According to You

by Razor Blade the Unicron

Chapter Four: Who Are You?

Applejack rarely visited the Golden Oaks Library. Other than very rarely ever needing books - with the most common occurrence being that Apple Bloom had a school project to work on or something of the like - she hated having to speak with Amethyst. The feeling was mutual between the two ponies, with their level dislike of each other being on par with her friendly rivalry with Rainbow.

Amethyst had been living in Ponyville for two years as of past autumn. Two years they had argued and fought with the original reason fading more and more into obscurity. They had been on good terms with each other for barely week, the week she had arrived in Ponyville, and then everything finally fell to pieces. Applejack was grateful that Amethyst had moved into the Golden Oaks Library, because as much as she hated the unicorn, she wasn't going to forcibly kick her out of the house with no place to even sleep.

It was a small reoccurring joke that Amethyst had gone from a massive orchard to one of the largest inhabitable trees in history. The Golden Oaks Library had already been growing when her Granny had first come to the plot of land that would one day be Ponyville. It was a perfectly average-sized tree, but there had been something special about it.

Supposedly, the first time Princess Celestia came to visit the settlers to see how they were progressing, a ripening golden acorn was seen on the tree. But the very next day, it had disappeared without a trace. The tree had begun to grow more rapidly, by which at that point it had been dubbed the Golden Oak. Up to when the inside had been carefully hollowed, another golden acorn had never been seen. Even so, it was still called the Golden Oaks Library, allowing the legend to live on among Earth ponies.

Applejack stepped up to the door, pausing to pick up the open-closed sign that Rainbow had knocked off when she had exited the library. The rainbow-streak that was the pegasus had faded away quite some time ago, when she had sped off to Canterlot. She quietly hung up the closed sign as to not be heard by Amethyst, and just stared for a bit. Something about the oak felt off, but that was likely due to all of the bizarre spells that Amethyst practiced in there.

She sighed; couldn't put his off forever. She firmly knocked on the door three times. "Star? Ah know it's early an' all, but Ah need ta find a book for an issue on the farm."

The door lazily swung open, Amethyst's aura visible on the handle. Applejack stepped inside to see a large pile of books in the middle of the room, with Amethyst holding five in the air around her. "Hey, AJ," she said without looking up from the books. "What'cha need?"

Applejack just stared. There were just so many things wrong with the two phrases she had uttered that it was almost terrifying. Amethyst never called her AJ, she never had spoke to Applejack that nonchalantly before and without even a trace of bitterness, and she certainly never said "what'cha".

"You feelin' okay, Star?"

"Peachy," she flipped over a page in every book simultaneously. "What did you need? Something for your farm or whatever?"

Star can't come before the farm. Ah can focus on her actin' weird later. Applejack nodded, even though Amethyst's back was to her. "There's somethin' up with the trees. They're all wonky and keep switchin' between seasons. Ah was gonna ask Limestone fer help, but she ain't around. Think you've got somethin' in here that could tell me why? Ain't seen anythin' like it before."

"Probably not." Amethyst shoved one of the books onto a shelf. "Even there were any books here on Earth pony magic, they'd been written in Earthein."

Applejack resisted sighing. "Can ya just look? Even if they're in Earthein, Ah could always get 'em translated."

"Did you ask Limestone for help?" Why didn't she just look for a book? And was she even listening? "She would be of more help than me. After all, she is a geomancer. Can manipulate rocks and all that."

The books she was holding dropped to the ground, and Amethyst clapped her hooves over her mouth. Applejack's jaw dropped as the unicorn carelessly mentioned the secret magic, which she fortunately already knew about. "Are you insane?!" she yelled. "You can't just tell that to anypony, Star! Ah don't even know how ya learned 'bout that, but it's meant to be a secret!" She walked right up to Amethyst and grabbed her hoof, and started pulling the unicorn towards the door. "Rainbow was right. There's somethin' wrong with you today."

"Don't know what you're talking about, AJ," said Amethyst, suddenly very calm. "You just hate me."

Okay, they hated each other, but they never bluntly stated it out loud. This was just the last straw; something had happened to Amethyst, and none of her friends were here to help. Well, whoever had caused this seemed to have forgotten one thing: Applejack wasn't a moron. She was going to help get Amethyst back to normal.

"Star, we're goin' to the farm." Amethyst gave her a deadpan stare. "Rainbow seemed ta think she was yer last friend here, but Ah know you've got one more."

"Rainbow Dash isn't my friend." Just lay on the wrong-ness even thicker; it was even more obvious by this point. "She's an annoying brat and she makes fun of Twirly."

"Yeah, an' we're on good terms with each other," she replied sarcastically. "Somepony did somethin' to ya and Ah'm gonna help you out. Ya haven't once even told me ta call you Amethyst."

Amethyst froze. "You never mention that."

"Ah mean, it's one of those things ya don't really talk about-"

"We don't hate each other." Applejack stopped pulling her towards the door and stared. "You're just annoyed with the decisions I've made and I don't want to admit you're right-" She cut off abruptly. "Whatever. Let's just go deal with whatever your problem is."

Applejack nodded slowly. "Yeah... That would be great..." That was the real Amethyst there, for just a second. But why would she mention that of all things? "But we're gonna talk with somepony real quick."

"And who exactly is that?" She rolled her eyes. "Everypony's asleep, AJ."

"Ah really don't care right now. 'Sides, Apple Bloom's gotta get up fer school soon."