# A Delicate Balance

## by JapaneseTeeth

### Go and Catch a Falling Star

It’s so nice that things are starting to go smoothly. This entire relationship has just been so stressful. I can hardly believe that things are actually starting to fall into place. It’s amazing.

Teach me to hear mermaids singing,

Or to keep off envy's stinging,

And find

What wind

Serves to advance an honest mind.

--Go and Catch a Falling Star,

John Donne

“WHAT!?” Rarity's mane very nearly uncurled. “Rainbow Dash, I swear if this is another one of your pranks—”

“It's not!” Pinkie interrupted. “If this was a prank Rainbow Dash would totally let me in on it!” She shoved herself against Rainbow Dash. “Right?”

“It's not a prank!” The pegasus shoved Pinkie away. “I'm being totally serious!”

“This is not good at all!” Rarity put her hooves against the sides of her head. “It is nothing short of a disaster! It's... it's... it's a love triangle!”

Pinkie gasped so hard she lifted herself off the ground. “Wait a minute.” She landed. “What's so terrible about that?”

“Pinkie, do you know nothing of romance?” Rarity put her hooves on Pinkie's shoulders and shook her. “The love triangle is the worst possible situation that can ever befall a relationship, particularly in circumstances like this one where the parties involved are all already good friends.”

“Wouldn't that make it easier though?” Rainbow asked. “If they're all friends?”

“Not at all! The precise reason that love triangles are so nefarious is that they are nearly impossible to resolve in a fashion that will make everyone happy! Inevitably, one of the ponies involved will find themselves alone at the end of it. Which is bad enough in cases where they aren't particularly close, but when they are...” She shuddered.

“Aw, and it was just starting to get interesting.” Pinkie sighed. “Is it really all that bad if they know each other?

“Think about the possible results, Pinkie!” Rarity rapped her on the forehead. “Think of how Twilight has been so uptight for the past weeks. How would she react if she were to find out that Fluttershy has the same feelings for her that she had for Applejack? Even worse, she obviously cannot reciprocate those feelings, as she's already in a relationship! Not only would Fluttershy be miserable, but Twilight would also feel awful because Fluttershy is, and Applejack would likely not be very happy herself, given the situation.”

“And then none of us would be happy because they're all sad!” Pinkie gasped again. “This is going to be a complete disaster!”

“I gotta go tell Twilight!” Rainbow Dash readied herself for takeoff, but Rarity hauled her back to the ground. “Hey!”

“We can't go rushing into this, Rainbow Dash. If we go and dump this on Twilight it will only make the situation worse. We cannot tell her about any of this until we have some sort of idea of what to do.”

“Can I go get Fluttershy, then?” Pinkie asked. “She already knows, so we don't have to keep it a secret from her.”

“No, no, no!” Rarity shook her head so violently it was in danger of popping off. “You of all ponies should know that Fluttershy is rather... delicate. Putting aside the fact that she likely would not appreciate our meddling, we owe it to her to actually think the matter over before attempting to fix it.”

“Yeah, but what are we supposed to do?” Rainbow Dash wrenched her tail out of Rarity's grip, fraying the ends a bit in the process. “We can't just sit by and do nothing! You know what happens when Fluttershy bottles up her feelings. Remember what happened the first time we went to the Grand Galloping Gala?”

“Yes, but first of all we should find out exactly what sort of feelings she's bottling up,” Rarity said. “What exactly did Fluttershy tell you?”

“Huh? She didn't tell me anything.”

“She didn't?” Rarity furrowed her brow. “Then how, exactly, did you hear about this crush?”

“Scootaloo told me.”

“Oh,”Rarity said flatly. “Then where did Scootaloo hear about it?”

“I'm pretty sure one of the other crusaders told her.”

“And where did they find out about it?”

“I...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “...don't know.”

“What exactly did Scootaloo tell you?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “She just said that the crusaders had heard Fluttershy had a thing for Twilight, so they were going to try to fix the situation by finding somepony else for Fluttershy.”

“So what you're telling me is that you heard about this from Scootaloo, who heard about it from one of her friends, who got her information from Discord-knows-where?”

“Well, when you put it like that it sounds dumb...”

“That's because it is!” Pinkie bonked Rainbow Dash on the head. “You had me scared there!”

“Ouch!” Rainbow Dash rubbed at the rapidly forming lump on her cranium. “Okay, so I may not have thought it over very well before coming over. But I don't want anything bad to happen to Fluttershy either. That's the whole reason I’m here! I get that the crusaders might have exaggerated things a bit, but it doesn't mean they were just making stuff up! They must have gotten the idea from somewhere.”

“Yeah, if they were making stuff up they totally need to make it more interesting.” Pinkie shook her head. “Any made up story needs to include at least one monkey. Or at least a lemur or something.”

“Alright, so there may be a bit of truth somewhere in there, but I have no intention of doing anything until we find out a bit more.” Rarity groaned. “I think I'm going to have to have a talk with my sister.”

Twilight blinked a few times. She hadn't really had any idea what Lyra had in mind, but it surprised her nonetheless. “You got me a job at Bon Bon's shop?”

“Yep!” Lyra nodded. “Bon Bon has been working herself ragged lately, but she's always been a bit resistant to hiring any outside help.”

“She likes to do everything herself, doesn't she?”

“Nah.” Lyra shook her head. “It's just that last time she tried to hire an assistant... let's just say it didn't turn out so well. I try to help out sometimes, but I do more harm than good, so she doesn’t let me do much around the shop. I managed to convince her that you could actually help.”

“Well, I'll do what I can.” Twilight swallowed. She had comprehensive knowledge of a lot of things. Chocolate-making wasn't one of them. She made a mental note to comb the library for any books on the subject.

“You'll be fine!” Lyra patted Twilight's head. “As long as you don't do anything stupid, at least. But you wouldn't be the princess' personal student if you were an idiot!”

“Thanks,” Twilight said, not sure just how thankful she should actually feel. “Are you sure that Bon Bon is okay with this? I'd hate to impose...”

“It's no problem at all. She might seem a bit...” Lyra paused for a distressingly long moment. “...rough, but I'm sure she'll appreciate you once she realizes how helpful you'll be!”

“Yes, helpful. Of course.” Twilight mumbled. “So, when do I start?”

“As soon as possible.” The voice came from behind Twilight. She turned around and found Bon Bon standing there, staring at her through tired eyes. “When is the earliest that you can start?”

“I... uh... I'm not sure. I would have to check my schedule.”

“I see,” Bon Bon said. Twilight got the feeling that Bon Bon was mentally taking a note. Unable to confirm schedule or something along those lines. “And how long, exactly, will it take you figure out your schedule?”

“It shouldn't take long. Maybe a day or two at most. Is that okay? I could probably start tomorrow if you really need the help.”

“That will not be necessary.” Bon Bon sniffed. “I've run this shop on my own for several years now. I believe I will be able to handle it for another two days.”

“Yes, of course! I promise I'll get back to you as soon as possible!”

“Very well. Now if you'll excuse me, I do have work to do. Please let me know when you have your time sorted out, so I will have some idea of what I have to work with.” She flicked her tail and headed into the back room.

“She doesn't seem too enthusiastic about me working here,” Twilight said with a sigh.

“She just got caught off guard.” Lyra patted Twilight on the back. “I just told her about it this afternoon, after all. Once you actually start working she'll realize just how helpful you are, right?”

Twilight felt a lump forming in her throat. “I certainly hope so.”

Scootaloo sighed as she ambled back into the clubhouse. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had already returned. They sat at the table, crossing names off of a long checklist.

“Hey, Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom waved. “Did you find anypony?”

“No.” She slumped down next to the table. “Well, I did run into Rainbow Dash.”

“Do you think that she'd work?” Sweetie Belle asked. “She's known Fluttershy for a long time, hasn't she?”

“I don't think she'd be up for it.” Scootaloo said. “She's... busy.”

Apple Bloom scratched Rainbow Dash's name from the list. “Well, crud. We still haven't found anypony for the plan.”

“You and Sweetie Belle couldn't find anypony?”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “Well, at first we thought we'd try usin' Big Macintosh again, but we couldn't find him.”

“And then I did find him,” Sweetie Belle said. “Thing is, I found him at that cafe in town with Miss Cheerilee.”

“What, really?” Scootaloo's eyes bulged a bit. “Miss Cheerilee?”

“I'm not sure how that happened,” Apple Bloom said with a shrug. “I mean, after Hearts and Hooves Day last year I didn't think that they'd be very special someponies, but I guess it worked out after all.”

“Unfortunately, that puts us back at square one.” Sweetie Belle held up the list. “We went through almost everypony we know and we couldn't find any that Fluttershy would want to spend much time with.”

“You really talked to everypony?” Scootaloo eyed the list, which spilled off the table and onto the floor. Even if Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were so enthusiastic about the plan, she couldn't quite believe that they had personally examined every pony whose name was on there.

“Well, not everypony,” Sweetie Belle said. “Some we could just cross right off because they probably wouldn't get along well with Fluttershy. Like Ruby's mom, or that big pegasus who says 'yeah' all the time. Rarity always told me that I have to be careful when Fluttershy gets involved in our crusading plans, so we're being extra cautious about making sure we try to give her a crush on a pony that she'd like.”

“That's it!” Apple Bloom leaped onto the table.

“What's it?” Scootaloo asked.

“Rarity! We can try to give Fluttershy a crush on Rarity!”

Sweetie Belle stared at Apple Bloom. “What? My sister? Why her?”

“Well, Rarity already knows Fluttershy well enough to know how to treat her, and they go out to the spa every week, so they must enjoy hanging out.”

“But... they're already friends!” Scootaloo said. “How are we supposed to get that to work?”

Apple Bloom thought for a moment.“Well, Twilight and Applejack were already friends, and it worked out fine for them.”

“Yeah, but last time we used one of our siblings for this, it didn’t really work out. Not for a really long time, anyway.”

“Well, it’s not like we’re tryin’ to make them very special someponies or anythin’. They just gotta hang out a bit more.” Apple Bloom hopped off the table. “Sweetie Belle, do you know where your sister is?”

“Probably at the boutique. Let's go!”

Scootaloo shook her head as she watched them leave. She grunted to herself. “This is so dumb...”

Spike adjusted his oversized toque, and returned to stirring the enormous pot that sat before him. “This is going to be awesome! I don't know why I never thought of making gemstone stew before.” He dipped a finger into the broth and licked it. “Hm, needs more sand.” He scooped a handful out of a nearby bowl and poured it into the stew. “Much better. Wish I had few more rubies, but oh well—”

He stopped stirring as he heard the familiar sound of a hoof knocking on the library door. “Come in!” The door creaked at it opened.

“Um, hello? Anyone here?”

“I’m in the kitchen!”

Fluttershy poked her head into the room. “Good afternoon, Spike. Is Twilight around?”

“Nope, haven't seen her since this morning.” Spike resumed stirring. “Said she had some important things to take care of.”

“So she's visiting Applejack, then.”

“Well, that was probably one of the things she had to do. I don't think that was the only thing, though. Let me guess, you finally wanted to talk to her about... you know.”

“Yes, I've been thinking about it for a while and I thought—” Angel hopped on top of Fluttershy's head and cleared his throat. “I mean, Angel convinced me that it would be best for me to tell her about it.”

“Well, good luck with that. I've been trying to give her hints that she should hang out with you, but she never really caught on.” He dipped his ladle into the stewpot. “You want to try some of this? It's really good.”

“Um, no, that's alright. Do you have any idea when she'll be back?”

“She said she'd be back in time for dinner, but other than that I don't know. She'll probably be back pretty soon.”

“Would you mind if I just wait here then?”

“Not at all. Make yourself right at home. Would you like a drink or anything?”

“No, I'm fine.” She left the dragon to look after his stew and took a seat at the table. She flipped through one of the books that sat on it. She could read the words, but they didn't seem to fit together in a way that made any sense. The title read Inherency Versus Learned Capacity: A Comparison of Innate and Practiced Abilities. That cleared up absolutely nothing. She was still trying to figure out what it meant when the door opened behind her.

“Oh, hello Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “What brings you here?”

Fluttershy turned around and forced herself to look Twilight in the eyes.

“I... uh...” Her tongue felt numb. She could barely form the words. “I... I need to talk to you about something.”

Rarity cleared her throat. “So, what is our goal?” She pointed at Rainbow Dash.

“To find the cutie mark crusaders before they put their plan into motion.”

“Right.” Rarity pointed at Pinkie Pie. “What do you do when you find them?”

“Lure them back here with cake!”

“No!” Rarity put a hoof to her face. “Well, kind of. Just bring them back here. You don't need to offer them cake. In fact, I don't want to see any cake in my boutique. The frosting could stain something.”

“How about candy then? Could I use that?”

“Don't lure them with anything!” Rarity tried to keep her eye from twitching. “As hard as it is to believe , you are an adult, Pinkie. You don't need to offer them anything. Just tell them that we have to talk to them and bring them here.”

“But if we don't give them anything, they aren't going to want to do our bidding later!”

“Our bidding?” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “What bidding? If we need their help with a prank or something they'd probably help anyway. Besides, Scootaloo does pretty much everything I ask her to. And some stuff I don't ask her to do. Let's just get moving already! If they get to Twilight or Fluttershy before we do, bad stuff is going to happen. I'll do a flyover of Sweet Apple Acres and the outskirts of town.” She spun around and blasted out of the shop.

“I'll go see if they're at any of the restaurants!” Pinkie said. “I’ll check out the ice cream shop first. I heard they have a really good cookie dough Sunday and I... I mean, the crusaders probably really want to try it!” She bounced out hole that Rainbow Dash had left in the window.

“I suppose that leaves me look through the shops on main street,” Rarity grumbled as she selected a hat. “Oh well. I can check the latest fashions while I'm out. And find somepony to fix my window.”

She opened the door and found three small faces staring up at her with over-eager smiles.

“Hey, sis!”

Rainbow Dash savored the feeling of the cool breeze on her face as she cruised along. Her pride had taken quite the hit when Rarity had pointed out the well-it-seems-obvious-now fact that Scootaloo might have gotten the facts mixed up. And that “might have” meant “had probably.” Now those three fillies were a ticking time bomb; if they ran into Fluttershy things would go bad very quickly.

She wheeled in the air. Nopony near Fluttershy's cottage. The Cutie Mark Crusaders weren't there, which was a good sign. Fluttershy, however, was nowhere to be seen. That was a bad sign; if she was in town the chances of her encountering the butt-stamp brigade went up considerably. Hopefully Pinkie and Rarity could intercept them.

They weren't in the Everfree Forest, either. The path into the woods was devoid of hoofprints. That was a tremendous relief. If they had gone in there again, Fluttershy's maybe-crush would be the least of everypony's problems. Searching would be bad enough, but this time of year the poison joke would be popping up everywhere, and Rainbow Dash had no desire to put up with that again.

Might as well check Sweet Apple Acres again; maybe they went back there. She buzzed to the clubhouse. It was closed up, and the lights off. Guess I should check the orchard. She flew higher, and tried to pick out which of the shapes below her might be ponies. “Nah, that's Winona.... that's an apple basket... Hey! Is that—” She dropped closer and groaned. “Nope, just a chicken. Where the hay are they!?”

“Rainbow Dash?”

She looked down to see Applejack emerge from under one of the trees.

“Oh, hey.” Rainbow Dash tried to sound nonchalant.

“You lookin' for somepony?”

Dash landed next to her. “You haven't seen Apple Bloom, have you? She was... uh... she wanted my help setting up one of her plans.”

“Nope, she went into town with her friends a little bit ago.”

“Oh. I guess I'll have to try to catch her then—” Rainbow Dash made to take off.

“Hey, can you wait just a sec? I got somethin' I want to ask you about.”

“Uh, sure.” Rainbow Dash sat. She hadn't been too enthused at the prospect of dealing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Rarity and Pinkie could deal with them. At this point, they were more likely to find them first anyway. “What's up?”

“It's about Twilight.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “What about Twilight?”

“It's...” Applejack booted a nearby tree, sending a rain of apples into her baskets. “Twilight's just been comin' by the farm an awful lot lately is all. Which is great, obviously. I like havin' her around.”

“Okay, what's the problem then?”

“Well, she keeps poppin' in at the middle of the day when I'm tryin' to get stuff done.” Applejack hooked a basket with her tail and started dragging it towards her cart. “It's not that I don't like it when she comes around, but whenever she does it's like any work I'm tryin' to do just kinda stops. I just wish she'd wait until after I got my stuff done before she drops in. What am I supposed to do?” She dumped her basket into the back of the cart.

“Uh, you could just tell her that, and ask her to come by later, I guess.” Rainbow Dash scratched her head. Applejack was usually all about the simple, straightforward solution.

“I know that that's what I gotta do, I just don't know how to do it without soundin'... greedy. I mean, Twilight's already doin' more than her fair share of relationship stuff. She gave me like three different bunches of flowers this week! I'm already startin' to feel like I'm slackin' off.”

“Wow, three things of flowers, huh?”

“Yeah.” Applejack shook her head as she proceed to the next tree. “Don't get me wrong, they were delicious and everything, but she doesn't need to bring me something every time she comes over.”

“You ate the flowers?”

“Uh, yeah.” Applejack stared incredulously at Rainbow Dash. “That's what you do with flowers.”

“You aren't supposed to eat a bouquet! Even I know that.” Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her forehead. “When your very special somepony gives you flowers, you're supposed to find a fancy vase and put them in there and then leave it on the table or something. When was the last time you saw roses in the snack section of the market?”

“But I don't have enough room in the kitchen for that many flowers.”

“Okay then, why don't you just tell Twilight to stop bringing stuff over. I'm sure she'll understand.”

“I kinda wish I could, but I don't know how to tell her all this stuff without soundin' like I'm makin' excuses. Twilight's doin' all this real nice stuff for me and goin' out of her way to do it. If I go and tell her to come by at some other time or something it sounds like I'm just takin' advantage of her. I mean, how would you feel if you were tryin' your hardest to make somepony happy by visitin' them and givin' them stuff and all they said was 'Hey, can you try to come by at a more convenient time and stop bringin' stuff here?' I'm pretty sure you wouldn't like that.” She bucked the next tree extra hard.

“Yeah, I guess you're right.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “But even then, if I was doing that I'd want to know that I actually was making the other pony happy. If Twilight really wants to make you happy, I think she'll listen.”

“I suppose so.” Applejack sighed.

“Well, I gotta get going,” Rainbow Dash saluted. “See you later!”

“Wait!”

Rainbow Dash stopped. “Yeah?”

“You have any idea what I could for Twilight? She's been doin' so much nice stuff for me lately, and I really want to do something for her. I was thinkin' about takin' her out this Friday. You have any idea what we could do?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “I don't think it really matters. Plan something that you'd like doing with her, and as long as you try to make her happy, I think she will be. Gotta fly!” She took a few steps forward and launched into the air.

Applejack watched Rainbow Dash disappear into a cloud. “Something I'd like doin' with her, huh?”

“Hello, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity was unsure whether to grin or frown. The two expressions canceled each other out and her face remained exactly the same, just as she wanted. “What have you girls been up to on this fine afternoon?”

“Y'know, just crusadin' stuff,” Apple Bloom answered. “We had a meetin'.”

“A meeting, you say? Were you coming up with more plans with which to get your cutie marks?” All three fillies' heads bobbed, although Scootaloo's was notably less enthusiastic. Rarity sighed. “I suppose you are in need of some material for this plan of yours. Making superhero capes?”

“Uh, actually we were just comin' by to talk to you,” Apple Bloom said.

“Me?” Rarity drew back in mock surprise. “Why would you ever want to talk to me?”

“No reason in particular,” said Sweetie Belle. “We just happened to be around and thought we'd drop in.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes. Sweetie wasn't a good liar, but she wasn't a bad one either. There was no way to tell whether they were really just dropping by, or if they intended to rope her into their ill-conceived scheme. “Is that so?”

The head bobbing resumed. “Yup!” Sweetie Belle nodded especially vigorously. “Although since we're here, we were wondering if you could do us a favor!”

“A favor?” Rarity fought to keep the suspicion off of her face.

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom shoved her way forward. “Fluttershy told us that... uh... she needs... um...” Apple Bloom screwed up her face in deep thought for a moment. Rarity tried not to chuckle at the obvious lack of planning that had gone into this endeavor.

“A dress!” Sweetie exclaimed. “I'm pretty sure I heard her talking about how she needed a new dress for... somethin'. You should go find her and talk to her about it. And maybe some other stuff, too. Just hang out a bit. You know, if you have time.”

“Are you sure? Fluttershy usually comes to the boutique if she needs something that badly. Besides, I have matters to attend to here.” Rarity nodded in the direction of the window that Rainbow Dash had smashed through. “Such as this. A certain pegasus, I’m sure you know who, had a poor landing not too long ago, and I must repair the damage before the next rain. If it's so important that Fluttershy needs a dress, I'm sure that she will come by of her own accord.”

“But she's... uh... busy!” Apple Bloom said. “Too busy to come by. Doing stuff with with her animals or something. Oh, I know! We could watch the shop while you're gone! We could fix the window and run the register and clean up the—”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Rarity shook her head. “I prefer to leave such things to professionals. Besides, if Fluttershy is really so busy, I could hardly take up more of her time. As a matter of fact, it would be quite easier for her to simply tell me what she needs the dress for. I already have her measurements from past projects, after all. There really isn't any reason for her to spend time coming down here. Why don't you go find her and ask what type of dress she requires? It would save the both of us plenty of time.”

“Um, I think you should go talk to her,” Sweetie Belle said. “She needs the dress for something important and she'd probably want to talk to her about it.”

“Something important? I wasn't aware that Fluttershy had anything particularly unusual coming up. She didn't mention it while we were at the spa...”

“She needs it for a date!” Apple Bloom blurted. She clamped her mouth shut too late to keep the words in. Sweetie Belle's eyes bulged and Scootaloo winced.

“A date? With whom?”

“I... uh... Rainbow Dash!” Both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo visibly cringed. Rarity fought to keep from snorting.

“So, Fluttershy needs a new dress because she's going on a date with Rainbow Dash?”

They nodded some more, this time slowly and forced.

“Even though Rainbow Dash was just in here not ten minutes ago, and didn't mention any such thing?”

More nodding.

“Are you sure?”

The fillies looked at each other, not sure whether they were supposed to nod again.

“I'll take that as a no. In fact, Rainbow Dash did have something to say about Fluttershy that makes the idea of the two of them going on a date quite unlikely.”

“S-she did?” Scootaloo's voice wavered.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, she seems to be under the impression that Fluttershy has feelings for a certain other pony. Might you know where she got that idea?” Her eyes darted to Scootaloo for a moment. The filly had been suspiciously quiet.

“Uh...” Scootaloo's eyes looked at everything except Rarity. “I...um...I may have mentioned it to her...”

“Scootaloo, you weren't supposed to tell anypony about that!” Apple Bloom said in shock. “It's supposed to be a secret!”

Rarity tweaked Apple Bloom's bow. “If it's a secret, how exactly did Scootaloo learn about it?” Apple Bloom's face scrunched. “That's what I thought,” Rarity continued. “And how exactly did you find out about this?”

“Fluttershy told me.”

“Precisely what did she say?” Rarity asked. “I find it rather hard to believe that she would confide something so personal to a filly before discussing it with any of her close friends.”

“Well, she was talkin' to me about how she wanted to spend more time with Twilight. I asked her if it was because she was afraid of Twilight not wanting to be her friend anymore. Then I asked if she wanted to get Twilight to like her more. Then I asked if she wanted Twilight to want to spend more time with her. And she said 'Yes' to everything! That's what a crush is, isn't it? When you really want to spend time with somepony else?”

“Apple Bloom...” Rarity sighed. “That is only one part of a crush. Merely wanting to spend time with somepony does not necessarily mean that anything romantic is going on.”

“What's romance got to do with it?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“That's a rather major part of what a crush is,” Rarity said. “At its core, having a crush on somepony is basically wishing that they would be your very special somepony. Most of the time it means you go out of your way to make a good impression on them so they'd be amenable to the idea.”

A collective lightbulb went on in their heads. “Ooooooooh!”

“...Which is why the three of you shouldn't meddle in such things. After last year's Heart and Hooves Day incident, I would have thought you’d know better. What part were you trying to make me play in your plan?”

“We thought that if we gave Fluttershy a crush on somepony else, she wouldn't worry so much about about Twilight.” Sweetie Belle mumbled. “We figured that since you're already such good friends with her already, you'd be a good choice. Although now that we know about the whole romance thing it's kinda awkward.”

“You three do seem to have a tendency to set up your siblings,” Rarity said with a chuckle. “Next thing I know you'll probably be trying to get Rainbow Dash to ask the Mayor on a date.” She ruffled Scootaloo's mane. “She's practically like your sister, after all.”

“Sooo...” Apple Bloom sidled up to Rarity. “You aren't going to tell Applejack about this, are you?”

“We'll see. Normally I would, but seeing as you haven't actually done anything yet, it may not be necessary. However, I expect all of you to keep quiet. You are not to tell anypony about any of this, understood?”

The three fillies nodded once again.

“Good. Now get back to your crusading; preferably with a plan that does not involve meddling in the personal lives of other ponies. Perhaps give your clubhouse a more fashionable coat of paint. A nice blue, maybe.”

“Okay, Rarity!” Sweetie Belle said as she retreated out of the boutique. “We'll see you later!”

“And if you see Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie, tell them I want to talk to them, okay?”

“Sure thing!” The fillies disappeared out the door and scurried away, glad to have escaped the encounter without punishment.

Rarity shook her head as she watched them go. Doubtless there was some sort of situation regarding Fluttershy, but nothing so disastrous as she had first assumed. She allowed other matters to start climbing back to the forefront of her mind. She had a new number one priority. Rainbow Dash owed her a window.

“It’s so great that you’re giving Twilight a shot at working here.” Lyra said as she swept along the front of the counter. “I know you've never really wanted to hire any help, especially after what happened last time. It really means a lot to her.”

“I know.” Bon Bon slid a tray of brittle into the display case with a thump.

“I'm honestly a bit surprised you actually agreed to it! I mean, whenever I suggested any other pony you always shot it down before I even finished suggesting them.”

“And if it had been anypony else I would have.”

Lyra grinned. “So you made an exception for Twilight?”

“If somepony can get Winter Wrap Up done on time, they ought to be capable of being a help around the shop rather than a hindrance.”

“Right, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that she wanted the job so she'd be able to buy stuff for her very special somepony, right?” She leaned over the counter and poked Bon Bon. “Riiiight?”

“It may have entered my mind.” Bon Bon stuck her nose in the air. “But my primary motivation was finding a hired hoof that can use a broom without making the shop more of a mess than it already is.”

Lyra put on a shocked face. “You mean you're giving Twilight the broom duties? That was like the one thing you let me help out with!”

“Well, she has to start somewhere. I'm obviously not going to let her do anything important until she proves herself capable of handling the simpler tasks.”

Lyra rolled her eyes. “Bonnie, Twilight is Princess Celestia's personal protege. She can totally handle sweeping the shop. I bet she could even make some pretty chocolate designs for you!”

“Nopony touches the chocolate until they prove themselves!” Bon Bon glared at Lyra. “She gets broom duty.”

“Fine.” Lyra frowned for a moment. Then she grinned. “Wait, does this mean I get a promotion?”

Bon Bon smirked. “I suppose I can trust you to take some of the chocolates out of the molds...”

“Really?”

“...but do not get hair on them or you go back to window cleaning!”

“Yeah, yeah, keep my mane out of the merchandise. I know how it works.” She gave Bon Bon a peck on the cheek as she proceeded to the kitchen. “It isn't first time you've let me help out, even if it has been a while.”

“Just make sure you watch your tail, I wouldn't want any—” The bell above the door dinged and Bon Bon put on her proprietor face. “Welcome to the Ponyville Chocolate oh it's you.” Her wide smile turned back into a frown as she saw that Pinkie Pie had rung the bell.

“Hey, Bon Bon!” She bounced towards the plate of free samples. “You haven't seen the Cutie Mark Crusaders, have you?”

“Fortunately, no, I have not.” Bon Bon stepped out from behind the counter and stood between Pinkie Pie and the chocolate counter.

“What about Fluttershy? Have you seen her?” She snatched a hoofful of candy from the sample plate and began to munch.

“No. And samples are limited to one per pony.” Bon Bon swiped the plate out from under Pinkie's nose.

“Are you suuuurreeee?” Pinkie mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate.

“Yes, I am sure. Today has been rather slow.” She lowered her voice and muttered to herself. “And I was rather hoping it would stay that way.”

“What about Twilight? Have you seen her?”

“She was, in fact, here. But she currently is not. If you needed her for something, you will have to look elsewhere.”

“Okaaaay...”

“Do you have any other reason for stopping by other than to eat all of my samples? If not, I have work I must return to.”

“Nope!” Pinkie stood stock still. “So I heard that you have some new peanut butter cups. Do you have any? Oooh! And those buttercream things. And the chocolate covered bananas!”

Bon Bon sighed and called into the kitchen. “Lyra, how would you like to try your hoof at working the register?”

“Of course, I can talk, Fluttershy!” Twilight said. “You had pretty good timing, actually. I just got back from the chocolate shop.”

“The chocolate shop?”

“Yes, if all goes well I'm going to be working there. Part time, of course.” Twilight tossed her saddlebags into a corner. “I needed a little bit more spending money. You know, to help me pay for dates and such. I never realized that a relationship could be so draining! Financially, at least. But anyway, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Um, it's actually about you and Applejack.”

“It is?” A multitude of questions popped into Twilight's head. Maybe she had a suggestion for their next date.

“Yes. I know that I should have come to talk to you about this sooner, but I just felt so awful about it that I just put it off. I guess I should apologize in advance for leaving it until now. I just felt that I had to tell you.”

“Eh?” Twilight's face kept the same smile. Inside her head, it felt like a trapdoor had opened and her brain had fallen into her stomach. “What do you have to feel awful about?”

“Uh, well, it's that when you... I mean, I--” Fluttershy fiddled with her hooves. “I can't think of any way to say it without sounding like a terrible friend.”

“Fluttershy, I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me, but you're not a terrible friend.” She put her hooves on Fluttershy's shoulders. “You've been nothing but supportive of this whole thing with Applejack, even though it basically drove me crazy.”

“T-that's just it!” Fluttershy's voice wobbled. “I haven't been supportive! I-I've been trying to, but... but... ever since it started” —she sniffed— “I feel like I've barely even talked to you. I mean I have, but whenever we talk it's always about Applejack.” She rubbed her eyes. “It's so stupid. I know how much you care about her, and how happy she makes you, and it hasn't even been all that long. I want you two to be happy! Or at least, I should want you to be happy. But even though I care about both of you I couldn't help but think... I- I thought...”

Twilight's throat was dry. She could barely force the words out. “Thought what?”

“I... I thought that it would be better if you and Applejack weren't a couple!” She buried her face in her forelegs. “I know it's such an awful thing to think, and I’m sorry that I ever thought it! It's just that no matter how much I want to be happy for you, I just... I feel like I'm losing you, Twilight. It's terribly selfish, but I just want to know that I'm still your friend. I know I've never been all that helpful and that most of the time I've just been a load on you, but the fact that you were my friend anyway means a lot to me. I don't want to lose that!” She curled up in a whimpering, sniffling ball.

Twilight stared, her jaw hanging slack. Her tongue wagged uselessly, trying to form a word. Unable to think of anything, she took a step forward and gave Fluttershy a hug. Twilight dug into her memories of the past week, sorting through every conversation she could remember. The blood drained out of her face as the realization dawned. “No, Fluttershy. You didn't do anything wrong. It's me who's been a lousy friend. I'm so sorry. If I would have realized...” She sighed. “I should have been paying more attention.”

“What?” Fluttershy looked up. Her eyes were already red around the edges. “But I'm the one who... who thought—”

“You only thought that because I was so caught up in everything. Just because I have a very special somepony now doesn't mean that you aren't still my friend.” She groaned. “I'm such an idiot. I was afraid of this from the start; that if I started going out with her the rest of you would feel slighted. But then when Rarity and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie found out about it they were all so happy about it. I guess I just sort of figured you'd be happy about it too.”

“I-I am happy about it,” Fluttershy mumbled. “I just... I want to stay friends, that's all. I could never ask you to stop spending time with Applejack, or to not talk about her or anything. I don't want you to be unhappy just because of me.”

“Well, I don't want you to be unhappy because of me, either,” Twilight said. “I'm so sorry that I wasn't thinking of you. If I would have realized I never would have acted that way.”

“So you still want to be my friend? Even after I—”

“Of course!” Twilight grabbed Fluttershy and squeezed her. “And hopefully I'll be a better friend than I have been for the past few weeks. I can't believe I didn't notice what was going on!”

“It's okay,” Fluttershy said. “I'm just glad you don't dislike me. I was so scared to tell you about it, because it just sounded so bad, but I couldn't keep hiding it. I had to say something.”

“And I'm really glad that you did! I know how hard it can be to speak up, so I really have to thank you for telling me.” Twilight released Fluttershy and sat down. “If you hadn't it would have taken me forever to realize that something was wrong, and by then things would only be more awkward.”

“Yes, that would have been difficult.” Fluttershy finally smiled.

“Or somepony else might have figured it out before I did! That would have been a bizarre situation, if everyone knew except for me.”

“That's why I really wanted to come right to you. I thought of maybe talking it over with somepony else, but I already knew that I'd have to talk to you eventually.” Fluttershy wiped her eyes. “I did talk to Angel and Spike about it, but they just told me to talk to you.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” Twilight said with a chuckle. “All week he's been suggesting that I visit your cottage to organize all of your paperwork. I thought he just wanted to get me out of the library so he could do one of his cooking experiments. Although, come to think of it, I am more or less free this afternoon.”

“You are?”

“Well, I do have one or two little things, but nothing that can't wait until later. And once I start that other job I don’t know how much time I’ll have. I'd love to come by and help you out with... whatever it is you need help with. We can catch up a bit. I haven't really been paying attention to much the past few weeks, and I want to fix that.”

“Well...” Fluttershy thought for a moment. “I was going to do the badger survey with Applejack today, but she was busy. I know you usually don't work with animals, but you could help me organize the records.”

“Sounds like a plan, then!” She got up and poked her head into the kitchen. “Spike, I'm going out to Fluttershy's cottage for a while. I'll see you later.”

“See you later, Twilight! You wanna try some of my gem stew?”

“No, I think I'll be fine. Maybe when I get back. Bye!” She ducked out, and a moment later Spike heard the door slam behind them.

“About time they got that figured out.”

Rainbow Dash had abandoned her patrol around the outskirts. After circling the town four times it was quite evident that the cutie mark crusaders were nowhere to be found. She was having just as much luck in the town; she flew up and down nearly every street and saw neither hide nor hair of those fillies. Or Pinkie or Rarity, for that matter. Where was everypony?

A speck of pink caught her eye, and she dived closer. Sure enough, Pinkie was bouncing merrily down main-street, a box protruding from her saddlebags. Rainbow Dash shook her head. Leave it to Pinkie to go shopping while we have a crisis to take care of. “Hey, Pinkie!” she called as she dropped to street level. “I don't suppose you found the cutie mark crusaders anywhere?”

“Nope! I did find candy, though. Want some?”

“No!” Rainbow Dash planted herself in front of Pinkie. “You're supposed to be looking for the cutie mark crusaders! What were you doing at” —she read the label on the box— “Bon Bon's shop!?”

“Buying chocolate. Duh! That's all she sells.”

“But why were you buying chocolate when you were supposed to doing something else?”

“Well, I thought that since kids like chocolate, they might be in there,” Pinkie answered. “Figured I'd take care of my candy needs while I was around.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to yell, but it wouldn't be good to draw attention. She gritted her teeth instead. “Did you look for them anywhere else?”

“Yup! I looked at the cafe, at the restaurants, at the joke shop, the hat shop, the quill and sofa shop, the fruit stands at the market, the strawberries are really good by the way, the vegetable stands at the market, the muffin shop, the—”

“Okay, I get it,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Is there any place you didn't look?”

“Well, I was about to go to Sugarcube corner to drop off my chocolate.”

“They must be there, then!” Rainbow Dash stomped for emphasis. “I've already checked practically everywhere else.”

“Yeah, they must have gone there to make a cake for Fluttershy and Twilight!”

“Um...” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure, let's go with that. Now let's go!” She braced herself to take off, only to find Pinkie suddenly sitting on top of her. “What are you doing?”

“It's faster this way.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. There was no time to argue. “Fine.” She leaped into the air and soared forward. She rounded the corner and immediately landed, screeching to a halt in front of the Carousel Boutique. Rarity stood in front of it, directing two stallions who were busying themselves with a large sheet of glass.

“Yes, yes, just like that!” Rarity said. “It looks exquisite!”

“Rarity, what the hay are you doing!?” Rainbow Dash snorted. “You were the one making a huge deal out of this, and you haven't even left the shop? What, did you just send me and Pinkie out so we'd leave you alone or something?”

“Not at all!” Rarity spun around. “It might be true that I haven't left the shop, but that's only because our problem came straight to me!”

“What are you talking about, Rarity?” Pinkie narrowed her eyes. “Are you trying to tell me that Fluttershy suddenly showed up and told you about everything?”

“No, no, no.” Rarity shook her head. “Mere moments after you two departed, the cutie mark crusaders appeared on my doorstep. I had a bit of a discussion with them and convinced them not to go through with their plan.”

“That's a relief,” Rainbow Dash said. “Did you find out whether they were right about Fluttershy?”

“I'm quite sure they grossly misinterpreted the situation. Fluttershy might very well have talked to Apple Bloom, but to say that she has a crush on Twilight would be quite a stretch, although I would have to speak to Fluttershy myself to be entirely sure.”

“So no love triangle, then?” Pinkie asked.

“It appears not.” Rarity chuckled. “You would hardly believe the things they came up with to convince me to take part in their plan. They actually tried to tell me that Rainbow Dash—” One of the glass-moving ponies cleared his throat. Rarity looked back to see that the window was once again intact. “Lovely,” she said. “You can send the bill to her.” She pointed at Rainbow Dash.

“What!? Why me!?”

“You're the one who smashed through it! If you had just taken a moment to think things through before flying over here you wouldn't have broken the window. Or if you had just used the door, for that matter.” Rarity scowled. “Don't worry so much, my pegasi insurance will cover most of it. Although I should note that your mere presence in town raised my premiums...”

“Fine,” she grumbled.

“So are you gonna tell us!?” Pinkie asked.

“Tell you what?” Rarity said.

“What the Cutie Mark Crusaders' plan was! They probably had something hilarious planned.”

Rarity giggled. “You have no idea. Why don't you two come into the Boutique? I'll tell you all about it.”

“This is ridiculous! What in tar-nation am I supposed to do!?” Applejack smashed her hooves into one of the apple trees as she grumbled to herself. “Why the hay did Twilight have to go and make our first date someplace so fancy? I'm never gonna be able to top that. Maybe I should ask Rarity... if anypony would know how to set up a good date, she would.” She sighed as she dumped the apples into the cart.

“Then again, she'd probably send me to some frilly, frou-frou thing again and I don't think Twilight is real big on that sort of stuff. She might like it better than me, but that doesn’t mean she’d want to do it again.” She checked to make sure she had bucked all the trees, sighed in satisfaction, and slipped into the cart harness. “'Course, if I take her someplace cheap it'll look like I don't care. I can't do that to Twilight. She deserves better than that.”

The cart creaked as she started to tow it towards the barn. “I gotta be overthinkin' this. I just gotta think of something that we'd both like doin'. Twilight isn't gonna care as long as she has a good time. It's the thought that really counts, right?”

“Right!” said a voice from behind her.

“Gah!” Applejack nearly jumped out of the harness. She looked back to see Cheerilee walking alongside her. “What are you doin' here?”

“Oh, Big Macintosh is just giving me a tour of the orchard. He says it's very nice this time of year.”

“It sure is.” Applejack nodded. “The weather is especially nice and—” She narrowed her eyes and looked back at her brother, who was following a few steps behind Cheerilee. “Wait a sec. Is that why you wanted me to sub in for you today? 'Cause you were takin' Cheerilee out to lunch?”

Big Macintosh didn't say anything, though the redness of his face deepened.

“Y'know, you coulda just told me. I'd still have helped you out. Celestia knows you gotta get off the farm more often.” He looked at the ground and stepped behind the cart, out of Applejack's line of sight. Cheerilee snickered. Applejack shook her head. “So what's up with you two anyway? Tryin' to get any info outta my brother is like tryin' to get a diamond away from Rarity.”

“Well, after that incident last Hearts and Hooves Day, we decided to go out to lunch. You know, just to mess with your sister and her friends a bit. As it turns out, we had a rather good time, decided to have lunch together again next month, and well, we've been doing that ever since.”

“Sooooo.... does that mean that you two are... uh...”

Cheerilee grinned, knowing exactly what Applejack meant. “No, it's nothing that serious.” She waggled an eyebrow. “Not yet, at least. Twilight is lucky that you don't take things as slowly as your brother."

“I dunno, sometimes I think it might have been better to take things a bit slower.”

“Really? Did something happen between you and Twilight?”

“Nah, I'm just still new to this whole 'couple' thing, and I don't really know what the hay I'm doin'. I mean, the date last week went great and everything, but it set the bar so high I got no clue what I'm supposed to do to top it.”

“Eh, just show her a good time.” Cheerilee shrugged. “It probably won't matter what you do as long as you enjoy yourselves.”

“Yeah, I get that, but I don't want her to think I'm bein' cheap about it. She's invested a lot into this relationship, and it's not fair if I don't.”

“Well, I'm no expert on romance, but I would think that how much you enjoy the date is a lot more important than how much you spend on it.” She leaned in close. “Just between you and me, I got taken on my fair share of dates back in my younger days. The one I remember most fondly was this pegasus I met while I was doing my semester in Canterlot. He was a bit goofy and awkward, but he knew how to have a good time. A few days before I headed back to Ponyville, he asked me if I wanted to fly with him. I hopped on his back, and he took off. Didn't cost him a bit, but it was the most fun I'd had in years. You've never lived until you've seen Canterlot from the air.”

“That's real sweet and all, and flyin' around Canterlot sounds like it would be fun, but in case you haven't noticed, I don't have wings.”

Cheerilee chuckled. “I know that. It wasn't just the flying that made it fun. It was that he wasn't trying to impress me or anything. He took me on a flight because he thought I'd enjoy it, and I did. It wasn't like the other times when stallions would try to get on my good side by dragging me to fancy restaurants or to Wonderbolts shows, or things like that. Not that it wasn't quite an experience seeing the Wonderbolts perform.”

“You just had stallions stumblin' over each other to get to you, didn't you?”

“No, no, I wasn't that popular,” Cheerilee said, blushing. “I had a few ponies try to get my attention, but they were hardly fighting over me. I guess Canterlot ponies are just a bit more prone to flaunting their wealth.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Truth be told, that's part of why I enjoy spending time with your brother so much. He never really puts on any pretense.”

“So I should just do something Twilight would like, and just ignore how much it might cost?”

“I may not know Twilight quite as well as you do, but I don't think she's the type to care about that.”

“That's what everypony says.” Applejack chuckled mirthlessly. “Guess I should actually listen.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh's voice said from behind the cart.

Applejack looked towards the sunset. “I think I actually might have a plan...”

“...Twenty-seven!” Twilight checked a final box on her list of badgers. “That's all of them!”

“Good,” Fluttershy said. She turned towards the family of badgers and nodded at them. “Thank you for your time. You can go back to your burrow now.”

“So, now what?” Twilight asked as she watched the badgers return to their home. “Do we just report what we found to the Mayor or something?”

“Well, first, I have to examine how the population has changed since last year so we know how many resources they'll use up.”

“I see. I suppose that's why it's so important to do these surveys each year.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Yes. Then we have to identify all of the badger dens in or near Ponyville and compare them to planned building projects to make sure they don't interfere with each other. We wouldn't want anypony to build on top of a badger den and cause a collapse. Fortunately they don't dig in town all that--”

“Look out!” Twilight dove forward, tackling Fluttershy into the badger den and out of the way of a rickety, wheeled contraption. It barreled past them, moving faster than such a piece of junk had any right to move. It slammed into the side of the ditch and collapsed into a pile of splinters. A single wheel rolled away from the wreck, coming to a stop at Twilight's hooves.

“Ugghhh....” Apple Bloom's helmeted head popped out of the wreckage. “I guess tryin' to get go-kart racin' cutie marks wasn't a good idea.”

“That's what I told you!” Sweetie Belle's voice said somewhere from inside the ruined cart. “Why did you have to go so fast, Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo extricated herself from the rubble. “It wasn't my fault! I had to go faster to get us over that hill. Then on the way back down the brakes gave out.”

“Are you girls okay?” Fluttershy leaped up, sending Twilight flying. She flittered over to the three fillies and began examining them for any injuries.

“We're fine.” Apple Bloom grumbled. “Maybe we should've used more glue.”

“Or picked a more solid box to build the cart out of.” Sweetie Belle clamored out of the contraption and poked at one of the boards that had survived the crash. It crumbled at her touch.

“Or maybe the three of you should have spend a bit more time planning this out,” Twilight said as she watched the Cutie Mark Crusaders survey the damage. “That thing looks like you just threw it together. If you would have come to me sooner I could have given you some books on how to construct something more durable.”

“We were kind of in a rush,” Scootaloo answered. “We spent most of the day working on our plan to get Rarity to—”

Apple Bloom shoved a hoof into Scootaloo's mouth. “Uh... give us some... paint. For the kart.”

“Really,” Twilight said. It wasn't a question. She had long since learned to be extra skeptical when the CMC were claiming anything. She looked to Fluttershy, whose expression was also quite incredulous.

“Yep!” Sweetie Belle nodded vigorously.

“Girls...” Fluttershy cleared her throat. “What really happened?”

Apple Bloom poked at the dirt with her hoof. “Um, you know that stuff I was talkin' to you about earlier today?”

“Yes, I was actually talking to Twilight about that not too long ago.”

“Well, it turns out we mighta... misunderstood you a little. We kinda thought that... uh... you had a crush on Twilight. It's okay, though! Rarity explained what was really goin’ on!”

“Oh.” Fluttershy flushed, and lowered her head enough that her hair fell across her face. “You didn't tell anypony else, did you?”

“I...uh...” Scootaloo scratched her head. “I might have mentioned it to Rainbow Dash.”

“O-okay,” Fluttershy mumbled.

“You know, you shouldn't go talking about things like that,” Twilight said in her most stern voice. “Especially when you don't fully understand the situation.”

“Yeah, yeah, we know,” Sweetie Belle said. “My sister already gave us a speech about that. We're all pretty sure that we aren't going to get romance cutie marks.”

Apple Bloom hung her head. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told anypony.”

“It's... It's okay.” Fluttershy sighed. “Just don't do anything like that again.” She pointed at the broken cart. “And clean that up before you go.”

“Sure thing!” Scootaloo saluted. “Alright, let's get this mess out of here. And we should probably put those wheels back in the barn before Applejack realizes we took them.”

The fillies busied themselves with the wreck, and Twilight and Fluttershy began back down the path.

“So, do you think Rainbow Dash told anypony else?” Fluttershy swallowed. “I had kind of hoped to solve everything without everyone finding out, and if they thought that I felt like that...”

“Did you actually tell Apple Bloom everything that you told me?”

“Well, no. All I said was that I wished I would be able to spend more time with you. I guess she took it the wrong way. I wonder what Rainbow Dash is going to think. What if she tells everypony?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Twilight said. “Even if she does, I’m sure everypony will realize that it was just the crusaders exaggerating things. Even if they take it at face value, I’m sure they’ll be careful. They wouldn’t go spreading rumors about things like that before talking to you about it first. And that’s assuming that they’ll believe what they hear.”

“Do you really think they’d handle it that well?”

“Of course. They aren't stupid, after all.”