> For love or for Pain?
>  by Applejack is best peach
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A simple request
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack sat in the west orchards, gazing out upon her family's adored apple orchard, the tips of which were glistening from last night's dew clinging onto the leaves as Celestia's morning sun brought them to life. Applejack had just completed her first job of the day, which she mentally ticked off in her head. Alright pull yourself together Aj, it's something ya see every day. Guess that don't stop it from bein' beautiful though. Now that the baskets were laid under the trees, Applejack was free to move on with her day. She began a calm canter back to the barn where she preferred to begin her bucking.
As she neared the barn however there was a barley visible visitor idly pacing from one end of the barn door to the other. As Applejack neared the barn she took note of the lavender coat on the pony, and a soft smile crept it's way onto her lips, she also heard the pony muttering something currently not comprehensible. Typical Twi, caught up in her big old head. Wonder what she's thinkin about. 

"Well howdy there Twi! what brings you down to the farm?" To this Twilight visibly seemed shocked, it was as if she didn't expect to find anyone else at the farm. She quickly recovered however. 

"Applejack! What a surprise seeing you here".

"Erm, Twi, this is where Ah live".

"Yes! Yes it is!" Twilight began avoiding Applejack's eyes, and started prodding the ground, as if she had suddenly dropped her confidence and excepted to find it buried there. 

"Are you alright sugarcube? You're acting mighty strange darlin'." 

"Me!? Oh you know, this and that. It's just that, what with you being... You know, the most honest, and er ... dependable pony, yes, that was it! erm, a-and you know the whole element of Honesty thing as well, you kind of have to... well what I mean to say, no want I mean to ask, is... Well.." There was now a visible tone of crimson accompanying the lavender of Twilight's cheeks.

"Twi, You're startin to scare me." Applejack moved closer to Twilight in an attempt to calm her, she added a reassuring hoof to the shaking Mare's back. 

Twilight shivered and shook for a few more moments then took in the deep breaths that the 'how to handle stress' book had taught her. She then slowly tilted her head up, and gazed into the endless emerald jeweled eyes before her. "If I asked you... If I asked you a question you would answer me honestly, right?".

Applejack was frankly taken back by this question, what could have gotten Twi so worried? "Of course Twi anything you wanna know all you ever gotta do is ask" Twilight's mood visibly lifted at this and a grin slowly began to occupy more and more of her face, until she was left a grin that would leave Pinkie Pie jealous. 

"Really?! Oh that's great news! Thanks Aj!" And with that burst of excitement Twilight hastily embraced Applejack in a hug and then galloped down the farm heading, to the gate while yelling at the top of her lungs, "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!" Until her voice was lost in among the trees. As Twilight disappeared beyond the gate that lead to Ponyville, Applejack stood, shocked, confused and worried.

"You're welcome?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity had completed her last lengthy orders, and felt that she had deserved to finally open the imported exquisite tea all the way from the Crystal empire. As she elegantly trotted out of her workshop and down the stairs she began reaching out with her magical abilities, first task was to undo the casing of the pot of tea, check. Next was to fill the kettle and begin heating the water then the mil... 

The door to the boutique was suddenly surrounded in a lavender aura, the door then flew open slamming against the opposite wall. "I did it! I did it!" It took Rarity a while to recover from the sudden shocking thought that she was being burgled. When she did recover she took note of the spilled water and milk on the floor and table. She finally managed to tear her eyes from the mess she had made and breathed a sigh of relief that the tea had at least been spared. 

"Good morning, Twilight. I see that you have been spending time with Rainbow dash, but in the future please do try and knock before bursting through my front door." Twilight's excitement dispelled slightly and a sheepish grin took its place on her mouth. 

"Oh, I'm so sorry Rarity! but, I did it! I finally did it and I just needed to talk to someone about it, and you have been so helpful therefore you were my first choice!" Twilight had now reverted back to her school filly act and was jumping around the room.

"Oh my goodness do you mean, you?..."

"Yes I finally did it, it took all of my courage and everything you taught me! but it was all so worth it. Oh my goodness I'm so happy!" Rarity had also grown incredibly exited and was on the verge of following in twilight's bounds, her lady like ways were holding her back by a thread, she settled for simply cantering on the spot and grinning to her heart's content. 

"Darling this is simply wonderful news! I knew you could do it if you put your mind to it! I am ever so proud of you" The two eventually stopped their erratic movements.

"I know, I know, I know! And thank you Rarity so much, you have been such a great support." Twilight then embraced Rarity in a vice grip hug.

"Darling.... Need to ...." Rarity wheezed.

"Oh sorry Rarity, I am just so ecstatic at the moment".

Once she had recovered her breath Rarity directed them to the couch, of course not before mixing them a cup of expensive tea. "Alright darling tell me exactly what happened, I want details!" Twilight was more than happy relive conversation between her and Applejack.

"... And so I asked her if she would be honest with me and she said ... YES!" Twilight finished her tale with a squeal that could have easily been mistook for Fluttershy. Rarity who had up until this point been utterly engaged and overjoyed took on a very skeptical face as the information was processed. Then her face deadpanned.

"Twilight?" 

"Yes?" Twilight answered, still grinning ear to ear.

"You didn't tell her, did you?"

"Well not exactly, but at least I know that When I do tell her she will be completely honest with me, right?".

"Darling you know as well as I that Applejack would never lie to you or anyone else unless the truth would be unbearable in which case she would try her attempt at a lie which is as see through as a glass window".

"I guess you're right" Twilight's mood dropped completely and she now sat on the couch, head in her hoofs lightly sobbing "Oh I'm such an idiot! Why couldn't I just tell her?" Rarity immediately rushed over to her weeping friend and began to comfort her.

"Oh there, there Twilight, it's as I said these things take a lot of time and dedication. Besides if you truly love her, which I am sure you do then just give it time, there is absolutely no reason to rush this." Twilight seemed calmed by her generous friend and began to regain her composure. 

"You're right, of course you are. I'm just being silly again don't mind me" She chuckled, then stood up from the couch. "Well if it's alright with you Rarity I'll be heading back to the library I need to think some things over".

Rarity accompanied her friend to the door "Oh, but of course darling take all the time you need, but do remember I am always here, as are all of your friends. We are here to help you."

"Oh I know and I can't thank you enough for it!" With another hug they bid farewell. Twilight began her journey back to the library, she had successfully wasted a whole morning and accomplished absolutely nothing. She breathed an exhausted sigh and let her mind drift to thoughts of Applejack.
> No rest, for the stressed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day was in full swing, as was Ponyville. Some ponies moved through the town square with a clear destination, others simply drifted between browsing stores, to chatting with their friends. The sun was almost directly above Ponyville, casting it's rays down upon the town as it endured another busy day. Twilight meandered through the crowds of chatting ponies, drifting in and out of thought and outside awareness. She was under the impression that she was heading to the Library, however, she had in fact passed the library twice and had instead simply found herself back in the center of town. A certain purple dragon, who had been out shopping for quills and paper, had noticed Twilight complete her second successful lap of the town, he thought it necessary to make sure she was feeling alright.	

Spike quickly paid the store vendor for the last quill and walked at a brisk pace to catch up with his purple carer. "Hey, Twilight! Wait up!" Spike yelled, as he worked his little scaly legs to their limit in an attempt to catch up with the day dreaming unicorn. The commotion seemed to knock Twilight out of her trance, as she slowed her pace and glanced over her shoulder. She could now see her assistant in full sprint, carrying the supplies she had asked him to purchase tomorrow. 

"Oh, Spike! that list wasn't due until tomorrow." Once Spike took his place by Twilight's side, they began the walk back to the library.

"Oh I know, but I had already dusted the shelves, made the bed, and fed Owalicious, so my tasks for today were already complete, and what with you mysteriously vanishing this morning, I thought I would take care of some more tasks before you got back. Besides, it saves you another panic attack in case we run out before tomorrow." This earned a small giggle from Twilight.

"Well thank you, my number one assistant!" 

"Don't mention it! What helps you, helps me, or something like that. Anyway, where were you this morning? I thought I had over slept, and that you were angry with me, and that maybe you left, and went back to Canterlot, and I would be all alone and..."

"Spike" Twilight interjected " You know as well as I do that I would never get angry at you for sleeping in." Spike seemed to relax after hearing that " Besides, I just went to talk to Applejack, down at the farm, that's all." Twilight explained.

"Oh? what did you talk about? Must have been important, whatever it was. Was it to do with the elements of harmony? Is Discord back again? More Changelings!? Oh I know it's those Parasprite things again right?!" 

"No, no, nothing that serious, I just went to tell her that I'm in lo.. I, erm. Well, you see.." Twilight needed an excuse, "I needed to.. er, give her a book! Yes, that's it, a book!" To this Spike raised an eye brow is a questioning manner, "I-it  was about.. Apples! A book about apples, for Applejack!" Twilight now had a plastered grin on her face, clearly intended to appear as if she was confident with her answer. Spike however, was sceptical.

"You got up at the break of dawn, to give Aj a book about apples? The pony who knows practically everything about apples?" As the two continued the conversation the library finally grew visible around the last of the houses surrounding Ponyville's town square, Twilight began to quicken her pace as if to outrun the rest of the conversation.

Spike matched Twilight's speed by breaking into a light jog. Twilight felt her mind race, trying to find an escape route out of the conversation, Spike was too young to understand the love between two ponies; granted he was strongly attached to Rarity, but Twilight viewed that as more of a crush, not love. Then it hit her, Rarity! "Yes! she is planting a new breed of saplings soon and wanted a book on them to ... research? A-Anyway! After that I went to talk to Rarity." Spike lost his sceptical look, and replaced it with a care free, dreamy expression. He sighed contently, and rather dramatically, to which Twilight rolled her eyes, but was grateful for the change in conversation.

"Rar- Rarity? Oh, it feels as if I haven't seen her in a thousand years." Spike slowed his pace as a result of his thoughts suddenly being occupied by the elegant white unicorn of his dreams, Twilight enveloped the quills and papers currently tucked under the young dragons arm in her magical aura, and carefully took them from him. 

"Oh there's a thought Spike, seeming as you've done all your chores for the day, and I could use a nap, why don't you go and see if Rarity could use a helping hoof? I'm sure she would appreciate the help. After all, it has been a whole, well, day, since you saw her last." Spike stopped dead in his tracks, he looked up at Twilight who had also stopped at the front door to their home. He gave her the widest grin he could muster, and the most grateful expression he could provide.

"R-really? Can I?!" By this point he was practically shaking with glee at the thought of spending another day helping Rarity with her client's orders. Maybe they could go hunting for more gems, preferably without one of them being kidnapped this time. 

Twilight giggled at the sight, "Of course you can!" At this, spike bolted in the direction of the town square once more, he got a mere few feet before skidding to a halt, turning back, and leaping onto Twilight, locking her in a rushed yet heartfelt embrace. Then once again, he turned tail and bolted to Ponyville in search of his pony in need.

Twilight watched her longest companion run toward Rarity's boutique. She admired his confidence to be so subliminally open about his feelings towards Rarity. As Spike vanished into the crowds of ponies, she sighed, and turned toward the door once more. "Time for a nice midday nap" She magically twisted the knob and entered the library.

The library was peculiarly dark, despite it being midday. Twilight noticed the curtains had been drawn on all of the windows and doors, so that there was no light in the room, what so ever. The position of the sun had also stopped a lot of light entering from the front door, as it was being blocked by the branches sprouting from the top of the tree. Strange, she thought. Why would Spike close all the curtains? could it have been Owalicious?. She shrugged it off for now and reached out once more with her magical horn, and turned on the lights. 

The next few seconds were a blur. The moment the lights were lit, Twilight was bombarded with colours from every direction. There were streamers hanging from the stairway handle and scattered along the floor in a chaotic, yet somehow tidy fashion, balloons were both tied to objects around the room, and left to float to the roof of the library. On the nearby dining table, lay several cupcakes, each containing orange stars and what appeared to be purple slices of apples. There were banners hanging from almost every bookshelf, each bearing a similar message,"Twilight X Applejack", or "Applesparkle" and some were even called "Twijack". She was too busy gawking at the party decorations to notice an extremely happy, bubbly maned pony, directly in front of her, who was busy tinkering with what appeared to be a cannon of some description. Twilight moved her focus to the weapon in question which appeared to have been armed, Twilight began to cast her teleportation spell, but alas, it was too late, the cannon fired. The ammunition consisted of streamers, confetti and other party related decorations. The blast knocked her focus off the spell and sent her flying a short distance onto her back. Within a split second the Pink maned pony began hopping around the dazed unicorn, singing a merry tune with lyrics focused on the similarities between apples and books, which appeared to be rather plentiful. Unfortunately, all Twilight could hear was an extremely loud ringing reverberating around her skull. 

After a few more moments of muted singing from Pinkie Pie, and Twilight's mind processing the last minute of events in her still ringing head, Twilight finally managed to move her stunned body into a sitting position. She glanced down at her coat, which was a complete mess by now and covered in party decor. she sighed, and dreaded to think of what state her usually straight, neat and tidy mane would be in.

With Pinkie's song eventually drawing to a close, (which had somehow been continuing for this long) and Twilight's hearing back to its original state, Twilight gave the most soul frightening stare she could currently conjure, and shot it in Pinkie's direction. Pinkie was apparently unfazed by the glare and continued to grin carelessly. "Pinkie." Twilight began as calmly as she could, "I would like you, to never, ever, fire that damn party cannon in my library again. Especially, if I am standing right in front of it!" Twilight snapped, then rose to all fours and grabbed her brush from the nearby desk with her magic, and began tidying herself, while massaging her forehead with a hoof. Pinkie watched her unicorn friend, noticing a severe lack of joy in her actions. Worried that she may have made a mistake, she checked her decorations once more. The banners were worded correctly, "Applesparkle" and "Twijack". The rest of the party decor seemed appropriate, the streamers, confetti and balloons were all coloured Purple and orange as were the snacks, which Pinkie was rather proud of. She couldn't understand why Twilight was so depressed, if Pinkie had just confessed her undying love to somepony, then she would be ecstatic. 

"Twilight? Are you feeling alright?" Pinkie began piecing the puzzle together, "Oh my goodness, did Aj say no?!" Before Twilight could explain the situation she was tackled to the ground, and gripped in an incredibly strong hug. Twilight was taken aback by the sudden contact and strength of the party pony; the fact that she couldn't breathe also had something to do with her shock. 

"Pi-... Pinkie!.. Need ai-- air!" Twilight gasped.

"Oh, Sorry Twilight, but I thought you really badly needed a hug! Rejection can be a real doozy!" Twilight rose once more, Pinkie nuzzled her as the lavender mare collected her breath. Twilight noticed the slowly drooping mane atop her pink friend's head. Once she had recovered her breath, she returned the gesture. A few moments passed before they parted.
"Thank you Pinkie, but it's nothing that bad. I just, couldn't do it. I couldn't work up the guts to tell her how I feel!" Twilight slumped back into a sitting position, resting against one of many book cases surrounding the room, Pinkie sat next to her. "Wait a second, how did you know that I had feelings for Applejack?!"

Pinkie became very guilty looking for a change, as she avoided Twilight's gaze, as if suddenly finding the texture of the floor very interesting. "Oh... Erm, well you see, me and Rainbow were busy with our pranking schemes. We both saw you go into Rarity's, so we thought we could catch the two of you off guard! But just as we were about to open the door and use our new rubber chicken launcher, we saw Rarity comforting you, and it looked like you were crying. So, you know, as we're your friends too so we wanted to help! But we were banned from Rarity's boutique for two more days." To this Twilight gave a puzzled look "Oh! that was just a misunderstanding, you see, we were supposed to be painting rarity's new dresses with that disappearing ink stuff, but we may have mixed up the bottles with the real ink..." Twilight stifled a giggle and gestured her friend to continue. "So anyway, as we were banned from actually going inside, we thought we could at least listen to what you guys were talking about from the open window."

"So you were spying on us? Pinkie! You can't do that! Ponies could be having a private conversation!" 

"Oh. But didn't you follow me that one time? Remember? You were hiding in bushes and writing down everything I did."

"That was different. I had a reason" Twilight attempted to justify, ".. Ok, no, that was wrong of me, and I am sorry I did it, but Rarity was giving me advice on romance and what I should do about my feelings. Anyway, is there any more to this story?"

"Well not really, we both, wanted to see you and Jackie happy so we decided to plan when we would congratulate you both!" 

"Well I can see that." A sudden realisation hit Twilight, "Wait, if you were both going to congratulate me, then where is Rainbow Dash?"

"Silly! I said congratulate, both of you! We figured you would be in two different places, so we decided we would congratulate you both separately! So Rainbow is probably congratulating Aj right now!" Pinkie finished, with a very satisfied smile. 

Twilight sat shocked, mouth locked open. Pinkie began to wonder if she had said something wrong, when a purple light began to emanate  from her friend's horn, the next moment, a stunning purple flash occurred, and Twilight was gone.
> Delaying the inevitable
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raise hind legs, lean forward, check aim, aaand, buck! Apples dropped from the tree, and into the readied baskets below; with perfect accuracy. With another tree bucked, Applejack proudly moved to one of the last trees still bearing fruit. With the baskets already placed, she began the steps again, raise hind legs, lean forward, check aim,  aaand, but before Applejack completed her technique, she noticed an extremely out of place, yet familiar, rainbow coloured tail dangling out of one of the middle branches. Now that she thought about it, she could definitely make out a rather loud snore coming from the tail's owner.

A devious smirk crept onto the farm pony's lips. She had finally found her ticket for revenge, after last week's 'plastic Timber wolf prank'. Forgetting the technique, Aj lifted her right hind leg, and delivered a powerful blow to the centre of the tree trunk. Shortly after the blow, the limp tail became very much alive as it tumbled out of the branch, accompanied by the blue Pegasus who it belonged to. Rainbow dash landed (while shrieking, due to the sudden wake up call) in amongst the baskets and falling apples. Applejack began giggling uncontrollably  at the sight of the Pegasus sitting awkwardly in a basket, with apples everywhere. Before she could lose her balance from laughing so hard, the Pegasus had shaken off the apples and flown out of the basket, and was now standing directly in front of the orange mare, who had admirably managed to tone the laughter down to a mere giggle. Rainbow simply stood there, staring into Applejack's eyes menacingly, which seemed to help quell the last few chortles. "Well how..." Another snicker escaped the farmer's lips, to which Rainbow sighed. "Well howdy there, Rainbow. Ahm sorry sugar cube, Ah didn't wake ya, did I?" It was only now that Applejack took notice of the bags under Rainbow dash's bloodshot eyes, she looked like she hadn't slept in days. "Good heavens girl! Are you alright sugarcube? Ya look terrible!"

Rainbow's glare subsided, as she began rubbing her temples with a hoof. She was suffering from morning memory loss, as well as a head splitting headache. She knew that she had been sleeping in Applejack's farm for a reason, and not in a soft, warm, cosy cloud. But she couldn't put a hoof on what that reason was. "That's because I feel terrible! So er, you wouldn't happen to know why I'm in your farm, would you? If not, gimmie a minute and I'll remember" Rainbow slumped by the trunk of a nearby tree, a hoof slowly massaging her forehead.

Applejack searched for a specific reason for why her flying friend would choose a tree as a bed, but found none, "Hmm, nah. Ahm sorry Rainbow. Ah can't for life of me think why you'd be in my farm, takin a nap." Applejack moved closer, and stood in front of her sleep deprived friend.

"Ok, let's see..." Rainbow began to recap the day before. "Ok, so, I know for sure yesterday was meant to be prank day, with Pinkie, maybe ... possibly." 

At the sight of her friend slowly recapping the previous day, Aj couldn't help but take a jab, "Not a morning kinda gal, huh?" 

"That, and it turns out being bucked out of a tree doesn't help much when tryin to remember stuff!" Rainbow shot a quick accusing glare to the quickly guilty looking farm pony. "Ok so I'm pretty sure we first pranked the mayor, with a bunch of chocolate bits, hehehe, that was funny! Then I think we may have moved to Carrot top's farm? Oh yeah, we borrowed those bunny costume's your gran has. It turns out Carrot top isn't a fan of ponies pretending to eat all of her crops, especially when they're dressed up as bunnies." This earned a chuckle from Applejack. 

"How have ya'll managed to stay in town, and ya know, not get run out yet?" 

To this Rainbow slightly puffed out her chest and turned her chin upwards, "Because I'm the most awesomist pony in Equestria! Oh wait, that's not a word is it? Oh who cares, Twilight's not here so I can get away with it... Wait! Twilight! That's it!" 

Applejack gave a puzzled look, "You were sleepin in ma orchard, because of Twi? What, you miss the return date on Darin' Do?" 

Rainbow thought for a minute, "I don't think so? Let me get back to my thinking!" 

"Yes mam!" Applejack added a sarcastic salute and attention pose, to which Rainbow just smirked.

"Alright after Carrot, it was Rarity's turn, hmm. Oh yeah! We were gonna try out new rubber chicken launcher" To which she added a very foalish grin.

"Ahm not even gonna ask"

"Whatever... Oh that was it! Yeah, so we were about to prank miss prissy pants, when Twilight trots into the boutique. They were doin something, oh yeah, talking!"

"Shocking!" Aj joked

After shooting more visual daggers in Aj's direction, Rainbow sat still for a few quiet moments, pondering what the conversation the two had been having. "Meh, it'll come to me later. All I remember, is that Twi was crying at one point. I think after that, me and Pinks decided to help, or congratulate her... I, can't, remember which.

Applejack gave a puzzled look, "Why in the wide world of Equestria, would congratulate Twi, ifn' she was cryin'"
"I know right?! Anyhoo, then I remember an argument over proper and improper use of clouds, with my boss. Guess I must of borrowed some. Then I woke up here." Moments passed, with Applejack standing patiently, and Rainbow working her brain, drawing out the lost memories. 

It wasn't until a minute or two had passed when it hit. Twilight was asking Rarity for advice on feelings! Feelings for Applejack! That was it! And the reason that she had been arguing with her boss, was because she wanted to write her best friends a message in the sky, to show her support; "Congrats love birds!". How could she forget? She had spent all night on the placing after all! 

Rainbow dash leaped to her hoofs, and threw herself at AJ. She wrapped her friend in a midair hug as she flew them around the orchard. Applejack wasn't so much shocked by this outburst, just confused. "Oh Aj! How could I have forgotten?! Congratulations! I totally forgot, but I totally remembered, so it's cool now, I'm sorry for acting grumpy on such an awesome day for you!" She soon stopped flying around the orchard, then hovered above the ground, Aj held out in front of her.

"Wh-.. Rainbow, just what are you talkin' about?" 

"Oh come on Aj don't be embarrassed! If I had someone tell me that they love me, I would be totally over the moon!" Applejack's face had become one resembling a shocked, confused and slightly scared pony.

"Love?! Rainbow, you've lost me." Applejack said, while warily eyeing the ground.

Ignoring her friend, she continued in her thrilled mood "Oh,  and I made you this, it took all night, but it was so worth it!" With that, she took the helpless earth pony a short distance further from the ground and held her at arm's length above her head, to give the perfect view of her masterly written message. 

"Ah, er. Ah don.."

"Come on Aj! What do ya think?!" 

"Well, Ah guess, ya learn something new every day?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, Ah always thought that rats and birds didn't get along all that well, guess Ah was wrong. coulda just told me though, didn't need to go and write it out in the clouds." By now Rainbow dash thought Applejack was trying to prank her, and act as if Twilight hadn't told her of her feelings, which  was obviously not the case.

"Aj I'm not fooling for your prank!" Rainbow moved her friend to the side, and got a clear view of her weather affected message, which now read, 'rats love birds'. Rainbow was pretty disappointed at this, she must have over slept again, the message could only last so long, what with it being made out of clouds. "Aw, but I put so much time into that!"

While dangling above the orchard, Applejack's mind thought back to something mentioned earlier, "Wait, what was that about love?" 

Rainbow tore her eyes from her ruined message in the clouds, as she then began guiding them back down to the ground, "Hm? Oh Aj, come on! It was pretty funny pretending that you had no idea what I was talking about earlier, but now that I remember everything, it's getting pretty old." They landed smoothly. Aj's head was currently buzzing with confused, unanswered questions, but at the same time, thankful to be back on solid ground. 

"Rainbow, Ah'm bein' serious! Y'all ain't makin a lick of sense!" Applejack had almost lost her patience with Rainbow's random antics.

"You mean you don't remember Twilight walking up to you this morning, sitting you down and telling you how she is madly in lo.." The rest of Rainbow's words were lost, as a bright purple flash surrounded her. After a moment of panic from both ponies, the light faded, the end result was a purple glowing sphere encasing Rainbow dash.  Applejack stood, shocked at the sudden magical occurrence, at a loss for words. Rainbow was also confused by the event, with a pinch of fear and frustration, as she did her best to break the sphere.

"Rd!" Applejack shouted, as she ran to the bubble, only to be pushed back by the lavender aura. It looked like Rainbow dash was attempting to communicate with her as well, but the spell appeared to be soundproof.

"Applejack! Stand back!" Applejack tore her gaze from her trapped Pegasus friend, to notice a certain Lavender unicorn, sprinting toward her from the barn with a beaming horn. "Thank Celestia, you're okay Applejack!" At the sight of the farm mare, Twilight felt her mind start to lose its focus from the situation at hoof. She had to mentally fight back the silly grin that was threatening her lips.

"Twi ?! Why wouldn't I be okay? Why is Rd in a bubble? Who loves Rainbow dash?! And since when, did rats start loving birds?!" Applejack felt a throbbing headache coming on, she would give just about for a cool cider right now.

"Oh, right, well for one, I think it's best to just forget everything that Rainbow dash has said today! Everything! You see, she, erm. Well, she is sick! Yes, sick!" Applejack cast a worried glance toward her encaged friend, "Don't worry, she is going to be fine, along as she gets plenty of rest and takes her medicine! Which is not something she wants to do." Twilight added a nervous laugh to finish her improvised lie.

Applejack put a hoof to her chin, "That would explain the writing."

"Writing?!" Twilight grew worried for a second before Applejack cast a hoof toward the message in the sky, "Oh. Wait, what? Erm, yes, that is exactly the kind of symptom that the medicine prevents!" Twilight was sure Pinkie had said to congratulate Applejack, not confuse her. "Sooo, what else has she been doing?" Twilight gulped in nervous anticipation.

"Oh, a whole lot of nonsense! Something about dressing up as a rabbit over at Carrot top's, using a rubber chicken launcher on you and Rarity, oh, and tricking the mayor with some candy bits. Oh yeah, and something about how she would react, if'n somepony told her that they loved her." To this, Twilight's face dawned a deep shade of red that could challenge Big Macintosh's coat. 

"Forget it!" She yelled, "I mean, erm, yes, those seem like the symptoms alright, so, er. You just forget all of that, and I'll take Rainbow of your hoofs, and let you get back to work. " Twilight began backing away from the still extremely confused farm mare, whilst carrying the Pegasus prisoner with her magic. She paused after a few more paces however "Oh! that reminds me! before I go, Fluttershy said that Winona's leg is feeling much better, and that you can go and visit her whenever you're free. So er, I'll um, see you around Aj." 

"Oh, er, thanks Tw..." With a pop and flash of purple, Twilight vanished, as did the rather frustrated looking Pegasus.

"What in the hay, is wrong with everypony today!" Applejack felt like sitting down and thinking matters over, but the chance to see her little, loyal companion once again, pushed her to journey toward Fluttershy's cottage. Maybe she could actually have a normal conversation with somepony, something that hadn't happened all day, so far.






Pinkie pie sat, upside down on a wooden chair in the library. She had been reading all about how the molecular structures of cells within ponies are formed, well, she would have been, had the book been the correct way up. With a sudden pop and purple flash, Twilight, accompanied by a cross-hoofed Pegasus, materialized on the library stairs. "Oh! Hi guys, how was Aj? Did you say sorry for me? You know how I wasn't congratulating her? I mean, she and Dashie are kinda better friends I guess, but still, I don't want her thinking it was because I don't like her or anything!" Pinkie's eyes grew wide with terror as she scrambled out of the uncomfortable sitting position and leaped over to her friends. "Oh no, she doesn't hate me, does she?! Oh no, what have I done? Will she never want to see me again? Will I have one less best friend? Will everyone hate me now that Applejack hates me? Will I be banned from eating apples?!" Pinkie was on the verge of tears by this point.

"Pinkie" Twilight placed a hoof on her pink maned friend's back, "Applejack doesn't hate you. You're one of her best friends! Right now, I think she's probably just confused, but not angry." Feeling reassured, Pinkie began hopping around the room again, the party decorations by now, were all packed away in a small, pink saddlebag in the corner of the room. How Pinkie managed to fit a cannon inside that, Twilight thought best, not to ask. There was a sound of a light tapping from behind Twilight, as the unicorn turned to investigate, she noticed an extremely frustrated friend of hers, bucking the bubble which she was confined to. "Oh my goodness, dash I am so sorry!" Casting a quick counter spell the bubble blinked out of existence and the cyan mare fell to the ground with a thud. "Oops, sorry! again." She added with a sheepish grin.

"Okay Twilight, I need an explanation, like, two minutes ago!" Rainbow dash was up in a flash and advancing on Twilight.

"Of course. Well, you see Rainbow, I haven't really, told Applejack about my feelings for her yet. So I needed to stop you from, well, beating me to it I guess." Rainbow seemed to calm down after hearing this. 

"Oh, well I guess that kind of makes sense, but what did you tell Aj? I doubt she took the whole friend trapped in a floating purple bubble thing, all that well. " The three mares made their way to the centre table. 

"Oh, I just made up a story about how you were acting crazy because you were ill and needed medicine to help calm you down." 

Rainbow seemed rather impressed with Twilight's lie, "Wow, not bad Twilight, not bad"

With a few moments of calm, Twilight seemed at last content with the situation, all right, who's thirsty?" With a collective approval, Twilight went to prepare some drinks. 

"So Pinks, what did you get up to last night?" 

"Oh, nothing much after our little eaves dropping thingy, I went to prepare some supplies for the congratulations party. Let's see, I was walking back to the Cake's smiling and skipping, aaaand, oh yeah! I bumped into Fluttershy, well not really bump, I saw her and jumped on her back." Which got Pinkie giggling, while Rainbow just cracked a smirk.

"Of course you did, how was Flutters anyway?

"Oh, she said she was fine, apparently she was taking care of Winona, which made me think of Applejack, which then made me think of Twilight, and then the whole Love thingy, sooooo, as it was on the tippy top of my tongue, I asked her if she could keep a secret. She said yes; of course. So I told her how Twilight secretly loves Applejack!" Pinkie pie's face bore a concerningly large grin, as the thought of two of her best friend's falling love with each other once again entered her mind; However, shortly after Pinkie had finished her tale, Twilight, who had been listening to the conversation, while preparing lemonade for her two guests, "You did WHAT?!" She screeched, quickly giving a tired yet frustrated sounding shriek, which was soon followed by the sound of a pop then a flash of light, and finally a smash, as the lemonade hit the floor. 

"Twilight? You okay?" Rainbow dash called, as the Pegasus went to investigate. She was presented with an empty kitchen, and shattered glass with spilled lemonade, everywhere.

Pinkie pie joined her friend in the investigation but seemed rather calm, "Oh, clumsy, Twilight" With that, Pinkie hopped back to the table, only to sit upside down once again, and began to hum the Smile song to herself, without a care in the world, as usual.
 
> Answers come with problems
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The road smoothly transitioned from soft, apple scented dirt, to a paved path that led to a bridge which crossed over a flowing stream, ending at a cottage, which belonged to an isolated mare, named Fluttershy. Applejack trotted along at a rather slow calm pace, as she continued to re live the day in her head. Firstly, Twilight, why had she questioned Applejack's honesty? Surely she of all ponies should know that she could ask Aj anything, and expect nothing but the truth. And then there was Rainbow dash, Aj was used to her spontaneous surges of randomness by now, but this seemed a little extreme, even for her. 

Around the farm raised mare, the number of wild life seemed to increase as she neared the bridge which crossed the stream. The day seemed peaceful and tranquil, of course Applejack was currently attempting to make sense of her friend's actions and therefore, paying little attention to the weather. She began crossing the bridge which led to the Pegasus's house, as she took note of a certain white rabbit sat cross legged in the front door's wake, as if it had been kicked out.  Applejack shook off all other thoughts as she neared the small white ball of fluff, remembering the rabbit's intelligence, Applejack thought at least to make some kind of small talk with it, "Hey there varmi-I mean er, Angel" If Angel had taken offense he hid it well, as he continued his apparent tantrum. "O-okay, is Fluttershy inside then?" To which Angel gave a brief nod and turned its head away from the farm pony and held its chin up. "Thanks, Ah guess." 

Moving past the rabbit, Applejack stepped closer to the door, raised her hoof and knocked once, twice, and went for a third when the door opened to an extremely dark room. Fluttershy stood in the door way, she looked unnervingly happy to see Applejack, there was also a slight twitch to her right eye. She had slightly bloodshot eyes and small sleep bags had become present under her eyes. Applejack had taken only a second to recover from the frightful look she was given until she was yanked inside. With frightening speed, Fluttershy flew Applejack to the couch, slammed the door shut, used five locks to secure the door, checked every window and door around the house, and then zoomed back to the couch. She now sat cross hoofed , back straight, with the same crazed look in her eyes. Applejack, who was extremely unnerved by what had just happened, lay strewn out on the couch, where she had been dropped. 

Slowly rising to a sitting position Applejack tried to shake off the frightened feeling which was now evidently present. Fluttershy's eyes never faltered, they followed Applejack's eyes, wherever her head was turned, adding to the crazed, unsettling atmosphere already present. "F-Fluttershy, ya ..." 

"Hi Applejack! I am, oh sooooo glad you could come by! Now erm could you maybe tell me everything, erm please? How did she tell you? Was it romantic? Oh I'm sure it was!"  The crazed look in Fluttershy's eyes was slowly losing its grip as Fluttershy began thinking of how perfect the farm mare and librarian were together. There was something else that Aj took note of, a look of pain? Maybe regret, it left before she could analyse further.

Applejack now sat in the dimly lit room, mouth wide open, with an evident puzzled look plastered onto her face. "Fluttershy, Ah'm gonna need you to start from the beginning. Wait, oh no, are you sick too?"

Fluttershy's content mood quickly changed to a concerned one, "Oh dear you mean someone's sick, oh that's just awful! Oh but I don't think I'm sick, I mean I might be, but, well I feel okay. Sorry if I scared you before" A sheepish expression made its way onto Fluttershy's face, "I thought about giving you two sometime alone, you know what with you both being in such a new relationship. Well I guess now that you're here we can talk about everything that happened! I-if that's okay with you..." Fluttershy had an extremely hopeful expression replacing her previous sheepish one.

"Fluttershy!" Fluttershy flinched at the sudden frustration in her guest's voice, Applejack quickly remembered the peaceful nature of her friend and immediately regretted snapping, "Ah'm sorry Fluttershy it's just, everyone's been acting all weird today, guess I just let it get to me." Applejack placed her head in her hooves, Fluttershy couldn't understand why Applejack would be so stressed on a day where love has bloomed, or did Twilight change her mind, or maybe Applejack said no. Or maybe Twilight, hadn't asked yet; a though crept into Fluttershy's head, maybe, just maybe... Fluttershy moved closer toward her friend in need, firstly placing a hoof on her shoulder then moving for a soft hug. She wished she could hold her like this forever.

"It's okay Applejack, Cheer up. I'm sure we're just acting weird because you and Twilight are our friends, and we want you to both be happy together!" The words were worded differently in Fluttershy's head however (...because you and I would be happy together).

To this Applejack lost all sense of confusion as she lifted her head, "Twilight..." She once again ran through the day's events in her head, Twilight nervously asking her if she would be honest come a time when she needed her to be, Rainbow dash congratulating her for no reason, " If I had someone tell me that they love me, I would be totally over the moon!" , "Oh, Twilight ..." The sudden nervous school filly act whenever Twilight talked to her. The practically transparent lies about how Rd was 'ill'. "Oh ... I never woulda' ... Wow...Fluttershy I ...." She took a moment to collect her thoughts as Fluttershy realised the look on Applejack's face was realisation. Twilight must have not told her yet. 

"Oh my goodness! Applejack, I am so sorry, oh no I've ruined everything, oh will Twilight ever forgive me?! Oh dear, oh maybe you could, erm, forget everything that I said and, you know act surprised when she tells you?" Fluttershy was on the brink of crying once she realised the mistake she had made. Applejack sat staring through Fluttershy, lost in the thought that Twilight, liked her. As in Liked, liked her. Applejack stood up, "Why me? W-... Ah'm nothin special. Just a farmer! Not some princess, o-o-or some fancy pony like Rarity."Applejack now began pacing back and forth, "Ah ain't no one special! What in all good's name could she see in a simple old fool like me?! All I can do is buck apples and farm, can't fly, can't use magic, Hell Ah'm barley good for anythin! Ah'm a nobody..." Fluttershy, broke out of her shell shocked state as she noticed the comments Applejack was making about herself. 

"Applejack! How dare you! You stop that right now!" Fluttershy had now stood up on top a nearby table, glaring down at the orange mare, who was practically shrinking under the gaze she was under. "I will not allow you to talk like that! You are one of the most honest, kind, caring and loving ponies I know! You are always there to help anyone that needs it, you look out for everyone around you, you would sacrifice anything if it meant saving family or friend. You are strong, beautiful and have such a lovely personality, that if somepony didn't fall head over hooves in love with you then they are insane! You have always been there for me! If I was down you would be there, by my side, cheering me up. Always caring, always comforting, and never asking a thing in return" As Fluttershy made her way off the table and toward the frozen mare, Applejack was sure that she was blushing at the flow of kind comments spewing from her usually demure natured friend. "Applejack, I don't ever want to hear another word like that from you, ever again! You are probably the most attractive mare that I have met so far, in my whole life!" By now Fluttershy was practically touching snouts with Applejack, "And you know what?" Fluttershy whispered, " You really are beautiful", With that, Fluttershy leaned the last centre metre that separated the two ponies and kissed Applejack directly on the lips. 

Applejack felt about ready to pass out now. She was still too shocked to move though, and instead simply stood as Fluttershy continued the embrace. Applejack felt like crying, why of all ponies did this have to happen to her?! Not only Twilight, but Fluttershy too? The last thing Applejack wanted though was to upset a friend, and seeming as nopony was watching, Applejack began to return the kiss. 

To Fluttershy, this was every dream come true. She had been dreaming of embracing Applejack in this way for a long time now. Ever since the joining of the elements in fact. She was in heaven.

Applejack was more confused and frightened at the moment. She had no idea how to respond to such a sudden gesture she had no real experience in love. However before the kiss could continue further, a bright flash occurred from near the kitchen in the cottage. Fluttershy let a mumbled squeal as she broke the kiss and dove for the couch, managing to quickly hide under a cushion. There was a pop which was shortly followed by the sound of running hoofs. Applejack was still too shocked to move, she just stood there, mouth open, eyes wide and an obvious rose red blush painted to her cheeks. As Twilight entered the room she flicked on the light switch, using her magic.

She could now see the mare that held her heart hostage, frozen stiff. "Applejack, thank Celestia you're alright!" Twilight ran toward her frozen friend, feeling the stress that she had left with wash away at the sight of the mare. "Oh no, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that there's a chance that Fluttershy might be i..."

"ill?" Applejack finished, moving her head to face her unicorn friend.

"Y-yes, erm so... How are you" She added with a sheepish grin, Whilst scanning the room for any sign of Fluttershy.

"Honestly? Ah don't rightly know Twi." Applejack answered honestly, for she truly knew very little at the moment, her mind was almost blank. As Twilight spotted a pink tail peeking out from behind one of the couches cushions, Twilight quickly wrapped up Fluttershy in the same ball as she had with Rainbow dash. 

"That's just great Applejack!" Twilight answered, focused on the extraction of the pony who could give away her feelings and not the small talk. With Fluttershy found, Twilight needed an excuse to leave, "alright, so I guess erm, I'll see you later then, Fluttershy needs her medicine after all." Applejack shifted her gaze to the now floating Pegasus, who was looking back at her, sitting upright, with an adorable smile pasted to her face. She then glanced to the Unicorn holding the mare, who had reverted to her nervous roots and now showed a more nervous smile, than anything else.

Applejack put on the most realistic smile she could muster for them both, which turned out to be rather weak and transparent. After a few more moments of awkward staring, Twilight broke the tension with a cough which seemed to frighten Fluttershy, as she instantly dove to the far end of the floating prison, even though she didn't actually hear the cough, the sudden movement simply scared her. She quickly curled up into a protective ball, which Applejack truthfully thought to be adoreable. "Sooo, guess I'll see you later Aj?" A small tone of crimson creeping onto Twilight's already incredibly nervous face, which, admittedly, Applejack did find pretty cute. 

With another moment of awkwardness passing the two mares blinked out of sight, leaving the farm mare staring at a table which had previously been obscured. On said table, was a drawer with a photograph peeking out of the top. Curiosity pushed out all stress and worry from the mare's mind temporarily,  as she moved toward the table. Slowly pulling the drawer open, Applejack got a perfect view of the half hidden photo. The photograph was of her best friends, each with a mug of cider in their hoofs. All but one had closed their eyes, Fluttershy was gazing adoringly at Applejack, Fluttershy also had a smile that could put a weak hearted pony in hospital, and was directing toward Applejack. Now that Aj looked closer there was definitely a tone of red accompanying the yellow of her friend's coat.  She just looked so content.

"Why me..." Placing the photo back and closing the drawer. Applejack gave one final sigh and sat on the ground, defeated. A few moments later, an abrupt, yet somehow sophisticated sounding knock, beckoned from the door. Throwing herself to her hooves, brushing herself off and straightening her mane, which had become tangled. She galloped to the door, went for the handle, and pulled. The door itself didn't budge, however the five locks, currently in place jostled slightly. Deadpanning, Aj one by one, unbolted the door. Once that was accomplished, she attempted the handle by giving another forceful pull, the door swung open, revealing a snow white, elegant looking unicorn. 

"Applejack! I didn't except to see you here darling! How are you?" Rarity gave an innocent looking smile. Applejack's stressed mind honestly just needed a rest. 

"A might puzzled!" With a sigh, she walked slightly passed the confused unicorn and sat on the front step. 

Concerned for her friend's well being Rarity used her magical abilities to sweep the dirt from the space next to Applejack and took a seat next to her. "That is simply awful darling, come, tell me your troubles. I am quite the counsellor you know."

"I don't Rarity, it's just... I'll be honest with ya, I was kissed today, and that ain't never happened before now. It felt weird, but kinda nice, ya know?" Applejack turned her head to face her pristine friend. 

'Oh my stars she finally did it!' "On my goodness darling that it is simply wonderful, and yes, I remember my first kiss, it felt slightly spontaneous but all the same, exhilarating. Now, if you don't mind me asking, who was it that kissed you exactly?" Rarity asked. Truthfully, she had a fairly decent idea of who the culprit was, but it was polite to ask. 

"Ah ... Ah don't think it would be right tellin right now Rarity, sorry." Rarity looked slightly disappointed but was more confused by the rather depressed expression on her friend's face. 

"Oh darling don't you worry, I'm sure you just need time, that's all. But why do you look so down my dear, if you just experienced your first kiss, surely you should be through the roof." Hearing this Applejack's mood simply dropped further into the cavern of depression. 

"Rarity, Ah... Ah.. Ya ju..." Applejack stuttered, then began silently sobbing. She knew inside that she would leave at least one friend heartbroken if she chose one over the other. She hated seeing a friend down, or depressed, she was used to helping them back on their hooves, whenever it happened. But helping them up, after knocking them down would just be cruel. 

Rarity immediately closed the gap separating the two, and embraced her weeping friend in a comforting embrace, "Shh, hush now. Come, come now, whatever happened to that unstoppable rough and tough mare who lived by the farm, hm?" Rarity soothed out her friend's mane as she hugged her, meanwhile Applejack had hugged her back, sobbing silently into her friends shoulder.

"Oh, R-Rarity, why did they have to fall for me? Why not someone who was more like 'em, It ain't fair! They ain't even asked how I feel about this! Hell, one of 'em ain't even told me yet!" Her sobbing grew as tears poured onto her friend's shoulder, who, for once, seemed not to care for the effect it would have on her otherwise immaculate coat. 

'They'? Oh dear. "There, there Applejack, I tell you what, why don't we head back to the boutique, I'll make you some tea, or you could have some apple cider, I kept a little from last season, for emergencies" She added a playful wink, which seemed to lift the farm mare's spirit. 

"That'd be j-just dandy. Thanks Rarity, I mean it. You're a great friend." Rarity smiled as she rose from her seat, she then helped her vulnerable friend rise. They then began their journey to Ponyville. As the two followed the path to Ponyville, small drops of water landed around them, slowly but surely ending up with a full scaled downpour. The surrounding animals fled into their holes and trees to find shelter from the change in weather. 

Rarity was no Twilight, but she knew her fair share of spells, she quickly conjured one that she was taught from her purple friend, and after a flash of blue, two transparent, aura surrounded umbrellas appeared hovering above the two mares. Satisfied that they would be safe from the mane wrecking water, Rarity, looked over at her upset friend, to find her resting her head  on her back, while they both slowly trotted through the downpour. Applejack felt like she could finally forget all that had happened during the day as her friend was taking care of her in a moment of weakness. That was what she needed right now, no lies, no out of the blue (or yellow in this case) kisses, just a generous friend, looking out for her. 

The rain continued to fall and the sun shone it's last rays through some stray gaps in the clouds for the last final hours, signalling the end of a day.

> Trying to relax
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A bright light spread throughout the library's main hall, signalling the return of the Lavender Unicorn. Rainbow dash, (who had decided to stay, and wait to find out what had caused Twilight's sudden outburst) got up from the top of a book shelf in the basement, where she had chosen to rest, after she had finished fiddling with Twilight's experiments. With a pop and the sound of landing hooves coming from the stairs, she went to investigate. 

"I'm really sorry about this Fluttershy, I mean it. I just, well, I didn't want the secret getting out, you know, that I like Applejack. I guess I kinda panicked." Whilst facing the opposite way from Fluttershy, Twilight allowed a sheepish grin to consume her lips, "I am going to tell her, but I need some more time." She finished, and finally glanced backward to find a curled up ball of yellow fur, Twilight gave a sentimental smile, appreciating the innocence of her friend. "Fluttershy?" Receiving no response, Twilight advanced on the curled up mare, and tapped her on the back. This seemed to spark a response, as the docile mare flew into the air above Twilight with lightning speed. Once realising it was only Twilight who had broken her from her shell shocked state, she began a slow, graceful descent. "Are you all right?" Twilight asked. Now that Fluttershy had landed in front of Twilight, the unicorn got a good look at the Pegasus. There was nothing wrong with her appearance, but her movement hinted toward something troubling her. 

While prodding the ground and gazing around the library, Fluttershy began to withdraw her head behind her mane, "O-oh, hi T-Twilight, erm. I, I'm fine." The yellow mare managed to answer now that her face was completely hidden under her dangling mane.

"Oh, erm, okay, that's good. Again, I apologise if you guys were talking about anything important. Mind you, it didn't look like you were. I mean, you were hiding in the couch, and Aj looked pretty much frozen stiff. Now that I think back, she looked pretty red around the cheeks as well. Maybe she's ill? But she looked fine before I left with Rainbow... Hmmm. Oh well, she's a tough mare, I'm sure she'll be fine." This coaxed a squeak out of Fluttershy. Twilight didn't notice though, as she was too busy secretly thinking of reasons behind the shade of Applejack's cheeks, which she had continued to do regardless of her previous statement. After a few more moments of thinking, she began making her way up the stairs, heading for her bedroom, "I need to lie down, I'm exhausted" She said, while rubbing her eyes, which were already beginning to droop. Fluttershy slowly began to leave her withdrawal state, as she thought that she would not be subjected to any more questioning, that could lead to her admitting something she would regret. "Oh! Before I go and lie down, you didn't actually, you know... Tell Aj, about my feelings, or anything like that, did you?" Twilight asked, while looking back over her shoulder from her bedroom door.

Fluttershy instantly snapped back into her mane. She began playing scenarios in her head of what could happen in the next few moments: Maybe Twilight would leave while Fluttershy was hidden behind her mane. Or Twilight might forget that she had asked the question in the first place. Or, maybe Fluttershy was so well hidden behind her mane, that Twilight will think she left, oh but that would be rude and might hurt Twilight's feelings. After a few moments Fluttershy bravely peeked out of her mane, only to find Twilight patiently, but expectantly, waiting for an answer. Feeling already over whelmed with guilt, Fluttershy decided that telling Twilight the truth, was the only way to feel somewhat better about what she had done. "Er-erm. Well you see, T-Twilight." Fluttershy whispered, "Erm, we were just, well, you know, talking. Well... She looked pretty down, and then she started saying all these bad things about herself. Sooo I maaay have accidentally, probably, kind of, sort of ki...." Before Fluttershy could reach the end of her quiet confession, she was interrupted. 

"Hey Twilight! Oh hey Fluttershy. So Twi, what was with leaving that mess in the kitchen and just vanishing like that?" Rainbow dash had finally found her way up from the basement. She flew up to land beside Fluttershy from the main hall. 

"Oh, sweet Celestia! did I spill the lemonade!? Oh Spike would give me one of his cleaning lectures if he ever found out!"  With a quick groan, Twilight lost all other thought as she dashed past the two ponies and headed for the kitchen. After hearing a frustrated shriek from the kitchen, Rainbow dash shrugged and began trotting toward the front door. 

Seeing Rainbow dash head toward the door, Fluttershy knew that being left with Twilight could only end badly, what would happen to their friendship if she admitted to both of the crimes that she had committed earlier on. She could be sent to a prison, or exiled, or exiled and sent to a prison.... Or not be allowed to see Applejack, ever again ... That one stung the most. "Wait!" She screamed, which physically sent Rainbow flying to the ceiling, eyes wide with shock.  "Erm, I mean, please wait? Could I come with you, erm, if you're leaving?" Quickly regaining her composure, Rainbow glided back down to the ground. 

"Er, sure Fluttershy. Course ya can." With that, Fluttershy adopted a huge grin and trotted alongside her oldest friend. The two made their way out of the library as Twilight frantically scooped the broken glass into a dustpan, while mopping up the lemonade.

The two Pegasi began their journey to a nearby field where Rainbow dash planned to catch up on her wonderbolt's training, she had missed out on her morning and afternoon training, so evening training would have to do. The two trotted along the pebbled path, that led to an open field, in silence. Fluttershy kept relaying the kiss with Applejack in her mind. As the memory kept repeating itself, Fluttershy's mouth transformed into a school filly like grin. Rainbow, who had grown tired of imagining signing her future fans pictures with autographs, noticed the change in her friend's expression, and grew curious. "Erm, Fluttershy? Hey, Fluttershy!" Still no response, Rainbow took a slightly more direct approach, she silently flew into the air until she was level with the clouds. She began scanning for the right tool. After a few seconds, Rainbow spotted a small dark grey rain cloud in the distance. While Rainbow retrieved the cloud, Fluttershy kept walking at her previous pace oblivious to her absent friend. Rainbow had now retrieved the cloud, she flew back down to her friend, positioned the cloud next to her. Made sure that Fluttershy wouldn't be hit by the shock, turned, aimed and bucked the cloud. As soon as the hoofs came into contact with the cloud, it produced a bolt of lightning that sparked the ground below, whilst a roar of thunder boomed across the field. Fluttershy instantly snapped out of her day dreaming state, and was on the ground with hooves over her head and tail tucked; to anyone who could see her now, would probably mistake her for a pink and yellow rock. Rainbow dash fought back the laughter that demanded to escape her lungs. "F-Fluttershy?"

The yellow mare, risked a peek out from behind her defensive mane. She could make out Rainbow dash, perched atop a storm cloud, with a huge grin plastered onto her face. Feeling incredibly hurt, Fluttershy rose to her hooves slowly. Rainbow dash was her oldest friend, she knew better than most that Fluttershy was easily frightened. "R-Rainbow dash, th.. That was mean!" Fluttershy cast a quick tear filled glance up to her now worried looking friend. And began galloping back toward Ponyville. Rainbow, filled with guilt, zoomed to catch up with her fleeing friend.

"Oh, Fluttershy! I'm sorry, really! I-I I was being stupid! Look, stop running! Please?!" This seemed to bring Fluttershy to a stop, she still didn't face Rainbow dash though. "Alright, look, I'm, sorry. That was mean, I promise I won't do it again!" Fluttershy slowly turned her head and saw the sincere expression on her friend, she turned her body the rest of the way and threw herself around Rainbow's neck. She began crying into her friend's fur. Rainbow was at first taken aback by the sudden contact, but quickly adjusted, and began stroking her friend's mane, "Hey, Come on Fluttershy. What happened to talking down rampaging dragons?" 

Doing her best to stop the tears, Fluttershy took a few minutes to regain her composure. "I-It's not that. I-I need to, tell you something. But! Y-you need to promise, not to tell anyone else! I'm trusting you with this secret Rainbow!" Fluttershy had beaten the tears back to a few random sniffs. She looked up at her concerned friend who had hugged her back. Rainbow was rather confused, she was honestly expecting a talk on what she did was wrong and not to it again. 

"Of course I can! I'm the element of loyalty, not honesty! I can keep a secret!" She gave her friend a wink, which seemed to calm her further. The two now stood, still in the field, with Ponyville half a mile away. Still, it was far enough for a secret to be whispered and no one else ever finding out.

"Okay." Fluttershy took a hesitant breath, gazing around the field one final time, making sure no one could hear confession. She closed her eyes, leaned forward, and whispered, "I-I, I kissed Applejack." 

Rainbow's face instantly went from a supportive smile to a mouth hung wide open, eyes opened to their limit and an expressionless mood covering her face. Minutes went by with Fluttershy waiting for the information to seep in, and Rainbow Dash, who had dropped into a sitting position, with the same expressionless face, staring blankly ahead, processing the information. "You... Kissed ...... Applejack?!" She yelled, now that she finally grasped the situation. Her mouth was quickly covered with a hoof from her friend. 

"Erm, yes" She confirmed with a sheepish smile and slight tone of red accompanying her cheeks.

"Ho... Wh.... D... O-Okay." Rainbow dash was stuck, she knew she should feel happy for Fluttershy, after all, given how timid she could be, it's great to hear her show such a huge leap in confidence, and Applejack was one of her greatest friends, the two were practically perfect for each other in Rainbow's eyes. However, Rainbow dash was fully aware of Twilight's feelings for Aj as well. She took a few moments to collect her thoughts, "Fluttershy, I really am happy for you. That must of taken some serious guts to do! But, Pinkie said, that she told you about ... You know, Twilight's feelings for Aj. Right?" 

Fluttershy's smile was instantly gone and replaced with an ashamed look, sorrow in her eyes. She looked down to the ground as she slumped into a seating position as Rainbow had done. "I-I know. But I... Oh Rainbow I can't help it!" She threw her front hooves up in the air for added effect. "I love her! I love her with all my heart! Oh goodness, I know that Twilight won't want to be my friend anymore and I probably won't ever get to see Applejack ever again once Twilight finds out, but I love her, so much!" When she finished, she covered her face with her hooves and silently wept.

"Whoa, whoa, easy girl!" Rainbow got up and dashed to her friend's side to comfort her, she placed a hoof around her friend's far shoulder, and gently drew her into a hug. "Hey, come on Fluttershy. You know that Twilight would never stop you from seeing Aj, and she wouldn't just abandon such a great friend! Ever!" Fluttershy slowed her sobbing once again to just a few stray tears as she returned the embrace. 

"I-I know, Thanks Rainbow dash. I knew you could help. But if you don't mind, I don't want anyone else finding out for a while. So could we, maybe keep this between us?"

Rainbow looked down at her friend, who was gazing back with pleading eyes, "Sure thing Fluttershy." She said with a smile. Feeling relived, Fluttershy hugged slightly harder, and then simply lay there, in her friend's hooves as the sun shone over the trees, casting a deep orange glow around Ponyville. 





"Rarity, Ah don't think Ah'm that depressed. We could just, ya know, go back to your house. I mean it's gettin late and...." 

"Nonsense dear! Whenever I'm feeling rather down, a trip to the spa always lifts my mood right back up!" The two polar opposite ponies were originally heading back to the boutique, when an idea struck Rarity, causing the pair to take a different route into Ponyville. They now stood at the doors that led to the town's spa. 

"Rarity, you go to the spa even if you ain't feelin down." Aj pointed out.

"Well, not always, but maybe every now and again, yes. But that's beside the point! You need to take off all that stress from your work and ... erm, love life. So, just trust me, okay? Aloe and Lotus are dear friends of mine. They won't bite, I promise." Seeing that arguing was clearly out of the question, Applejack swallowed her pride and walked through the doors, hearing a squeal of victory coming from her friend. 

Rarity quickly trotted behind her friend and headed toward the counter. "Good evening girls! I have an emergency!" The two mares in question gave each other a quick glance, guessing that their customer had gotten her hooves muddy, they weren't making fun of her, they were just used to the word 'emergency' being be linked to something simple when it came to Rarity. Aloe caught sight of a pony behind the unicorn, she found Applejack, who was staring at the ground. The muscular mare had a face of confusion and sorrow, as well as being covered in the usual dirt.  Seeing the expression on the mare's face, Aloe discreetly whispered something into her friend's ear, Lotus gave a look of shock before she shot out of her seat and headed toward the door that led into the spa's main room soon followed by Aloe. "We'll have a ... Oh, well then." Rarity looked confused as the two mares dashed out of their office, were they closing? Was Rarity's mane out of style ... No, that's impossible.  

"Sooo, Ah can go now?" Applejack asked, breaking Rarity out of her thought. Applejack's mood rose significantly at the thought of escaping the daunting task of being pampered for an hour or two. Rarity wasn't quite sure how to respond.

"Erm, I'm sure they will be along in a few moments, yes. They must have gotten a call or someth..." Rarity was cut off before she could finish her sentence, the doors that led to the main spa room were flung open and the two mares were grabbed and led to the first stage of the treatment that Aloe and Lotus had quickly prepared for Applejack and Rarity.

"Oh! Hello there girls!" Rarity greeted while being pushed into the sauna room, where the spa ponies had decided to begin the treatment. "I know it's late, but I was wonderi..." The rest of her sentence was cut off as the two were placed in the sauna room and the door closed behind them. "Well... That was strange. Nevertheless, we're here now." Applejack gloomily made her way to the nearby bench. Rarity had a face of sadness also, but only due to seeing her usual head charging, all round loving friend acting so depressed. She used her horn to magically take off Applejack's hat and mane bands, she placed them on a nearby table as she took a seat next to her. "Whatever might have happened today Applejack, I want you to know, that I am here for you. I know my fair share when it comes to romance, if you need someone to talk , you need only to ask." Applejack looked over to her friend and gave an appreciative smile as the room heated further. 

"Ah appreciate it Rarity. Ah really do. But, before we talk about ma problem, there's one thing Ah wanna ask." 
Rarity smiled back at Applejack, "Of course darling, what is it?"

"What in all of Equestria are we doin in an oven?!" 

Rarity felt like giggling at her friends lack of spa facilities knowledge, but thought better of it, "Darling, this is not an oven! This is called a sauna. It is a room that has an elevated temperature that allows ponies to sweat, therefore, opening up your pores and cleaning them. It is quite relaxing, I assure you." 

Giving a confused expression, "So, let me get this straight, to cheer me up, ya put me in a room that makes ya sweat? Now, Ah do appreciate this sugarcube, but ain't there anythin better to do than this? Maybe a pint of cider or ho..."

"Oh dear, you're not enjoying it?" Rarity interrupted. With a confirming nod from Applejack, Rarity got up from the bench and made her way toward the door, she gave two knocks and the two spa ponies instantly arrived. At first receiving instructions from Rarity, then quickly casting concerned glances toward the farm mare. They then escorted the two ponies from the sauna, retrieving their items to put into their office, and directing them to the next room; the masseuse room. 

The two ponies were helped onto their individual platform and told to lay down. As they both got comfortable, Aloe and Lotus returned, Aloe walked to Rarity's platform, and Lotus to Applejack's. Both spa ponies now had their hooves covered in some sort of cream which they began to apply to each of the mares backs.  After a while both mares had a coat of the cream applied to their backs, with the cream applied, the two spa ponies now moved to start the massage. Almost instantly after beginning the massage on Applejack, Lotus, let out a gasp, her face was shocked at what she had just touched. "Is something the matter dear?"  Rarity asked.

"Oh, no, no, there are just, so many knots in Miss Applejack's back. You must be a very stressed mare." Lotus said, while she once again began soothing out Applejack's muscles. 

"That's puttin it a might lightly" Applejack stated, Lotus nodded understandably, and began the massage again. "Oh! Wow..."

"Shall I stop Miss Applejack, I'm not hurting you am I?" Lotus asked at the response to her massage. 

"Huh? oh er, no, it's just. Well Ah guess I kinda needed this. Oh, Ah can just feel weeks of stress fall off me." As Applejack was talking, she allowed her eyes to roll back in her sockets, and slowly closed her eyelids, as she embraced a blissful sense of peacefulness. She breathed a careless sigh and welcomed the new feeling of tranquillity. She had had a massage before of course, but with all that happened recently, the massage allowed her to feel care free and draw her mind into a place of silence. 

Rarity noticed the relaxed expression on her friend's face as she received her pampering, and allowed herself a small victorious grin at the sight of the stubborn mare sharing enjoyment in an activity with her, she too then closed her eyes and embraced the heavenly experience. Aloe and Lotus both chanced a glance toward the orange mare's face and were pleasantly surprised to find the peaceful state she was currently in. They were pleased to see that they had at the very least eased her apparent suffering. 

The spa ponies continued the massage before drawing the session to a close. Applejack had apparently managed to fall asleep during the massage. As the spa ponies left to prepare the next stage of the treatment, Rarity (who had similarly fell unconscious during the massage) woke up to find an empty room save for her previously distraught friend, who was now peacefully sleeping, letting out the occasional cute sounding snore. Waiting a few moments, to allow her friend the last few moments of dreaming, before she decided to rouse her and proceed with the spa treatment."Applejack, dear? Rise and shine."

"Hm? What?" Applejack drearily replied, eyes closed and turning away from her prodding unicorn friend. Rarity had to physically fight back the snicker that was begging to erupt from her lips, at the school filly like sight. 

"Applejack, darling. Unless you wish to continue sleeping through the spa tour, that Aloe and Lotus have worked very hard on, then I believe the next room awaits us." Opening her eyes, Applejack remembered where she was, who she was with, and unfortunately why she was there. Although the Massage had helped relax her physically, now that she was brought back to consciousness the recent memories of Fluttershy's kiss and Twilight's secret love for her came flooding back to the surface. The look of peacefulness vanished from her face, replaced by one that was lost, and with and unreadable. Her mind's thought's were thrown into a pit of potential future problems. Who to choose? How to tell one yes, and not the other? Will we all be friends at the end of the day? Do I even love the... 

Rarity quickly caught onto the the blank, yet somehow troubled look currently haunting her friend's freckled face. "Applejack! Come now darling, snap out of it! I won't have you depressed while I am treating you to a spa treatment!" Applejack broke her chain of thought and glanced over to her friend who was standing next to her platform. She saw a sincere smile, and a face only a dear friend could give to another. Applejack returned the smile, rose to her hooves, as Rarity held out a hoof to help her down. Taking her hoof, Applejack jumped off the platform, and hugged her friend. Rarity was the type of friend who would always be willing to help out anyone, friend or not, when they were in need, and when she offered, there was no way to turn her down. 

Rarity returned the embrace. "Ya ain't gonna go and confess your love to me now or nothin like that right?" 

Rarity chuckled, and broke the hug, "Actually ..... Applejack... There's something I wanted to, well tell you ...." Rarity put on her best embarrassed act, while Applejack's eyes grew worryingly wide as her jaw hung loose. Rarity was able to hold up her act for an entire seven seconds, before she fell onto the floor and began laughing uncontrollably, if it were anyone else rolling around on the floor while laughing in such a manner, they would probably look silly, but when Rarity did it she still somehow managed to hold an aura of elegance. If Applejack wasn't so cross with her, she would be impressed. 

"Not, funny."Applejack grunted, as she marched past the teary eyed unicorn and into the next room.  After taking a moment to quell the last few chortles, Rarity wiped the tears from her eyes and watched her friend storm away her. Realising how ill tasted that may have been, she shot to her feet and galloped after her friend. 

Applejack resisted the urge to buck the doors down and instead settled for a forceful push. She was presented with a room that bore a similar look of pristine elegance to it as the rest of the building had. despite her current mood, she took the time to have a quick look around. The room was covered in expensive looking tiles that formed extravagant patterns that lined the walls. The room was also surrounded by small stands; each stand had a different looking bottle of liquid on them. In the centre of the room were three dips in the floor, these dips appeared to be bath tubs dug into the floor. Although instead of water filling the tubs, mud filled each of the tubs to its brim. Aloe, who had been observing Applejack since she entered the room, caught her curious glance toward the mud baths in the room. "Ah, these are mud baths, miss Applejack."

Casting another questioning glance between the spa pony and the bath of mud, Applejack's mind subconsciously moved all other matters out of the way for the moment as the dirt filled baths were being presented to her. At that moment, Rarity burst through the door, bounded toward Applejack and dramatically threw her arms around her friend's neck. "Oh Applejack! Please don't be mad at me! I realise it was in bad taste! I do! I just remembered all those times Rainbow dash would make a joke like that and you would laugh at it. I really am very sorry!" Rarity now put on her best impression of her little sister's puppy dog eyes while quivering her lips, "Can you ever forgive me?"

Applejack looked over her shoulder to the melodramatic mare, who was pleadingly looking back up at her, Applejack's expression had not changed from her confused face. "Y'all are afraid of getting, 'icky' from doin hard work, but go ahead an' take a bath full of muck!?" Aloe took note of Rarity and Applejack's situation and decided it best to give them some private time and left the room to find her colleague.

Rarity instantly lost her sorrowful expression and grip of her friend's neck, "Darling, this is not just any ordinary 'muck'! This is the award winning soils from overseas, it has herbs inside it that leave your coat feeling heavenly." Rarity finished while dreamily gazing up at the ceiling, batting her eyelashes while she looked. 

A few moments passed with Rarity in a day dream like state, and Applejack staring warily at the mud baths, when suddenly Applejack noticed something different from the closest tub than the others, "Rarity, I get that these here dirt baths are exotic and what not but, what's with the bubbles in that one there and not the others, is it like a jacuzzi or somethin? " The tub closest to the two ponies had suddenly began producing bubbles.

As Applejack pointed a hoof to the tub in question, Rarity grew extremely puzzled. The bubbles began to emerge at an extremely fast rate only to stop as suddenly as they had appeared. Leaving silence in the room. The two friends slowly made their way to the tub. As they inched closer, the tub of dirt did not stir. The two ponies had made their way to the edge of the mud bath, they were staring into the pit watching for any sign of life. Moments passed with silence, the two were about to pass it up as nothing but a pipe malfunction, when two mud covered hoofs sprung from the bath and grabbed both of their chests, pulling them into the pit. Rarity and Applejack shrieked as they were yanked from the ledge. 

The two soon collided with the mud and suck beneath its depths. After only a moment the two were pulled back up to the surface, and were held face to face with a mud covered pony looking figure. They could make out the distinct curve on the muzzle, so whoever the mud masked pony was, it was a mare. The culprit soon shook off the mud covering their face, spraying the two held hostages. To which Rarity did not approve.

Once the muck was shook from the pony's face, what was left was a pink coated mare, with a huge grin covering her face. Pinkie pie. Her mane was extremely bubbly looking, and somehow, after a quick shake not a single piece of the dirt could be seen in her mane or coat. She firstly looked at Rarity, who was glaring at her with uncompromising wrath, the stare did little to affect Pinkie's mood however. She then turned her attention to a rather frustrated and tired looking orange mare held in her other hoof. Suddenly Pinkie's left hoof began shifting uncontrollably, then her nose began wrinkling, and finally her mane started to twitch rapidly. Pinkies happy expression dropped instantly as she released Rarity and flung herself and Applejack out of the pool and onto the surrounding floor. She quickly brought Applejack into a tight hug.  "Applejack! Oh no! Have you recently been told that one of your friends loves you and had another confess to you, in the same day, and had them both told to you in the same house?!" Pinkie was holding Applejack off the ground, while practically touching muzzles with her. She had a sympathetic expression as she gazed into her friend's eyes. 

At first Applejack was taken aback by her friend's worryingly accurate question, until she remembered she was talking to Pinkie pie" H-how did..." Applejack sighed, "Could ya put me down Pinkie?" Pinkie happily obliged and placed the mare in front of her, still with the same expectant yet sympathetic expression on her face. "Thanks. Now, Ah'm not gonna bother askin' how you knew bout what happened today, but, er, well yeah, that's what roughly what happened." Applejack looked down at the patterned floors as the thoughts once again began to flood her mind. A sorrowful looking expression consumed her face as a lone tear threatened to drop from her eye. 

Rarity, who had recovered from the traumatic experience of being hauled under mud unprotected, only to be lifted out and then dropped back in again, had finally tuned into the conversation. She quickly escaped from the mud bath and advanced on Pinkie pie. Once she reached her pink friend, she quickly took the pink mare's hoof and led her away from the teary eyed, mud covered Applejack. "Pinkie Pie! I am trying to cheer Applejack up, and let her forget about her current situation, the last thing she needs is to be is reminded of her troubles!" Rarity had taken them Pinkie pie to the other side of the room and was facing away from her distressed friend. "Look, Applejack is probably unbelievably sad, distressed an..." 

Pinkie's face took a turn from sympathetic to shock and horror, "A-Applejack is... Sad?" Tears now were visible in Pinkie's eyes also. With a  confirmation from Rarity, Pinkie slowly peeked over her shoulder at her friend. Applejack was now sitting down, tear streak stains visible on her cheeks, mud slowly dripping from her coat and onto the surrounding floor. Pinkie cast her gaze to the ground, she hated it when someone was sad, but when it was of her very best friends, it really hurt her. After a few moments of quick thinking, Pinkie Pie looked up, this time with a determined look on her face. Rarity, who had been talking about Applejack's situation and how they should be taking care of her stopped her advice when she noticed the look on her friend's face. "Pinkie? Have you been listening to a thing that I have been telling you?" 

Ignoring the question, Pinkie turned to face Applejack, "That sounds really great Rarity, but I gotta go and cheer a certain somepony up!" After quickly stretching her limbs, Pinkie pie galloped toward her friend in need with impossible speeds, she used her front hooves to scoop Applejack up, then placed her on her back, "Hold on tight, cowgirl!" She yelled, then ran straight toward a nearby wall. Applejack had only a few seconds to wipe her eyes and look up before Pinkie hit the wall. However, instead of face planting the wall with several broken teeth, Pinkie ran straight through the wall, leaving a bubbly maned pony outline in her wake.

Rarity stood, staring at the outline of her friends. With a sigh of defeat, she walked back through another set of doors and lay down in a nearby hot tub. Closing her eyes, she drifted into a well deserved slumber.