> The Apple Ran Away With The Spoon
>  by gwg
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun was setting on Sweet Apple Acres, a farmstead that years ago was full of life. Since its founding, the farm always had a full family living there; Granny Smith would say on occasion that “The Acres never lacks a bushel of Apples.”

Two marriages later left two Apples, and now there was one. Apple Bloom was now sole resident Apple at the Acres, despite the fact that she really didn’t work the farm. No, she left that to her older brother and sister, both of whom would leave once the work for the day was finished they would return to respective homes and to their respective spouses; but not without spending time with their younger sister. They would talk about their lives and their significant others (or in Bloom’s case, the lack thereof); something the elder siblings would not give her grief over not finding a special somepony; no, she was getting enough of that from herself.

She gave herself grief when talking to her siblings and when she would talk to her best friends, who had started dating a few months ago. She knew she was still young, too young to really worry about this; indeed, she wasn’t worried about that until the day after a freak chocolate milk rain storm when Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle announced to their long-time friend that they were now in a relationship. They had been holding a torch for each other for at least five years, and there was Apple Bloom, not having thought about such a thing for herself. It worried her that she didn’t think about it for so long and now she’s the single mare in their group; she didn’t even know if she preferred mares or stallions, or if she was bisexual like her sisters-in-law were. All that she was painfully aware of was that she was alone.

But at this time in her life, special somepony problems were placed on the back burner to focus on a more important issue: financial problems. The bits only came in as fast as her designs sold, and right now the speed was set to ‘full stop’. It has been a few weeks since her last design and if circumstances were different, she could live comfortably for a little bit; affording herself high-middle class status on the cusp of low-upper class. As it stood now, she could feed herself for an additional month whilst also feeding this ‘leech’. 

It was while she was contemplating these issues that Applejack and Big Macintosh walked into the kitchen, where they would have a small meal and chat a bit before going their separate ways.

“Hey there, Apple Bloom, how’re things?” Applejack asked with a smile, though her eyes showed her concern.

“Same as the last time ya asked: jus’ peachy.” Apple Bloom’s depressed monotone was interrupted by the annoyed emphasis on ‘peachy’. It has been the same routine for the past few weeks; day in day out, Applejack would ask if Apple Bloom was fine, and Bloom would respond by lying, followed by-

“Are ya sure?” Applejack asked, hoping for but not expecting a truthful answer. Unlike the once bearer of the Element of Honesty, Apple Bloom could actually lie and often got away with it; just not now. Applejack and Big Mac could see clearly that there was something bothering their sibling and they believed they had an idea of what it was, but they knew the only way to find out was through her. They expected her to lie again but Bloom was tired of it.

After a minute of tense silence, she decided to answer truthfully. “Ah miss Granny.”

“We all do, Bloom. At least she’s in a happier place.” Applejack responded sadly, after discovering what was bothering her sister.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac added, deciding to join in the conversation at last. The Apple siblings stopped speaking for a moment, each deep in thought. Big Mac was thinking of his wife and son at home, Applejack was thinking of how to raise her sister's spirits. And Apple Bloom-

“Seriously, when is she coming back from Las Pegasus? Ah’m not made of bits ya know!” The youngest Apple broke the silence bitterly. The Apple matriarch left for the gambling center of Equestria about a month ago and had been draining Apple Bloom’s funds ever since. Bloom only had enough bits to feed herself and her grandmother’s gambling addiction for another month...maybe. In order for her to sustain herself after that, she needed a contract to land on her lap now. Fortunately, Applejack provided a solution.

“Well shoot, Ah thought you might’ve actually missed Granny Smith. Mah mistake.” Applejack replied in mock apology, though her look said that she was not pleased by what her sister said. “Anyways ya got somethin’ in the mail, from some D.T. Diamonds. Never heard of ‘em, and Ah’m married to the main mare of fashion in Ponyville; they must be small time.” She added before giving the intrigued architect the letter.

She began reading the letter, her brows furrowing in concentration as she went on. She looked as though she had been slapped in the face at one point and was about to rip the letter to shreds, but that was before she reached the bottom of the letter where the offer was located, causing her eyes to widen. This is about five times the amount Ah usually make on a commission. That would be enough to get me back into a comfortable position while Ah make more designs. This is perfect. She finished the letter, stood up resolutely, and shouted, “Ah’m goin’ ta Canterlot!”

-GWG-


A few days earlier in Canterlot

A grey-coated mare was walking down a short hallway to the temporary office of D.T. Diamonds; she had a silver mane and tail and and her greyish violet eyes hid behind a pair of glasses that were more accessory than necessity. In her saddlebag was what appeared to be a portfolio of sorts, a few images sticking out here and there. Underneath the bag could be seen a cutie mark, which resembled a sophisticated dining piece, and her name was-

“Silver Spoon! Did you get what I asked for?” A bratty sounding mare shouted from behind her desk, shortly after the door to the office opened.

“Yes, Diamond Tiara, I have a portfolio for an architect that might just be perfect for the job.” Silver Spoon gave her boss and long time friend the portfolio, and if said friend was paying attention, she would have seen the hope in Silver Spoon’s eyes. Silver Spoon was quite the diligent secretary for Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich before her, always aiming to please.  Diamond Tiara decided that it was time to open up her own jewelry store in Canterlot and so Filthy decided that Silver Spoon should be her secretary in that venture; he, perhaps foolishly, gave her a blank check for it. Diamond already had a supplier in the local group of Diamond Dogs and a full staff of metal workers; now she needed a building, and for that she needed an architect which Silver Spoon was tasked with finding. She went about it with as much gusto as all her tasks, and when she came across this particular architect, she knew that she was the one; hopefully Diamond Tiara could see past her biased opinions.

“Apple Bloom! Are you serious!? I will not have her dirty farmer hooves bring down my store’s reputation before it is even built!” It appears that I am going to have to persuade her.

“Look, I know you don’t like her but hear me out. She is the best up and coming architect right now, so she’s good and we can get her for cheap. Just look at what she did in Ponyville and even here in Canterlot; it would be foolish not to send her an offer. Plus, when ponies hear that she designed your shop, they will come from all over and you will be rolling in bits; bits that you earned. Look, she just finished a design not too long ago; now is the perfect opportunity to get her on board. So what do you say?” Hope was still shining in the bespectacled eyes. Oh please say yes.

“Hmm, alright. You set it up; the less we see of each other the better. I’m counting on you, Silver Spoon, don’t make me regret my trust in you.”

“I’ll get it done, don’t worry.” And with that Silver Spoon left the temporary office, her thoughts not entirely focused on the task at hoof; instead her thoughts were on another track: redemption. I can finally make up for those years of being a bully. By Celestia, I was such a brat to those three, and for what? For being enthusiastic about self-discovery, whereas I was proud of a cutie mark that showed off my greed. I’m just a greedy mare, a greedy SELF-ABSORBED MA- Calm down, Silver Spoon. I’m trying to get past all that. My first step is to get Apple Bloom to forgive me, having hurt her the most. But, I think she will forgive me, she was always kind to everypony; maybe a little annoying but not hateful. So while she is working on this project I will work on getting her to forgive me; or even better, become friends.

The silver mare had been trying her hardest to make amends with those she had caused problems for in the past. She had started with those she had hurt the least, ponies that she had bullied once or twice to those that she had bullied since elementary school from at least ten years ago. Now the only ponies left were the ones she bullied the most: the Cutie Mark Crusaders, her hardest challenge yet. But she had a plan; she knew that if could convince Apple Bloom that she was no longer the bully she once was, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle would agree with their leader. And perhaps she could even discover if the rumors were true, that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were in fact dating; but that was really an optional objective. First things first, she had to get Apple Bloom to see who she was now.

-GWG-


At Canterlot train station, two days after receiving the letter

Apple Bloom hopped off the train, a saddlebag heavy with necessary materials weighing her down, one suitcase on her back and another hanging from her mouth. She would have came with just one, but when her sister-in-law Rarity heard where she was going, leaving with just one suitcase became out of the question. She was forever indebted to Applejack for getting the number of suitcases down from ten, though she did not want to know the details of how that came to pass.

She started to scan the platform, looking for who was to escort her to the office of her employer. She grimaced, the thought of having Diamond Tiara as a boss did not settle too well for Apple Bloom but the bits on offer was too high to pass up. She figured that if she could find some real cheap housing here in the capitol, the salary part of the contract would be able to cover food expenses and her grandmother’s gambling habits. Hopefully, Diamond Tiara would like the first design she drew, and unpleasantness would not last long. She looked for a pony holding a sign with her name on it, but stopped when she heard a familiar voice, one that she wished she wasn’t familiar with.

“Apple Bloom! Over here!” Silver Spoon shouted and waved excitedly; from the look she received from the architect, she knew she had her work cut out for her. She does not look pleased to see me, though I probably should have expected that. The others were not pleased to see me either, but it was never this intense. I don’t know what I was hoping for; that she would be instantly forgiving? I gave her and her friends so much grief. Well I am going to try to show her I am a new mare, and hope for the best.

Apple Bloom sighed internally, unable to do externally due to the unnecessary suitcase in her mouth. Ah thought Ah would have more time before mah torment would begin. Seriously, of all ponies, why did it have to be Silver Spoon? Ah knew Diamond Tiara wouldn’t show up here, so she sent her partner in crime. By Celestia, Ah knew this was gonna be Tartarus, Ah guess it starts now. She spat out her suitcase so she could greet the harbinger of doom accordingly. “Hey, Silver Spoon; are ya here to escort me to Diamond Tiara’s office so we can discuss the contract?”

“Um, no, actually we agreed, and you will probably agree to this logic, that it would be best if the two of you should not meet, at all. Instead I will be the one you talk to, the one you show the designs to; if there is anything you have to bring up to Diamond Tiara, you bring it up to me.” She looked to the suitcase that was once in Apple Bloom’s possession. “Would you like me to take that for you, so we can walk and talk on our way?”

“Walk? Ah thought a pampered mare like yerself would prefer go about in a carriage or somethin’. What gives?” Apple Bloom asked with a raised brow.

“Well, I never traveled around Ponyville in a carriage, did I?”

“...No.”

“Well, Canterlot isn’t that much bigger than our hometown, and like most earth ponies, I prefer to walk. So shall we?” She started walking in the direction of the castle, not even waiting for the young architect’s response. After some hesitation, Apple Bloom finally followed.

“So Ah have this...financial situation, that requires Ah find cheap housing here, despite the salary promised me. Ah really only want to worry about food and this...other thing Ah have to pay off. Do ya know where Ah could find such a place?” Apple Bloom asked after a few minutes of silent walking, debating whether or not she should ask her only contact in Canterlot about affordable housing, knowing that this prime bullying material; she was surprised by her tormentor’s answer.

“Hmm, well I don’t know about any affordable housing, but...Do you know Octavia Melody?” This might just be the way to win her over. It should be ok, I mean she lives in Ponyville now and she said I could use it.

“Yes. She’s that famous cellist that’s dating Vinyl Scratch; she lives in Ponyville and works with Sweetie Belle from time to time. Why do ya ask?”

“Well, you may not know this, but she is my cousin and when she heard I was moving to Canterlot, she let me have her apartment in the Upper District. I already had a place to live though, so she lets me use it as I see fit. I could let you use it while you are here so all you have to be concerned about is food and...whatever else you have to deal with. Why don’t we head over there now so we can drop off your stuff and take a look at the place?” After saying that, Silver Spoon adjusted her course slightly, heading towards the apartment instead.

“Um, sure and, uh, thank you. Ah gotta say yer a lot friendlier than ya used tah be.”

Silver Spoon smiled when she heard this, confident that her plan was working. “No problem; I’m really trying to be a better mare than I used to be. You mentioned Sweetie Belle earlier, and I was wondering how the other Crusaders were doing.”

“They’re doing great actually.” Apple Bloom was finally starting to lighten up around this mare. Maybe she is actually changin’ for the better. She isn’t bein’ snide or fake right now. “Sweetie Belle just finished writin’ a song, and Scootaloo is discussin’ a contract with the Wonderbolts to open for them.”

“And you are a rising star in architecture; the three of you are really making your way in the world. Now, I heard a rumor about your friends that you could possibly shed some light on; are Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle dating?”

At this prying question, Apple Bloom became enraged. “Ah knew ya were a bully, but do ya really have problems with two mares lovin’ each other. Are ya really about to call ‘em ‘fillyfoolers?’”

“What!? No, not at all! I would never do that! In fact…” Silver Spoon thought for a moment, debating whether to tell her secret to this mare. “...It would be hypocritical of me to say so.”

“Really!? Oh Celestia, Ah’m sorry; Ah’ve jus’ been on edge ever since Ah saw ya at the station, and that’s not ok, ya don’t deserve that. Ah can tell ya’ve been changing for the better; Ah would like it if we could start over. So…” Apple Bloom paused before smiling and offering her hoof to a stunned Silver Spoon. “Hi! Ah’m Apple Bloom! Nice to meet ‘cha!”

“Nice to meet you as well. My name is Silver Spoon.” She gladly shook the offered hoof for a moment before turning away from her. “We should get you set up at your apartment. Come on!” And with that they continued their journey to the Upper District.


> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Are ya sure she lived here? It look’s like it used tah be an old warehouse.” Apple Bloom asked incredulously as she inspected the building uncertainly.

“One of my uncles converted a few warehouses here in Canterlot into loft apartments several years ago. When it was complete, he gave the top floor to Octavia.” Silver Spoon explained as they entered the building. To the right of the entrance were three mailboxes, the ones marked ‘1’ and ‘2’ had the name of the resident underneath; the mailbox marked ‘3’ had the tag removed. “We can have your mail sent here for the duration of your stay. Come on, the elevator will take us up to the loft.”

The two mares walked down the small hallway to the elevator, where to their left was the door to apartment 1. The elevator itself wasn’t modern but rather one from a hundred years ago, or at least it looked that way.They hopped inside and pressed the button for the third floor. Despite it’s antiquated appearance, the elevator made hardly any noise as it traversed. When they reached their destination, Silver Spoon slid open the gate and walked to the door, procuring a key from her saddlebag.

“Ya always have that key on ya?” Silver Spoon blushed slightly upon hearing the question and she waited until the key was in the door before she answered.

“Well, I was planning on offering the apartment to you if you didn't already have a place to stay. Your...situation makes this more appropriate I should think."

“Um, Ah guess Ah have tah thank you again; this is very generous of you, and Ah should know, mah sister-in-law was the bearer of Generosity.”

“Huh, didn’t think that Rarity and Big Macintosh would get together.”

“Um, actually Rarity is Applejack’s wife.” Silver Spoon’s eyes widened in shock and she blushed with embarrassment. “It’s ok; Ah didn’t expect ya tah know. You and Diamond Tiara left for some Canterlot private school after the Equestria Games years back, before Rarity and AJ started datin’. Big Mac got hitched tah Fluttershy and they had a colt. So Ah’m related to three of the Elements of Harmony and Ah’m an aunt.”

“Congradulations! How old is he?” Silver Spoon asked excitedly, happy that her blunder was easily overlooked.

“His name is Jonagold Apple an’ he’ll be seven in three months. He’s the exact opposite of his ma and pa so he can be a real hoofful. But he’s a sweetheart and a master of the puppy dog eyes, better than Ah was when Ah was his age apparently.” Apple Bloom loved to talk about her nephew, and she would do it all day, but there was business at hoof. “So are ya gonna show me the place or what?”

“Oh, sorry. Come on in and look around.” She opened the door to reveal the spacious apartment. The loft was quite impressive with the lower level consisting of a work space, a living room type area, and a kitchen and half-bath at the end. Next to the kitchen were a set of stairs that led to the upper level, which was where the bedroom and full bathroom were located, but Apple Bloom was too distracted by the view through the large windows to notice.

“Sweet Celestia, that is some view! Ah can see Ponyville from here! And Ah didn’t know the Everfree Forest was so huge!” Silver Spoon enjoyed the look of amazement on the fellow mare’s face, turning so she could admire the view as well.

“Octavia gushed about the view when she first showed me the place; said it helped with practicing her instruments.”

“Ah see...So why did you keep the place if you’re not livin’ here? Ya could probably rent it out and get quite a few bits.”

“Well, first, I don’t need bits, so that isn’t necessary. And second, um, I kind of wanted to use this place for...guests.” Silver Spoon was blushing slightly as she said this.

“Guests…?” Apple Bloom asked with a confused look on her face, before she grinned slyly when it came to her. “Oh, ‘guests’. So do ya have ‘guests’ here often?” Apple Bloom’s grin only added to Silver Spoon’s embarrassment and intensifying her blush.

“I-I actually haven’t brought anypony up here before except for Diamond Tiara.” In the moment it took for her to realize what she said, Apple Bloom’s grin only grew wider. “S-she wasn’t that type of guest; I’m not interested in her that way!”

“Relax, Ah’m just teasin’! So should we discuss the details of the contract or-” She was interrupted by a growl from her stomach, after which she offered a sheepish smile to the silver-maned mare.

“We can talk about it while we get some lunch; I know a place nearby that has some good food.” Silver Spoon looked around the place for a moment, noticing the rather spartan decor before she continued. “Then afterwards we can go furniture shopping so that it can be a bit more comfortable for you. And then we can go get you some groceries so that you are all set for a couple of weeks. Sound good?” Apple Bloom shook her head furiously.

“That is too much, Ah can’t accept that!”

“Oh please, I want to do this; think of this as one of the perks of having a friend who is wealthy.” 

“Oh, so we’re friends now?” At Apple Bloom’s question Silver Spoon became dejected; she was unable to look at the yellow earth pony and scuffed her hoof on the ground.

“S-sorry, I j-just thought that things were going so well...that w-we were having a good time and t-that-” Her apology was cut short when she felt a leg wrap around her shoulders pulling her into a hug. She feels so warm and comforting, and she smells nice; I wonder what shampoo she uses.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Of course we’re friends now; ya certainly proved yer different than before.” Apple Bloom squeezed the other mare one more time before letting go, recieving a thankful smile. “Come on, let’s get some grub and then we can do that other stuff.”

“Thank you, Apple Bloom. It’s just down the street, if we go now we might get a good seat.”

-GWG-

“So apparently before Rainbow Dash can say a word, mah sister turns around and bucks her square in the chest; sent her flyin’.” Apple Bloom said as she laughed at the memory. The two mares were sitting at the cafe, waiting for their food to arrive.

“She wasn’t too hurt was she?”

“Well, she broke a coupla ribs and she had tah spend a week in the hospital. Once she recovered, everypony admitted how funny it was, though Dash didn’t think so; she was cross wit’ Twi’ for a little while cause she was gigglin’ on the way tah the hospital with Dash in her magic. That was a really good day though.”

“So Scootaloo was the one that caused the three of you to get your cutie marks that day?”

“Yep! Cause of her, we were no longer blank flanks!” Silver Spoon shifted uncomfortably in her seat, having been reminded of her history as a bully.

“I’m truly am sorry for my part in that. It’s ok if you don’t forgive me; I haven’t really forgiven myself for it.” Apple Bloom reached across the table to touch the distraught mare’s foreleg.

“Hey, don’t work yerself up over that. As far as Ah’m concerned, yer forgiven. In fact, if it weren’t for you, Ah probably wouldn’t have even met Scoots and Sweetie, so Ah guess Ah really be thankin’ ya.” Silver Spoon could hardly believe what she heard and didn’t know why her face was heating up so much, just that she was blushing hard. Thankfully, the waiter came over with their food at that moment, giving her the chance to regain control of herself.

“Who ordered the dandelion salad?” Silver Spoon raised her hoof, not trusting herself to speak and still combating her blush. “And hay fries. Is there anything else I can get for you ladies?”

“No thanks,” Apple Bloom answered for the two of them. As the waiter left, the two mares dug into their meal. As they nearly finished, she decided it was time to discuss the matter at hoof. “So, what am Ah doin’ here?”

“Ah, yes, down to business.” Silver Spoon rummaged through her saddlebag before she produced a contract. “Well, you probably know from the letter that Diamond Tiara wants to start a jewelry store franchise, and that she feels that the best place to start is here in Canterlot. This is where you come in; she needs her store to draw attention to itself with its design, otherwise her merchandise won’t sell. Like I said earlier, you are the best up and coming architect right now, so we would be honored if you would take the job.”

“Well, Ah’m here so it’s clear that Ah wanna do it; Ah just have tah design a jewelry store?”

“This is to be the flagship of the franchise, so it has to be top notch, but I’m sure you can do it. If you want to take the job, then all you have to do is sign here and you’ll be all set.” She produced a pen from her saddlebag and passed it to Apple Bloom, who signed immediately. Silver Spoon then took the contract and pen and signed as a witness before putting both items away. “I like your signature, very neat.”

“Thanks. Ah sign all mah designs and Ah’ve signed quite a lot of contracts, so Ah got some practice.” When she finished speaking, the waiter came by and took the plates, leaving behind the bill for the meal. Silver Spoon checked it over and then payed before getting up with the other mare to head to their next destination. “All Ah really need is a work desk; Ah don’t need much else.” Silver Spoon just looked at her and smiled before continuing on her way.

“Nonsense. I don’t know how long you are going to be here, but the least I can do is make sure that your stay is as comfortable as possible. You will like what they have at this store, it’s where I got my couch.”

-GWG-

Celestia had already set her sun a few hours ago when the two mares rode the elevator back up to the apartment. They each had a bag full of groceries while Apple Bloom had a bag on her back which held the things required for her new bed.

“So the store will deliver your furniture tomorrow; I’ll come by to help you set it all up. And you have enough food to last you two weeks. You have any questions before I go?” Apple Bloom thought for a moment before she remembered something important.

“Each Wednesday Ah have tah head back to Ponyville; it’s for mah weekly get together with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. It shouldn’t interfere with mah work, but it’s somethin’ Ah have tah do.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem; you don’t really have any deadlines so don’t worry about it. Well, I’ll be going home now; if you have any pressing issues while I am not here, you have my address. See you tomorrow, Apple Bloom.”

“Bloom.” Apple Bloom said smiling. “You can call me Bloom.”

“Alright, Bloom. And I guess you can call me Silver.” With that she left the apartment and hopped on the elevator. On the way down, she closed her eyes and held a hoof to her heart. What is happening to me? I have never felt this way before; my heart flutters and I am blushing far too much to be comfortable. Perhaps I can find out what this is later, or maybe it will go away on its own. Besides my body acting weirdly, this day went better than I expected; I can’t believe we’re friends now. Apple Bl- No, just Bloom, is quite the amazing mare. I’m looking forward to seeing more of her.

-GWG-


One Week Later

Silver Spoon hopped on the elevator and pressed the button that would bring her to her newest friend. Normally this would make her happy, but today was different; today she brought bad news. She left the elevator and entered the apartment where she found Apple Bloom waiting for her excitedly.

“Well, did she like it? What did she have to say about it?” Silver Spoon could see the excitement in her friend, which made her feel worse about what she was going to say.

“Erm...She...she didn’t like it. She said she hated it in fact.” Apple Bloom’s smile instantly dropped into a frown, though she didn’t look as disappointed as Silver Spoon thought she would be. “You don’t look that upset.”

“Well, not everypony likes the first design anyhow; ya shoulda seen me the first time somepony said they didn’t like mah design, Ah was bawlin’ mah eyes out. That night, Rarity told me that not everypony likes what we designers first come up with, and that Ah should use their criticism to make a better design next time. So tell me what she said, Ah’ll need it for the next design.”

“She really didn’t tell me what she wanted. In fact, she said she doesn’t know what she wants but it wasn’t what you came up with; stating that it was ‘tacky and tasteless’. She’s my friend, but sometimes she can be a real brat.”

“Ah don’t understand why you two are still friends. You’ve changed a lot from who you were years ago, but it sounds like she hasn’t changed at all.” Silver Spoon thought about it for a while and couldn’t come up with a better answer than-

“Loyalty I guess; she is my oldest friend and you can’t really ignore that. Though you are definitely a better friend than she is.” Apple Bloom showed her appreciation for the compliment by giving Silver Spoon a friendly hug, causing her to blush. Why does this keep happening whenever I’m around her? They separated and Apple Bloom went to lay down on the couch they bought last week, Silver Spoon sitting next to her so they could chat. “So you went to Ponyville yesterday; how was everypony?”

“Not much has changed since Ah left. Sweetie and Scoots asked about things here. AJ and Rarity made me dinner and kept me company while the two love birds swapped spit.” She faked a shudder, but internally she was jealous of what they had. She had no idea that Silver Spoon was thinking the same thing. “Ah know that they are just showing their affection for each other, but they coulda done it when Ah wasn’t there. Anyways, after that Ah took the evenin’ train back here.”

“Sounds like you had fun. I wish I could come with you sometime.”

“That sounds like a good idea; Ah’ll see if Scoots and Sweetie would mind if ya came along one of these times.”

“Good. I really want to make amends with all of you; I must have hurt you three so much.” Apple Bloom waved a dismissive hoof at the notion.

“Like Ah keep tellin’ ya: that’s all in the past. Ah’m sure they’ll forgive ya like Ah did. Now come on, let’s go back to that cafe. Have ya tried their ice cream? It’s delicious.” With that they left to enjoy the rest of the day together despite the bad news in the beginning.

-GWG-


Two Weeks Later

Silver Spoon galloped as fast as she could to Apple Bloom’s place, hoping she hadn’t missed her. She reached the third floor just as Apple Bloom was closing the door. “Thank Celestia, I didn’t miss you. Sorry, she turned down this design, too.” Apple Bloom was only slightly saddened by this, but she was not about to let it affect her trip.

“Damn, that’s three so far. Ah’ll worry about that later though, Ah got a train to catch.” She was about to get on the elevator when she stopped and turned to face her friend. “Actually, do ya wanna come with me this week? It could be your chance to make amends with those two and Ah could use some company while they have their ‘alone time’.”

“Sure! That sounds like a lot of fun. I haven’t been to Ponyville in so long; perhaps you could give me a tour to show me what has changed? I heard a lot of the new buildings were made by you.” The silver mare could hardly contain her excitement, practically buzzing the entire way to the train station.

Apple Bloom, on the other hoof, was concerned. Ah hope this goes off without too many problems, Ah don’t want Silver to think Ah lied to her last week when Ah said they were fine with her visitin’. Ah know Sweetie Belle said she was cool with it, but Scoots...well Ah hope Sweetie can work her magic and keep her marefriend on a short leash. The anxious concerns occupied her mind during the entire trip to Ponyville.    



> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silver could not believe her fortune; she was on her way to make things right with the other members of the CMC and according to Bloom, whom she had no reason to doubt, they were fine with her coming on this visit. She would get the chance to apologise to the couple for making  their school lives Tartarus, and she could apologise to Scootaloo for making fun of her delayed development in flying; looking back she had found that it was an incredibly cruel thing to say. I have to say, I’m really nervous. I know Bloom trusts me, but she trusts her best friends more. What if they convince her that I am still the bully I once was? I don’t think Sweetie Belle would do that though; she was always kind to everypony. I guess I am more worried about Scootaloo; she was more fiery and temperamental, and unlikely to forgive and forget so easily. Ugh, why did I even agree with Diamond Tiara and put her down because she couldn’t fly? She just needed to be taught how. I have got to stop worrying about this; I have Bloom with me. Everything will be fine.

Bloom, meanwhile, was replaying the events of last week in head, trying to decide if this was a good idea after all.

“So y’all know that Ah’m working with Silver Spoon and that we’re friends now, right?” The determination that Apple Bloom had brought with her to Sugarcube Corner that day was dwindling fast as she looked at Scootaloo when she posed her question.

“I’m telling ya, AB, it’s a trap. Those two had always been so fake and trying to put us down at every turn; why would she change now? She’s up to something; and if you let her inside, it’s only gonna hurt more.” During her rant, Scootaloo knocked over her milkshake, but it was quickly saved by her marefriend.

“Scoots, come on; give her a chance. It’s been like eight years since we last saw her. Ponies change over time, sometimes for the better. And I remember that for the most part, Silver Spoon was just following along with whatever Diamond Tiara did; whenever she acted on her own, she was usually nicer. Remember when Granny Smith came in for family day? She was the first one to start applauding.” As Sweetie was defending the earth pony in question, Apple Bloom winced at the mention of the matriarch.

“Can we not talk about mah Granny, please? Ah never shoulda let her use mah bits for her trip. Anyways, Silver’s been wanting to meet with you guys so she can make amends. Do ya mind if she comes wit’ me one of these times?” Sweetie pondered this for a moment before she smiled and nodded.

“I have no problems with that. What about you, babe?” Scootaloo let her response follow a low growl.

“I’d rather have my wings ripped off in the most painful way possible than spend even a few minutes with Silver Spoon. I can’t believe this! Did you both forget what those two did to us?”

“No, Ah didn’t forget what they did to us; but Ah’m tellin’ ya, Silver’s changed for the better. She ain’t a bully no more; she’s really kind and generous now. And Ah believe her when she says that she wants tah make things right.” Scootaloo sighed in defeat, knowing her warnings fell on deaf ears.

“Doesn’t really matter what I have to say about this; you’re just gonna bring her anyways aren’t you? I just don’t trust her and neither should you.”

Bloom was brought out of her memories by the train conductor announcing their destination.

“Next stop: Ponyville! We will be arriving in Ponyville in five minutes.”

“I’m so excited! I haven’t been home in such a long time.” At this Bloom raised an inquisitive brow.

“Ya still consider Ponyville yer home after all this time? What about Canterlot?”

“Canterlot is where I live, but Ponyville will always be my home. I just didn’t realize it when I was younger; back then I couldn’t wait to leave; but as soon as I did, I missed it.” The train came to a halt at the station and the two mares hopped off after gathering their things. They stood at the station taking in the view before them. After a few moments Silver turned to her friend. “So, where are we meeting up?”

“We’re goin’ tah Sugarcube Corner; that’s where we always meet. Come on!”

-GWG-

“I’m telling ya, Sweetie, this is a really bad idea. I mean, this is Silver Spoon we’re talking about.” Scootaloo’s wings were fidgeting uncomfortably as they walked to Sugarcube Corner from the stuntmare’s house. Sweetie Belle was tired of hearing these doubts; her marefriend had been ranting on and off for the past week, even more so as Wednesday approached.

“Look, Scoots, I know you’re concerned about Bloom and you think that she is making a big mistake, but we have to trust in her judgement. She is most level headed of the three of us; she would have needed proof that Silver Spoon had changed her life around before she would have called her friend. If she believes her, then I believe her. Why can’t you?” The only response she got from her pegasus was angry muttering, causing her to sigh and try a different approach. “Who knows? We might luck out and Silver Spoon didn’t come with her this time. Then we can talk about this some more in a calm manner, and work something out.” More angry mutterings came from the stuntmare. “Will you at least do it for me? I promise that if you are good and well behaved, I’ll make it worth your while.”

“...I’ll try to be nice to that bit-”

“Scootaloo!”

“-to that mare, but only cause you asked me to! I’m just trying to protect our friend from being hurt again. And what about us? What if she has something against two mares being in a relationship? I don’t want to see you hurt.” Sweetie smiled at her marefriend’s last concerns.

“Don’t worry about me; I’m a big strong mare, I can protect myself. And if I can’t, then that’s why I have my heroic pegasus with me.” With that she nuzzled the stuntmare’s cheek, showing her appreciation for the concern. “And if she does have a problem with it, who cares? What you and I do in the privacy of your home is none of her business. Ok? Look, there they are waiting for us. Just, be good, ok?” As the pegasus nodded her consent, they went to join the two earth pony mares.

“What took ya so long? We’ve been waitin’ here forever!” Silver looked to Bloom with a disbelieving glance.

“No we weren’t; we just got here.”

“Ah know; Ah’m jus’ messin’ with ‘em. We established years ago that whoever starts datin’ will be subject tah teasin’; s’all in good fun.” Bloom stopped her side conversation when the lovers joined them. “Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Ah’m sure ya remember Silver Spoon, and as ya can see,” Bloom wrapped a hoof across Silver’s shoulders as she pulled her close, “we’re friends now!” Sweetie offered her hoof to the slightly blushing mare.

“It’s good to see you after so many years. Apple Bloom tells us you’ve been taking good care of her in Canterlot.” Silver shook the offered hoof thankfully.

“Oh, she knows how to take of herself. I just wanted to make sure that her stay in Canterlot was a comfortable one.”

“I bet it is comfortable; an apartment in the upper district, brand new furniture, and making sure that she was well stocked before the first day even finished. I must say that was rather generous of you.” Sweetie could hear her marefriend muttering even as she spoke.

“So she’s buying friendship, huh?”

“Please excuse Scootaloo, she just got off work not too long ago and she hasn’t had her afternoon nap. Heh heh.” Bloom was able to catch the lie, but Silver couldn’t.

“It’s no problem. So how have you been Scootaloo?” Silver offered a friendly hoof to the other mare, but found it brushed away by an orange wing.

“Let’s just get inside.” She stated curtly as she entered the bakery. Sweetie gave the slightly downtrodden mare an apologetic smile, while Bloom was glaring daggers in the rude stuntmare’s direction. Shortly after they followed her into the store, the sour mood fading momentarily as they approached the counter where they could find the original party pony herself.

“Well if it isn’t Scootabelle and Applespoon; I see you girls are here for your weekly get together. Give me a moment while I find out what you’ll be having.” Silver was about to question this but Bloom stopped her with a hoof. Silver watched as the pink pony dug through her mane until she withdrew a scroll. When Pinkie unrolled it, Silver caught a quick glance at its content; she thought she saw what looked like four ponies sitting around a table and that something was familiar about them, but that was all she managed to see. Pinkie consulted the scroll for a moment before addressing her customers. “Ok, according to Ms. Wolfie, Scoots and Sweets will be sharing a vanilla milkshake, Apple Bloom is having a strawberry milkshake, and Silver Spoon will be having a chocolate milkshake. Unless you two wanna share one?” Silver was far too confused to respond, so Bloom answered in her stead.

“No thanks, Pinkie, we’ll take two shakes.”

“Okie dokie lokie; why don’t you girls take a seat over there and your shakes will be out in a jiffy! Teehee, jiffy is such a fun word. Jiffyjiffyjiffy…” Pinkie continued her tangent as she bounced into the kitchen.

“What…?” Before Silver could continue her sentence, Bloom stopped her.

“Fer yer sanity, it’s best not to question Pinkie Pie; let’s jus’ sit down and she’ll bring us our shakes.” The four mares took their seats at a table close to one of the windows; from which they could easily see the Golden Oaks Library in the distance; but their attention was drawn elsewhere. Moments after they sat down the hyperactive baker arrived, balancing a tray with three milkshakes on her head.

“Here you go girls! If you need anything else just ask...Ditzy and she’ll take care of it. Ditzy, you mind minding the store for a while? I need...to take care of something upstairs.” The grey pegasus saluted her employer and watched her head up to the upper level, worry reflected in her golden eyes. The pink mare’s behavior struck the four mares as odd as well, but they decided not to worry about it.

“So Sweetie Belle, Bloom told me that you have a single that’s about to be published; that must be exciting.” Silver tried to get the conversation started, hopeful that she can talk to the couple in a friendly and natural manner. Seeing the young singer brighten at the mention of her work made Silver release the breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding.

“It is exciting; after we finished recording the demo, Vinyl started talking to producers she knows in Manehatten while Octavia went to speak with some ponies she knew in Canterlot. I’m just waiting for word from them now, but they said I have nothing to worry about; I don’t know what I would do without them.”

“Speaking of Octavia, how is my cousin doing?”

“Oh, I didn’t know she was your cousin! She doesn’t talk much about her family, though it could be that I never asked. Um, she’s doing good; she and Vinyl had their anniversary recently, they’ve been dating for five years now...but you probably already know that.” Apple Bloom was happy that her friends were getting along so far; Sweetie was being as amicable as ever and besides a few rude responses, Scootaloo was behaving herself. Her optimism was short lived however, when hostilities broke out.

“Yes, I am aware they’ve been dating for awhile and I also know that you two are an item; would you care to share how that came about?” Who knows? I might get some tips on how to get a mare for myself.

“Well, it all started on a Wednesday like th-” Sweetie Belle was interrupted by her stuntmare slamming her hooves on the table, disturbing the shakes.

“Oh, so now we see your true colors: Silver Spoon, hater of fillyfoolers everywhere! You know, you disgust me; what is wrong with two mares loving each other, huh!? Is that why you left Ponyville; its tolerance of same-sex couples too much for your bigoted beliefs!?”

“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about! I’m a filly- I prefer mares over stallions just  like you and Sweetie here!” Silver was shocked at how quickly things had escalated. She was hoping that telling her secret would disarm the situation like it had before with Apple Bloom but was sadly mistaken.

“That’s a load of bull crap and you know it. All you ever do is lie to us, just like you’re lying to Apple Bloom!” The enraged pegasus stood from the table, her wings flared aggressively. Silver would have ran from the situation if it weren’t for Bloom standing between her and her soon-to-be attacker.

“That’s enough, Scootaloo! Back the buck off or Ah won’t be held responsible for what’ll happen!” Bloom looked ready to charge at her friend, ready to come to blows.

“Can’t you see that she’s tricking you? There probably isn’t going to be any money coming your way! She is just a lying snake, just like that brat Diamond Tiara!” Scootaloo snorted, her hoof pawing at the floor in a threatening manner; she was going to make her friend see reason, one way or another.

“She ain’t like that no more; she’s changed for the better! Ah ain’t gonnah let ya insult or hurt one of mah best friends! Now, Ah’m warnin’ ya; Back Off!” The two mares had their foreheads pressed together, neither backing down. Nopony knew how to calm the situation; nopony, except for Sweetie Belle who brought her face close to Scootaloo’s ear so that nopony else could hear, though Bloom was close enough to hear it anyways.

“If you stop right now, I’ll preen your wings tonight.” Sweetie whispered in a sultry tone. Bloom had no idea what preening was and her confusion only doubled when her challenger collapsed in front of her, twitching and muttering happily. Bloom turned to see an equally stunned Silver before they both turned to the singer who merely shrugged. “Sorry about that. Now, where was I? Oh, that’s right! So we were sitting here for another one of our get togethers when-”

-GWG-

The four ponies left the bakery about an hour before sunset, most happy that the rest of their time was without another incident. Scootaloo on the other hoof looked ashamed of herself; she had her evidence that Bloom and Silver were friends when Apple Bloom came to the other mare’s defense, but she was too enraged at the time. She also knew that Sweetie Belle was probably none too pleased with what happened and that she should try to make things right again; with this in mind she pulled Silver Spoon aside while the other mares kept walking.

“Look, I wanna apologize for how I acted in there.”

“I understand, you were trying to defend your friend from what you perceived as a threat. It’s good to see how much you care for your friend and marefriend; I just wish that I wasn’t viewed as a threat in the first place, but I guess I should expect that, given my past.”

“Yeah, it’s tough to accept that you’ve changed, considering everything. Listen...I accept that you are Apple Bloom’s friend and that Sweetie trusts you...but I don’t trust you, and you’re going to have to accept that for now; nothing you can do right now can change my mind at this moment. I might trust you later, hell we might even become friends later, but not right now. Is that ok?” Scootaloo presented her hoof, trying to strike a deal.

“I guess that’s the best I can get at the moment, which is better than earlier.” She shook the hoof in front of her, happy to come to an agreement. Before they could separate, Scootaloo whispered softly so only Silver could hear.

“And if you hurt Apple Bloom, in any way whatsoever, I’ll hurt you.”

“If I hurt her, I expect any retribution you can come up with.” Silver wanted to show how serious she was about this, shaking hooves again before separating and turning to the two concerned mares.

“Y’all good now?”

“I’ve called a ceasefire to all hostilities; that’s all you’re gonna get tonight AB.” Scootaloo said calmly as she walked by her friend and wrapped a wing around her singer. “I won’t harm her and I won’t do anything to split you guys up. I accept that you two are friends, but she and I aren’t friends; not yet. It could change with time. So what’re you guys gonna do now?”

“Ah figure Ah take Silver tah Sweet Apple Acres and show her around, grab a bite tah eat, then head on back tah Canterlot. What about y’all?”

“We’re going to head back to Scoots’ place; it’s been a long day and we’re very tired. Aren’t we, Scoots?” The unicorn nudged her lover towards her home in an attempt to get her to agree and moving.

“Um, yeah, so tired; can hardly stand on my hooves right now. We’ll see you guys later. Bye!” Despite being so ‘tired’, the couple were able to leave the other two in a quick manner, earning a confused look from Silver and a bemused one from Bloom. They decided that now was the best time to head to the farm.

“So what did Sweetie do to get Scootaloo to collapse like that?”

“Ya don’t wanna know, trust me.” Apple Bloom flinched as she said this, remembering that she had told Silver to trust her that everything was going to be fine when it wasn’t really. “Ah’m sorry, Silver, that was all mah fault. Ah knew Scootaloo would probably get like that, but Ah told ya it was fine anyways. Ah just didn’t wanna see ya all bummed out if Ah told ya the truth.”

“It’s ok, really. I had a feeling that an altercation would have happened on my last leg of my redemption, though I’m glad it wasn’t you that nearly beat me up. Like in your story about Applejack and Rainbow Dash; though I think I would have come out of that with more than just two broken ribs.” Silver chuckled for a moment before turning bashful. “Did you…did you mean it when you said I was one of your best friends?”

“Of course yer one of mah best friends; Ah wouldn’t lie about somethin’ like that. Yer up there real close tah Scoots and Sweetie, though they top ya cause they got time on their side. An’ nopony tries to hurt one of mah best friends, even if it’s one of mah best friends.” Apple Bloom smiled amicably before being surprised by a tight hug from the grey mare, causing the architect to blush slightly.

“You don’t know how much that means to me; to hear you say that and the fact you defended me earlier. Thank you so much!” They separated and continued on their way, waiting for their blushes to die down before they continued speaking. “So where are we going to eat?”

“Ah was thinkin’ Ah could make us a home cooked meal at the farmhouse; Ah’m not as good as AJ or Granny, but Ah can whip up somethin’ good. Jus’ wait till ya try mah apple dumplings; they’re delicious!” They continued to chat about this and that as they made their way to the farmstead.

-GWG-

The two mares were exhausted as they sat on the train heading back to Canterlot; they were sitting close together mainly because Silver had fallen asleep on the architect, or so Bloom believed. In truth, Silver was just far too exhausted to move from the surprisingly comfortable position, and Bloom had made no move to shift her so Silver remained in place, thinking about the days events; or more importantly, thinking about the mare she was currently resting against. She is so comfortable; firm yet also soft, the perfect blend. I don’t want to move from this spot; it feels like this is where I belong, which feels weird but also feels...right. She is my best friend and I am so happy that she is. Maybe that is what this feeling in my chest is; that warmth that spreads throughout my entire body whenever I see her smile or hear her laugh. The feeling of having a best friend that truly cares. With this in mind she snuggled closer to her best friend; unaware of what she was about to do that would test that friendship...and more.

> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


One Week After The Get Together

Silver was walking towards Bloom’s apartment some time before noon, since the architect had told her she would have a design ready for today; as she walked, she admired the scenery and enjoying such a beautiful day. Maybe Bloom and I can spend the day together after she gives me the design. Wouldn’t want to waste such a day like this. Ooohh, this day is going to be great. 

She had reached the building and headed inside, stepping in the elevator to head up. She walked up to the door as usual and opened it without knocking, since Bloom had said she didn’t need to do so. Silver went in but could not find her friend. “Bloom? Are you here?”

“Ah’m upstairs in the shower. Ah’ll be out in a bit; sit and make yerself at home.” Bloom’s voice was muffled by the door to the bathroom and the sound of the shower running; because of her location, she could not see the blush the enveloped Silver’s entire face. Bloom had forgotten that Silver was coming over so early, so she figured a quick shower couldn’t hurt. She was nearly finished when Silver arrived, so there was no need to rush.

Downstairs in the living room section, Silver was sitting on the couch that had been bought for the architect, trying and failing to combat her blush. Why am I blushing so much? It’s just my friend...taking a shower...getting all wet and soapy...her hooves making sure everything is clean...her mane...her body...her flank...her m-NOT HELPING!! Now, just relax Silver Spoon;  this isn’t the way you think about a friend. Friends don’t think about friends lathering up their sexy bod-STOP!! Just stop thinking about anything going on up there. You can do this. Stop thinking about your friend in that way. Confident that she was able to get a hold of herself, Silver was ill-prepared for the sight she was about to see.

Bloom walked down the stairs, a towel resting on her shoulders. Her mane was still wet and it was lacking the usual pink bow. Hips were swaying to a song that was going through her head, completely unaware of what she was doing to her friend on the couch whose blush had returned with a vengeance. By Celestia, she is beautiful. With her mane like that, she is driving me wild- What is wrong with me? You don’t think about friends in this way. Wait, I think she’s talking to me. “W-w-what were you saying?”

“Ah was askin’ if you were alright; ya kinda been sittin’ there lookin’ like a zombie. You ok now?”

“Heh heh, yeah I’m fine, really. Were you saying something before?”

“Well, Ah was askin’ if ya wouldn’t mind helpin’ me with mah bow. Ah could do it mahself but it’s easier if somepony else does the tyin’.” She handed the ribbon over to Silver then turned around to give the back of her head. The grey mare had to get close in order to fix up her friend's mane; the fact it was freshly shampooed was not helping her present condition. She decided to let the shampoo provide some conversation to ease the awkward silence.

"I was wondering: what shampoo do you use? It smells fantastic!"

"Ah can't pronounce the name of it; Ah think it's Prench or somethin'. Anyways, Rarity got it for me one year for mah birthday and Ah liked it. Ah think she gets it from that there spa run by them Lotus twins. Ah could pick ya a bottle next time Ah'm in Ponyville if ya like."

"No thanks, Bloom. I have my own shampoo that I like to use. I do like your shampoo though; the scent compliments you.” Silver thought herself fortunate that Bloom wasn’t looking at her; otherwise she would have seen the blushing. She did not need to keep the conversation going as she finished her task at just that moment, providing the opportunity to get down to business. “There, all done. So, you have a design for me?”

“Eeyup, Ah do have a design fer ya. Jus’ give me a moment an’ Ah’ll go get it.” The architect headed over to her work station where the design was sitting on her work desk. She came back to the couch with a look that said she was pleased with herself. “Ah have a good feelin’ about this one; if she doesn’t like it then she doesn’t have taste.” Before she took her seat on the couch, Bloom felt the need to stretch, first bringing her front half low to the ground with her rear in the air followed by bringing her front forward, stretching out her spine and hind legs. She was completely unaware of what this display was doing to her friend, whose face was imitating her brother’s coat color. In order to hide her embarrassment, Silver ran to the half-bath, separating herself from the source of her discomfort. What is she doing to me?! It’s almost like she is doing it all on purpose. Everything she is doing is just fueling this ache...ache? What day is it…? Oh, horsefeathers! I can’t believe that of all the possible times this could happen, now is when I go into heat! That explains everything, but it doesn’t make it any less embarrassing. I need to get out of here as soon as possible, lest I make a fool of myself. With the situation fully understood, she rejoined her friend and unwitting tormentor on the couch, hoping to just retrieve what she came for and get to someplace safe.

“Sorry about that, I really had to use the facilities. I’ll just take this design over to Diamond Tiara and I will see you later.” Grabbing the design and placing it in her saddlebag, she headed to the door hoping that she was home free. All such hope was lost when the architect spoke.

“You don’t have tah leave so soon; it looks like a beautiful day out, maybe we can hang out around town?”

“I can’t really; I need to get this to her as soon as possible.”

“Ya said so yerself that Ah don’t have deadlines. Ah’m sure the boss can wait another day tah get it. Come on, there’s this movie Ah wanted tah see fer a while and if’n we leave now we can catch a matinee.” Silver was unable to make any argument as she was pulled onto the elevator by strong olive-yellow hooves. Maybe I can hide my condition for a little while and hope nopony notices.

-GWG-

The two mares had made their way to the movie theater in the capital city, buying the tickets with ease. As they were waiting in the line for the concession stand, Bloom was looking at the displays for combos and Silver looking at Bloom. Once they made it to the front where Bloom placed the order for both of them.

“Ah’d like a number one combo please.”

“The large popcorn with two medium sodas? What would you like for drinks?”

“Ah’ll have the regular cola. Silver?”

“Um, I guess I’ll have the cherry cola please.” The two waited for their snack and beverages before it was time to pay; Silver began to reach into her saddlebag but Bloom beat her to it by placing her bits on the counter. As they took their items, they headed towards the designated auditorium, finding seats near the back so they wouldn’t have to worry about ponies behind them. The previews hadn’t even begun yet so Silver thought it was appropriate to speak. “I could have paid for this; you didn’t have to do that.”

“Yer right, Ah didn’t but Ah wanted to. Ah was the one who wanted to see this movie, so it’s only fair that Ah pay. If it’s really botherin’ ya, Ah guess you can pay for dinner later, ok?”

“Alright, I guess that’s fair. So what is this movie about?”

“Ah’m not sure; Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo saw this on one of their dates not too long ago. Scoots said that Ah’d probably like it so Ah decided Ah wanted tah see it. Didn’t wanna go by mahself though, so here we are.”

“So why did Scootaloo like it? And why did they see this as part of a date?”

“Well, Scoots was sayin’ that there was a lot of action in this movie and parts of it were funny. There were also some romantic bits that Sweetie enjoyed. Ah guess they went because it was somethin’ they both would enjoy; or maybe it’s ‘cause they just like doin’ things together, Ah’m not sure.” 

As Bloom looked to the ceiling in thought, Silver could not help but study the head of her friend, her eyes, muzzle, and neck in particular. The flustered mare observed a certain twinkle in Bloom’s eyes when she was deep in thought, how she bit her bottom lip while she concentrated, and how the muscles in her neck tensed and relaxed as she tilted her head left and right. Being in a public place helped her from acting on her lecherous thoughts, but nothing was stopping her from having them, having given up trying to stop them earlier. I wonder what her eyes would look like when her mind is clouded with lust. Will she bite her lip like that if I do something to one of her sensitive spots? Would kissing and biting her neck cause that effect? I don’t know if I can control myself all day. As the lights dimmed she became thankful that she would have something else to focus on and turned to face the screen instead of the mare next to her.

The film was about a Royal Guard recruit trying to make a name of himself in order to be famous and hopefully catching the attention of a mare he had feelings for. His comical wit earned him more trouble than praise, however, and he thought that he wouldn’t make it as a guard. Before he could quit however, changelings invaded Canterlot, taking part of the fighting in order to save his city and the mare he loved. Though he wasn’t influential in stopping the invasion, his deeds did not go unrewarded. 

Silver would have enjoyed this movie, had she been paying attention; she had spent most of the film distracted by an earlier incident. During a rather intense fight scene between the lead and another recruit, Silver had went to grab a hoofful of popcorn at the same time as the architect. Their hooves touched briefly, but for Silver it felt like time had stopped; she felt a gentle warmth radiating off of Blooms hoof, a small movement that felt like a little caress. Bloom apologized and said that Silver could go first, whereas Silver simply nodded and complied, fearful that her voice would crack embarrassingly. Throughout the rest of the film she kept shifting her attention to the mare next to her, resisting the urge to jump her. It became nearly unbearable when near the end of the movie the love interest kissed the stallion that had saved her life; in Silver’s condition, however, she imagined that the kissing ponies were replaced with her and Bloom. She was grateful that the darkened theater hid her lit up face; as the credits began to roll, Silver felt as though she needed a distraction. Perhaps discussing the movie would provide her with one.

"I can see that Scootaloo would like that, but I'm not so sure Sweetie Belle would have." Silver began, hopeful that it would distract Bloom long enough for her to get her blush under control.

"Yea, Ah think Sweetie may have lied to Scoots so as not to upset her." Bloom looked rather uncomfortable, fidgeting in her seat. "Ya've been here in Canterlot for some time now, ya know of any good parks we can go to? Ah feel rather cramped in here and Ah haven't found any good places yet."

"Well, there's the hedge maze by the castle; I tend to go there when I need some air. You should remember it, we went there for a field trip before Discord was released.”

“Ya mean before me and the other crusaders released him with our fightin’.” Bloom shook her head at the unpleasant memory; she always felt horrible whenever she and her friends fought, and still hadn’t gotten over the events of last week, which wasn’t the worst example. Still, the mention of the hedge maze lifted her spirits. “That sounds like a lot of fun though. Let’s go before it becomes evenin’ and then we can get dinner.”

-GWG-

The two earth pony mares stood at the entrance of the infamous hedge maze that once broke the elements of harmony temporarily, but instead of dread they anticipated that they were going to have a relaxing stroll through the formation. They couldn’t have been further from the truth.

“Wow, it’s been years since Ah’ve been here! Though that could be cause Ah didn’t come to Canterlot that much when Ah was younger.” Bloom stated as she gazed upon the maze in awe, wondering if she could incorporate something similar in a later design; though that would have to wait until the commission for Diamond Tiara was finished. A lot of things would have to be put on hold for that to finish.

“I thought you were in Canterlot for the royal wedding years ago. In fact, I remember that Diamond Tiara was immensely jealous of the fact that you three were able to go to the wedding.”

“Ah doubt she was jealous of nearly being changeling chow. Yeah, me and the other crusaders were the flower fillies fer the ceremony and we got tah spend a few days in Canterlot because of it, but we were too busy to do anythin’ really, what with gettin’ our dresses fitted and taste testin’ AJ’s food. Mah sis had more opportunities tah come here than Ah did.” Bloom looked as if she was in a trance, thinking back to her fillyhood and her adventures with the crusaders. “Ah’ve only been here that one time back when we were in school. Do ya come here often?”

“Every once in awhile, I do. I mostly like to come during Spring and Summer, but it’s nice during the Fall, too. I didn’t realize how much earth ponies need nature around them in order to feel comfortable until I came here. In Ponyville, nature is just all around us; you don’t realize how comforting it is until you don’t have it all the time.” Silver took in a deep breath, basking in what may be the last warm day before Fall really settled in. “Well, we should get in there and enjoy it before it becomes too late.”

The two mares entered the maze with no difficulty. Since the fate of Equestria didn’t depend on them reaching the center of the maze, they were free to just observe the scenery. Bloom was contemplating how the addition of hedge mazes could improve the appearance of a building, wondering if that would make it more inviting. Silver was admiring the statues that were placed throughout the maze, hoping their design would distract her from her thoughts. It did indeed provide her with a distraction; she was so distracted that she failed to notice that she got separated from her friend.

As Silver ventured through the maze, she began to notice that the statues were starting to have a common theme. Where once the statues featured only one subject, now there were two, and it was always two mares. Each statue showed a scene in a budding relationship, from the two becoming friends till in the end where they were lovers. This did not help Silver’s condition, especially since the last statue featured one mare wearing a bow on her head while the other was wearing glasses. As her legs rubbed together subconsciously, she began to hear a mischievous chuckle that seemed to come from the statue itself.

“Is somepony getting a little hot under the collar?” The mysterious voice asked before chuckling louder. “I must admit that while your condition must be very uncomfortable, and the fact that you are having these thoughts for your friend even more so, I find it quite entertaining.”

“W-w-who are you?” Silver wasn’t sure if she was more worried about something reading her thoughts or that Bloom might overhear.

“Let’s just say that I’m a concerned citizen who strives to make sure things don’t get too boring around here.” The chuckling continued, making Silver feel more and more uncomfortable.

“Show yourself!” Silver demanded, though her flustered state didn’t make her sound all that intimidating.

“As you wish, but you may decide that you were better off talking to a statue than conversing with me; stronger ponies than you have gone mad doing so.” The voice responded as the statue began to shift. Where once was a statue of two lovers now stood an amalgamation of different creatures; it had the paw of a lion, the talon of an eagle, the foot of a reptile, a hoof, tail like a dragon, one wing was feathered like a bird while the other was leathery like a bat, on its head were the antlers of a goat and a deer. Its most distinguishing features however was its yellow eyes with red pupils and its long fang that rested outside of its maw. The creature was immediately recognized by the flustered pony and she found that she agreed with its earlier statement; she wished she was still talking to the statue.

“D-D-Discord!!”

“The one and only. I do so love the look on ponies faces when they meet me for the first time; always reminds me of the good old days.” The lord of chaos wiped a tear from his eyes with a tissue that appeared out of nowhere; or it seemed to be a tissue at first glance, until Silver realized it was one of Apple Bloom's designs that Diamond Tiara rejected.

“Hey! Don’t do that, Bloom worked very hard on that!” The deity stopped his mistreatment of the design as he snapped it from existence.

“Now I wonder why you care so much about that. I know she’s your friend and that you wouldn’t mind a roll in the hay with her”- Silver blushed deeply- “but that’s no reason to get so protective over something she worked on. I wonder if there is more going on than even you realize.”

“I don’t understand.” She was trying to piece together what Discord was saying, but it just added to her confusion.

“Perhaps there is something stirring within you that your lust addled brain can’t even comprehend now. Oh well, you’ll get it soon enough, or not. I’m sorry but as amusing as this conversation is, I’m going to have to cut it a little short; we have a guest coming and we wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, now would we?” With a giddy smile he snapped his talons and the hedge behind him disappeared, shortly followed by Bloom coming into view and approaching them.

“There ya are Silver! Ah’ve been lookin’ all over fer ya!” Silver did not know why her heart rate sped up or why she was flattered to hear she was missed, though she didn’t get much of an opportunity to question it as Bloom came closer. “And Discord? What’re you doin’ here?”

“Hello to you too, Apple Bloom. This is one of my favorite places to entertain myself, livening up this otherwise dull maze. And how have you been, my little pony?”

“Ah’m alright, could be better.”

“Wait, why are you so familiar with him?” Silver couldn’t believe her eyes or her ears; Apple Bloom and Discord were chatting it up like they were old acquaintances.

“After he was reformed, he spent a lotta time in Ponyville with his ‘favorite ponies in Equestria’; aka mah sis and her friends.”

“During one of my happy visits, I had made dear Applejack and Rarity sick, an accident of course, and felt that I had to make it up to them. When I heard that they were going to be married, I offered to perform the service for them. During that time, me and Apple Bloom became the best of friends.” He said as he picked up the architect in a crushing hug.

“Yeah, ‘the best of friends’.” She deadpanned with a sarcastic roll of her eyes. “Can ya put me down now?” The lord of Chaos obliged her request before giving a wink to the still confused Silver.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about your architecture lately; even Princess Luna is impressed.” Silver did not like the look of mischief on his face, but she felt helpless to stop him.

“Really?” Bloom’s ears stood at attention, clearly intrigued.

“Mhmm, in fact she was considering commissioning you to design a nightclub right here in Canterlot.” His grin grew wider even as Silver’s concern rose.

“Really?” Bloom’s tone clearly showed that she was excited; Silver would have noted how cute her wagging tail was if she wasn’t worried about what would happen next.

“Yep, and you would be working on it right now…” He paused as he watched her excitement peak, “...if she hadn’t lost that bet.” And with that, Bloom visibly deflated. Silver hardly noticed that her inappropriate thoughts had been completely silenced as she looked at the dejected mare next to her.

“W-w-what?” Bloom was heart broken, that job would have meant that she wouldn’t have to worry about Granny’s spending in Las Pegasus. Instead she was here, dealing with the queen of all brats. 

“Yep, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I thought you should know.” Silver had no idea as to why Discord winked at her again; no inkling of the scheme he put in motion. “Well, I would love to stay and chat but I have a meeting with the royal sisters I must attend to, something about a wedding I believe it was. Now Silver Spoon, why don’t you go and get poor little ol’ Apple Bloom some dinner to cheer her up, it looks like she could use it right about now. TTFN.” With a snap of his fingers he was gone and the two mares were sitting outside the maze once more. Silver was about to try to understand what had just happened but a sniffle from her friend brought her back to the situation at hoof and that she had to act fast.

“Come on Bloom, I know of a restaurant nearby that you will like.” Silver gave a hopeful smile to the distraught mare along with a hoof to help her up. Bloom gave a dejected sigh before responding.

“Alright.”

-GWG-

The restaurant was a bit fancier than the cafe they normally frequented, but not as fancy as the high class restaurants in the city so they were able to have a relaxing meal. This allowed Silver to focus on raising Bloom’s spirits; but first she had to get to the root of the problem. 

“So why did Discord’s words make you upset? Did what he say really bother you so much?” Silver asked as their drinks arrived, feeling that as they waited for their food to arrive it would be the perfect time to talk about this. Apple Bloom let out a sigh, not wanting to talk about this. In fact she didn’t feel like eating right now, but she knew that Silver meant well and was concerned; so she decided she would talk about it, even if it did upset Silver. Bloom was surprised how much that meant to her.

“He just...hit a raw nerve. Normally, Ah can ignore him, like everypony else since most of the time he can be real annoyin’; but sometimes, like he was today, he can be a real asshole. He knew just what to say to get to me. This job Ah’m doin’ for y’all sucks; while the pay allows me to manage my problem, the job for Princess Luna would have made it non-existent. And Ah can’t work on any other projects while Ah’m working for Tiara or Ah’d be in breach of contract.”

“Oh, I forgot about that part of the contract, sorry.”

“It’s fine, that’s normal procedure in mah usual contracts. It’s just never been an issue before. Like Ah have so many design ideas for other potential projects; Ah don’t want to be canned fer working on something else, so Ah have to put them on hold. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are practically livin’ together now so Ah was gonna surprise them with their own home that Ah designed for their anniversary, but Ah can’t if’n it costs me a job.”

“Hey, I have no problem with you doing that. In fact, the only pony that would have an issue with that would be Diamond Tiara and she doesn’t check on you, I do. I have no issue with you working on side projects, just as long as you remember to work on this.” Bloom’s eyes brightened a little at this, before she showed concern.

“Are ya sure Ah wouldn’t be in breach of contract?” Silver waved a dismissive hoof.

“Don’t you worry your pretty head about it, my dear Bloom; I’ll make sure nothing happens.” Silver was hopeful that Bloom didn’t catch that little slip, and was relieved to see that Bloom seemed unaffected by it.

“Thanks. Ah just wish Ah didn’t have to take this job.”

“What do you mean?” Silver’s heart had pulsed painfully at the thought of Bloom being unhappy here, unhappy with her.

“If the job for Luna was available, Ah wouldn’t have been here, Ah wouldn’t be working for that brat, Ah wouldn’t have-”

“-Become friends with me.” Silver interrupted, her tone demonstrating how she was on the verge of tears.

“No no, that isn’t what Ah was gonna say. In fact you are the best part of this whole experience; you’re like the silver lining in all this.” Bloom lightly chuckled at that, though she was curious as to why there was a slight fluttering in her chest as she said those words. Silver sniffled a couple times before wiping at her face, hoping to hide her heated cheeks, before she spoke.

“Thanks, that means a lot to hear you say that. And I have been thinking of changing my name to Silver Lining since Silver Spoon has such a negative connotation.”

“A name doesn’t define a pony and neither does a cutie mark. The only thing that defines you are yer actions, and your actions show that yer a good pony.”

“Thanks Bloom. Well it looks like our food is here, let’s dig in.”

As they went about enjoying their meals, the more serious conversation came to an end and they engaged in idle chit chat instead. Throughout the meal, they exchanged glances that only confused both mares, as they hardly understood what they meant or why they enjoyed such brief looks. It was during this time that Silver’s condition made itself known again to the suffering mare, and she knew that she would have to draw the evening to a close soon before she did something she regretted. Once they finished the meal and it was payed for Silver made a move to part ways but Bloom would have none of it.

“Nonsense, Ah’ll walk you home. It’s the least Ah could do for having you spend the day with me.” And so they made their way to the other end of the Upper District, towards Silver’s home with Silver being flustered the entire way.

-GWG-

“Ah still can’t believe you live here, Ah thought ya had lots of bits.” Bloom stated as she looked upon the relatively modest home again; when she had first seen it she had suggested that they switched homes seeing as how the loft was the more extravagant of the two homes, but Silver declined.

“I told you, I don’t really need much. And living like this gives me more opportunities to be more charitable and giving to my friends. Thank you for the lovely day.” Silver was trying to rush this along, unsure of how much longer she could hold lewd thoughts at bay. Her body was demanding release.

“Ah should be thankin’ you. And Ah’m sorry if what Ah said at the restaurant upset ya, Ah was just ventin’ mah frustrations.” Oh, do I need to vent my frustrations. Can we hurry this up Bloom?! I don’t want to jump you and see if what they say about a farm pony’s stamina is true...NOT HELPING! Before she could say anything, Bloom came up to her and hugged her, giving her a friendly kiss on the cheek. “Have a good night, Silver. Ah’ll see ya around.” The architect quickly turned for home, unsure of why she was blushing heavily.

“See ya.” Silver responded weakly, long after Bloom was out of hearing range. The flustered mare brought a hoof to her cheek, her aching need momentarily forgotten. But that didn’t last long as she rushed inside to seek release, thinking about what would have happened if she acted on her thoughts in the movie theater. Once she was sated she went to sleep, dreaming of more innocent things, though the feeling of Bloom’s lips on her cheek was prevalent in her dreams.

The next morning, Silver awoke with her head clear of the cloud of lust that afflicted her the day before. She was happy to have a temporary reprieve. I wouldn’t want my condition yesterday to have ruined what I have with Bloom; I worked too hard for that to have it ruined by lust. Maybe I should take a look at the design now that I am thinking straight.

She leafed through her saddlebag until she found the desired document, and found that her friend’s words rang true: this was her best design thus far. Wow, this is incredible, better than anything she’s done so far. I am positive that Diamond Tiara will love it. She’ll accept the design and Bloom will be so happy; she’ll be done here and have her pay and she will...will...will leave. The once ecstatic mare felt her heart drop at this. There would be no reason for her to stay. Why does that hurt? ‘Perhaps there is something stirring within you that your lust addled brain can’t even comprehend now.’ Discord’s words from yesterday danced in her head, trying to find meaning. Well, I’m not in heat at the moment, but why am I still feeling this sort of attachment to Bloom? I feel for her more than any friend should. Perhaps I- Her pupils shrank as the pieces came together, explaining not only yesterday but also her experiences over the past month.

“I think I love her…” Her confession to herself brought her both joy and fear; joy because she finally understood her feelings and fear because she felt that what she held in her hooves told her that she was too late in her discovery. If she turned this in and it was accepted, which she was certain it would be, Bloom would have no reason to stay, no reason to see Silver everyday. It was only at this point in time that their lives revolved around each other; it wouldn’t be the same once this was finished. The document in her hooves held the power to end Apple Bloom’s suffering and Silver Spoon’s happiness. It was then that she discovered a solution, albeit not a happy one; tears began to roll down her cheeks as she determined it was the only thing she can do to get Apple Bloom to stay.

“I’m sorry.” She said as silver-grey hooves tore the paper into tiny pieces before they were deposited into the trash bin.

Bottom A/N: they should really add a feature to allow for two Author's notes in a story. Oh well.

Sorry for the long wait, this chapter had been a real pain as some of you know from the blogs. First off, I hated the beginning, I still do. Secondly, I had to move back in March. Finally, I had put more of my efforts on other projects instead of this one. So yeah.

In the next chapter, the perspective will shift to mostly follow Apple Bloom as she deals with an annual phenomenon. Secrets will be revealed and lies will be told. Stay tuned for more.

-GWG-
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


One Month Later

Apple Bloom awoke disappointed. Once again she woke up to find that she had cuddled up with her pillow. It was in times such as this that she wished that she didn’t need sleep; when she was awake, her financial difficulties and her current project took priority. But at night when she was granted a reprieve from her fiscal woes, she was overcome with the knowledge that she slept in her bed alone. It was during the night when she would feel the most envious of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, of Applejack and Rarity, of Big Mac and Fluttershy; envious because they had someone to hold or to hold them as they slept, and Bloom had no one. Her nights have always been like this ever since her friends told her of their relationship, but of late her dreams that were the result of that conversation have been become more and more detailed. Before, she just dreamt that she held somepony, with no features with which to identify them: no horn or wings, no coat color, no cutie mark, no clue if this dream pony was a mare or a stallion. Now, she can see a color: grey.

With an angry grunt Bloom tossed the pillow away from her; it shot past the foot of the bed and the railing for the upper level and landed on her work desk. If not for her foul mood she would have been impressed. But as it stood, she didn’t care. She looked to her large window and saw that the weather outside reflected her mood. The sky was dark and the clouds were threatening to let loose a downpour, probably within the next few hours.

There was no point in going back to sleep now, once she was up she was up for the whole day, unless she exhausted herself to the point of needing a nap. She rose from her bed and performed her stretching ritual which reminded the Apple family of Winona, bringing humor to everyone except Apple Bloom. Once that was complete she headed to the shower, hoping that it would liven her up enough to bring her out of her morning rut. The shower itself was easily large enough to fit two ponies comfortably, most likely for purposes besides cleaning. Bloom remembered how embarrassed she was when she made that realization and how she wondered briefly if it was used for that purpose before, but stopped before she got too hot and bothered. She turned the knobs until they were in the position for the perfect temperature, something she had discovered through previous experimentation. She hopped in once it reached perfection and released a relaxed sigh, smiling for the first time that morning. 

The architect stayed under the spray for a minute or two before she reached for the shampoo. Her original approval of the product, which smelt like cinnamon, was raised when she was complemented by Silver for it. The thought of the grey mare made her blush, much to her confusion. It’s strange that Ah have been feelin’ like this lately. Ever since that day with Discord, whenever Ah think of Silver, Ah feel all...warm. It’s weird...But Ah like it. Ah jus’ wish Ah knew what it all means. Her thoughts concluded, she determined that it was time to rinse off the shampoo and continue with the rest of the shower.

Now fully clean and awake, the olive-yellow mare proceeded to tie up the bow in her mane and head to the lower level. After consuming a light breakfast, she found herself with nothing to do besides working on the next design, much to her displeasure. Every design Ah make is better than the last, and that bitch keeps turning them down, callin’ ‘em trash. It’s pissin’ me off to no end...but Ah need this. Honestly, the only good thing about this whole mess is Silver. Again she felt that familiar warmth radiate throughout her core, a content smile adorning her muzzle despite her current situation. She was about to head to her work station when she heard the door open.

As if summoned by her thoughts, Silver stepped into the apartment, her head reaching into her saddlebag from which she received the mail for the day. She placed the letters on the coffee table in front of the couch before turning to Bloom to speak.

“Good morning, Bloom. It looks terrible outside but it actually isn’t too cold out. I was thinking maybe we cou…” Her attention was focused on the latest addition to the architect’s work station, “...Why is there a pillow on your desk?”

“Heheh.” Bloom blushed slightly before she answered. “Ah, kinda, woke up on the wrong side of the bed this mornin’ and Ah guess this was the outcome of mah frustration.” She decided to ignore the pillow for now as she headed to the coffee table. “So, what’d ya bring me?”

“Well, it looks like you received a letter from Princess Twilight Sparkle, besides that not much.” Silver tried to look nonchalant about it, but it was clear that she was curious as to what the message from a princess could be about.

“Let’s see...’You are cordially invited to the wedding of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Lieutenant Rainbow Dash. The ceremony will be held in the Royal Ballroom at Canterlot Castle and the reception will be held in the Royal Gardens on the eighteenth of March. You are permitted to bring a guest of your choosing.’ Looks like Ah’m goin’ to another royal weddin’. Hopefully there won’t be any invasions this time.” Bloom chuckled at her own little joke. She failed to see Silver scuffing her hoof on the floor.

“Ah, so who are you to bring with you as your plus one?” Silver tried to hide the hopefulness in her tone, and she wasn’t completely certain that she had succeeded.

“Well Ah ain’t got time to be lookin’ for a date for this event, so Ah guess Ah can invite ya tah this, if’n you wanna go.”

“Of course, it would be an honor to accompany you!” Bloom assumed that Silver’s overly excited answer was because of the chance to attend such a high class event, unaware of Silver’s real reasons.

“Great, well next time we get an excuse to visit Ponyville we’ll hafta stop by Rarity’s to get our dresses made.” Little did she know that the universe was going to provide such an excuse, in the form of a klutzy mailmare colliding with the large window. The two mares were startled by the loud thud against the window and watched with sympathy as Ditzy slid down the window’s surface.

“I don’t know if I should be grateful or regretful for reinforcing the window a few years back.” The two mares continued to watch the slowly sliding pegasus before they snapped into action.

“Help me get this window open and get ‘er inside.” They opened the window quickly and helped the poor pegasus into the apartment. The bubbly mare’s eyes spun around for a bit before they readjusted. “Ya alright, Ditzy?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. That wasn’t my first crash and it certainly won’t be the last. I’m just glad I didn’t smash through the window, glass really hurts you know.” She shook her head a few more times before her golden eyes settled on the architect. “Ah, Apple Bloom, just the mare I was looking for. I have an urgent message from Applejack for you. I don’t think it’s a medical emergency or something like that, but it looks like they need ya.” She handed Bloom a scroll before taking off out the window, or would have if she hadn’t crashed into the window again before readjusting and flying out the open window. Bloom was too busy reading the letter to notice.



 Dear Apple Bloom,

I know you’re busy and all in Canterlot, but we need you back here quick. Big Mac heard the timberwolves last night and you know what that means.

With Granny Smith not around you are the only one who knows how to make the Zap Apple Jam. Jonny is too young to assist you, so you may want to bring Silver Spoon to help you.

Come on back to Ponyville as quick as you can, we’re counting on you.


Your Sister,


Applejack





“Well, looks like we have our excuse to go to Ponyville. The Zap Apples are comin’, and without Granny Smith, Ah’m the only one who knows the jammin’ process. Ah’m gonna need yer help for this, and we’re probably gonna be there all week. Do you wanna come along?” Bloom didn’t understand it, but she found that she was fearful of Silver saying no. These fears were unwarranted however.

“I’d be glad to. The next train doesn’t leave for another hour, so let me grab some things from my house and I’ll meet you at the train station. See you in a bit.”

-GWG-

The two mares were sitting on the train heading to Ponyville. Unlike the first time the two were heading there, Silver wasn’t gushing about heading back home. Instead she was staring intently at Bloom, who bore a somber expression on her face. Silver decided to voice the question that has been nagging her since before they left.

“You mentioned that you would have to make the jam without Granny Smith. What happened to her, if it isn’t too much to ask?” Bloom gave a deep sigh; she didn’t want to talk about this, but Silver was helping out and had a right to know.

“...Don’t worry, she isn’t dead, if that’s what yer thinkin’. No, she’s very much alive and probably enjoyin’ herself where she is. Ya see, Granny Smith is presently in Las Pegasus, and her gamblin’ expedition is bein’ funded by your’s truly. Ah made the foolish mistake of givin’ her access to mah account, which she is runnin’ dry nearly every week. She is the cause of mah financial issues, and the reason Ah even took this job.”

“Remind me to thank her the next time I see her.” Bloom could see the sad glint in her friend’s eyes, and she regretted sounding so negative about the situation that allowed the two mares to become close friends.

“Geez, Ah’m sorry Silver. It’s just that this is all very stressful right now. That day with Discord brought me to a very low place and Ah may have put too much hope on that design passing. So when Diamond turned it down Ah was perhaps more upset than Ah should have been.” Bloom was looking out the window as she said this, and therefore didn’t see Silver visibly tense as she mentioned the design. Bloom completely trusted Silver when she told her that the design wasn’t accepted; completely believing the lies. There was no reason to believe that Silver wasn’t turning in the designs but rather destroying them, removing all evidence that they ever existed. She ripped that first design and lied about the outcome, and repeated this process for every design that followed. Each one added more of a burden to her guilty conscious, but she reasoned that if they gave her more time to get closer to the one she loved, then it would all be worth it. With every torn design, her love for the architect only grew. She just prayed that Bloom would never find out about the deception.

“Next stop Ponyville! Make sure you have all of your belongings before exiting the train.” The conductor’s shout brought both mares out of their respective reveries. They noticed that it was downpouring on the town and thus foolish to head straight to the farm.

“Come on, let’s head to the Boutique so we can get the dresses started and wait out the rain.” With that the two mares galloped in the direction of the dress shop.

-GWG-

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is- Oh Apple Bloom it’s you, and you’ve brought a friend. Don’t just stand there, darlings, come in and dry off! It’s positively dreadful out there!” The prim unicorn magicked a couple towels towards the soaked mares while using a third to clean up the water and mud they brought in with them. “It’s so good you’re here; ever since Big Mac came over last night with the news they’ve been running about trying to get everything ready and this weather isn’t helping. Now did you come in here for shelter or was there something else that brought you here?”

“Well, Rarity, the weather did bring us in here but we were gonna come by at some point. Ya must’ve gotten the invitation recently?” Bloom was too busy drying out her mane and tail to notice the fashionista switch into her gushing mode, though there was no way she didn’t hear her sister-in-law once she entered it.

“Oooohh, I’m simply ecstatic! Two of my best friends are having a wedding, a royal wedding no less, and in the middle of the Cherry Blossom Festival. It’s going to be so romantic and…” Rarity stopped when she noticed the amused look on Bloom’s face and cleared her throat before she spoke again. “...Um, yes, we did receive the invitation. Why do you ask?”

“Well Ah got it today and we were wondering if you would make us dresses for the occasion?” Bloom watched Silver as the measuring tape and other necessary objects began floating towards them, amused to see Silver jump as she wasn’t expecting the fleet of objects to come flying at them.

“Stand still, darlings, this shouldn’t take long at all.” She began with her sister-in-law. “Now, Apple Bloom, you have grown since the last time you were measured, but I assume that you haven’t changed too much since last time. Let’s see: not as broad shouldered or muscular as Jackie, you have a more feminine form that should look nicely with what I have in mind. Hmm, again your flanks aren’t as muscular as my dear wife but they are firm. Yes, that should do nicely. Perhaps a nice red that compliments your mane, ah but that is for later. You’re next Silver Spoon.” The two turned to the grey mare, noticing that she was blushing furiously.

“Don’t worry, Silver, Rarity isn’t that invasive. And plus, it’s nice to complemented on appearances.” Bloom added with a slight blush of her own. She didn’t know that Silver was actually blushing because she was jealous of Rarity and her measuring tape, being able to admire her beauty without coming across as weird, and the fact she was enjoying the show. She was ill prepared for the assault that was measurements with Rarity.

“Hmm, I must admit I don’t see many earth ponies like yourself. Most I’ve seen had figures that suggested strength or endurance. You, on the other hoof, look like you were made for speed. You have a very sleek form, very lithe. Have you ever considered modeling? No? Well, that is a shame. You must get a lot of attention from stallions and mares alike. Something form fitting and…dark, to bring out your coat and make your mane practically shine. I see that those glasses are more for accessory, I’ll look for something that will fit the dress perfectly. I must say, with what I have planned for you, you’ll definitely be turning heads.” Rarity finished writing down the measurements and some of her design ideas for each dress before levitating the paper to her desk. 

As Silver was imagining what the dress would look like, Bloom sat there blushing madly, a hoof covering her muzzle in an attempt to hide it.  Ah don’t get it, Ah’ve been to quite a few of these measuring sessions before with Scoots and Sweetie, and this has never happened to me. Maybe Ah-Oh good the rain stopped, maybe Ah just need tah get outta here. “Well, it looks like the rain has let up. Let’s go Silver, we need tah get to the farm.” Silver was barely able to offer her thanks before she was pulled out of the store by impatient hooves. Neither mare heard Rarity chuckle as they made their hasty exit.

“Now isn’t that precious; I always enjoy seeing young love blossoming into a beautiful rose. I can’t wait to tell my Jackie about this newest development.”

-GWG-

“Now are ya sure that was the first sign? Just because timberwolves howl doesn’t mean it’s time.” As if in response, the wind seemed to shift from the Everfree through the orchard. The barren Zap Apple trees began to spark to life, pure magical energy running across the branches. At last the leaves appeared in a grand spectacle, leaving the younger mares with their jaws open.

“Eeyup.” Both of the older Apple siblings responded, much to Bloom’s agitation.

“Shy and Jonny are ready with them bunny ears at the waterin’ cans, y’all get ready and they’ll follow yer lead.” Applejack said as she pointed up the hill towards the two waving pegasi. “Me an’ Mac here will continue laying buckets down fer the harvest. We’ll be havin’ dinner at six. Ah’ll see ya later, sis.”

Bloom and Silver walked towards the farmhouse where they dropped off their saddlebags and picked up two pairs of floppy bunny ears. They were heading up the hill each wearing their head gear when Silver posed one of her many questions about this process.

“Did Granny Smith ever tell you why we have to hop around the water cans while wearing bunny ears and singing the alphabet?” Bloom released another sigh.

“She told me it’s ‘cause it activates the magic, but Ah prefer the answer mah sis gave,” Bloom cleared her throat and when she spoke again her voice was deeper in order to present a poor imitation of Applejack’s voice. “‘If’n it ain’t broke, don’t try tah fix it.’”

“Ah do not sound like that ya runt!” Applejack yelled from a small distance away.

“Hey, less eavesdroppin’ and more bucket layin’! Chop chop!” Bloom laughed as she heard her sister grumbling across the way. She turned to her companion who was giving her a look before the architect sighed. “That’s just how we always are with each other; if Ah really upset her Ah would know.” At that moment an apple came flying from Applejack’s general direction and hit Bloom in the head, though she didn’t look to have been phased by it at all. “Ah’ll apologize tah her later. Right now we got water cans tah sing tah.”

As they neared the hill they noticed that the pegasi were not alone. Next to the mother and son was the offspring (Bloom prefered the term ‘demon spawn’) of Angel Bunny, Angelica, who looked just like her father except that her paws were grey instead of white. She also shared her father’s temperament and Fluttershy babied her all the same. In Bloom’s opinion, this rabbit was worse than her father, but there was very little she could do against the prized pet.

“Good morning Apple Bloom and...Oh, I’m really sorry, but I don’t remember your name, Miss…” Fluttershy may have gotten over her fear of strange ponies but she was still anxious about upsetting anypony, and still resorted to hiding behind her mane if she believed she offended someone.

“No worries Mrs. Apple, there wasn’t much reason for you to remember me. My name is Silver Spoon.” She offered her hoof out only to take it back as she heard light giggling.

“Please, just call me Fluttershy. Being called Mrs. Apple just makes me feel older than I am.”

“Auntie Bloom, Ah thought you said that Silver Spoon was a bully. What she doin’ here?” The young pegasus asked as he buzzed his wings briefly. Silver turned to Bloom with a raised brow, which the architect responded with a sheepish smile.

“A year ago he came to me sayin’ he was bein’ picked on in school and so Ah told him a coupla stories from our youth and Ah maaayy have name dropped you as one of the bullies.”

“I see, well Jonagold, let me tell you that bullies try to put you down because they have no other way of making themselves look good. If you don’t let what they say bother you, then you take away all their power. And perhaps later down the line, they’ll try to make up for what they said about you. Take me for example; I would like to say that I am no longer a bully, but that’s up to your aunt.” Silver turned to Bloom, hope shining in her eyes. The architect was happy to once again tell her friend that she wasn’t the bully she once was.

“That’s right, Silver Spoon is reformed. Now come on we got cans tah sing tah.” The four ponies and one bunny began hopping around the cans as they sang. “A, B, C, D, E, F, G…”

-GWG-

“Are you sure it’s ok Sweetie Belle? You don’t have to do this if you’re too busy.” Fluttershy asked for what felt like fourth time since they arrived at Scootaloo’s home. The singer merely shook her head and smiled, happy to put Fluttershy’s worries to rest.

“Of course it’s ok, I was planning on watching Scoots train this afternoon, I’m sure she won’t mind the additional attention. Right, babe?” Sweetie Belle asked with a wink to the stuntmare.

“Yeah, that sounds awesome. With two of my biggest fans watching me fly, I’m unstoppable.” Scootaloo gave a winning grin that Rainbow Dash would be proud of.

“Just don’t overdo it, Scootaloo. You wouldn’t want to get hurt before your next show.” Fluttershy offered in a concerned tone.

“Speakin’ of shows, how’d ya do yesterday?” Bloom raised her leg to bump hooves with the orange pegasus, who responded quickly.

“Awesome, as always. It’s great to see you here for the week, AB.” She smiled to her friend before turning to the grey mare and gave a curt nod. “Silver.”

“It’s always good to see you two.  We’ll make sure to see you when you do a show in Canterlot and then we can all hang out while you two are in the city.” Silver said hopefully in an attempt win over the pegasus, but all she received in return was another short nod. Sweetie Belle on the other hand showed her excitement clearly.

“Ooohh, that sounds like a lot of fun. Well, you guys have some shopping to do and we should get to the training ground. We’ll bring Jonny around to the farm before six, ok?”

“Alright, see you then. Bye Jonny, be good for Sweetie and Scootaloo. I love you.”

“Momma, yer embarrassin’ me in front of Scoots.” The young colt buzzed his wings in agitation before he quickly hugged his mother’s legs. After that he followed the new couple to the training field.

“Ah’m sorry about Scoots, Ah just wish she wasn’t so rude to ya.” Bloom looked down to the ground, still feeling awful for her friends not getting along. Her downcast look was ended when Silver nuzzled her cheek, causing both mares to blush slightly and catching Fluttershy’s interest.

“Small victories. She isn’t being friendly, but she also isn’t being mean. Like she said, I have to take what I am given. So what do we have to get in the market place?”

“Well, we need a new pan, some replacement jars, a can of pink paint, and some honey. That’s why we have Fluttershy with us.”

“I don’t get it. No offense Fluttershy, but why are you here with us?”

“I’m here to talk to the bees, of course.” Fluttershy gave a small smile.

“Of course.” Silver said with a raised brow towards Bloom.

“She’s here to sweet talk the bees intah givin’ us sweeter honey. Fluttershy has been doin’ this ever since she entered this family.”

“It’s the least I can do.” Fluttershy added with a blush of her own.

“Ya’ve already done plenty, havin’ given birth to an heir takes a lotta pressure off of me and Applejack. Come on, we got things tah get.”

“Um...if it isn’t too much trouble, could we perhaps get the honey first? I would like to head back to the cottage so that I can make sure that my animal friends are fed. If you don’t mind that is.” Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane again as reverted back to her shy nature. Bloom only smiled at the request, though she wished that Fluttershy would be more assertive in her requests.

“Certainly. We’ll go get the honey and then me and Silver will take care of the rest.”

The three mares arrived at the beehive booth, where Fluttershy began to work her magic while the other two mares could have a moment alone. Ah wish they didn’t shove their relationships in mah face so much. Ah know they don’t mean anythin’ by it, but that doesn’t stop me from feelin’ so cold an’ empty every time. A hug would be nice right about now. As if sensing her friend’s discomfort, Silver wrapped her grey hooves around Bloom’s shoulders and brought her in for a hug.

“What’s bothering you, hmm? Is everything alright?” The concern and the proximity brought a blush to the architect’s muzzle and she decided to be honest with her friend.

“Sometimes, Ah just feel empty and alone, especially when I see ponies like Scoot and Sweetie so happy together. Ah feel awful knowing that Ah’m envious of their happiness, but Ah can’t help it. Ah am so alone.” A small tear ran down her face that was quickly wiped away by a brief nuzzle from Silver.

“You’re never alone when you have me by your side. Whenever you start to feel this way, just let me know and I’ll make you feel all better.” The coldness that seemed to grip Bloom’s heart appeared to be receding, being replaced by the familiar warmth. Bloom gave a content sigh and nuzzled her friend.

“Thanks Silver. You’re the best friend a mare could ask for.” Why does that not sound appropriate? It’s like ‘friend’ doesn’t really describe what we have. Ah just felt her tense, so Ah guess she agrees. Ah need to think on this more. Silver decided to break the hug before it lasted too long.

“No problem, Bloom.”

“Um...sorry to interrupt, but I have the honey. I’ll just go and drop this off at the farm before I head  back to the cottage, if that is alright with you.” The two mares tried to control their faces before they spoke.

“No problem Fluttershy. We’ll take care of the rest, then me and Silver will start preppin’ for the jammin’. We’ll see you later.” They waved off the pegasus as she trotted away. Fluttershy was thankful that neither of them could read minds.

Oh my...They seem closer than friends...perhaps they have feelings for each other...Maybe I can talk to Rarity about this and see what she thinks. She has a better eye for relationships after all.

-GWG-

Dinner came and went sooner than the two mares expected, though Bloom felt that she accomplished a lot today. Before the meal could finish, Applejack called for everypony’s attention.

“Alright y’all, given the circumstances, right now we have more ponies than we have beds. But that’s an easy fix. Big Mac and Shy, you two get Granny’s room, her bed should be big enough. Jonny, you get to sleep in yer pa’s old room. Me and Rarity-”

“Rarity and I, darling.”

“Rarity and Ah will be sleepin’ in mah room. Bloom, you and Silver will be sleepin’ in your room. Any questions?”

“Yeah, why don’t Ah just take the couch and Silver can take mah bed?” Bloom asked, unsure of why she was nervous of sleeping in the same bed as her friend.

“Because we need ya both well rested for tomorrow, and we all know that ya can’t get a good night’s sleep on that old thing. Now if’n that’s all then Ah think we should all turn in early, we all have a lot tah do tomorrow. So finish up, wash up and off tah bed.”

There were several murmurs of consent as they decided to listen to the temporary matriarch. Bloom saw out of the corner of her eye that Fluttershy and Rarity were whispering to each other before they both giggled; it all made Bloom slightly uncomfortable. And for some reason she felt anxious about tonight.

After both had washed up they were ready for bed, the dim light of the room concealed their blushes as they looked at the small bed.

“Sorry if’n there’s not a lotta room, weren’t designed for two ponies. But Ah’m sure we’ll fit.” It was at this time that Bloom noticed that Silver had her mane down. “Ah don’t think Ah’ve ever seen ya with your mane like that.”

“Yeah, it tends to get too messy if I don’t tie it up.” Silver couldn’t help but to play with her mane a bit. Bloom also noticed that Silver wasn’t wearing her glasses, but she already knew that Silver didn’t need them for her vision. Instead she just admired the sight.

“Well, anyways Ah’ll take the left side and you can the right. We better get to bed soon, we do have a long day ahead of us.” Both mares settled into their side of the bed and Bloom flicked the lamp off. “Goodnight, Silver.”

“Goodnight, Bloom. I’ll see you in the morning.” A short time later the grey mare was fast asleep.

Alas, the architect wasn’t as fortunate. Even though there was another pony in her bed, she still felt the creeping loneliness, the cold feeling gripping her heart. So cold. My sis and brother are with their spouses, and Scoots and Sweetie are holding each other, and then there’s me, nopony to call my own. Why can’t Ah just sleep without thinking about this every time? About me being alone. Ah’m just so co-. Her thoughts were cut off when a slumbering Silver turned over and pulled the architect into an embrace, the end result was them spooning. What is she doin’? Is she...snuggling me in her sleep? Ah should try to get out of this, friends don’t do things like this...So why do Ah want to stay? It feels so nice, bein’ held like this. So comforting.

In a moment of confusion or affection, she wasn’t sure which, Bloom reached for the hoof that was draped over her body and kissed it before she snuggled deeper into the embrace.

So warm...




> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple Bloom awoke from the greatest sleep she had in what felt like forever, and indeed it had been half a year since she had a good night’s rest. She found that the sky was still overcast like the day before, but now it came without the threat of rain. There was no disappointment in her thoughts, no cold grip on her heart, and she knew she had to thank the mare beside her for all of it. Though she was awake, she decided to savour a few more minutes in the embrace of her friend. That still don’t feel right, but right now, Ah couldn’t care less. Ah’ve never felt like this before with anypony, not even Scoots or Sweetie. Well, that settles it, this mare is mah best friend, hooves down. The blissful mare squirmed in the embrace before she extricated herself from Silver’s grasp. Ah think Ah’m goin’ tah go make some breakfast for everypony.

Bloom left the room and headed in the direction of the stairs, practically skipping along as she went. As she skipped, she spotted Rarity stepping out of Applejack’s old room, her mane not in its usual style and sans makeup.

“Good morning, Rarity!” Bloom said joyfully. She waited as the fashionista yawned before she responded.

“Good morning, App-” It was at this point that Rarity noticed the younger mare was slightly bouncing in place with a smile adorning her muzzle. The alabaster unicorn stood stunned for a few moments before rushing back into the room she came out of. Bloom merely shrugged and continued skipping towards the stairs before she heard a voice behind her.

“Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked in a disbelieving tone, Rarity standing behind her with a concerned look on her face.

“Mornin’ Sis. Ah was about tah head downstairs to make breakfast; does apple pancakes sound good tah you?”

“Um, sure, that sounds good, Apple Bloom. We’ll see ya down there.” With that Bloom headed down the stairs, humming a little happy tune as she went, leaving the couple to contemplate what they observed. “Yer right, darlin’, she was skippin’. Ah’m just havin’ trouble wrappin’ mah head around that. She hasn’t done that since she was a little filly.”

“Do you think that they…?”

“Nope. We woulda heard ‘em. Walls are too thin, remember?” At that moment Big Mac stepped out of Granny’s room, a recently awoken Fluttershy riding on his back.

“Did Ah just hear that she’s gonnah make pancakes for everyone?” The work horse asked. A confirming nod came from the other married couple. “She never makes breakfast for everypony, even before Granny left.”

“D-did they...umm…” Fluttershy began pressing her hooves together while her face imitated her husband’s coat.

“We woulda heard if they did, me and Rares was just sayin’ that.” Applejack turned to her wife to find her vibrating in excitement. “What’s with you?”

“This just confirmed my suspicions; Jackie, your sister is in love. Look how happy Silver is making her. I have never seen her this happy.” She let out a little excited squeal. “I’m going to make sure that those dresses gets a confession out of one of them; they simply must get together.” At this Fluttershy started clapping her hooves together in happiness.

“Yay.” At that moment Big Mac’s door swung open revealing an excited young colt.

“Sweet, Auntie is makin’ pancakes!” The excitable pegasus buzzed his wings as he started to run down the stairs.

“No running, Jonagold Apple.” His mother said from atop his father, though the reprimand
fell on deaf ears.

-GWG-

Greyish violet eyes fluttered open, expecting to see the door to the bedroom only to see the other side of the bed and the bedroom window. I guess I turned over in my sleep. Oh well. I wonder where Bloom went…And what is that smell? Pancakes? Apple pancakes. Of course they have apples in them. Well it’s time for me to wake up anyways. The grey mare stretched from her position in bed, hearing little pops from her spine that made her smile. Once she finished she decided to just head downstairs, thinking she could shower and prepare for the day after breakfast.

The grey mare trotted down the stairs and into the dining room only to be welcomed by surprised faces from all of the adults and an excited one from the young colt. At that very moment, Bloom stepped out of the kitchen with two plates stacked with pancakes resting on her back. She deposited the two plates before greeting her slightly confused friend with a hug.

“Good mornin’, Silver. Sleep well?” Silver returned the hug before whispering to the happy mare.

“I slept well. Why is everypony looking like that?” Bloom chuckled a bit, finding this whole morning to be rather entertaining.

“Ah don’t usually make breakfast for everypony, so they’re a little confused. Come on, eat up; they’re good.”

Silver sat down and greeted the rest of the Apple household before digging into her meal. She had tried to use her manners at first but the sheer deliciousness of it all, and the fact that she was going to wash up afterwards, resulted in her forgoing her upbringing and eating with no reservations. This caused Bloom’s smile to increase in intensity.

“So good! These are the best pancakes I have ever had!” Silver managed to get out around a mouthful of pancake.

“Well, thank ya very much; Ah appreciate the compliment.” Bloom finally sat down next to Silver so she could eat too. After eating the meal in mostly silence, the Apple family discussed what their plans were for the day. “Well, me and Silver are gonna continue preppin’ for makin’ the jam, maybe get the kitchen painted.”

“Why do we need to paint the kitchen?” Silver asked with her head tilted to the side. She did remember some of the steps for making Zap apple jam, but she had no idea what painting the kitchen had to do with making it.

“Magic.” Responded Bloom in complete seriousness.

“Magic?”

“Magic.” Bloom added a nod to her response before turning to her sister. “What are you doin’ today, Sis?”

“Me an’ Mac are gonna continue placin’ the baskets under the Zap apple trees, same as yesterday; Ah’m hopin’ we can make up for the trees we couldn’t get tah yesterday because of the rain. And you, Darlin’?”

“Well, after dropping little Jonagold off at school, Fluttershy and I are going to head to the spa for a little freshening up before heading to work. I have dresses to make after all.” The young colt groaned when he heard about going to school today and proceeded to protest to his mother.

“Mom, why do Ah have tah go tah school today? What about the harvest?” Fluttershy merely shook her head before speaking.

“The harvest isn’t for a few days, and your father and aunt will be able to handle it themselves.” Bloom decided to add her own two bits to this discussion.

“And when Ah was younger and the zap apples were comin’, Ah still had tah go tah school, even though Ah was helpin’ Granny. So ya ain’t gettin’ out of goin’.” Bloom turned to Silver so she could talk directly to her. “Come on, we should probably get ready for the day.” Silver nodded and followed her crush up the stairs.

“I should probably shower first, so that way I can finish getting ready while you are taking yours.” Bloom nodded as Silver picked up her overnight bag to search for her shower supplies. Where is it, where is it? Oh please don’t tell me I- I did…I left my shampoo at home. I knew I forgot something. She turned to Bloom with her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “I guess I left my shampoo at home, heheh. Is it alright if I used yours?” Bloom smiled as she began digging through her own bag, finding the requested bottle easily.

“Here ya-” It was at this moment that Bloom realized that the bottle she was holding was in fact empty, remembering now that she used the last of it during the shower from the day before. She found that she was now mimicking her friend’s expression from earlier as she smiled sheepishly. “Heh, looks like Ah’m out, sorry Silver.” A solution dawned on her before she rushed out of the room to the top of the stairwell. “Rarity, Fluttershy, wait! Would it be alright if me and Silver joined ya?”

-GWG-

Rarity had decided that Fluttershy and her would trot a short distance behind the younger mares so that they might discreetly observe the interactions between the two. When the Apple spouses discovered that the bit of gossip they had was the same, they had started making plans at the dinner table that night. Well, Rarity made plans. Fluttershy, on the other hoof…

“I really think we should just let nature take its course, they will get together eventually.” The cream-yellow pegasus offered quietly, even though both were certain that the subjects of their discussion were out of earshot.

“I don’t mean to offend darling, but you and I both know that if it wasn’t for Pinkie Pie’s intervention, you and Big Macintosh would have never started dating, and in turn my Jackie and I would have never done anything about the feelings we had for each other. Honestly, even Twilight and Rainbow Dash would still be giving each other longing stares if it weren’t for Scootaloo pushing them,” Fluttershy looked down in shame, focusing more on what Pinkie Pie did for her than the rest of the little rant. “My point is that we all needed a little help with acquiring our paramours, be it directly or indirectly. Now considering how these two are, I can just sense that they are madly in love with each other. Silver Spoon is simply enamoured with our sister-in-law, and I imagine she is well aware of this; I saw a few instances where it looked like she had something important to say to Apple Bloom but stopped, berating herself for being unable to confess her hidden feelings. Apple Bloom, on the other hoof, is in love but she doesn’t realize it yet; not knowing why but she can tell that what she feels for Silver is different than her other friends. If we simply gave them the right push, they could share in the happiness that we currently have with our own loved ones.”

“Are you sure about this? I mean, I know you are sure about them being in love, but what if it goes wrong? What if by pushing them before they are ready, they miss out on what they could have had if they waited? I wouldn’t want to ruin it for them.” Rarity waved a hoof as if to brush off these worries.

“Trust me, darling, I wouldn’t want such a thing to happen either. That is why I intend to give them a gentle nudge as it were. I merely wish to guide them so that they may discover their love for one another on their own. I shall show you exactly what I mean soon enough, darling; circumstance has provided the perfect opportunity.” Fluttershy wasn’t sure whether or not Rarity’s giggling was menacing, though her curiosity overshadowed her concern for ponykind.

The four made it to the spa shortly after Rarity composed herself from her scheming and stepped inside, where Rarity decided to commence with stage one.

“Silver Spoon, darling, why don’t I help you pick out a shampoo for you to use? I guarantee that once you use one of these, you will never go back to your old shampoo.”  Rarity made it look as though she was scanning for viable options, when in fact she knew exactly what she was looking for and smirked as she found it. “Why don’t you try this one darling? It has a lovely vanilla scent and with this conditioner, your mane will positively shine.” Rarity opened the bottle and held it out to Silver so she could get a sample of the scent.

“Hmm, I definitely like it, so maybe.” Rarity’s smirk grew slightly as she moved on to the next part of the plan.

“Well, why don’t we get a second opinion?” The dressmaker levitated the bottle over to the architect. “Apple Bloom, dear, what do you think of this for your friend?” Rarity took note of the sudden shift in Silver’s eyes before they focused on Bloom.

“Mmmm, vanilla, mah favorite.” Bloom then looked at her friend as a small blush appeared on her cheeks. “This would be perfect for ya, Silver. Now ya have tah get it!” 

“Alright, I’ll take it.” Rarity gleefully cheered internally as she noticed a matching blush on the grey mare. The prim unicorn then went up to the counter, bought the younger mares’ bottles and services (despite their protests), and followed Fluttershy to join her for their full treatment.

“We’ll see you later tonight, darlings. Have a good day!” The proud mare turned to her confused partner in crime. “Stage one: complete. It went off without a hitch.” Fluttershy only tilted her head to the side as they entered the sauna.

“Um...I don’t quite understand what just happened. Would you mind explaining?” Rarity giggled into her hoof at Fluttershy’s perplexed expression and proceeded to explain.

“Of course, darling. You see, I am well aware that our sister-in-law has a preference towards the scent of vanilla. In fact, if I didn’t think that the cinnamon would have fit her better, I would have gotten her the vanilla scented shampoo instead. I also knew that it wouldn’t matter whether Silver Spoon liked the scent or not; once she heard that Bloom loves it and feels that it would fit her, Silver Spoon’s choice was obvious. She is going to do whatever she can to impress Apple Bloom, and the right kind of shampoo is a step in the right direction. Scent can have a powerful effect on the perception of ponies afterall, and I have no reason to doubt that Apple Bloom’s perception of her silver maned friend shall change soon enough. She will realize her burning passion by the end of the week, I can assure you. Now just wait until you see what else I have in store for our blossoming love-birds.” Though Fluttershy was uncertain that it would work, she was hopeful that it would. 

They deserve to be happy…

-GWG-

The freshly cleaned mares arrived at Sweet Apple Acres just in time to see a remarkable sight. They heard thunder crack and the cawing of crows coming from the Everfree Forest. The murder quickly approached the orchard, beginning to form a pattern. Bloom watched Silver’s face as the crows made the shape of an apple. She then nudged Silver just in time for her to see the trees come to life once again with electricity. As the magic surged, small buds appeared that immediately bloomed into teal, star-shaped flowers, electricity sparking from tip to tip. Silver was in awe.

“Wow, that was just...wow.” Bloom smirked as she saw her friends astonished expression.

“Glad we got here just in time, woulda been a shame if’n we missed it. We should get in the kitchen and start paintin’. It’s probably gonna take us all day.” They made their way to the farmhouse where a clean and ready kitchen waited for them. Bloom grabbed the cans of paint and opened them, then sent Silver to get the brushes. Silver looked about the room trying to see if there was a special process for all this.

“So do we have to do anything specific or…”

“Just paintin’ polka-dots on the walls. There isn’t really a specific order for this so just get started. Ah’ll be over here if’n ya need somethin’.” Bloom took a brush into her mouth and started painting on one wall while Silver started on the one adjacent to it. 

Silver had gotten about three dots done before her attention wandered elsewhere, specifically her crush. She certainly has a beautiful smile. I wish she could do that more often, but I understand that it is difficult to find happiness in Canterlot. Before I can even think of trying to start a relationship with Bloom, I need to find a way to keep her happy. Look at me, thinking about starting a relationship with this beautiful mare when I’m not even sure that she likes me back. How can she like me back? Whenever she sees me she must think of work; of being stuck. And I’m the one who is keeping her stuck there. I can make her as comfortable as possible, but she will still be a prisoner...a prisoner to my selfish desires. I should confess my feelings...and then I will be heartbroken because she doesn’t like me like that, but she would be free. My heart aches either way, but the path I’m on now could lead to happiness for us both, no matter how unlikely that outcome is. I just need to keep trying, trying to win over this beautiful mare with her beautiful eyes and OH SWEET CELESTIA HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN STARING AT HER!? She’s saying something.

“W-what was that? Sorry, I was spacing out.” Silver asked with a nervous chuckle, hoping that if she was caught staring, Bloom was not offended.

“Ah asked if ya needed help over there, ya seemed to be doin’ good before, but then ya just stopped.” Bloom looked Silver over with concern, not sure if she was alright or if she needed to lay down.

“Oh, I’m fine, just fine. I’ll get back to work now.”

“Don’t overdo it, wouldn’t want ya tah work yerself into exhaustion. Ah wouldn’t forgive mahself if somethin’ happened to ya.” Bloom didn’t know why she was so concerned; she was certain that Silver could actually handle herself, but she knew that in spite of Silver’s capabilities, she meant every word of her statement.

Silver was struck by the passion of her crush’s statement; it made the lovestruck mare reevaluate the situation. Maybe things aren’t as hopeless as I imagined. Maybe I can do this. She stepped closer to Bloom, a blush spreading slowly as she progressed. “Bloom...I…”

“Yes?” The architect’s eyes widened as her friend approached, a blush of her own beginning to appear.

“I…”

“Yes?” Bloom could not understand why her heart rate increased or why she felt firmly cemented in place. Their muzzles were only a few inches apart, both mares waiting for something to happen.

“I…” I can’t do this right now, it’s too soon. “I am fine, really.” Silver diverted from her original, dangerous path to give a friendly nuzzle to the cheek. “But I really appreciate the concern. You are a good friend.” Silver stepped away from Bloom and headed back to her work station, the architect unable to see the frustrated look on the grey mare’s face.

“Sure, no problem.” Bloom offered weakly, trying to discover why her heart ached at the lost moment. What was Ah expecting? Why couldn’t Ah move? Why was Ah gettin’ all excited…? And why do Ah feel so disappointed? What did Ah want to happen? She felt a tear roll down her face, uncertain as to why she was crying at all, but decided not to dwell on it and continued working. They spent the rest of the afternoon working in a mutual silence.

-GWG-

Dinner came and went with little incident, though Rarity and Fluttershy did note to themselves that something obviously happened today between the young mares; they just couldn’t hazard a guess as to what. They all went to their respective rooms to get ready for bed, with Silver deciding to take a shower after everything that happened today. So so close. I could have done it. I could have kissed her. And I may have been imagining it, but it looked as though she wanted it to happen. But I know that can’t be right. Why would she even want a mare like me? Besides my wealth, there isn’t anything special about me. She let herself cry a bit, certain that the running shower could cover her quiet sobbing. I should tell her the truth, instead of aiming for the impossible and making us both miserable. No, I’ll just turn in the next design and then she will be free. She’ll be happy and eventually I’ll be happy that she is happy. She turned off the shower when she had finished crying and stepped out to head to the bedroom where Bloom was waiting. Silver hoped that her sadness wouldn’t be evident to the architect, but she wasn’t that fortunate.

“Silver, what’s wrong? Have you been cryin’?” Bloom raised a hoof in an attempt to caress a tear-stained cheek only for it to be brushed away by a grey hoof.

“I…I’m just a little frustrated, that’s all. I am rather tired and would like to go to bed now, if you don’t mind.” With that Silver simply laid down, her emotional and physical exhaustion putting her to sleep quite quickly. 

Bloom sighed sadly, feeling awful that she couldn’t help her friend. She turned off the lantern next to the bed and tried to force herself to sleep, but ended up just staring out the window into the darkness. The longer she stared, the faster the cold feeling grew. She was beginning to feel that that wonderful night was a fluke, and that frightened her more than her fears of being alone. Just as the cold felt as though it was about to overwhelm her and send her to the realm of nightmares, she felt a sensation she thought she would never feel again.

A grey hoof wrapped around her barrel, pulling her into a tight embrace, instantly dispelling the cold and replacing it with the warmth she felt with Silver. Bloom was already feeling better, relieved that it wasn’t just a one time thing. Her happiness was short lived, however, when she remembered how sad her sleeping companion was. She knew she had to reciprocate in some way. She turned herself around in the embrace, interlocking her hind legs with her friend’s. She looked at Silver’s sleeping face, noticing that she still looked sad. She could only think  of one solution, and a freshly applied scent of vanilla compelled her to do it. 

Bloom kissed her best friend on her forehead, quickly bringing a smile from the grey mare. The architect smiled down to her slumbering friend. “Sweet dreams, Silver.” She said as she snuggled into a silver mane.

-GWG- 

Silver awoke feeling a consistent warm sensation throughout her core, which struck her as odd. She did remember going to bed upset, and so she believed that her mood would remain the same into the following morning. Yet, she felt content, that she was ignoring all that was troubling her recently. Her first sight of the morning only seemed to improve her mood.

“Good morning, Bloom.” Silver said with a yawn, stretching slightly to relieve her stiff joints. Bloom beamed down at her sleepy friend.

“Mornin’ Silver. Looks like ya slept well.” Silver nodded in the affirmative as Bloom’s smile grew, pleased that her contribution helped the distressed mare.

“What time is it?” Bloom looked over towards her clock on the wall, giving Silver the opportunity to admire her sleeping companion’s body while it rested on the bed. She noticed that Bloom looked as though she was ready for the day, leading her to assume that the architect had been up for awhile.

“It’s about half past eight.” At this Silver quickly sat up, realizing that she slept in later than the day before.

“Does this mean I missed breakfast?” Her red-headed friend shook her head reassuringly.

“Ah can whip ya up somethin’ before we start today. Ah’d like tah get done before five this evenin’, so the sooner we get started the better.” Silver tilted her head questioningly at this, confused as to why she wanted to be done by a certain time.

“What happens at five?”

“You’ll see, it’ll be great, Ah promise. Now ya get cleaned up while Ah cook ya up some grub.” Bloom hopped off the bed and stepped out of the room, shortly followed by Silver as they headed to their separate destinations.

-GWG-

“So what do we have to do today, Bloom?” Silver asked as she finished her turnovers. Bloom smirked before summoning her guest to follow her into the kitchen. Once they entered, Bloom walked over to the table which had a vast array of jars sitting upon its surface.

“Jar inspection.” The architect responded as she placed a general’s helmet upon her head, her smirk widening as she witnessed Silver’s visible confusion. She chuckled before she went into her explanation. “The taste of the jam is influenced by the condition of the jar that contains it. The strongest jars provide the best taste. To test their sturdiness, we have tah be rough with’em.” Right after she said that, she slammed her hoof onto the table while shouting “TEN-HUT”, shaking the jars violently. After checking that her hearing still worked, Silver decided to go for more clarification.

“So how do we check that they pass requirements?”

“If’n ya see one that’s cracked, it didn’t pass, so toss ‘em, like this.” Bloom picked up one of the jars that now sported a crack running down surface of it, and tossed it towards the trashbin by the stove. “We need tah check every jar here.”

“And when we’re done with these, then what?” Bloom stepped towards the door heading outside, where she showed Silver the multiple other boxes filled with jars.

“We got tah do this with the rest of them. We have two thousand jars here, we want a minimum of ah thousand good ones. So let’s get tah work.”

-GWG-

It was around three in the afternoon when they had finished with all the jars. They found that they would be able to make at the most fifteen hundred jars of zap apple jam, though that mostly depended on how many zap apples Applejack and Big Mac were able to harvest before they vanished. After the inspection was complete, the two mares busied themselves with relieving their sore throats caused by having shouted close to six hours now. 

Even though she felt bad for Bloom, Silver couldn’t help but find the architect’s slightly raspy voice rather arousing. Bloom’s sore throat had caused her voice to sound rather similar to what Silver imagined would be her bedroom voice, but she managed to stay silent about her enjoyment of the sound. Even though she was controlling her urges, she found that she didn’t feel awful about her feelings for her friend. Nothing seemed to get her down today, and she had no idea as to why. All she knew was that she didn’t want this feeling to ever stop.

“So what do you want to do now? We have some time before we do whatever you wanted to at five.” Silver’s voice was recovering more and more after every sip of water, nearly back to how it once was.

“Well, Ah was thinkin’ that we could set up a picnic since we would be missin’ dinner for this. We could make some daisey sandwiches, put in a couple bottles of cider, and Ah think there’s some leftover pie from the day before, so we would have dessert, too. On the way there we will need to stop by the clubhouse and pick up the telescope.” Bloom’s throat had fully recovered by now, but her voice was still raspy. She didn’t quite understand why Silver was blushing every time she spoke, but, for some reason she couldn’t explain, she liked it whenever the grey mare did.

“Will you at least tell me what we are going to do? It is driving me mental!” Bloom could only giggle at her friend’s frustration, finding it quite adorable.

“Well, Ah was gonna tell ya, but Ah think Ah’ll keep it a secret for a mite bit longer.” The architect smirked as she heard Silver groan.

The two mares got ready for their evening at a relaxed pace, finding that they were finished and ready to go by half past four. With everything settled they headed off towards the old clubhouse to pick up the telescope Bloom mentioned earlier. On their way they passed Applejack and Big Mac who offered a quick hello before returning to their work. Once they arrived at the treehouse, Bloom had Silver wait outside as she retrieved the required item, not knowing that her flank was being ogled the entire time by the blushing grey mare. Telescope in their possession, they made their way to the nearby field, where Bloom draped the blanket for their picnic.

“Now will you tell me why we are here? Please…” Silver put on her best pouty face which Bloom had trouble resisting. She nearly gave in, but was saved by an unlikely visitor.

“If you are here for the same reason we are then you are here for stargazing, my little pony.” The familiar voice came from above causing both mares to look up and Silver’s jaw to drop.

“Princess Twilight?! What are you doing here?” The cyan pegasus next to the alicorn shook her head smirking at the grey mare’s inquiry.

“Sheesh, weren’t ya listening? She told you that we’re here for stargazing!” This earned Rainbow Dash a quick punch to the shoulder, resulting in a surprised yelp. “Hey, what was that for!?”

“Play nice! I’m sorry for that...Silver Spoon, Dashie is just a little anxious about being back here at Sweet Apple Acres, especially with Applejack working the fields.” The lavender princess smirked as she saw her fiance squirm at the mere mention of the apple farmer. She then focused her attention on the telescope the younger mares had brought with them, not noticing that her wonderbolt was analyzing the architect and her friend. “That should definitely work nicely for tonight. Is this the same one that I gave you girls nearly ten years ago?” 

“Twi’.”

“Yes ma’am, the very same one. It’s proved itself very useful for nights like tonight.”

“Twilight.” The brash mare began nudging the oblivious princess to gain her attention with no success. It was time to bring out the secret weapon.

“This really is the best spot to see tonight’s event. Do you mind if weeeeeeeeaahh~...” The studious royal’s question was interrupted as Dash nibbled on her left ear, intense blushes gracing the muzzles of the princess and the two earth pony mares. The pegasus smirked at the result of her efforts, using the stunned silence to execute her plan.

“Hey babe, why don’t we set up on that cloud up there? We’ll be able to see the stars just fine from there and it would give us a bit more...privacy.” She was pleased that the plan was working perfectly, seeing Twilight nod enthusiastically before they took off for said cloud, calling back to the younger mares to have fun. Once they arrived at their new location, Dash turned to give her lover a stern glare, confusing the princess. “Are you really that oblivious?”

“Wha…What do you mean?” Twilight was starting to regain control of her foggy mind and was slowly reaquiring her vocabulary, though it was still rather limited.

“Could you really not see what was going on?” She motioned for Twilight to peek over the cloud with her, where they could observe the other mares. “They got a thing for each other!” Twilight raised a skeptical brow at that.

“How do you know they do?”

“Oh please, you know that I was able to tell that Scoots had a thing for Sweetie, and then there was that thing with Pinkie that no one wants to talk about. I have an eye for these things.”

“If that’s true, then why did it take us so long for us to get together, hmm?” Twilight regretted her question when she saw Dash’s sorrowful expression.

“You are a princess, Twi’. Back then that meant you were out of my league. Even when I started seeing signs, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. If you hadn’t kissed me five years ago, we never would have gotten together.” She was brought out of her depressing reverie by her princess embracing her. The pegasus nuzzled her fiance in return with love and gratitude.

“None of that matters because we are together. Let’s just enjoy the show and then we can head home; somepony still owes me for not finishing what she started.” The lavender alicorn giggled as she felt Dash’s wings shoot up and hearing the boisterous mare squeak pitifully.

-GWG-

The young mares remained silent for some time after the two element holders left before deciding to resume with their picnic in order to forget about that awkward moment. Shortly after they finished eating, they felt the tension dissipate after which they both decided that it was safe to speak.

“Well…that was somethin’...” Bloom began, her hooves fidgeting slightly. She thought that she had gotten used to public displays of affection, but apparently she still had a ways to go.

“Yeah…” Silver didn’t know what was worse: the display or the fact that she now desired to have Bloom make the same noise as Twilight. Dear Celestia, I am rather perverted. Though, not all my thoughts are about sex. I want to snuggle with her too, and I can probably get away with it right now. Before Silver could execute her scheme to get closer, something above her drew her attention. 

The sun was just setting, casting the Acres into twilight, the stars beginning to emerge. Looking at sky, Silver observed a streak through the void, then two, then five. Before long the sky was awash with shooting stars, the amazing spectacle making the grey mare forget her original plan; not that she needed it as Bloom soon shuffled over so that they could take turns with the telescope. Silver was amazed at the light show above, understanding completely why Bloom did not want to miss it. She was brought out of her observation of the stellar event when Bloom nudged her to look forward. As she did she saw that the zap apple trees were sparking to life again, the arcs of magic bouncing from tree to tree and passing through each flower. As magic coursed through them, they began to shift; the beautiful flowers were changing to grey fruit, looking to the inexperienced farmer as ready to be picked. The magic faded at the same time as the shooting stars stopped and twilight passed into night. Silver was happy that she was lucky enough to have seen such a sight.

“Bloom, that was beautiful. I don’t know how I can eve-” Silver turned to face her friend as she spoke, only to come to a halt when she discovered that Bloom had done the same. This resulted in their lips brushing against each other gently. They were stunned, cemented in place by the contact. Neither mare could move; they couldn’t back away to a safe distance, nor could they come forward to make it more intimate. Both mares couldn’t think, their minds completely blank as they got lost in each other’s eyes. They sat there for what felt like an eternity, just having enough presence of mind to breathe. At last, a cool wind brought them back to reality, Silver quickly pulling back as she shivered, not knowing if it was because of the wind or the sensation. Bloom provided her an escape from having to explain herself.

“We should head back before it gets colder. We don’t have anymore preparations to do so we get to relax some tomorrow. Let’s go.” Silver merely nodded, leaving Apple Bloom to her thoughts. Ah have no idea what is goin’ on with me…

-GWG-

They got back to the farmhouse with little difficulty, arriving just as the family was getting ready for bed. Once again, Silver wanted to shower before heading to bed, giving Bloom more time to contemplate on what happened and why it made her feel all warm inside. She brushed her hoof against her lips, remembering the sensation, not sure if she was trying to forget it or commit it to memory. She was brought out of her thoughts as Silver entered the room, a towel around her neck and her mane out of its braid. She removed the towel as she approached the bed.

“Is it alright if I take the other side of the bed? I feel like switching it up tonight.” For some reason Bloom found it difficult to speak, deciding instead to nod and scoot over to the other side of the bed. The grey mare smiled as she laid down next to architect. “Good night, Bloom.” She said before turning over and flipping off the bedside lamp. Bloom laid there facing the door, unsure if she was hoping or dreading the possibility that Silver would snuggle her in her sleep again,feeling her anticipation building.

At last she felt the foreleg wrap around her barrel and found herself unable to deny the fact that it felt pleasant. She decided that she would return the favor just as she did the night before. Once more she turned in the embrace, interlocking her hind legs with the sleeping mare. Back in the position she was in the night before she observed her friend, watching her side rise and fall.

It was at this moment the full moon rose from behind a cloud, casting the room in its glow. Bloom stared wide-eyed as the light shining through her window, hit Silver’s mane. Bloom did not expect that this would cause the mane to glow, her silver mane shining brilliantly. She couldn’t help herself, finding that the first thought that popped into her mind was the truth. She’s...She’s…

“Beautiful…” She whispered. She looked at her friend’s mane, comparing it to an endless sea of glimmering silver. Her eyes trailed from her mane to her face, finding that the focal point was centered on the sleeping mare’s lips. Her thoughts turned to what nearly happened that evening and wondering what it would have felt if things turned out differently. Her own muzzle drew closer, slowly approaching her target. Her eyes began to slowly drift closed with each passing centimeter. Ah...just...want...tah...kiss...her…

Her eyes shot open as the distance between their lips was nearly non-existent, panic suddenly striking her. Why-why do Ah want tah kiss her!? Do Ah...love her? She felt the strangest combination: at first she felt an intense warmth that nearly brought a smile to her face, but then she felt an intense cold, feeling that the room was pressing in on her. No, no, no no no. Ah can’t love her! Ah can’t! She’s mah best friend! Bein’ in love with her would ruin our friendship! Ah’d be pushin’ her away. And Ah’ve been kissin’ her, probably freaking her out. Ah can’t love her. Ah need to forget these feelings. Ah need…Ah need air. Using slow movements to avoid waking her friend? Crush? she got out of the embrace and out of the bed. She fought to control her breathing as she exited the room, barely feeling the tears rolling down her face. She exited the farmhouse, trying in vain to calm the raging battle between her heart and her mind. 

> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Old habits are typically hard to break, despite the effort put into it. Applejack found this statement to be very true as she once again awoke at the crack of dawn. She wished that she could go back to sleep, considering that she needed to be well rested for the harvest today, but she just couldn’t. It didn’t help that her traitorous mind provided her with a reason to get up this early: there were a few more buckets that could be placed under the zap apple trees, the ones just beyond what she was certain she could buck in time. There was only one obstacle: her wife.

Through all the years that the two had been together, Applejack found a certain quality of the fashionista to be both adorable and confusing. Whenever they slept together, the unicorn would always cling to the farmer, as if she was afraid of waking up without the orange mare there. Whenever Aj asked about why she did it, Rarity would always claim that it was an accident, but the Element of Honesty knew she was lying. It didn’t really bother her that much but it made getting up rather difficult.

“Hey Darlin’, ya mind gettin’ offah me?” She nudged the unicorn awake, who yawned before responding.

“Why yes, I do mind. Why can’t you just go back to sleep like normal ponies do so I may continue to have my pillow?” The apple farmer smiled at her wife’s usual antics, unsurprised at the prim unicorn’s usual refusal to budge.

“Come on Rares, Ah need tah get up!” The alabaster mare remained silent as she nuzzled into Applejack’s chest, acting as though she didn’t hear, though Aj knew otherwise. “Seriously, Rarity, Ah have work tah do!” 

An off-white hoof rose to her lips as a shushing noise came from her sleeping partner, informing the earth pony that she needed to change tactics. “Look, we’ll both be free this weekend, we can snuggle as much as ya want then. Is that alright with you, Sugarcube?”

“Oh, we shall do more than snuggle,  My Love. With how much frustration is building up in this past week alone, you’ll be lucky if I let you out of the house at all this weekend.” With eyes half-lidded, Rarity dismounted Applejack and returned to her side of the bed.

“Ah look forward to it, Darlin’.” The apple farmer winked as she was applying her mane and tail ties, before she placed her stetson upon her head. She kissed her wife’s cheek, who had already fallen back to sleep, before stepping out into the hallway. As she walked slowly past the room where Big Mac and Fluttershy were sleeping, she considered rousing her brother so that he could help out, but determined to let him sleep in and that she could handle this task on her own with no problem. She made it to the stairs and carefully made her way down, mindful to avoid the few steps that creaked, certain that the noise would wake up Jonny and uncertain if it would disturb Silver Spoon’s slumber. Once she reached the bottom, she made her way to the front door, though she didn’t make it past the living room when she heard a grunt and some rustling. Curious, she investigated the couch, only to find her sister laying there tossing and turning, with some muttering that Applejack couldn’t quite make out. Concerned, she chose to act. “Apple Bloom, wake up!” With a hoof she shook the cushion supporting the architect’s head.

“Hmm, wazzat?” Bleary bloodshot eyes scanned the room for her assailant before focusing on the orange and gold blur in front of her, taking a moment to discern the object to be in fact her sister. “Whatchu want, sis?” She inquired irritably while rubbing her eyes with a hoof.

“Why are ya sleepin’ on the couch?” 

“Ah, uh, Ah couldn’t sleep last night. Went fer a walk around the farm before crashin’ here.”

“Did you and Silver have a fight or somethin’?” Bloom shifted her eyes to the side, letting Applejack know that she was hiding something.

“N-no, we didn’t fight.” Her tone turned indignant as she began to glare at her older sister. “What’s it matter tah ya, anyway? Ah’m a grown mare, Ah don’t need ya checkin’ up on me!”

“Ah’m only askin’ cause fer the past couple days, you’ve been happier than Ah ever seen ya in a long time, and now it looks like yer worse off than normal. It looks like ya’ve been cryin’, o’ course Ah’m concerned.” Bloom rubbed her eyes and cheeks furiously in an attempt to get rid of the evidence, but the damage had already been done.

“Ah just been havin’ some bad dreams is all.” The young mare responded weakly, once again omitting the full truth. Applejack sighed, knowing that if she didn’t change tactics now, Apple Bloom will clam up and remain angry at her for the rest of her stay. She remembered her task she set for herself and found a solution.

“Alright. Hey ya wanna help me for a bit? Ah need tah set up a few more buckets before the harvest starts. If ya help, we can get it done in less time.” Bloom looked at her sister, glad that the subject was dropped for now. In fact she was happy that her sister was giving her something to do, anything to get her thoughts off the beautiful mare upstairs in her bed. Stop it! Ah don’t wanna think about that! Ah already spent all night thinking about that. Some good ol’ farm work should keep my mind off of that beautiful flowing silver mane and those amazing violet eyes that just suck me in and Ah just want to kiss- NO! Stop!

“S-sure, Ah’ll help ya out. Let’s go.” Bloom tried to give her sister her most winning smile, but she knew that it wouldn’t fool Applejack. However, she also knew that Applejack was only dropping the issue for now, so for the time being at least she was safe.

The Apple sisters made their way down to the edge of the zap apple trees, Applejack pulling the cart with the ten buckets they would need. They spent most of their journey in mutual silence, Applejack trying to figure out a way to talk to her sister about the issue, and Apple Bloom trying to find the best way to avoid being alone with Silver today. This was the harvest day, and that meant that there wasn’t anything to be done for jam preparation, since that was handled in the last couple of days. She knew she couldn’t just hang out here, with Applejack and Big Mac mostly just resting and stretching for the main event and Rarity and Fluttershy making sure that their spouses don’t overexert themselves before it was time. Without stuff to do at the farm, her thoughts will certainly head towards somepony she shouldn’t be thinking about. As much as she didn’t want to, that meant that she had to seek company from a certain couple. She would have continued to think on this, except that they had already arrived at the zap apple orchard. 

The sisters each grabbed a bucket and placed them at the base of each tree. They were each on their third bucket when Applejack cleared her throat. Bloom stopped what she was doing to give her sister her full attention.

“Ya know, when Ah have somethin’ botherin’ me, it really helps to talk about it with somepony Ah trust.”

“Please...don’t…”Please, this was helpin’ me not think about it. This was workin’. Please don’t ruin it. Ah don’t wanna think about it. Ah don’t wanna think about her.

“Look, Ah know ya prefer tah keep yer problems tah yaself, but that just causes it tah eat away at ya. And when that happens, ya end up gettin’ mad or upset at somepony and ya have no idea why. Just let it out.”

“Ah don’t wanna talk about it.” Bloom began to grit her teeth, growling slightly. Shut up, just shut up. Stop talking about this. You’re not helping. Ah’m trying to forget about this, and you keep bringing me back to it. Just stop it. Stop it. Stop it stop it stop it stop it stopitstopitstopitstopitshutupshutupshutupshutupnononononononoNONONONONONO-

“Ah’m just tryin’ tah help, and Ah can only do that if ya ta-”

“AH SAID NO! Go buck yerself Applejack and LEAVE ME ALONE!” With that, Bloom bucked the nearest bucket, shattering it to pieces, before she bolted away from her sister, heading back to the farmhouse. Applejack sighed, knowing that she pushed too much and now had to deal with the consequences.

“And it’s only Wednesday.” She said as she went to grab the next bucket, finishing off the task with very little enthusiasm.

-GWG-

Silver awoke to the smell of apple based foodstuff, wondering if she would ever get tired of it. She noticed that once again she had turned over in her sleep, but she also noticed that the other side of the bed did not look slept in. Even when Bloom wasn’t in the bed when she woke up the first day, Silver could tell that she had slept there. Now there was no indentation in the pillow, no slight warmth on the bed, none of the usual signs were there. She grew concerned but knew that she wasn’t going to find answers lying up here.

Silver put on her glasses at least and headed down stairs, ready to get some answers and some breakfast. When she arrived at the dining room, she was surprised to see that none of the Apple siblings were cooking the meal she was smelling since they were all seated at the table. Another thing that caught her attention was the fact that Bloom appeared to be making an effort to avoid looking at Silver or Applejack. She would have started her inquiry but was interrupted by a certain pegasus exiting the kitchen with breakfast.

“Um, soups on everypony. Please dig in. If you don’t mind, I mean.” Fluttershy placed the stack of prench toast on the table before Rarity came in with a pot full of apple cinnamon oatmeal. The food smelled delicious but Silver noticed that there was still some tension in the air and hoped a pleasant distraction would help.

“So Fluttershy, where did you get that chef’s hat?” Rarity glanced at her friend and sister-in-law with a look of worry, but Silver had no idea as to why her question would get that response.

“O-oh, this?” Fluttershy looked up in an attempt to see the aforementioned hat. “This was a gift from...Pinkie. I was baking with her years ago and she said I needed to wear this. When we were done she told me to keep it. I wear it every time I cook.” Silver was confused. The words suggested that this was a happy memory, but her tone bespoke of sadness and regret. Big Mac got up and nuzzled his wife before they all sat down at the table, with Fluttershy removing her hat and staring at it for a moment before putting it down.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm at the table, the meal was indeed delicious, with everypony giving Fluttershy and Rarity their praise verbally. As Fluttershy and Big Mac headed out to take Jonny to school, Applejack and Rarity headed upstairs to rest, leaving Silver and Bloom at the table. Bloom would not look at the only other pony in the room, choosing instead to stare at her hooves on the table. This worried Silver to no end, seeing as this felt worse than after Discord broke the news about the planned nightclub. She had to do something, not because she had a crush on the obviously distraught mare, but because she was her best friend. Silver brought a hoof to Bloom’s shoulder, feeling shudders for a moment before Bloom shifted away from the touch.

“Are you ok, Bloom?”

“It’s nothin’ tah worry about.” Bloom continued to avoid eye contact, which really started to get Silver to panic a bit.

“Why won’t you look at me?” The sadness in her tone gripped at Bloom’s heart but she knew she couldn’t do anything for it.

Because Ah’m afraid of gettin’ lost in your eyes, afraid of what Ah might do then.

“Let’s just drop this, ok? We need to get ready to head out.” Silver wanted to get to the bottom of this, but she knew from experience that sometimes the best thing to do is to let them be, it might settle itself later on.

“Where are we going?” For the first time this morning, Silver saw something that she was beginning to hold as precious.

“We’re going to see some friends.” Bloom smiled.

-GWG-

The young mares were approaching their destination in town. At this point Bloom decided to fill Silver in on the plan.

“We’re gonna spend the day with Sweetie and Scoots. We were gonna do the normal get together but Ah figured we could make a day of it. Watch Scootaloo do her stunts, get lunch at Sugarcube Corner, see a movie, and get dinner at some restaurant to end the day. It’s perfect!” Silver enjoyed the enthusiasm shown as opposed to Bloom’s earlier mood, though she knew that the problem was far from resolved. 

“Are you sure they will be able to do that? What if they’re busy or what if they don’t want to hang out with each other? They may want some space from each other.” Bloom found her concerns humorous.

“Pfft, please, like that would ever happen.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because those lovebirds are inseparable. There is absolutely nothin’ that will make them not want to see each other. Nothin’.” Little did Bloom realize, but this statement was about to be tested.

They were just about to step on the porch of Scootaloo’s home when they heard what sounded like a large bubble bursting followed shortly after by a shrill shriek, most likely emanating from a certain singing unicorn. They heard a smoke detector going off, which summoned shouting from a raspy voice. Moments later Sweetie Belle came barreling out of the house, her fur slightly singed and smoke coming out the door. Shortly after Scootaloo came out with a fire extinguisher, spraying inside the house a few more times before setting it down. She walked over to Sweetie Belle to check her for any injuries.

“Are you ok?” Scootaloo’s hoof held up Sweetie’s chin so that the unicorn looked her in the eyes.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Nothing a shower and a brush won’t fix.” She smiled at her paramour, but that smile slowly faded as Scootaloo’s concerned expression turned to one of anger. Scoots removed her hoof from Sweetie’s face. Even though she knew she wouldn’t get violent, she did not want to take any risks, not when it came to Sweetie’s safety.

“What the buck, Sweetie!? I thought we agreed that you shouldn’t cook. After all the pots and pans we had to throw out because of your monstrosities, I thought that it would be clear!”

“I wasn’t cooking.”

“Oh so you were intentionally lighting my kitchen table on fire!?” Scootaloo’s wings were flared in agitation, something Silver was rather familiar with. She did not envy Sweetie’s position.

“No, I had made oatmeal. You know I can make oatmeal, I make it all the time!” Sweetie had been inching further and further back from the pegasus, tears forming in her eyes. Now though she decided to make a stand and stood still, trying to explain.

“So what happened!?”

“I boiled the water, poured the mix into the bowl, and when the water was done I poured that in too.”

“How’d it catch fire!?” Seeing Scootaloo’s harsh interrogation was picking up in intensity, Bloom tried to intervene but was met little success.

“Scoots calm down, Ah’m sure it was just an-”

“My house almost burned down. I want some answers dammit!” The enraged pegasus turned her gaze back to Sweetie Belle.

“W-when I tried it it was too cold, so I tried to heat it up with my magic.” Scootaloo dragged her hoof down her face, her aggravation quite apparent. “I’m sorry about the table. How was I supposed to know that would happen?”

“Because everything you touch that is food related goes up in smoke and flames.”

“I said I was sorry! I don’t know why you’re getting so upset over a table.”

“No, I’m not mad about the table. I’m mad because you nearly burned my house down!”

“But I didn’t!”

“You didn’t because I stopped that from happening. If I didn’t react as quickly as I did, we would be looking at the charred remains of my house, or better yet, we would have both been dead!”

“I said I was sorry…” It pained Silver and Bloom to see Sweetie’s defences crumbling while quiet sobs began to rack her body.

“Yeah, well,” Scootaloo couldn’t stand to look at her defeated marefriend, if they were still even that, and instead looked towards the field where she practiced her stunts. “I’m going to go practice for this weekend. You should probably see about staying at Rarity’s place tonight. We’ll talk tomorrow.” With that she took off flying towards her practice field.

Silver tried to reach over to comfort Sweetie, but before she could make contact, the suffering mare took off towards another part of town, opposite the direction of Scootaloo. The metallic mare was about to give chase when Bloom grabbed her shoulder.

“Shouldn’t we go after her?”

“No, she’s headin’ to Vinyl and Octavia’s place. They’ll take care of her.” The architect looked towards the practice field. “We have to go show a certain chicken that she just did somethin’ really stupid. Come on.” 

It didn’t take very long for the two to make it to the field, though what they saw was not what they expected. They thought they would catch the stunt mare already practicing her trade. Instead they found her sitting on her haunches, staring vacantly at a spot a few feet away from her. If they looked closely, they could see building tears in the corners of her eyes. They shared a look and Silver could see that Bloom’s anger over the situation was dissipating, quickly being replaced with concern. Though that was not going to stop them from getting answers. After another moment Bloom cleared her throat.

“Scoots.” The architect said as she stepped closer to the usually brash mare. Scootaloo looked up at her friend briefly before going back to looking at the ground. She sighed before she responded.

“I really bucked up didn’t I?” She shuddered slightly as she looked down at her hooves, trying hard not to break down. “I bucked up the best thing in my life, and why? Because of some stupid shit!”

“Well I admit you overreacted a bit but a fire is still rather serious.” Silver offered diplomatically. This only earned her a glare from the pegasus.

“This isn’t about the fire!” Scootaloo rubbed at her now bloodshot eyes. “Buck, this isn’t even about Sweetie Belle! She...she just happened to be the pony I snapped at. She didn’t do anything wrong. No, it’s all on me. What kind of marefriend am I?” Apple Bloom stomped over to the blubbering pegasus and smacked her across the face with her hoof, earning the attention of all present.

“Oh, hush up! Ya didn’t ruin nothin’. Ya had a fight, sure, but all couples fight. My sister and Rarity have their fair share of screaming matches. Luna, there are times when Fluttershy will refuse to even speak to Big Mac because of something he did. And nopony can forget the great Daring Do incident.”

“‘Daring Do incident’?” Silver was quite perplexed as to what said event entailed.

“Long story short, Twi and Dash got in a huge fight over a book.” Scootaloo provided the details for the incident since she was in the library at the time, though ponies outside the library had no issues hearing the argument.

“How’d it get resolved?”

“Spike used his magical dragon fire on Twilight and sent her straight to Princess Celestia. Twilight and Dash later grilled him for doing that, since he didn’t know for sure that would work and there was an equal chance that he could have lit her on fire.”

“...Wait, what?! Why did-how would-” Silver found herself cut off by her crush before she could make any sense out of what Scootaloo said.

“We’re gettin’ sidetracked! Listen, your relationship isn’t over, ya just hit a bump is all. Ah’ll admit, that was all on you but that’s ok. All ya need tah do is talk tah her, say you’re sorry, and then everythin’ will be back to normal. Alright?” Bloom watched as Scootaloo stared at her hooves for a few moments before smiling and nodding.

“You’re right. I’m going to go find her and apologise.” The stunt mare announced before taking off. She was hardly two feet off the ground when she returned to earth. Looking for the source of her forced stop, she found that her tail was presently occupying her architect friend’s muzzle. She shook her head and spat out the tail before addressing the confused flyer.

“Oh no you don’t. You may be determined to apologise and make things right immediately, but you still need tah cool off and work on what tah say when you meet up again. Besides that, Sweetie is most likely still upset over what happened and needs to be calmed down before you two can have a chance to talk. Why don’t ya just practice your stunts for a bit, think about what Ah said, and we’ll go find Sweetie Belle in a little while. Ok?” Instead of a verbal response, the stunt mare saluted her friend before taking off to begin her practice routine. Silver chose this time to approach her crush so that they may have a quiet conversation.

“I’m surprised that you are so good at diffusing situations like this.”

“If ya ask Sweetie Belle, she’ll tell ya about all the times me and her had tah be cutie mark crusader mediators, or else we’d have tah rescue Rarity from a tree or pull sewin’ pins outah Aj’s flank.” Bloom shuddered slightly. “And Ah didn’t diffuse nothin’. They still fought, and they split on their own.”

“Yeah, but Scootaloo thought that their relationship was finished after their spat, and you were able to convince her otherwise. The only other pony that I think could possibly do that is Rainbow Dash. You have done a great deal.” Silver watched brash pegasus fly around a bit, before noticing something odd. “Is something wrong with her? She isn’t flying so gracefully.” Bloom watched her flying friend and could indeed notice that she wasn’t flying as she normally would. Her movements were more jerky, and there were times when performing a corkscrew would make her dizzy.

“She’s distracted. She isn’t fully there right now, causing her to slip up some. She should be fine as long as she doesn’t try to do the S-SCOOTALOO DON’T DO THAT YA COULD GET HURT!!” Her concerns fell on deaf ears as Scootaloo flew to higher altitude. Silver began to notice that Bloom was fidgeting nervously and her breathing was slowly increasing in speed. The metallic mare could start to hear muttering coming from her friend, at first unable to make it out, but slowly it was becoming clearer. “...nonononononononononononono.” At her last utterance Scootaloo passed through the sound barrier, successfully pulling off one of her signature stunts, the Super Nova. Seeing the waves of orange and purple and hearing the explosion allowed Bloom to relax in her stance, not that Silver noticed, as she was too absorbed in the show. Scootaloo began to arch up when a noise distracted the spectators.

Off towards the farmstead, a thunderstorm could be heard, despite the fact that the weather was scheduled to be clear. This storm only covered a portion of the orchard, where magical fruit were growing. The storm cleared up just as quickly as it formed, which Bloom knew from experience meant that a rainbow was now shooting through the zap apple trees. Everywhere the rainbow touched, the fruit would shift, from grey and rounded, to rainbow colored and rigid. The final sign would finish with an aurora with the colors of the rainbow, signifying the start of the harvest. Bloom knew that Applejack and Big Mac would now be bucking trees left and right in order to get the most zap apples before they disappeared, but that did not concern the architect. No, what concerned her made her body lock up in place as she stared, knowing that she was too late to stop the inevitable.

Scootaloo had told her before that when she is flying above the practice field, she could see Sweet Apple Acres clearly. At the time, Bloom thought that was pretty cool, but now she wished that it wasn’t true. As Scootaloo was entering the second cone, ready to breach the sound barrier again, she took a quick glance to look at the farm, curious as to what the aurora was about. Much to the terrified mare’s fears, that quick glance was all it took to launch Scootaloo out of the cone. When performing the Sonic Rainboom or the Super Nova, being bounced back out of the cone launched the pegasus up into the air, where they have time to regain control of their flight, the most serious injury being to their pride. The Big Bang, however, requires that the pegasus comes from below. Being bounced back from this position, Scootaloo was quickly learning, only gave her a few seconds to limit the impact to her body, as she was shot back down to earth. The resulting lesson was met with a sickening pop.

“SCOOTALOO!” Silver screamed as she ran to the injured flier. She was surprised to see that Bloom was not right behind her, but instead a ways behind her, shivering intensely and her movements mechanical even as she moved forward. “Come on, Bloom, we have to help her!” Silver was concerned for Bloom, but she remained focused on the bigger issue. Her call for aid got the petrified pony moving faster, if only marginally. They both made it to the crash sight to find a groaning pegasus, thankfully alive.

Silver was about to question if Scootaloo was ok when a frantic architect pushed her aside. “Oh no, Scoots! This is all mah fault! Ah shouldn’t have let ya fly like that. Now yer all broken and won’t be able to fly again and it’s all mah fault!” The twitching mare began to hover over the fallen stunt flier, pressing lightly with pokes and a few prods in vain attempts at moving and assessing her injuries. “We gottah get ya to the hospital quickly before ya-”

“Silver, can you shut her up!” Scootaloo shouted to the earth pony who wasn’t failing in her attempts to help and metallic mare complied by grabbing the nearly sobbing Bloom and pressing a hoof to her mouth. “Thank you. Now to see how bad it is.” The pegasus reached a hoof towards her head and winced at the contact. “Head injury, possibly concussed,” she then touched her left fore hoof to her right and applied pressure, grimacing as she did so, “sprained ankle, surprised it wasn’t worse than that.” Finally she brought her probing hoof to her right wing, which was hanging limp from her side as opposed to her left which was folded in. “Dislocated wing. Crap, well at least it isn’t broken.” It was at this time that Bloom broke out of the hold, her panic rising from the combination of the fear of the situation and being held by Silver. 

“How do ya know for sure? You could be worse off than that! We need tah get ya tah the hospital, now!” Bloom’s behavior was really concerning Silver, noticing that her pupils were dilated and her breathing was so rapid, she worried that the yellow mare was not getting enough oxygen. Bloom continued to struggle to pick Scootaloo up only to drop her due to her shivers and weak limbs while Scootaloo continued to resist. At last she snapped.

“Apple Bloom, stop, you’re not helping!” She took a breath when that got the frenzied mare to halt in her attempts. “Alright now listen carefully. Bloom, I need you to head to town and find Sweetie, bring her to the hospital. If you see Rainbow Dash along the way, tell her to go to the hospital, but don’t waste time looking for her. Silver will help me to the hospital.” Bloom was about to protest but the injured pegasus cut her off. “Get going! We’ll see you there.” With that, the architect ran towards town, off to to complete her task. “Alright, help me up. I need to put my leg around your shoulder and my wing over your back.” When both limbs were in their proper positions, they set off at a slow pace. Silver was uncomfortable with the silence between them and sought to rectify that.

“How were you able to tell what your injuries were?”

“When I joined the weather team, Dash also wanted me to become rescue certified. Part of the training was identifying injuries. Not called too often, but often enough that I get a lot of practice. The thing I am unsure of is whether or not I have a concussion, but we’ll find out soon enough. Definitely wasn’t going to figure that out with Apple Bloom hovering like that.” Being reminded of her crush made Silver remember her odd behavior.

“What was with that? She was acting really strange; I would have thought that she would have been more calm.”

“Apple Bloom…” Scootaloo hesitated, uncertain if it was her right to discuss her friend’s condition, but decided that Silver will find out anyways and she will be better able to help Bloom if she knew the truth. “She has a phobia of injuries. She isn’t afraid of being injured herself but of other ponies getting injured.”

“That doesn’t make sense, she was laughing about what happened to Rainbow Dash.”

“Dash and her aren’t that close, treats her like a family friend than an actual friend. Bloom is terrified of the idea of ponies close to her being injured and not being able to do anything about it. When she is like that, she is next to useless, which is why I sent her to get Sweetie Belle. Sweetie should be able to calm Bloom down enough that she won’t have a scene at the hospital.”

“How’d she get the phobia?” Silver wanted to know everything about what afflicted her crush, hopeful that knowledge would be helpful in aiding Bloom.

“Applejack broke her leg once while bucking a tree. Bloom was there but she was too small to be of any help. Big Mac found them and took Aj to the hospital, but that is when Bloom developed her phobia according to Twilight.” Once more the two were silent, and in this time Silver noticed that Scootaloo was brooding. Silver had an idea about the reason and thus tried to get answers.

“So what made you snap at Sweetie earlier? You said it was for some stupid reason.”

“Because it is stupid.” Silver looked at her to continue, but nothing was forthcoming.

“Care to explain what it was?”

“It...I...I-I snapped because…because of…” Scootaloo let out a sigh, a sign that she didn’t want to talk about this. But she knew she had to, if she wanted to avoid this happening again. “I snapped because of you. Well, not you, but my thoughts on you. When you showed up here at the beginning of the week, I worked myself up thinking you were up to no good. I wanted to warn Ab, to convince her that you were nothing but trouble. Then I would remember my promise, to you, to Bloom, to Sweetie, that I wouldn’t try to break you guys up. This just wound me up tighter and tighter until I snapped at the love of my life. It’s stupid how much you affect me, and you’re not even doing anything. It’s not fair to you, cause I can see that you have turned your life around, but a part of me refuses to accept it. I really want us to be friends so we can all hang out together without me trying to ruin everything. Really I do.” A defeated sigh escaped the injured pegasus. “I am going to try harder to accept you. Being hostile towards you is just costing me my friend and my love. So I am going to try to be your friend.” Scootaloo paused for a moment before looking to the mare carrying her pleadingly. “That is if you’ll have me as your friend.” Silver smiled wide before nuzzling the nervous stunt mare.

“Of course I’ll have you. And don’t worry if it takes time for you to be comfortable with this, I understand that it is easier said than done to become friends with somepony who bullied you in the past. And no matter what, I’ll still hold you to your end of our agreement.”

“Good good. That makes me feel a bit better. And you’re right, it’s going to take some time for this to work.” Scootaloo closed her eyes and a content little smile adorned her muzzle. When she opened her eyes again, the two had arrived at the front entrance of the hospital. “Finally! Now for the docs to fix me up and give me good drugs!” Silver giggled at her friend’s enthusiasm despite the circumstances.

-GWG-

“Apple Bloom, relax! I’m sure she is fine!” Despite her current emotional state wanting her to worry about her lover, Sweetie Belle knew that she needed to calm down her distraught friend. She was happy to notice that she was making some progress.

“Ah know...it’s just...ya know how Ah am. Ah can’t be rational when that happens. Ah know Scoot can identify her injuries better than anypony else, and that Ah wasn’t helpin’ any. But in that moment, it’s like Ah forget all that and Ah’m a helpless filly again.” The distressed earth pony took a shuddering breath before continuing on. “Ah’m probably gonnah have tah explain all that tah Silver.”

“I’m sure Scootaloo already explained everything to her. Knowing you, you probably put on quite a show that she was bound to ask questions when she could. Besides it’s better that she knows, that way she can help you while Scootaloo and I...talk.” The singer’s apprehension was very obvious to Bloom; even if she couldn’t hear it in her voice, she could see it plainly on her face.

“Ya have nothin’ to worry about, Sweetie. You and Scoot are fine. Ya had a hiccup is all.”

“How do you know? How do you know that this isn’t the end of us? What if she doesn’t want to see me again?”

“That’s just silly. Why would she want you to come to the hospital if’n she didn’t want tah see ya again?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she wants to call it off now so she isn’t worrying about it while she is in the hospital. Maybe-”

“Sweetie Belle, you are bein’ ridiculous! Remember Ah talked tah her: she feels awful for snappin’ at ya and she wants tah apologize. If ya don’t believe me, ya can ask her yerself in a few moments; we’re here.” Indeed they had arrived at the hospital, where they quickly found out where the third crusader was being kept. Both mares were glad to find that she wasn’t in intensive care. Once they arrived at the room, they came upon the tail end of a conversation between Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, who bolted to the hospital after Bloom told her the situation. Silver was sitting in one of the chairs by the wall, obviously pleased to see her friends.

“So yeah, don’t worry about the show this weekend, squirt. Just focus on getting better. Listen to what the docs say and you’ll be better in no time.” The wonderbolt gave one of her patented winning grins. She was extremely happy to find that the injuries weren’t too severe, though she did lecture the younger mare about the dangers of supersonic stunts and promised that Twilight would have one for her as well. It was then that she noticed the new visitors in the room. “Well looks like you have other ponies checking up on you. Twi and I will come by some time tomorrow alright? Later.” She left the room, but not before acknowledging Bloom and hugging Sweetie; the chromatic flier had started referring to the singer as her sister-in-law ever since the young mares started dating, much to the couple’s embarrassment.

“So Scoots, were ya right about yer injuries?” Bloom was still tense, but the peak of her anxiety had already passed.

“Yep, right on target as always. And guess what? I was right about me having a concussion. Yay me.” Scootaloo and Bloom chuckled at that for a bit before she glanced behind the earth pony. “As fun as this all is, I was kinda hoping that I could talk to my marefriend.” Whatever carefully constructed dam Sweetie had burst as she charged her pegasus, weeping as she leapt onto the bed.

“SCOOTALOOHOOHOO!”

“Ack! Watch the leg!” The sobbing singer shifted so that she was no longer applying pressure to the injuries, but still held a grip on her mare. “That’s better. Look, I’m sorry for earlier today, you didn’t deserve that.”

“This is all m-my fault! If I hadn’t caused that fire none of this woul-” She was silenced by a pair of orange lips pressed against her own, causing all of the ponies present to blush intensely. Reluctantly, Scootaloo broke the kiss, though she did giggle at seeing Sweetie still lost in the kiss for a few moments after it had ended. Her smile faded slightly, though with Sweetie here with her, nothing could rob her of her smile completely.

“No, Sweetie. That was all on me. The fight and my crash, both were my fault. I’m really sorry that I snapped at you, but I’m glad I had that release before it built up anymore. It helped me learn that I shouldn’t dwell on something so much that it could ruin what I have and destroy the chances of what could be. I’m happy to learn this now rather than later where I could have lost you for good. Will you forgive this stupid chicken?” Sweetie happily nuzzled her marefriend, happy tears running down her cheeks.

“Of course you dodo! I worked too hard to let you slip away like that.” The couple embraced once more, relief visible in every action.

Bloom watched as the couple made out on the bed, knowing that the two needed this moment. Briefly she imagined that it was her and Silver there instead, before she was pulled from her daydream by grey legs enveloping her in a hug from behind. She shuddered at the sensation and nearly moaned when she felt Silver whisper in her ear.

“Are you feeling better?”

She had a response ready; ready to tell Silver that the episode was over now, but she thought more about what was going on with her lately. The incident between her friends made see that Scootaloo’s lesson could apply to her as well. If she continued to keep Silver at a distance, instead of keeping the status quo she would be pushing her friend away, which is what her concern was from the beginning. Bloom was worried that if she told Silver of her feelings, they would no longer be friends, completely ignoring the possibilities of Silver understanding and remaining friends despite the knowledge, or better but unlikely, that she would return the feelings. She knew now that pushing her back guaranteed the worst case scenario. So what do Ah do? Accept that Ah have feelings for her? For the first time today, Bloom felt nothing but the warmth she wanted to become more accustomed to. Ah guess that answers that question. So Ah have a crush on Silver. Do Ah feel better?

“Yeah, much better thank you.”

“Good. I was worried about you. I never saw you behave like that before. It was so unlike you.”

“Sorry about that. There never is a good time to discuss somethin’ like that.” Bloom held the hooves to her chest, nuzzling against her crush’s face. Ah have no idea what to do now. I can’t confess, not yet at least, this is still new to me. Ah need to get advice. She looked to the snuggling couple, who have fallen asleep due to all of the exhaustion of the day’s events. Can’t talk to them, they’re still adjusting to the fact that Silver is mah friend, this would be too much of a bombshell to drop on them. Ah guess that just leaves Rarity and...Applejack. “Listen, ya may have noticed that me and Aj weren’t exactly talkin’. Well, Ah may have snapped at her over somethin’ stupid. So if’n ya don’t mind, Ah would like tah go back tah the farm and apologize, maybe help her with sorting the zap apples. Ah’d like tah do this by mahself.”

“That’s fine. I was actually hoping to pay a visit to my cousin now that I know this is all settled and I know she’s in town. I was feeling guilty for potentially ditching you but now I have no worries.” Silver smiled at the mare she held in her arms before letting go of her. “So I’ll meet you back at the farm for supper tonight?”

“Yep, Fluttershy and Rarity are gonnah cook up a real treat to celebrate a successful harvest. Ya don’t wanna miss it.” With that they exited the hospital and headed off in opposite directions, both looking for advice on how best to proceed.

-GWG-

Silver had been told where Octavia was living in Ponyville when Silver moved to Canterlot, just in case the metallic mare wanted to visit her older cousin back home. As such she easily found her way to the modest looking home. The two-story house said nothing of the fortune of its residents. Knowing Octavia, this was normal behavior; she didn’t care much for wealth and was known to give the bits she earned for a concert to one charity or another. Vinyl, however, was a mystery to Silver. She didn’t know if the DJ’s mindset was similar to Octavia’s when it came to wealth or if her cousin convinced her to live modestly. She knew she had arrived at the right home, due to the mailbox that featured both mares’ cutie marks. She stepped up to the door and pressed the button for the doorbell.
  
‘Ding-Dong-Wubwubwub’ Silver rose a brow at this. What?

“Ugh, Vinyl I wish you never installed that blasted thing.” The voice came from the other side of the door before it opened, revealing the mare she had come this way for. “Oh, Silvy! How nice of you to come by!” The cultured earth pony enveloped her cousin in a tight hug.

“It’s good to see you again, Octy! It’s been too long.” Silver returned the embrace in equal measure.

“Hey, how come she gets to call you Octy but I can’t?” Octavia’s significant other emerged from the den, her usual sunglasses nowhere to be seen. This gave the young mare her first view of the unicorn’s striking red eyes. She found it slightly unsettling but grew used to it quickly.

“It’s a family nickname for me. It feels weird whenever you call me that. Why can’t you be happy with Tavi?” Octavia shook her head before stepping further inside. “Come on in, please. We were dealing with a bit of a crisis earlier today and we would be pleased to have a happier visit.”

“Yes I would imagine it was difficult to calm Sweetie down after her fight with Scootaloo.” At Silver’s admitted knowledge of the events, the DJ spoke up from the kitchen, where she was preparing snacks for their guest.

“Yeah, that’s an understatement. Sweets could put Rara to shame with her level of wallowing. With how she was behaving it was as if she really did burn Scoots’ home down.”

“Rara?” 

“That’s what I call my cousin Rarity. When Sweetie was first learning to speak, she couldn’t pronounce her sister’s name, so she called her ‘Rarara’. I shortened it and have been using it ever since. She hates that nickname.” Vinyl chuckled as she came back into the den, the snacks and drinks being held by her magic.

“Yes, well, Silvy, what brings you by or were you just visiting?”

“Well, I came to get some advice. I was wondering if we could talk privately. No offense Miss Scratch.” Silver offered an apologetic smile, but found it waved off by the concerned party.

“No offense taken, but I’m not moving. I’m not like my gossiping cousins, whatever you want to talk about, you can say it in front of me.”

“It’s true, the only secrets she shares are hers or ours, much to my displeasure.”

“Oh please, you love the fact that Beauty Brass knows how often I can get you to-”

“ENOUGH!” Octavia’s cheeks were bright red as she tried to burn a hole in the skull of the cackling unicorn next to her. Once she regained her composure, she continued. “As I was saying, whatever you say here will remain here, no one else will hear of this.” Silver looked at both mares for a few moments before sighing, she needed to tell somepony before it ate away at her more.

“I recently...developed a crush for one of my friends.”

“It isn’t that Diamond Tiara is it?” Octavia was the only member of her family that knew Silver was a fillyfooler. Though the reason for that was because she was closer to her cousin than anypony else in the family, and thus her opinion mattered the most to her. At her question, Silver shook her head in the negative, Octavia sighed in relief. “Oh good, that mare would make a horrible marefriend. I still don’t understand why you two are still friends.”

“Ah, so that means you have a crush on Apple Bloom, eh?” Vinyl had a smug smile adorning her muzzle.

“H-how’d you know?”

“Sweetie told us you recently became friends with the crusaders, specifically Apple Bloom. She told us you spend a lot of time with her, and that you gave her the loft. It isn’t hard to tell that you are crushing for her hard.” With Vinyl’s proof and her own admission, Silver found it very difficult to deny the accusations. All she could do was nod weakly while blushing intensely.

“Vinyl, stop torturing the poor dear.” The cellist glared the DJ into submission before she spoke to her cousin. “I’m dreadfully sorry about that. Now what was it that you wanted advice about?”

“Well, I lo-like her a lot, but I have no idea how she feels about me. I worry that if I tell her how I feel, she’ll won’t want to be friends anymore. But I can’t just keep this inside forever. What do I do?”

“Hmm...Does Apple Bloom seem like the type to cease being friends with somepony because they confessed their feelings to her?” Octavia made sure to make continued eye contact with her cousin as she posed her question.

“N-no but-”

“Well then that means that there is absolutely nothing to worry about, right?” Vinyl’s over exaggerated behavior showed the metallic mare that she wasn’t serious. “No of course not. Even if she remains your friend, rejection sucks. So what do you do? You spend as much time with her as possible, do fun things with her. Smile with her when times are good, comfort her when things are bad. More and more she will realize that you are more than any friend she has ever had before. When you feel the time is right, confess. By that point, either she returns your feelings or she is at least willing to try. You can’t fail.”

“That doesn’t always work Vinyl.”

“I know it doesn’t, but I have a feeling it will. You just have to remain hopeful, and who knows, you might just be surprised by what happens. That’s how I got with your cousin.”

“Really?” Silver was skeptical of what Vinyl was calling a sure thing.

“Yep. This is all because of a pleasant surprise.”

“Well thank you both for the advice. I have a lot to think about.”

“No problem, Silvy. We were happy to help.”

“Yep. Oh before I forget.” Vinyl rose from the couch and hugged the surprised mare, leaning her head in close so she could speak without Octavia hearing. “Whatever you are lying to her about, it is best that you stop before you ruin whatever chance you had. It is best she discovers the truth from you rather than have her discover it some other way.”

“How do you know?”

“From one liar to another, learn from my mistakes. Just because I got off lucky doesn’t mean you can get off free.” With that the two mares separated. Silver offered her goodbyes and promises to visit more often. When she left, it was as she said, she had a lot to think about.

-GWG-

Bloom made her way straight to the zap apple orchard, knowing that was the best place to find her sister. She found her halfway between the orchard and the barn where they would be storing the magic fruit until tomorrow. She had been hoping that it would take longer to find the element of honesty, giving her more time to prepare what she was going to say to apologize and how to ask for the advice she sought. She believed that if she walked slowly she could prolong the fast approaching awkwardness, but she found that again she wasn’t so lucky.

“When y’all are done walkin’ like that, Ah’ll be in the barn ready tah talk.” Applejack shouted from her path, not even bothering to look at her younger sister and yet knowing she was there anyways. Bloom was granted the time she needed to think of what to say, but she lost the opportunity to have a smooth entrance into this conversation, if there was even one to begin with.

Bloom arrived at the barn just as Big Mac exited, his face clearly saying that he did not want to be near this place if things went sour. He gave his youngest sister a quick hug before heading back towards the orchard, empty cart following in his wake. She stepped into the barn and watched as Applejack poured them two mugs of cider; from the scent she could tell that this wasn’t for little fillies and colts. She sat next to her sister and took a sip from her mug, sure that her face was giving away her inexperience with alcohol. Finally she chose to speak.

“Hey.”

“Howdy.”

It was clear that neither mare forgot the events of this morning, just as it was clear how neither mare wanted to bring it up. Sadly, Bloom knew that she had to get this ball rolling, and the best way was to jump into it.

“Ah’m...sorry for how Ah behaved this mornin’.” She heard the apple farmer sigh while she took another drought from her mug.

“Ah’m sorry too. Ah knew Ah pushed too hard tah get ya tah talk to me. It’s just, Ah worry about you, ya know.” At last the Apple sisters looked to each other for the first time since this conversation began.

“Ah know, and despite what you think, Ah really appreciate that you worry about me. Ah know that Ah don’t make it easy tah have me as a sister.”

“You were just a foal when Ma and Pa died, Granny had tah take care of all three of us, but Ah usually ended up takin’ care of you. There were plenty of times where Ah treated ya less like mah sister and more like mah daughter. Ah think that’s where a lot these problems come from, we don’t seem to know our relationship to each other. That’s how Ah feel at least.”

“No, Ah felt that way too sometimes. That’s usually when Ah get a bit troublesome: when yer actin’ like a mom and Ah realize yer mah sister. Ah honestly thank you for all you do and Ah’m sorry for when Ah become a pain in the flank.” The sisters each took a long pull from their mugs, each with a bit less than half left. “Ah bet yer wonderin’ why Ah snapped this mornin’. Well in spite of what Ah said this mornin’, Ah need yer help. Be it as mah sister or mah mom, Ah don’t care, Ah need yer advice on somethin’.”

“Well shoot, Bloom. If’n yer honest with me, Ah’ll do mah best tah help ya.” Applejack smiled warmly at her sister, happy to help at last. Bloom finished off her drink before releasing a deep sigh, she knew that the time had come.

“Ah found out last night that Ah like-” No, Ah need tah be honest, with her and mahself. Another breath, hopefully to calm the fluttering in her chest. “-Ah’m in love with Silver Spoon. And since that discovery, Ah’d been tryin’ to deny it.”

“Why would ya do that?”

“Because...because Ah was afraid. These past two months, despite some really low lows, has been the happiest time Ah’ve had in a long time. Ah know that it was all because of her. Ah didn’t want to ruin it because of mah feelings. So Ah tried to hide it away, not think of her, and Ah hoped it would all just go away, have everything go back to normal. This mornin’, you were forcin’ me to think about her when Ah didn’t want tah. Ah snapped tah get away from all that. Ah’m really sorry that happened.”

“So what happened that changed yer mind?”

“Sweetie and Scootaloo got in a fight and then Scootaloo hurt herself flyin’.”

“Oh no, Ah hope she’s alright, and did they manage tah make up?”

“Yeah, they’re alright now, but they got me thinkin’. The way Ah was behavin’, Ah learned that Ah would lose her as a friend if Ah continued on like that.”

“And ya realized that that was worse than if she flat out rejected ya?”

“Yeah, exactly. So now Ah accept mah feelin’s but Ah don’t know what to do now. How do Ah handle this?”

“Well, Ah’ll tell ya what the simplest advice is. Just confess yer feelings. Now that’s simple advice because it is simple to give, but it is damn near impossible to follow. Ah know that from experience. Before Ah got with Rarity, we would always be in situations where all mah mind would tell me is to tell her, tell her, tell her. It was maddening. Especially since it wasn’t tellin’ me how to do it, just to do it. You’ll find that ya will be in the same boat soon enough. Mah best advice is that at some point, you’ll give in and tell her, whether you know she likes ya back or no. It’s just a matter of time, just be patient.” Applejack polished off the rest of her mug in no time at all. Both mares could tell that the conversation was over, but neither knew exactly how to finish it. Finally Bloom gave in.

“Thanks for the advice, sis, it really helps.”

“Anytime, Sugarcube, anytime.”

“How bout Ah help ya with the rest of the zap apples, make up for this mornin’.”

“That sounds mighty fine to me, let’s go.” The Apple sisters left the barn, both happy about what they discussed.

-GWG-

As promised, another delicious meal was constructed by the combined efforts of the Apple spouses, as a reward for a successful harvest. All present knew that this was the first of two celebrations, the second taking place on Friday evening when the zap apple jam was sold. But now everypony was happy that the harvest was over and everypony was happy to see Bloom so happy. Silver didn’t want to question the change in mood and was just content that was able to witness the architect’s wide grin.

After a while, Bloom announced that Silver and her had to head to bed soon, due to amount of work they had the next day. Applejack in turn suggested that there was no reason for the other members to sleep here this evening and that they should go to respective homes tonight. They said their goodbyes, with Rarity imparting that the dresses would be ready Friday afternoon.

“We’ll be there to pick them up, Rara.” Silver giggled as she saw Rarity’s eye twitch.

“Oh, I see you have been talking to my darling cousin. What Octavia sees in her I do not know.”

The young mares waved from their position on the front porch until they could no longer see the others anymore. They headed inside to prepare for bed, each taking a shower to relieve the tension each felt throughout this long tiring day. Silver found herself dwelling on what Vinyl had said concerning lies. I wish I could tell her the truth right now, but I just can’t. It would destroy everything I have with her now. She seems so happy right now. Ponies say ignorance is bliss, who am I to rob her of that. I’ll tell her in time, just like how I will tell her my feelings.

Bloom was feeling a constant flood of warmth spread throughout her entire body. She was eagerly awaiting how she was going to feel tonight, being held and holding the mare she loved. Looking back over the day, she realised that she had quite the emotional roller coaster. From depression to anger, shock to fear, and finally apprehension to happiness, she realised that a lot of this had to do with her foalishness. She stopped her reverie as Silver entered the room, her mane down and still glistening from the shower. Bloom had tried at making herself more appealing by letting her own mane air dry instead of taking a towel to it. Her mane was still slightly wet, and if she judged correctly, was having the same effect on Silver as Silver’s wet mane was having on Bloom: a shade of pink dotting her cheeks. After a few moments of staring at each other, Bloom cleared her throat.

“We should get to bed, you and Ah have a long day ahead of tomorrow, though hopefully not as tense.” The architect yawned as she patted the spot next to her on the bed, which brought the metallic mare to bed. They shut off the lights, and soon Silver’s light snores could be heard. Bloom knew it was only a matter of time before she felt grey hooves wrap around her barrel and indeed it felt like no time at all before it happened. As before, Bloom turned around in the embrace, entwining her hindlegs with Silver, releasing a content sigh at the increase of warmth. She had resolved to not steal kisses anymore, despite how tempting it was to do so now. No she tried for something a bit more daring, as it increased the risk of waking her crush, forcing an awkward conversation she was not ready for.

Bloom nuzzled the top of Silver’s head before saying the words she wished she could say when she was awake.

“Ah love you, Silver Spoon.” Shortly after she fell into the realm of pleasant dreams.

It was in this same realm of pleasant dreams that Silver thought she heard these words and so she responded to them aloud.

“I love you too, Apple Bloom.”