561673

1562718 Ponyville moves in herds. It's hard to notice when you're in one.

1562980 I think this needs some explanation. Carrot Top mentioned that she said this way back, maybe a year ago or longer. Probably longer. It was never clarified that Rarity and Rainbow Dash weren't friends at the time, and I'm pretty sure they didn't really become friends until the whole Nightmare Moon incident. It was a mistake on her part, and Rarity forgot, but yes, she did drop the ball on coming clean.

Well, I'm glad to see that everypony's enjoying this story so far. I'm afraid it might be a while before the next update , but you'll get your ponies again soon enough.

Keep writing.

[moguera]

1564266 Take it from someone who flambes. Alchohol is much worse.

[blackaerin]

So wait, Tank doesn't get to be invited to the pet soiree? Opalescence completely left him out when discussing about the other pets with Gummy.
Can't help but laugh and yet sympathize with the poor narrator having to put up with everyone's crazy antics and assumptions, goodness it's like watching a train wreck at this point.

[BlackM]

1570593 Rainbow Dash has a pet?

That is sarcasm, we all know she already has a pet in Scootaloo

[Riz]

1564266

BlackM, can you please give me a summary of this chapter ?

Because after read it, I'm super confused....

[BlackM]

1577054 It might be a lot to take in, but it helps to reread. I admit, it is a lot to look over But there's something funny about all these plot threads spiraling into each other. It's madness.

A for a summary, that's hard. Each individual segment is its own story, branches splitting from the trunk. But the way this story is going, these branches are doing loopdeloops and mergings.

[Riz]

1577104
Loopdeloops ? Mergings ?

Wow, Lots and lots of "I thought you're a homo" thinkings....

This chapter makes my brain cries...

[Broffalo]

My god, the part with the CMC and Thunderlane with their sexual innocence was glorious, each line made me cringe and laugh all at the same time xD

[Zweiterversuch]

DUDE!!

I'm going to eat your soul!!

You're just that good!