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// A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning// Story: A Delicate Balance// by JapaneseTeeth//------------------------------//

	What am I going to do? What if Rarity was right all along and this was just some passing infatuation? Could I have mistaken a mere crush for something deeper? I've been leading Applejack on! And we were so happy! Our anniversary was wonderful. No, no, this has to be something more than just a crush. A crush couldn't possibly last this long. Applejack and I have been having a wonderful time with each other. It can't just end like that.
	
	But then again, I just don't feel like I used to. All the sensations I had when I was with her, I could feel them in my bones. Where did that feeling go!?
	
	
	
	But we by a love so much refin'd,
	That ourselves know not what it is,
	—A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,
	John Donne
	
	
	Mrs. Cake eyed the confection that sat on the counter. It could be most charitably described as a lump which appeared to be comprised of anything and everything involving chocolate and sugar... It somehow managed to be gooey and crunchy at the same time. She reached out and slowly began to rotate the plate. The item didn't get any more comprehensible. Chocolate and sugary goo oozed out of what appeared to be some sort of fried tangle of dough. There was only one pony who could be responsible for this.
	
	“Um, Pinkie? What is this?”
	
	“That's the ultimate s'more!” Pinkie declared as she bounced out from behind the counter. “I came up with the idea last night and I just had to do it!”
	
	“Yes, but what is it?” Mrs. Cake asked.
	
	“Well, first you get a funnel cake and put a layer of marshmallow fluff on it!” Pinkie pantomimed the action. “Then you put a couple of chocolate bars on it, and cover them with a layer of graham crackers!”
	
	“I do think I see a few graham crackers in there...”
	
	“Yup! It gives it some texture so it isn't so goopy!” Pinke said, nodding enthusiastically. “Then you add marshmallows and chocolate marshmallow fudge! And you take another funnel cake with marshmallow fluff topping and put it on top! Then you bake it at 275 for about ten minutes to melt the chocolate and make the funnel cakes nice and crispy.”
	
	“That sounds quite...”
	
	“Delicious!? I know! That's why I made it.” Pinkie twirled. “But first you have to drizzle some chocolate syrup on top!” She pulled a bottle out of her mane and began to garnish the giant lump of sugar. “Here! Try some. Maybe we can sell it in the shop!”  Pinkie stabbed the confection with a fork and tore off a chunk, holding it out to Mrs. Cake.
	
	Mrs. Cake stared apprehensively at the forkful of tooth-rot, shrugged, and popped it into her mouth. “Hmmm... that's actually rather tasty!”
	
	“Does that mean we can sell them!?”
	
	“Perhaps. I'll have to discuss it with my husband, though.” She narrowed her eyes at the s'more. “And we'll have to work on the presentation. Right now it's a little too gloopy.”
	
	“Too gloopy!?” Pinkie Pie crossed her forelegs and sniffed. “What's wrong with gloopy? You know what else is gloopy? Pudding! And everypony likes pudding! Hmmmm, maybe I should try putting pudding in the s'more.”
	
	“Well, I suppose I'll let you experiment then,” Mrs. Cake said. “Just make sure you write down your recipes so you don't forget them.”
	
	“Yes, Ma'am!” Pinkie saluted so hard she almost knocked herself into a counter. “You want to help me with it? You could help me get the marshmallow fluff off the spoon and onto the funnel cakes! And out of my mane.” Pinkie flicked her tail up, revealing a massive blob of marshmallow stuck to it.
	
	“Oh.” Mrs. Cake took a step back from the sticky blob. “Um, as much as I would love to help you, I have to... um...”
	
	“Dear!” Mr. Cake poked his head into the kitchen. Pumpkin sat on his head, chewing on his ear. Pound was buzzing back and forth on a short leash that was wrapped around Mr. Cake's hoof. “Twilight is here. She wants to talk to you.”
	
	“Awwww.” Pinkie's sugar-caked ears drooped slightly. But not too much. “I guess I'm on my own then.”
	
	Mrs. Cake tried to not look too relieved. “I guess you are. Try not to make a—” She gave the kitchen one final overview. “Try not to make more of a mess.”
	
	“Roger!” Pinkie nodded emphatically. The tip of her mane landed square in a patch of marshmallow on the floor. As she brought her head back up, her mane stretched like a rubber band. Then it snapped free. “Whoa!” She stumbled backward and crashed into the counter, making each and every one of the bowls that sat on it start wobbling.
	
	Mrs. Cake spun around and trotted out of the kitchen. The door closed behind her just in time to muffle the inevitable crash. She winced at the sound of half a dozen sticky-goop-filled bowls hitting the floor. She shook off the dread of cleaning it up. She could make Pinkie do that. She turned to Twilight, who was standing just in the door. She seemed inordinately interested in the floor.
	
	“Twilight! Come in!” Mrs. Cake waved her in, and Twilight moved mechanically forward. “Lyra mentioned that you wanted to talk to me about something?”
	
	Twilight only nodded.
	
	“Are you alright? Is something bothering you?”
	
	Twilight took a deep breath, and spoke in a low voice. “It's a long story...”
	
	
	
	Pinkie poked her nose out of the kitchen. Twilight visiting Sugarcube Corner and not stopping in the kitchen to say hello? That could only mean one thing: hijinks! Or at least it would if Twilight was the type of pony who ever took part in hijinks on her own. Twilight wasn't big on hijinks unless somepony else put her up to it. But why wouldn't she want Pinkie to know she was there?
	
	All Pinkie could think of was that Twilight didn't want to risk a hug. That was sensible, given the layers of ingredients that Pinkie was coated in. But then again Twilight could have just taken a shower afterward, or else just used her magic sparkly thing to keep Pinkie away. It wasn't like she hadn't done that before. It was quite the conundrum.
	
	“Of course!” She zipped back into the kitchen and began to flip through the “kittens wearing silly hats” calendar that hung above the stove. “Or not. Guess it's not my birthday.” She tapped her chin with a sugary hoof. Then she smacked herself in the forehead. “Duh!”
	
	
	
	“Almost... almost...” Rarity squinted at the bow she had just pinned onto the dress. “Not quite.” She nudged it a bit and smiled. “There we go! Perfectly straight!” She took a step back and admired her work. She had spent the morning on the train to and from Canterlot to pick up the specialized fabric she needed to make a new hem. An unfortunate sewing machine malfunction had mutilated the last bit of it she had in the shop. Fortunately, she had made up almost all the lost time on the hat. Through some immaculate stroke of luck, one of her rejected designs from the previous week had matched the dress perfectly. Replace the rubies with emeralds, and it fit as if it had been made specifically to go with the dress.
	
	She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. There was more than enough time to make a pot of tea before they arrived to pick it up. But first she needed a bit of fresh air. She sauntered over to the window and gently swung it open. Then the bush below the window erupted in a flurry of leaves, sugar, and pink hair.
	
	“Hey Rarity!”
	
	“Gah!” Rarity jumped backward, very nearly toppling her mannequin over. “Pinkie!” she gasped, clutching her chest. “Don't do that! Why are you in my bush, anyway? Were you waiting for me to open the window so you could jump through?”
	
	“Well, last time I came through the window without waiting for you to open it, you got really mad, and I had to pay for a new window!” Pinkie said matter-of-factly. She rested her hooves on the windowsill and leaned in. “So I figured I'd let you open it!”
	
	“Why couldn't you just use the door!?” Rarity thrust a hoof at it. “Do you have some sort of aversion to entering the boutique in the proper fashion?”
	
	“I was going to come through the door, but there was a giant 'closed' sign on it!”
	
	“Pinkie, I returned at half past noon!” Rarity said with a groan. “The boutique has been open all afternoon!”
	
	“Really?”
	
	“Yes! I—” Rarity paused, as Pinkie had vanished from the window. Rarity turned, and saw Pinkie zipping around to the front of the boutique. The pink shape in the front window stopped in front of the door, then turned around and zipped back to the window.
	
	“So, I guess it is open,” Pinkie said. “Guess I should check the front door more often. So can I come in?”
	
	“Why didn't you use the door? You were just there!”
	
	“Because I was already over here! Duh!”
	
	“But you weren't! You were... nevermind.” Rarity shook her head. She had gotten this far without a headache, and there was no reason to give herself one by trying to track Pinkie's train of thought. That thing had gone off the rails a long time ago. “Why are you poking your head in my window, anyway?”
	
	“Because I thought the door was closed, remember?”
	
	Rarity's eye twitched so hard that the twinge covered half her face. “Yes, but why did you visit my boutique?”
	
	“I was bored,” Pinkie said. “And I just finished cleaning the kitchen, so I had to get out of there.”
	
	“So you came... here?” Rarity asked with a hint of annoyance. “Wouldn't... anywhere else have been preferable? Why my boutique?”
	
	“Because you're here!” Pinkie said.
	
	“But why did you want to talk to me?” Rarity said through gritted teeth.
	
	“I, uh... Good question. Let me think for a second.” Pinkie knew the info was in her head somewhere. She just had to dig it out. Time to visit her office again. She closed her eyes, and a door materialized in front of her. It was heavy wood, and old fashioned, with a frosted glass window. Printed on the window was “Pinkie Pie: Private Eye!” She wasn't a private eye, of course, but it seemed like the kind of thing you should put on your office door to make it look cooler. She opened it and stepped inside.
	
	Her imaginary secretary sat at the desk, shifting through several stacks of paper, occasionally pausing to pound them with a gigantic red stamp. As Pinkie imagined the door slamming shut, she also imagined the secretary looking up.
	
	“What can I do for you?” She asked.
	
	“What did I need to talk to Rarity about again?” Pinkie asked.
	
	“Really? Can't you ever remember why you visit Rarity?” The secretary rolled her eyes. “Twilight was acting weird, remember? Find out why!”
	
	“Oh, right,” Pinkie said. “Thanks. By the way, you should really consider letting your hair down. A bun doesn't look good on me. I mean you.”
	
	“I tried, but it gets too poofy.”
	
	“Maybe you should borrow Rarity's straightener,” Pinkie said, and returned to reality.
	
	“Pinkie, are you alright?” Rarity looked quite concerned.
	
	“Yeah, I'm fine!” Pinkie chirped. “Not sure if Twilight is, though. She showed up at Sugarcube Corner and didn't even say 'Hello'! Or 'Hi'! Or any other traditional greeting! Twilight always says something!”
	
	“So you're coming to see me because you think I might have some idea what's going on? You think it's something that has to do with Applejack, don't you?” Rarity said as she retrieved a broom and dustpan from her closet. “I can't think of any other reason why you'd come to me.”
	
	“No! Well, maybe. I don't know! That's why I'm here.” She grinned. “So, do you think that it is something with Applejack?”
	
	“To be perfectly honest, I have absolutely no idea. Do you have any reason to think that it's a relationship issue? Just because she's going out with Applejack hardly means that the relationship is the cause of all of her problems.” She swept up the leaves that Pinkie had dropped in through the window. “Just last week she nearly had a nervous breakdown when Bon Bon said she could work the register.”
	
	“Well, yeah, but who was it that helped her get over that!?”
	
	Rarity pondered the question for a moment. “Yes, she went to Applejack. Which of course begs the question of why she wouldn't go to Applejack now.” Rarity sighed. It always felt weird when Pinkie Pie had a stroke of legitimate brilliance. “It seems that you're right. If the issue wasn't something to do with romance, she'd probably have gone to Applejack.”
	
	“Unless Applejack doesn't know anything about it either!” Pinkie suggested. “Like if Twilight wanted to know about baking!”
	
	Rarity rolled her eyes. “Pinkie, Applejack knows all about baking! And even if she didn't, she'd ask you about it!”
	
	“Oh, right.” Pinkie tapped her chin. “She would usually go to her friends first.”
	
	“Precisely. Which means that she must be seeking advice about a subject none of us have the capacity to advise her on,” Rarity said. “Although if it is a relationship issue it's rather odd that she never came to visit me! I have been advising her from the very start, and thought that my advice to her had been quite useful!”
	
	Pinkie cocked her head. “But you haven't even gone on a date in months!”
	
	“That has nothing to do with anything!” Rarity barked, feeling a blush burning her cheeks. “I've been occupied by my business lately, that is all! Besides, I know both Applejack and Twilight well enough that my advice can be just as much, if not more useful than anypony else's! There is no reason at all that she should not come to me!”
	
	“Hmmm....” Pinkie squinted to make herself look deep in thought. “Maybe she didn't think you were helpful?”
	
	“N-not helpful!” Rarity sputtered.  She grabbed Pinkie by the shoulders and shook her, rustling the leaves of the bush. “Why would she ever think that I was not helpful!?”
	
	“I dunno, maybe because her thingamabob with Applejack has lasted months longer than any relationship you've been in?” Pinkie leaned on the windowsill, sticking nearly her entire upper body into the room. “Or maybe some of the other advice you gave her didn't work. Or maybe something horrible is going on that she doesn't want to tell any of us about. Or—”
	
	“Pinkie, just stop,” Rarity interrupted, shoving Pinkie back out the window. “I understand that at this point I may not exactly have vast experience, but every single piece of advice I have given her is completely relevant to her needs! While I'm sure she has her reasons, I can assure you that it not due to the quality of my advice!” She glared hard at Pinkie, who was unfazed. “Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go make myself some tea, and then take a nap. As for you, I suggest you go clean that... gunk out of your mane. Leave it in there any longer and it might be permanent.” She flicked her tail at Pinkie and stomped into the kitchen.
	
	Pinkie watched her slam the door. “Or she might have just seen that the boutique was closed.”
	
	
	
	“So now I'm not sure what to do,” Twilight wailed. “If Rarity was right, and all those feelings can come and go, what if they're gone? I can't just leave Applejack like that! But I don't want to keep leading her on, either. What am I supposed to do!?”
	
	“First of all, have a cookie.” Mrs. Cake put a plate on the table. Pinkie had vacated the premises, so they had taken their conversation into the kitchen, at the small table in the back corner, which was seemingly the only place in the entire room that Pinkie hadn't coated in sugar.
	
	“A cookie?” Twilight wrinkled her nose at the plate. “What kind?”
	
	“Peanut butter chocolate chip.”
	
	Twilight sighed, and stuffed one into her mouth. “Now what?” she tried to say. The cookie turned it into “Mnw wmt?”
	
	“Now, you stop worrying, because you're going to be just fine,” Mrs. Cake said, gently patting Twilight on the head. For a second, Twilight felt like she had shrunk back into a filly. She resisted the urge to check to make sure her cutie mark was still there. “Just to make sure I've got it, you're worried that your crush on Applejack has run its course, right?”
	
	Twilight nodded sullenly.
	
	“Well, it probably has. But—”
	
	Twilight nearly choked on her cookie. “What!?”
	
	“But,” Mrs. Cake smiled warmly, and Twilight felt the pang of fear draining out of her, “Fortunately, a real relationship is so much more than just a silly little crush. I've seen the way you and Applejack act around each other. The two of you have something much better, and much stronger than just a crush. In fact, if you were still just infatuated with her, I'd be a bit worried about you two.”
	
	“R-really?” Twilight said, and took a swig of the milk Mrs. Cake had set out.
	
	“Well, I'm sure you've probably come across it somewhere before, but I've heard it said that getting a crush on somepony, it's like a spark.”
	
	“A spark?”
	
	Mrs. Cake nodded. “It's bright and sudden, but most of the time they burn out quickly. Some catch and flare up, but it doesn't always last long. A few flames and then it goes out. But sometimes, it starts a real fire. The flames might not last long, but the embers go on smoldering for a long time.”
	
	“So... Applejack and I are like a couple of burning logs?”
	
	“Well, yes. Sort of,” Mrs. Cake said. “When two ponies have been together for a while, things change a bit. They get used to each other and don't have all those little tingles and they aren't nervous when they talk to each other and they aren't stumbling around worried about what their very special somepony is thinking.”
	
	“I am worried!” Twilight gasped.
	
	“Well, yes,” Mrs. Cake admitted.
	
	“I'm not just worried, I'm having a crisis! I'm—”
	
	“Twilight, eat a cookie.”
	
	Twilight stopped and shoved another cookie into her mouth.  She began to chew reluctantly, then began to munch on it in earnest.
	
	“Now then, there's no need to be so dramatic. You might be worried about how things will go, but that's natural.”
	
	“You just said it wasn't natural,” Twilight muttered through a mouthful of cookie.
	
	Mrs. Cake shook her head. “Yes and no. Think for a moment. What are you worried about? What's the worst that could happen?”
	
	“My feelings for Applejack are gone, and I either break up with her and ruin our friendship forever, or I try to make it work anyway and she ends up miserable because I tried to force it.”
	
	“So the worst case scenario is that you make Applejack sad?”
	
	Twilight nodded sullenly.
	
	Mrs. Cake smiled. “I'm quite sure you still love her just as much as you ever did.”
	
	“Really?”
	
	“Of course.” Mrs. Cake nodded. “Maybe even more! If you didn't, you wouldn't be so worried about hurting her. Think about how it felt when you first got together? What worried you then?”
	
	Twilight sighed as the realization struck her. “I was afraid of looking like an idiot in front of her. That was it.” She groaned. “That was why I always felt so... flustered around her. I was just nervous because I was afraid that I might screw things up. And now I finally got comfortable with her and that freaked me out! I got worried because I didn't have any reason to be worried!” Twilight banged her head on the table. She looked up to see Mrs. Cake stifling a giggle. “I know, I know. Have a cookie.”
	
	“You just don't know how much the two of you have matured in the past year,” Mrs. Cake said. “You've outgrown the anxiety and you don't see your relationship as a novelty anymore. And you shouldn't. If you were still giggling over each other like a couple of schoolfillies after a year, you'd be in trouble. Of course a kiss isn’t going to feel the same! But you don’t need that feeling, because you have something better.  A real long-term relationship has to be built on something more than infatuation. And I'm quite sure that you have it.”
	
	Twilight nodded solemnly. “Yes. I still love her more than anypony else, and there's nopony else I'd rather be with! If I don't get butterflies in my stomach any more, it doesn't matter as long as we care about each other.”
	
	“That's the spirit!” Mrs. Cake clapped her hooves. “I knew that you were scared that the flames were dying out, but the embers are still burning!” She suddenly leaned towards Twilight and waggled one eyebrow. “That's where the fire burns hottest, you know.”
	
	“I, uh... I see.” Twilight leaned back. She had never seen Mrs. Cake make such a...suggestive expression. But despite that, she could already feel herself beginning to relax. “Thank you. I really needed that. It's just... it's all new to me, you know?”
	
	“It was all new to Carrot and I when we first started going out,” Mrs. Cake said. “It was hard, but we figured it out. And I'm sure that somepony as smart as you can figure it out too. You just have to remember one thing.”
	
	“Right.” Twilight’s ears perked up.
	
	“Love isn't a feeling; it's something you do. The way you feel doesn't really have anything to do with how much you love somepony. You just... love them, whether or not they make your heart beat faster.”
	
	Twilight nodded. Speaking of feelings, right now she had one in the pit of her stomach. The same weight she had felt all those years ago, sitting in magic class when she had finally got it. All the theories, all the studying, it had clicked. All the pieces had come together. Everything fit.
	
	“I'll remember that,” she said.
	
	“Good.” Mrs. Cake said with a sage nod. “Why don't you pack up the rest of these cookies for Spike? I'm sure he'd appreciate it.”
	
	Twilight took a sip of milk. “I'm sure he would.”
	
	
	        
	Rainbow Dash followed Applejack from tree to tree, towing a cloud behind her. Apple trees could be really finicky if they didn't have just the right amount of water. Or at least that's what Applejack had told her. Rainbow Dash didn't really know much about it. She probably should have, given how often she had listened to Applejack go on and on about them, but she tended to tune out whenever Applejack started one of her spiels. Fortunately, Applejack wasn't talking about apples at the moment, so Rainbow Dash was at least half-listening.
	
	“So did Twilight do a decent job with the apples?” Rainbow Dash asked. She wasn't very interested in the answer, but she felt obligated to ask.
	
	“Yeah, she did just fine.” Applejack tapped on one of the trees with her hoof. “Give this one three hops.”
	
	“Roger!” Rainbow Dash pushed the cloud over the three and bounced on it three times. “So she didn't try to use a spell and create like a monster made of apples or anything?”
	
	“Nah, Twilight did fine,” Applejack said.
	
	“Then why are you even telling me about this?” Rainbow Dash snorted.
	
	“It's not the apple-sorting, it's what happened after,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes at Rainbow's obvious impatience. “She was gettin' ready to head home, when she... uh...” Applejack immediately doubted the wisdom of bringing it up, but it was too late.
	
	“When she what?” Rainbow Dash peered over the edge of her cloud. “Don't leave me hanging!”
	
	Applejack sighed. “She kissed me?”
	
	“That's it? Lame. You've been going out with her for like forever! What's the big deal if she kisses you?”
	
	“Well, that's cause... ” Applejack muttered as she started toward the next tree. She knew that she could probably just drop the conversation there, but something in the back of her mind forced her to keep going. Sometimes she didn't like being the element of Honesty. “...it wasn't just a kiss.”
	
	“Really?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What else was it?” She shoved the cloud down so it was just above Applejack's head. “You can't just say that and leave it!”
	
	“It's nothing like that! It was just a really big kiss.” She tapped on another tree trunk. “Like I was just gonna give her a little goodnight kiss, and next thing I know I'm layin' in a pile of hay and she's on top of me and her tongue is halfway down my throat.”
	
	“Then what?” Rainbow Dash hung her head over the cloud and put her upside down face inches from Applejack's. “Don't worry, I won't tell Apple Bloom about it!”
	
	“Then she got off me and went home!”
	
	“What?” Rainbow Dash squawked. “Most ponies would be worried if they didn't get to that after so long!” She crossed her forelegs and sat on the cloud. “I thought it was going to be something juicier!”
	
	“You mean to tell me that you expected Twilight to get all touchy-feely? Not all ponies are that... physical in a relationship. Besides, it's not just that she did that, it's that today she didn't want to talk about it. I mean, she didn't seem too anxious about it, but something's obviously on her mind. She said it was something I couldn't really help with and she wanted to talk it over with somepony else.”
	
	“So you think you're the problem?”
	
	“Well, who else would it be? If it wasn't me, why wouldn't she tell me about it?”
	
	“Really? This again?” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Applejack, pretty much all the issues you two have have been Twilight freaking out about something that turns out to actually not be a big deal. She probably just realized she was going nuts and wanted to check with somepony else before bugging you about it.”
	
	“I sure hope you're right,” Applejack said. “This one only needs a little water.”
	
	Rainbow Dash nodded and bounced once on the cloud. “I'm sure it's nothing. Next time you see her she'll probably tell you that nothing is wrong. If you don't stop worrying about it you'll turn into her!”
	
	“Well, they do say that when you've been together a while you start resemblin' each other.”
	
	“Right! You don't wanna turn into an egghead, do you?” Rainbow Dash knocked on Applejack's head. “Don't worry about Twilight. She'll figure everything out.”
	
	“Yeah, you're right. I got other things to deal with.” She nodded towards the next patch of trees. “Come on. These trees look like they really need some water.”
	
	
	
	Fluttershy trotted along, a pet food recipe book balanced on her back. She had forgotten that she even had it; if Owlowiscious hadn't stopped by to leave a note on her door, she never would have remembered that she had checked it out. Naturally, she had made a beeline to the library. She'd rather not have to pay the overdue book fee. Not because she couldn't spare the bits; she had more than enough lying around for that.
	
	She just wanted to avoid the awkwardness. Spike being Spike, he'd probably waive it. That was all well and good, but she just wouldn't feel comfortable getting a favor like that. She'd insist on paying it, and he would wave her off and eventually hide the jar where he kept the fees. That meant she'd have to borrow a catsuit from Rainbow Dash and sneak into the library to put the bits into the jar. It was a huge hassle. Much easier to turn the book in on time.
	
	She knocked on the library door and waited. A moment later, Spike opened the door.
	
	“Hey, Fluttershy. What's up?”
	
	“I just came by to drop off this book.” She gave it to Spike. “I wouldn't want to be late.”
	
	“Oh, it's no problem.” Spike waved Fluttershy into the library. “I'd never charge you!”
	
	“Why not?” Fluttershy asked as she followed him inside.
	
	“Because I know if you're late, it's because you just forgot and not because you're trying to game the system or anything. Now if Rainbow Dash was late, I'd have to charge her, or she'd never bring anything back.” He opened the book and stamped the card. “Have anything else you wanted to pick up?”
	
	“No, that's it. Thanks for having Owlowiscious leave that note. I might have forgotten otherwise.”
	
	“No problem. I'm just glad to hear that it's working. I really gotta cut down on the number of late books. Keeping track of all the fees is a pain. See you later.” He disappeared behind the shelves, but almost immediately emerged. “Oh, and if you see Twilight, can you tell her that dinner is almost ready? I've got an alfalfa casserole in the oven for her.”
	
	“Oh, okay.” She nodded. “Bye.”
	
	She trotted out the door, and immediately bonked heads with Twilight. The two ponies stumbled away from each other, rubbing their foreheads.  Twilight’s saddlebag tumbled to the ground.
	
	“I'm so sorry, Twilight!” Fluttershy gasped. “Are you alright!?”
	
	“I'm fine!” Twilight said with a smile. “I'm feeling great!”
	
	“Oh, that's good.”
	
	“It sure is!”
	
	“So, I guess you're having a good day?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight looked unusually exuberant.
	
	“Well, it didn't start off that way, but now it is,” Twilight said, as she picked up her saddlebag.
	
	“Really? What do you mean?”
	
	“I thought I was having relationship issues. Again.” Twilight sighed. “Turns out it was just me being a worrywart.”
	
	“That's wonderful! Not you being a worrywart, I mean. It's wonderful that things are going well.”
	
	“Thanks,” Twilight said with a chuckle. “I know what you mean.”
	
	Fluttershy nodded, and noticed the edge of what looked like a magazine poking out of Twilight's saddlebag. “What's that?”
	
	“Huh? Oh, that's nothing.” Twilight shoved it into the bag. “Well, not nothing. It's just... something I'm looking into. We can talk about it at lunch tomorrow, okay? Is twelve-thirty still a good time?”
	
	“Oh, alright. That's fine. Uh, speaking of which, Spike wanted me to tell you that your dinner is almost ready.”
	
	“Ah, okay. I guess I better get going then.” Twilight hurried inside. “See you tomorrow!”
	
	“Bye.” Fluttershy waved as Twilight closed the door. Then she began to think. She could have sworn that that magazine in Twilight's bag was a... No, it couldn't be. She shrugged. Twilight had said they'd talk about it tomorrow. She could wait for a day. No reason to worry about it now; at the moment she needed to get home. Angel would be getting hungry.
	
	
	
	Twilight locked the door to her room. Normally, this chunk of time would be set aside for studying, and only a disaster of the highest caliber had even the remotest possibility of pushing it aside. Today, she would make an exception. She needed to think. An idea had popped into her head, and she couldn't dismiss it, not without giving it due consideration. That was why she had been late for dinner; she had to pick up some reference information, and it wasn't the kind of thing she could find in the library.
	
	Two books sat on her bed. One of them was her personal financial records for the past year, the ones that listed how much money she had stored up in her savings. The other book was a DeBuck's Jewelry Catalog. She took a deep breath and opened it. Hopefully something in the book would be within her price range.
	