# A Delicate Balance

## by JapaneseTeeth

### No Man Is An Island

Applejack will be fine without me. It’s only a week, after all. I shouldn’t worry about her, anyway. She’s one of the toughest ponies I know. I really should be worrying more about myself. I mean, this is the first time we’ve been apart since we started going out. But really, I should be fine. My schedule is packed. I won’t even have time to miss her! Probably.

No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

--No Man Is An Island,

John Donne

Applejack yawned and sat up. She had actually slept well last night, though it was mainly because she was just too tired for her anxiety to keep her up. Normally she did pretty well with stress, but there had been an awful lot to worry about lately. There was always farm stuff; sales that needed to be made up, apples to sell, holes to patch. Then there were all the favors she inevitably ended up doing for everypony. She'd already spent an afternoon foalsitting for the Cakes, two days helping Fluttershy with the annual beaver census, and put countless hours into helping fix up the town hall to the point where stepping on the wrong board wouldn't result in a trip to the basement. Furthermore, in some inexplicable lapse of reason, she had agreed to be Rarity's dress model for a day, and had offered to help Carrot Top repair her gazebo. She hadn't even had time to practice for the upcoming rodeo.

And that was just the usual set of concerns. But this week she also had to contend with the fact that the Ponyville school was having its usual set of overnight school trips, and this year the earth pony fillies and colts were coming to Sweet Apple Acres. The responsibility of teaching the foals didn't worry her too much. Big Macintosh and Cheerilee were handling the bulk of that; if anything she only had to worry about them grossing out the class by making kissy faces at each other.

No, the main problem would be Apple Bloom. The filly was still bitter over the fact that her friends would be off having adventures while she was stuck at home listening to her siblings and teacher prattle on about things she had heard a dozen times before. And without her friends, she'd be spending all of her time at home, so she'd probably be grouchy even at the best of times.

To make matters worse, Twilight wouldn't be around either. She'd be off enjoying herself in Canterlot, going on and on about the history of unicorn magic. She'll be havin' a ball while I'm stuck here havin' to deal with Apple Bloom. I gotta find some way to cheer her up a bit. She shivered as she shoved the covers back. And why did Twilight have to bring up that stuff about gettin' married? We were doin' just fine not worryin' about any of that. And I can't even talk to her about it now.

She swung her legs out of bed and suppressed another yawn. It was going to be a long week. Then she heard a familiar shout in the distance. It was growing louder. She groaned, and braced herself behind the bed.

Half a second later her window was blown out of its frame. The shards of glass crashed to the floor, followed a millisecond later by Rainbow Dash. Applejack poked her head out from her hiding place, and saw Rainbow Dash's bottom half sticking over the edge of the bed. One of Rainbow's legs twitched.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine,” Rainbow grunted and flipped herself right side up. “Sorry about the window. With Scootaloo gone on her trip, I figured I could go back to doing my workouts in the morning. Guess I'm a bit rusty, though. It's been forever since I exercised right after waking up.” She stretched her wings, causing the joints to pop. Then she glanced at the gaping hole in Applejack's wall. “Next time I'll stay a bit further out. Good thing you got pegasus insurance, huh?”

“Yeah,” Applejack said flatly. “It ain't like the fact that you live in town made the premiums shoot sky-high or anything. And I still gotta go through the trouble of installin' it.”

“Huh, somepony woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That's 'cause I had to hide behind it from a crazy pegasus crashin' through my window!” Applejack stomped her hoof. Then her frown softened. “Ugh, I'm sorry, it's just been a crazy few days, and it's only gonna get worse from here. I've been real busy, and now I've got both that school trip and a cranky Apple Bloom to deal with.”

“Oh, right. I forgot you guys were doing that.”

“Yeah, Cheerilee figured that we'd be able to handle it.” Applejack sighed as she slowly began pushing the larger chunks of debris into a pile. “Why aren't you goin' with the pegasi group anyway? I thought you were goin' along.”

“There was a change of plans; rather than going cloud camping they're taking everypony to a flight camp.” Dash said. “Something run by the weatherponies. Thunderlane and Cloudchaser are both going, and they'll be able to handle the class just fine.” She scratched her head, shaking out a few pieces of glass. “That, and honestly a lot of it is just sitting around listening to them talking about weather-control procedure. It's really kinda boring. I spend enough time on weather work. Cheerilee figured that I probably wouldn't want to go through that.”

“She's probably right.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “It's for the best anyway. Scootaloo could use a little time on her own. Don't get me wrong, it's a ton of fun hanging out with her, but she can get a bit... clingy.”

“She sure can.” Applejack forced a chuckle out of herself. “Honestly, it'll probably be good for the crusaders to spend some time apart, though. I mean, they really gotta hang out with at least a few fillies beside each other. It's great that they're such good friends, but when it comes to gettin' along with the rest of the class they don't really do themselves any favors by never talkin’ to anypony else. Apple Bloom kinda got shafted, though. She'll have to put up with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon the whole time.”

“I thought Cheerilee was keeping an eye on them.”

“She is, but she can't be everywhere, especially not out of school. Those two fillies aren't idiots; they'll be little angels until Cheerilee's busy with something else. I will say they've been a bit better since Cheerilee talked to their parents, though. I'll make sure they don't bug her while we're doin' the field trip, but I can't go hoverin' around her all the time.”

“Just tell 'em that you'll have your brother squish their heads!” Rainbow Dash said, grinding her hoof into the floor. “Or better yet, have Mac tell them. They'll stay away after that.”

“First off, Big Mac wouldn't do that,” Applejack said, shaking her head. “Second, the last thing I want is Apple Bloom thinkin' it's alright to solve her issues by buckin' them in the face. She gets herself into enough mischief already without gettin' into fights.” She groaned. “Still, Apple Bloom's probably not gonna be happy this week, and it's up to me to make sure she has a good time. It's a tall order.”

“Yeah, I can see how that might be tough on you, especially if you have to entertain Cheerilee's class while you're at it.”

“Yeah, and on top of that, Twilight's gonna be gone all week, which is buggin' me because... uh... reasons.”

“Reasons?” Rainbow Dash cocked her neck. “She's not having another breakdown, is she?”

“No, no. I think it might be my turn, actually. I just have a lot to worry about is all.”

“I dunno...” Rainbow Dash leaned closer, “Something's bothering you, isn't it?”

“Yeah, no!” Applejack mentally slapped her brain for working so slowly in the morning. “Maybe. I don't even know.”

“Come on, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash threw a foreleg around Applejack's shoulders. “You know you can tell me anything. Anything at all.”

“I ain't tellin' you a thing until I get some breakfast. I just got up like two minutes ago. I gotta finish wakin' up.” She pried Rainbow Dash off of her. “Tell you what, I'm gonna go get some food. You clean up in here and fix my window, and this afternoon I'll help you train, just like we used to.”

Rainbow Dash tapped her chin with her hoof. “It has been a while since you helped me train, hasn't it?”

“It sure has. I kinda miss it.”

“Well, I think I can do that,” Rainbow Dash said. “Broom is still in the hall closet, right?”

“Eeyup,” Applejack plucked her hat off of her bedpost and put it on her head. “Well, I gotta go wake Apple Bloom up. Wish me luck. I'll need it.”

“Good luck. I'll see you this afternoon.”

The train car rumbled along towards Canterlot. Unlike the dozen-odd fillies and colts who bounded and bounced around the windows in an attempt to absorb as much of the scenery as possible, Twilight sat in the corner seat, her snout buried in one of her many day planners. Whatever it was that was written on the pages had been crossed out and rewritten so many times that Twilight was the only pony capable of deciphering it.

“Hey Twilight, whatcha doin'?”

“Huh?” Twilight looked up to see a small, gray-lavender filly with a yellow mane poking her head over the the top of the seat. “Oh, hello, Dinky. I'm just finalizing the itinerary for our excursion.”

“What?” Dinky raised an eyebrow.

“She's figuring out when we're going to do what once we get to Canterlot,” said a purple unicorn standing in the aisle. “She scheduled the whole thing after a—” she spun around, “No standing on the seats! And no jumping!” She turned back to Twilight. “Have you figured it out yet? I would've thought you'd have gotten everything set up before we left!”

“Don't worry, Sparkler. Everything important is taken care of already,” Twilight said. “Food and lodging are both set up. But the activities... Celestia gave me a schedule of when everything will be available, and I want to fit in as much as possible! We only have a few days, and I want everypony to get the most out of it. I mean, I wanted to take them to sit in on a high-level magical artifact lab, but they only have that twice a week, and we'd have to skip either the Traditional Mage Clothing exhibit or the Magical Flora Greenhouse. I think I'm going to take them to the greenhouse. The Everfree Forest has a lot of magic plants, and it would be good for them to recognize how dangerous it is.”

“So what all are we doing!?” Dinky exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her perch on Twilight's headrest.

“Well, first we're—”

“Hold on a sec,” Sparkler interrupted. “And get off of there.” She levitated Dinky off the headrest and onto the seat next to Twilight, then turned her attention to the rest of the train car. “Hey, everypony! Who wants to hear what we're going to be doing this week!?”

A chorus of “I do, I do!”'s rocked the train.

“Well, if you all sit still and be quiet, Twilight will tell you.”

The bouncing ceased almost instantly. The group was more focused than they ever were in class.

Sparkler waved a hoof at Twilight. “It's all yours.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Yes, I have a very fun and educational selection of events for you!” she said. “The train is planned to arrive in Canterlot at ten o'clock, which means that we should be there no later than eleven. This gives us half an hour to travel to our lodging in the dormitories at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, half an hour to get settled in. At noon we'll have lunch at the cafeteria and at twelve thirty we leave for the Arcane Zoo of Canterlot, and ought to arrive by no later than twelve-forty-five. Once we are there, we have fifteen minutes to get to the manticore enclosure, where I've arranged for a presentation by Equestria's foremost arcane biologist at one o'clock At one forty-five, we depart to the...”

Sparkler shook her head. Leave it to Twilight to have everything planned down to fifteen minute intervals. It took a whole interval just for Twilight to get through the schedule..

“...and then, after the Arcane Astronomy presentation at the Canterlot Observatory is over at one in the morning, we will travel back to the dormitory. There will be half an hour for preparations, and lights out will be promptly at one forty five! Then tomorrow—”

“I think we'll leave tomorrow a surprise,” Sparkler said. “We wouldn't want to spoil things. Now, please go back to your seats. And no jumping around!”

The class all leaped to their hooves and promptly ignored Sparkler's request. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Twilight. “Isn't that schedule a bit... dense for them? I mean, I know you want to cram in as much as possible, but you might be laying it on a bit thick.”

“I know it's a bit busy, but it's only a few days. They can handle it,” Twilight said as she closed the ledger. “Although I admit, I do want to keep myself occupied as well.”

“Keep yourself occupied?” Sparkler asked. “Is something going on back in Ponyville?”

“No, no, it's nothing.” Twilight laid the book on the seat next to her and turned her gaze to the window just in time to see an apple orchard whiz past. “I'm just already starting to get a little homesick.”

“So she finally said the 'M' word, huh?” Rainbow Dash lounged back on an especially poofy chunk of cumulus as she waited for Applejack to lasso a final cloud. “I guess it was gonna come up eventually. What's the big deal, anyway? You must've known it was going to come up eventually.”

“Well, yeah, I knew it, but I didn't really know it.”

“Okay, you lost me.”

Applejack sighed. “What I mean is that I always kinda had it in the back of my head someplace that it might happen if we started datin', but talkin' to Twilight about it made me realize that it's something that could actually happen. It's like when you're a filly and all the adult ponies tell you about how when you're old enough you won't have to go to school anymore. You know that they're right and eventually you're gonna be done with all that, but it's not until you're at your graduation, wearin' that silly hat that it sinks in.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, I know how that feels.” Rainbow Dash nodded sagely. “I mean, I always knew that I'd make it into the Wonderbolt Academy and do really well, but actually getting that letter was something else!”

“Yeah, well, that's kinda how it is now, except I'm only partway there.” Applejack tugged on the lasso, maneuvering the cloud into position. “I never really gave it a whole lot of thought before, and then all of a sudden it seems like it's loomin' over me.”

“I thought you and Twilight agreed to stop thinking about later.” Rainbow Dash stood on the cloud and began to stretch. “Why are you worrying about it so much when neither of you think you're ready for it?”

“That's what's so confusin' about it. I don't know if we're... or at least if I'm ready, because I've never really thought about it before.”

“What's so hard about it? You like spending time with her, right?”

“It ain't that simple and you know it,” Applejack said, glaring up at Rainbow Dash. “There's a pretty big difference between hangin' out a lot and goin' on dates, and spendin' all your time together. Don't get me wrong, I love Twilight, but makin' her a permanent part of just about everything that I do... that's a pretty big thing, you know? I gotta figure out whether that's something we'd want.”

Rainbow Dash poked her head over the edge of the cloud. “If it's like that, then this is a great time to figure it out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, since Twilight is out of town, it's a good opportunity to see how you feel about not having her around. You'll be able to see how your life is different now that she's not here. If you miss her and want her to come back, great! If not... well, you've got some issues to work out.”

“I guess life is goin' back to what it was like before she moved to Ponyville, isn't it? At least sort of. Come to think of it, this will be the first time that she's been out of town for so long since we started goin' out...”

“Well, you know what they say,” Rainbow Dash fluttered down from the cloud and landed next to Applejack. “Absence makes you... uh... do something. I don't remember exactly how it goes, but you know what I mean. Now that you two aren't together you'll get a better feel for how much your relationship actually changes things. It'll be good for the two of you.”

“But what am I supposed to do now?”

“You don't need to do anything.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Except maybe relax a little. Seriously, if anything you've been spending too much time with Twilight lately. She's turning you into a worrywart.”

“Sorry.” Applejack shook her head. “It's just that I really gotta start takin' this seriously, and I really want to get it right.” She took a deep breath. “I wonder if this is what Twilight feels like all the time.”

“Wouldn't surprise me,” Rainbow Dash said. “Now, how about we get this show on the road? I'm gonna do a warmup lap around the field, and then I'm gonna do a run through the course. I'm trying to get it under forty seconds. I'm at forty-two point one right now.”

Applejack nodded, and retrieved the stopwatch from under her hat. “Yeah, I'll quit complainin' about it, at least for now. Maybe I'm just overthinkin' things. I'll just go through the week, and we'll see how it goes.”

“That's the spirit!” Rainbow Dash leaped into the air and did a flip. “Now you better watch, because I'm feeling really fast today!”

“Alright then, good luck!”

“Thanks!” Rainbow Dash shot off into the sky.

Applejack watched vacantly as she curved through the air. I wonder what Twilight is doing right now, she thought.

“And this is the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing,” Twilight said, flourishing her hoof at the large, barred doorway.

“Bearded Wing?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I didn't know that you could even grow a beard on your wing.” The group of students burst into subdued giggles. “And wasn't Star Swirl a unicorn?”

“It's not 'bearded wing', Sweetie Belle,” Sparkler said wearily. “It means 'the wing of the library named after Star Swirl the Bearded.”

“Ooooooh.”

Twilight cleared her throat and continued her recitation. “Star Swirl the Bearded is one of the most important unicorns in the history of Equestria. Not only was he the mentor of Clover the Clever, but he is considered the father of modern magical studies. He invented over two hundred spells, and was one of the first unicorns to attempt to analyze the mechanics of basic telekinesis. And most importantly, his studies are the basis of the Mana Particle Theory, which defines current magical studies. This theory is instrumental in understanding the interactions between unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony magic, as well as studying magical flora and fauna, such as those we saw at the Zoo.” She took a deep breath in preparation of the next paragraph.

“Like a manticore!?” Dinky exclaimed.

“Yes, like a manticore,”

“Or a dragon!?” said Sweetie Belle.

“Yes, dragons are also magical creatures,” Twilight answered.

“Or an Ursa Major!” Snips and Snails called out in unison.

“Yes, yes, that too,” Twilight said. “Those are all good examples of magical fauna. Who can give me an example of magical flora?”

“Huh?” The class gave her a series of confused glances.

“'Flora' means 'plant life',” Sparkler clarified. “Does anypony know any magical plants?”

The responses came back in a rush.

“Poison joke!”

“Heart's desire!”

“That weird-smelling stuff that my brother puts in his brownies!”

“Yes, yes, those are all very good examples!” Twilight said, holding up a hoof in an attempt to quiet the group. “And without Star Swirl's studies we wouldn't know anything about how any of that magic works. That's why this section of the library was named for him.” She turned to the door. “As you can see, the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing—”

There were stifled giggles from the class. Sparkler cleared her throat and glared at them, and it subsided. Mostly.

“As I was saying, as you can see, this wing is not open to public access. Only authorized members of the faculty and certain high-level students,” she smiled proudly, “myself included, are allowed access. This is because the books in this section contain information concerning some of the most powerful and dangerous spells in Equestria.”

“Like what?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Well, there are temporal manipulation spells, for one.”

The class responded with puzzled looks.

“Time travel,” Sparkler clarified. The students gasped.

“Well, in theory anyway,” Twilight said. “In practice it's more like 'time wasting'. The metamorphosis spells are far more interesting and useful.”

“You have spells that make butterflies?” asked Dinky.

“Well, not that specifically,” Twilight said. “They encompass any spells that change one object into something else. Like turning a seed into a flower, or an apple into an orange.”

“Why would you want to turn an apple into an orange?” Dinky scratched her head. “Wouldn't it be easier to just buy an orange rather than getting an apple and turning it into an orange? And besides, apples are better than oranges anyway.”

“I, uh... well, that particular application isn't so useful, but the theory behind it is. And turning an apple into an orange is just the standard example. It doesn't have anything to do with which fruit is better.”

“I bet Applejack wouldn't be happy if you went and turned all of her apples into oranges,” Sweetie Belle said. “She'd probably get mad at you if you did that.”

“But I don't do that!” Twilight answered. “I have no reason to.”

“She wouldn't wanna do that anyway,” said Snips. “Applejack would dump her if she did.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight could sense the control of the situation slipping away.

“Yeah, Sweetie Belle says that you and Applejack are very special someponies,” Snails drawled.

“What!? No! I mean, well, yes, but I, uh...”

“That's none of your business!” Sparkler shoved Twilight out of the way and stomped her hoof. “Whether or not she has a very special somepony or not has nothing to do with you. Now, do any of you have any good questions for her?”

Several fillies and colts raised their hooves.

“Questions about the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing?”

They giggled, but put their hooves down.

“Good.” She turned to Twilight. “Now, Miss Sparkle, where is our next stop?”

“Uh...” Twilight fumbled through the pages of her schedule. “We'll be sitting in on an entry-level magical analysis lab.” She gasped. “And it starts in three minutes! We have to get going! Come on, everypony.”

Sparkler shook her head and chuckled to herself. Twilight definitely had her mind on something back in Ponyville. Or rather, on somepony.

Applejack knocked on the library door. Despite knowing that Twilight was miles away, she half-expected her to fling the door open and greet her with a smile and a kiss. Instead the door was opened by a diminutive dragon with a tired frown on his face.

“Good afternoon, Spike,” she said, trying to remain cheerful. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“This thing.” Spike stepped back and pointed into the library's entrance way. An abnormally large round package, wrapped in brown paper, sat on the floor.

“What the hay is that thing?” she asked as she stepped into the library. Even though Twilight was no longer around to obsessively reorganize it, it had managed to stay relatively neat. Well, aside from the giant thing that sat in the middle of the floor.

“I was hoping you knew,” Spike said with a shrug. “It arrived this morning. Special delivery from Canterlot. It was insured and everything. I had to sign like four different things before they'd leave it here.”

Applejack trotted in a slow circle around the object, a puzzled look on her face. “And they didn't say what it is?”

Spike shook his head. “Nope. All I know is that it's got your name on it.”

He pointed to an envelope pasted to the top of the package.

“Didn't you look at it?”

“Are you kidding? That envelope has a royal seal on it.” He flipped the envelope over and pointed to the faintly glimmering sigil stamped across the opening. “Opening one of those not addressed to you can get you fined like a thousand bits.”

“Aw, I'm sure Twilight wouldn't mind if you opened it.”

“She probably wouldn't, but I'm not gonna risk it. Yeah, Twilight might be able to get me out of it, but it would take a ton of paperwork, and I'd rather not bother. Besides, it's your package anyway.” He held the envelope out to Applejack. “You open it?”

“I, uh... are you sure I won't get carted off to jail or anything?”

“That's your name on it, isn't it?”

Applejack looked over the envelope. Sure enough, it had “Twilight Sparkle and Applejack, of the Ponyville Apples” written in unnecessarily elegant calligraphy across it. She shrugged and gingerly tore the envelope open, and pulled out the letter within. She had seen the royal letterhead before, but this was the first time that she had ever held a piece of it. The fact that it had been addressed partially to her made it even more surreal. Twilight was probably used to stuff like this, but for a run-of-the-mill farm pony...

“So, what's it say?” Spike asked.

Applejack cleared her throat and began to read. “'From the desk of Princess Luna of Equestria. Dearest Twilight Sparkle and Most Honorable Applejack'. Huh, most honorable? Never got that before.” She shrugged and continued. “I wish to give you my most sincere and joyous Congratulations in Celebration of your first Anniversary.”

“Well, that was nice of her,” Spike said.

“Yeah, it is,” Applejack said. “Never thought I'd be gettin' a letter from a princess.” She kept reading. “'It is the Hope of both Myself and my Sister that this is only the First of many happy Years together. In Honor of this Occasion, We gladly proffer the traditional Gift...'” Applejack's voice trailed off. She blinked, rereading the sentence.

“Well, what is it?” Spike asked

“...of a Cheese Wheel!?” Applejack's eyes darted from the letter to the cheese-wheel shaped package on the ground, and back to the letter. “'Enclosed is a one-hundred-pound Wheel of the finest smoked Gouda which Canterlot has to offer. The Chefs tell Me that this particular Cheese goes well together with Apples, and as such I thought it appropriate. I apologize for the Delay in the Shipment, as I wanted to be sure that I picked only the very best Cheese for your Enjoyment. Regards, Luna, Princess of Equestria.'”

Applejack lowered the letter, and spent a long moment staring at the Royal Gift. “A cheese wheel? What the hey am I supposed to do with a hundred-pound cheese wheel!?”

“Well, you can start by getting it out of the library,” Spike said. “I was going to sweep the floor today.”

“You mind if I leave it here for like another hour or two? I gotta be back at the farm in like fifteen minutes to talk to Apple Bloom's class about earth pony magic.”

Spike groaned. “Fine, I'll just sweep around it. Not like any dust is gonna get under it anyway.”

“Don't worry, Spike, as soon as we're done, Big Mac and I will come get it.”

“Alright, that works, I guess,” He said with a sigh. “Good luck with your presentation.”

“Thanks,” Applejack said as she stepped out the door. “I'll need it.”

“...And because of the resonance principle, the more time somepony spends around certain types of plants, the more their personal magic aura matches it. This has many practical applications.” Big Macintosh stepped back. The entire gaggle of fillies and colts sat in rapt attention, mainly because none of them had ever heard him use so many words all at once. “My sister will demonstrate.”

“Right!” Applejack cleared her throat and stepped forward. “Like my brother said, while it doesn't look like much, earth pony magic can be right useful. For instance, this tree here.” She took a few steps toward one of the many apple trees in the orchard. “Since I spend so much time around apple trees, my magic aura matches these trees. That lets me do stuff like this!” She gave the tree a tap with her back hoof, and a rain of apples dropped into the baskets that surrounded it. “Normally, you'd need a lot more power to knock all the apples off of a tree, but when your magic is in sync with the tree, you can exert a bit of influence over it.”

Twist raised a hoof. “You mean like making treeth grow really fatht?”

“Well, that's certainly possible. An earth pony that trains a lot can make a tree go from seed to sapling in a day. 'Course, we don't usually do that here on Sweet Apple Acres. It's much less work to just use that energy to make the trees we already got more productive than they would be otherwise. If we ever need new trees we usually have a bunch of 'em that we grow over more time.”

Diamond Tiara snorted. “Yeah, like it really matters. Anypony can plant a tree!”

“Is that so, now?” Applejack narrowed her eyes. She could see why her sister was none too fond of the little pink filly, but it wouldn't be appropriate to get in a fight with a student. “Just cause it ain't flashy doesn't make it any less useful.”

Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes and opened her mouth, speaking half to Silver Spoon and half to nopony in particular. “She's probably just saying that because she knows that her farming magic doesn't really do squat.”

“Diamond Tiara!” Cheerilee took a step forward, but Big Macintosh stopped her.

“Actually, a few years ago, the researches at Canterlot did a study on that,” he said. “The average earth pony yield was one hundred seventy percent higher than the maximum unicorn or pegasus yield.”

“Well, yeah,” Silver Spoon blustered, “But that's just like, boring numbers and stuff!”

“Yeah!” Diamond Tiara turned back to Applejack, “I think she's just makin' stuff up because she knows that her marefriend could do all that stuff better than she could!”

A gasp ran through the class. Even Big Macintosh's eye twitched slightly.

Apple Bloom leaped to the front of the group and shoved her face against Diamond Tiara's. “You take that back! You don't know nothin' about anythin'!”

“Whoa, there.” Applejack put a foreleg around Apple Bloom and dragged her back. “No need to get into a fight. Can you do me a favor, Apple Bloom?” she said through gritted teeth.

Apple Bloom nodded.

“I want you to run to the storage shed and bring back some apple seeds.” Applejack grinned. “There's a hill out in the north field that could use a tree.”

“... And those are the basic mechanics behind the standard transmutation spell!” Twilight turned away from the massive chalkboard at the front of the classroom. She wasn't quite expecting applause, as that was hardly appropriate for a classroom, but the flat glares of the class, half of which who were looking out of the window rather than at the mass of charts and diagrams on the chalkboard, weren't quite what she wanted. She cleared her throat. “Can anypony tell me why it's so important to understand magical particle theory?”

She sighed as she saw that nopony raised a hoof.

“Come on, this is important!” She turned to Sparkler, who at least kind of looked like she had been paying attention. Sparkler shook her head, and approached the front of the borrowed classroom.

“Twilight, I think you might have gone over their heads a bit,” she whispered. “I went through magic school, and I didn't even catch everything you just said. They aren't going to get advanced mana theory at this age.”

“Yeah, I think you're right,” Twilight said, noting one of the fillies in the back row who was starting to nod off. “How am I supposed to keep them interested?”

“I have an idea.” Sparkler reached into the saddlebag under her chair and pulled out an apple. “Hey, everypony! Who wants to see Miss Sparkle turn an apple into an orange!?”

A sudden chorus of “I do, I do, I do!” rang out from the young unicorns, who suddenly seemed a lot more awake.

“Um, okay then.” Twilight took a moment to ensure that the apple was in the center of the desk at the front of the room. “Now, everypony needs to be very very quiet while I do this. If I get distracted, my aim might be off, and I wouldn't want to turn one of you into an orange by mistake.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She hadn't done this particular spell in quite a while, but it was comparatively simple.

A blossom of violet sparkles bloomed around her horn, eliciting gasps from her audience. She opened her eyes and reached out with her magic, feeling out the shape of the apple's aura. Applejack wouldn't approve of this, she thought. There was a flash, and an orange sat on the desk.

“Cool!”

“That was awesome!”

“Turn it into a pear, now!”

“Can I eat it!?”

“Shhhh!” Sparkler made a lip-zipping motion. “Thank you for that demonstration, Miss Sparkle.”

“You're welcome,” Twilight answered. She turned back to her audience. “To answer your question, yes, the orange is edible. Apples and oranges have rather similar magical natures, which means that performing a permanent transmutation is possible. If I had changed something different into an orange, such as a rock or a frog, it wouldn't be. Those objects have magical auras that are sufficiently different that they would resist the spell. Once the initial amount of energy put into the spell subsides, their own auras would go back to normal and they would revert to their natural forms. This is why food must be grown rather than magically made from inanimate objects.”

She glanced at the clock. “And with that, it's time to take a brief break to use the facilities and prepare for our next activity. You'll be going to sit in on an introductory magic class lead by Princess Celestia herself!”

“Won't you be coming along, Twilight?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Not for this, no,” Twilight answered. “I have to go make some preparations for another activity. Speaking of which, I should probably be on my way. Can you handle things, Sparkler?”

“Yes, I'll be fine. You run along.”

“Thanks.” She addressed the class for a final time. “I'll see you all later.” With that, she slipped on her saddlebags and headed out the door.

“Watch closely, everypony!” Applejack said to the assembled fillies and colts. “Especially you.” She glared at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon out of the corner of her eye. “I don't do this very often.” She held up a seed. “Okay, y'all see this?” The class nodded. “Good, 'cause it ain't gonna be a seed for very long.”

She drove her hoof into the earth at the crest of the hill and scooped it out. She allowed the seed to drop into the hole, and shoved the dirt back on top of it. “Okay, here we go.” She closed her eyes and focused her attention on her hooves, absorbing the feel of the grass and earth beneath them. With each breath she could feel the breeze swaying the blades of grass beneath her. Her thoughts went lower, into the thin roots, then into the soil. She could feel it all, where the rocks were, the paths that the roots of the seeds would take. Her mind found the seed, and she pressed her hooves gently against the ground, sending out an imperceptible ripple. She smiled as the seed responded. The shell began to come apart.

“What's she doing?” Silver Spoon asked. Applejack had been motionless for nearly half a minute.

Diamond Tiara giggled. “Maybe she fell asleep.”

“Hey, look!” Apple Boom thrust a hoof at the mound of dirt where Applejack had buried the seed. The earth shuttered for a moment, and then a narrow shoot burst out, straining itself slowly but surely towards the sky.

“W-what?” Diamond Tiara stared as the shoot grew, sprouting leaves as it went.

The growth began to slow, coming to a gradual halt with the highest leaves of the new sapling hanging right above Applejack's head. Applejack's eyes snapped open. She blinked a few times. “Whew, it's been forever since I did that last.” She shook her head. “As y'all can see, this here tree has undergone about five years of growin' in a little under a minute. There aren't any known unicorn spells that are capable of reproducin' this effect, because those types of spells can't resonate properly with the plant. They can simulate the effect, but as soon as the spell runs out of magic, it goes poof and the tree goes back to bein' a seed. And now I'll let my brother here explain the finer points of the magic, as I've got other stuff I have to take care of. See y'all later!”

She turned toward the house and began to walk slowly toward it.

Apple Bloom turned to her rivals, smiled, and stuck out her tongue.

Twilight sighed in relief, savoring the absence of any groups of small children following her around. It was only the first day and she already felt like the energy had been drained out of her. She didn't know how Cheerilee did it. Fortunately, her own personal agenda for the day had a pick-me-up built into it. She turned down a familiar side street. How long had it been since she had been through here on her own? Years, probably.

She stopped in front of a rather nondescript but wholly recognizable house, and knocked on the door. The sound of rustling paper could be heard from within. She smiled to herself. “It's alright,” she called. “It's just me, you don't have to clean everything up.”

The sound stopped, and the door swung open, revealing a blue unicorn stallion. “Twiley!” He grinned and caught her up in a hug.

“Good to see you too, Dad,” Twilight said, smiling.

He let her go and stuck his head back into the house. “Hey, Twilight! Twiley's here!” He turned his attention back to his daughter. “Come on in! Uh, excuse the mess. I've been working on some equations.”

Twilight followed him inside. A lot of things had changed since she had moved out of the house. The perpetual whirlwind of paper wasn't one of them. The only thing different about that was that now she had at least sort of an idea of what the numbers scribbled all over them meant. They headed into the kitchen. It had always been the one clean-ish room in the house, besides Twilight's room, of course. Twilight Velvet, a pale lavender unicorn with a purple and white striped mane, stood at the counter, stirring a pot of soup.

“It's so good to see you, Twiley!” she chirped. “Although I wish your father would have taken a little time to clean. It isn’t like we didn’t know you were coming, after all. Isn’t that right, Night Light?”

Twilight’s father shrugged.

“It's good to be back,” Twilight said, taking a seat at the table. “How have you been doing?”

“Oh, just about the same as always,” Night Light answered. “I'm still compiling information about the Affirmed Pulsar. We have about another month and a half to go before we formally write up an analysis. It's too early to tell, but we're theorizing that pulsar activity might have been part of the reason that the Secretariat Comet had such pronounced effects.”

“Is that so? Interesting.”

He nodded. “It sure is! Hopefully all those schoolkids you're bringing by tonight think so, too. How's the trip been so far?”

“Busy, but I think they're enjoying it, mostly. We went to the zoo this afternoon. Did you know that they have a parasprite exhibit now?”

“Yes, I'd heard,” her mother said. “There was a bit of a kerfluffle over it. Ponies getting worried that if the parasprites got loose they'd cause too much damage.”

“Well, they did do a number on Ponyville a few years back,” Twilight said. “Although I think that since then they've been coming up with new ways to contain them.”

“Yeah, yeah, parasprites,” Night Light said, nodding. “I remember you telling us about that. Any other disasters hit Ponyville lately?”

“Nothing recently,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “A few timberwolves got into town once, but we cleared them out pretty quickly.”

“Really, how'd you manage that?” Her mother asked.

“Well, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy lured them to the town square with a giant stick cake, and then Applejack bucked them all apart. Rainbow Dash used a tornado to suck up the pieces and put them in a specialized net that Rarity and I put together and then Zecora took it back to the forest.”

“Sounds like an adventure,” Night Light said.

“Not really. After the whole Discord incident, that seems more like a chore than anything else.”

“So Applejack beat up all the timberwolves by herself?” Twilight's mother took a sip of her stew, stuck out her tongue, and added some salt. “That's pretty impressive.”

“Yeah, it really is,” Twilight said, a hint of pride in her voice. “She'd probably say she was just doing her job, though.”

“How's Applejack doing, anyway?” asked Night Light. “She wasn't mad that you were leaving to go hang out here, was she?”

“No, not at all.” Twilight chuckled. “The only pony she's mad at is herself for volunteering to help out with Cheerilee's earth pony magic lessons. She'll do fine, though. We’re busy as always, but we find the time.”

“You two should find the time to come visit us!” Twilight Velvet said. She turned and began to set the table, putting a big bowl of salad on the table. “We'd really like to meet her!”

“Uh, you have met her. Remember Shining's wedding? She was there. And you met her again when you visited the Ponyville Library.”

“Well, we met her, but we didn't really meet her.” Night Light plucked a lettuce leaf out of the salad and began to munch. “We only ever talked to her for a few minutes.”

“Yes, and that was before the two of you started going out.” Twilight's mother lifted the pot of soup off of the stove and floated it to the table. “Now that you two are getting more serious, we really ought to get to know her a bit better. From what you've told us about her, she seems like a very good match for you.”

“Y-yes, I suppose so,” Twilight mumbled. “When I get back to Ponyville, maybe we can schedule something.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Night Light licked his lips as he sniffed the soup. “Now how about we get some food in us, and then we can go over our plan for your visit to the observatory tonight.”

Twilight nodded. “Sounds good. I'm hungry anyway.”

Applejack tried not to yawn as she stacked the last of the apple baskets. Today had been long, and tomorrow would probably be even longer. If she admitted to herself that she was tired now, she'd keel right over, and she couldn't do that. She still had work to do. She needed something to distract her from her heavy eyelids.

“You were so cool this afternoon, Applejack!” Apple Bloom jumped onto her sister's back, eliciting a grunt. “You just poked the ground and that tree just popped right up! Diamond Tiara had the stupidest look on her face when she saw that!”

“Yeah, well you looked kinda goofy yourself stickin' your tongue out at her,” Applejack said. She leaned to the side, and Apple Bloom rolled off of her. “I thought we taught you not to do that to other ponies.”

“I know, I know,” Apple Bloom sighed and hung her head. “Diamond Tiara was just bein' such a jerk I couldn't help it.”

Applejack smiled slightly. “I gotta say it did feel pretty good shuttin' her up. Cheerilee gave her a long talking-to after the lesson. Talked to her parents afterward, too. They weren't too happy about her behavior either. Hopefully she'll be better behaved tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow!? You mean they're lettin' her come along!?” Apple Bloom stomped all four hooves. “Why aren't they punishin' her!?”

Applejack chuckled. “I'm pretty sure that the trip is the punishment. We're goin' to the Everfree Forest, Apple Bloom. You really think that somepony like Diamond Tiara is gonna want to go in there? You should've seen her face when her dad said that she was goin' on the trip. It was priceless.”

“Huh, that's right. She's scared of the forest, isn't she?”

“I guess so,” Applejack said with a shrug. “Don't be too hard on her, though. You gotta be the better pony, even if she's a jerk.”

“Fine,” Apple Bloom grumbled. “Now how long is it gonna be before I can do that thing with the seed?”

“I got no idea. Could be a few weeks, could be years. Though the more time you spend around the trees, the easier it comes. That's why you gotta do your chores. But right now, you should go start gettin' ready for bed. You got a long day tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Apple Bloom nodded, and made for the house.

As she watched her little sister go, Applejack allowed herself a yawn. “I wonder if Twilight is this sleepy.”

“Come on, Lyra!” Bon Bon called from the kitchen. “You know that the nuts are supposed to go in a separate section of the closet from the baking chocolate!”

“They do?” Lyra poked her head over the counter, which she was currently occupied with cleaning. “Since when?”

“Since Twilight took over doing the inventory. Seriously, I never realized how much of a mess our storage room was until she organized it. Maybe I should get her to help me reorganize the kitchen.”

“Eh!?” Lyra dropped the rag she had been using. “The kitchen? Really? You never let anypony in there! You don't even like having me in there too much. It's like your zone.”

Bon Bon stuck her head out. “Well, Twilight has more than proved herself capable of handling the responsibility over the past year. Besides, it is not like I'll let her do any of the actual cooking. You're still my only assistant for that.”

“So you admit I was right?” Lyra waggled an eyebrow at Bon Bon as she came around the counter.

“What are you talking about?”

“You don't remember?” Lyra grinned and lightly tousled Bon Bon's mane. “When I first tried to convince you to hire her, you acted like I was trying to get you to shave your head.”

“Yes, yes, I remember.” Bon Bon sighed and began to fix her hair. “And yes, you were right. Twilight has been quite helpful.” She eyed the to-do list taped to the counter and noted that only about a third of the items were checked off. “She's especially adept at cleaning in an expedient manner. If she were still here she'd probably have finished every item on that list. Twice.”

“Okay, okay, I get the hint.” Lyra chuckled and picked up a feather duster. “How do you think she's doing right now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, this is the first time they've been apart since they started going out, isn't it? It can't be easy.”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes. “I'm quite sure they're just fine. Neither Twilight nor Applejack strike me as the codependent type.”

“Well, I'm not particularly dependent either, but when I had to go back to Canterlot to finish up my classes, after we had first started going out. I mean, I knew I'd miss you, but I missed you. The first few days I was back, I actually ended up crying. Me! And you know I, like, never cry.” She blushed slightly. “I realized that when you weren't around, something was missing.”

“I remember that,” Bon Bon said. “It... I wasn't feeling my best either.”

“You were bawling, weren't you?”

“I was not!” Bon Bon smiled and tweaked Lyra's horn. “Though I will admit to shedding a few tears. But just a few. Really, I think those two are far more well-adjusted than we were back then. Still, I suppose you're right. They'll probably miss each other quite a bit, even if it is only one week.”

“Yeah, that's not nearly as bad as a whole semester. I never want to have to go through that again. Worst semester ever, and not just because of that one annoying professor.” She kissed Bon Bon on the nose. “I'll get back to cleaning now.”

Applejack's back popped as she stretched herself. As much as she would have liked to marinate herself in the bathtub for another hour or so, it was high time to actually sleep. As long as today had been, tomorrow would be longer. She could sorta deal with all the students on her home turf, but tomorrow she'd have to help keep them in line in the Everfree forest. That couldn't possibly end well. She'd have to keep one eye on the class and one eye wandering through the forest watching for timberwolves, dragons, Ursas, patches of poison joke, anything that could cause trouble. By the end of the day, she wouldn't be able to look straight ahead. She'd probably have a weird hankering for muffins, too.

She shivered as she stepped out of the tub and began to towel off. The bath hadn't helped as much as she had hoped. Her head still felt every bit as cluttered as it had when she got in. She needed somepony to talk things over with, to get everything out of her head so she could think through it. Granny Smith was right out; she was still a bit foggy on the fact that Cheerilee's class was on the farm to learn and not to help out with chores. Big Macintosh wouldn't be much help either; he was a great listener, but he didn't really give a lot of feedback.

She needed Twilight. Sure, she could probably track down one of her friends, but it just wouldn't be the same. Nopony else really got it. It wasn't just conversation, not just filling each other in on the events of the day. It was decompression. It was perspective, bouncing thoughts off of each other and working through the issues of the day, no matter how small. It was therapeutic, sorting through her thoughts and putting them in words. She had never realized how much it helped to have a sympathetic ear.

Applejack buried her face in her towel. What was Twilight up to right now? She had said something about going to her father's observatory. Was that tonight? Twilight had scheduled so many things that they all started to blur together. Maybe when Twilight got back she could give the whole story. And she'd have plenty of stuff to tell Twilight about. She was already looking forward to that conversation.

She looked out the window. The moon was full. Maybe Twilight was looking up at it right now, through some sort of enormous telescope. Maybe Twilight was thinking about her right now. Applejack breathed out slowly, and some of the day's stress lifted from her shoulders.

“Goodnight, Twi.”

“You okay, Twilight? You look a bit droopy.”

“Huh?” Twilight stared blankly at the wall as Sparkler's words meandered from her ears to her brain. “Oh, right. Yeah, I’m just tired is all.” She yawned. “I guess I underestimated how tiring today would be. I mean, I'm no stranger to late nights, but I guess there's a pretty big difference between staying up to study, and staying up with a bunch of students.”

She nodded toward the class. At the moment they had finally begun to slow down a bit. The late night was definitely getting to them, and at the moment they were quite distracted, taking turns at the big telescope.

“Well, the good news is that as soon as we get back to the dorms we can go to sleep. The kids look like they're about to fall asleep on their hooves. I don't think we'll have much trouble getting them to go to bed. At least not tonight.”

“Y-yeah,” Twilight rubbed her forehead and let out a long sigh. “I could really use the rest right about now.”

“Is that all?” Sparkler asked, a wry smile on her face.

“What do you mean?”

“You miss her, don't you?”

“W-what!?” Twilight shook her head. “I don't miss her! I mean, well, I do, but... I... uh... it's....”

“Relax,” Sparkler said as she put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. “I'm not trying to be a smart-alec or anything. If you miss her, that's fine. I remember back in school when my coltfriend went on vacation with his family for two weeks, and I just about had a meltdown over it. And we'd only been going out for like a month. I'd say that you're handling things pretty well, really.”

“Thanks. I just didn't think I'd feel like this on the first day, you know? Between all the trip stuff and visiting my family, I didn't think I'd really start missing her that much until I was a few days in.” Twilight rubbed her eyes. “The rest of this week is going to be tough.”

“Well, this is sure better than realizing you don't miss her at all. Then you'd have a problem.”

“I suppose,” Twilight admitted. “It's still no fun, though. I wish I could at least send her a letter or something, but chances are it wouldn't get there until I was back anyway.”

“Well, in that case, you'd better just keep distracting yourself with trip stuff.” Sparkler nodded toward the clock. “Speaking of which, it's just about time for us to be heading out. It looks like your dad is just about done showing everypony the telescope.”

“This is so cool!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “That one constellation totally looks like a lollipop!”

“Yeah,” Snails drawled. “And there was another one that looked like a carrot.” He paused. “Now I'm hungry.”

Sparkler cleared her throat. “Alright, everypony! It's getting really late, so we need to get back to the dorm and get ready for tomorrow! Why don't you all thank Mr. Night Light for showing all of you the telescope?”

The chorus of gratitude was surprisingly loud for it being so late at night. Sparkler began herding the fillies and colts toward the exit. Twilight waded through the mob and made her way to her father.

“Thanks, Dad,” she said. “They loved your presentation! You probably convinced a few of them to start studying astronomy.”

Night Light grinned. “It's nothing, Twiley. You know I love telling ponies about how great the stars are. Although before you go, you might want to take a look through the telescope.” He winked at her.

“Um, okay...” She trotted over and put her face to the eyepiece.

“Recognize it? I know I taught you all the constellations, but it's been a while.”

Twilight stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she searched the stars for a pattern. Then she smiled.

“The Great Northern Apple.”

“Now you can go back to Ponyville and tell Applejack that she has a constellation named after her!”

“Oh, Dad, that's so hokey!” Twilight chuckled. “She'll love it.” She looked over at the students, who were already starting to file out of the room. “I should probably get going. Tell mom I said goodnight, okay?”

“Of course.” He smiled as he watched her trot along after the class, a renewed vigor in her steps. “Goodnight, Twilight.”