# A Delicate Balance

## by JapaneseTeeth

### The Undertaking, Part 1

I should have thought of this sooner. Really, I feel a bit foolish for never really realizing that I could approach this issue in the same manner as everything else. All my life, whenever I realized my own ignorance of a subject, I always sought the knowledge of those more familiar with the subject matter than myself. I don't know why I didn't realize that I could approach the issue of romance in the same way. I wouldn't want to belittle the contributions of my friends, of course. Their advice has been invaluable in getting me this far. But things have reached a point where I have to kick everything up a notch and consult those who have some real experience in these matters. With help from some ponies who know how to handle these situations, I'll definitely be able to know the right way to tell Applejack about my crush on her.

I hope.

I have done one braver thing

Than all the Worthies did;

And yet a braver thence doth spring,

Which is, to keep that hid.

—The Undertaking,

John Donne

Fluttershy didn't sleep in very often. She took the concept of “early to bed, early to rise” to heart. The sunrise was far too beautiful to miss. She greatly preferred waking to beams of golden light seeping through the curtains, as opposed to waking to the harsh buzz of an alarm clock. Today, she didn't wake to either of those sounds. She slept like a log through the sunrise, as one of Angel's cousins had come down with quite the stomach bug in the middle of the night after eating some bad carrots. She didn't have to sleep through the alarm because she had fallen into bed without bothering to set it. Three hours of tending to a highly feverish bunny with intestinal issues would exhaust anypony, and she had already been through a long day of contending with a half dozen birds suffering from various degrees of premature molting, a bear with a bad back, and several particularly ornery chickens.

This morning, Fluttershy awoke to a loud thud just outside her window. Her first inclination was to go back to sleep, but even though she had only been awake for a matter of seconds, she had the presence of mind to realize that she wasn't tired enough to go back to sleep. She yawned and headed downstairs to find Angel in front of the stove, frying a pan of hash browns. He looked up from his cookery just long enough to point in the direction of the door. Fluttershy peeked out of her front window to see a large cardboard box, slightly compacted and crinkled by its rough landing on her doorstep..

“That's odd. I don't remember ordering anything,” she murmured as she ambled out the door. She checked the address label. Both the name and the address belonged to her. She scratched her head for a moment. May as well see what's inside it, she thought. She gave it a shove towards her door, and immediately gave up hope of getting inside before opening it. The box weighed much more than she would have expected. She sighed, and set about peeling open the mass of packing tape holding the box together.

After ten minutes of tearing at the packing and another five minutes of picking bits of tape out of her mane, the box finally stood open. Satisfied with her victory over the parcel, she flipped the cardboard flaps aside and gazed upon the contents of the parcel. Books. So many books. She lifted one off the top and read the title.

“The Stallion's Handbook, Volume 1: How to Win the Mare of Your Dreams.” She frowned. Why would someone send her such a book? She set it aside and looked at the next one. “How to Introduce Yourself to Mares More Beautiful than You Ever Dreamed No Matter What You Look Like.” She moved on to the next book. “101 Greatest Pickup Lines? Love Confessions for Eggheads? Stallions are from Mars, Mares are from Venus?”

Fluttershy took a step back. She didn't get it. She couldn't imagine that anypony, let alone herself, would ever actually want this particular collection of sordid literature. The box practically oozed a vague sense of smarminess. The mere fact that it sat on her doorstep where anypony walking by could see it made her a bit uneasy. Unfortunately, the only other place she could put it was inside her house, and she wasn't too keen on having those books inside either. Her quandary was interrupted by Angel poking her in the leg. She looked down. He pointed at his chef's hat, and then back at the front door, pantomiming the act of shoving a large amount of food into his mouth.

“Oh, no, Angel. I have to find something to do with this box first. I can't leave it sitting out here.”

Angel glared at the box, hopped onto it, and stuck his head inside. After a long moment he withdrew it and slowly turned to face Fluttershy. His expression remained exactly the same aside from a raised eyebrow.

“Don't look at me like that! I don't know why they're here. They aren't mine. Well, they technically are because my name is on the box, but I didn't order them or anything?”

Angel stroked his chin for a moment, and turned his attention to the shipping label. Almost immediately, he let out an exasperated sigh and gestured for Fluttershy to come closer. She took a step forward.

“What is it, Angel?”

With a single fluid motion, the bunny seized the edge of the packing label, tore it off, and held it up for Fluttershy to inspect. As she gave it a closer look, it became evident that it was not, in fact, a packing label. It was an envelope with a wad of gum squished against the back of it.

“Oh, it's just a letter.” She furrowed her brow. “Who's this for then?”

She examined the real packing label. Between the bits of gum that still stuck to it, she could make out the address that the box was supposed to go to.

“Huh? What on earth would Twilight want with books like this?”

Twilight paced back and forth listlessly, her eyes darting back and forth between the numerous charts and graphs that hung on every available surface, as well as a few surfaces that were already in use but could stand to do double duty. In between the charts, her eyes wandered to the clock. Even taking the idiosyncrasies of the Ponyville Post Office into account, her order should have arrived by now. She intended to implement her plan that afternoon, and if she wanted to move out of the planning stages on schedule and keep the whole projected timeline from getting thrown off. She had tried to make the most of the extra time by tweaking her preparations, but after quintuple-checking everything she was finally starting to think that until she got her materials, the only thing she could do was wait and try to randomize her pacing enough that she wouldn't wear a rut into the floor again.

She jumped out of her meticulously-maintained non-pattern at the sound of gentle knock on the door, amplified by the silence within the library.

“Who is it?” Twilight barked. She cringed at the sound of her voice; her crankiness at not having her package yet was quite evident.

“Um...it's Fluttershy.” The voice barely made it through the door. “If you're busy, I guess I can come back later—”

“No no, it's fine!” Twilight called out. She forced herself to smile and opened the door, just wide enough to poke her head out. “Good morning!” she said, trying to sound happier than she felt. “What brings you here on this fine morning?”

“Um, well, the post office accidentally delivered some of your mail to my cottage,” Fluttershy mumbled. “I thought I should bring it over for you. I'm sorry for opening it; at first I thought it was mine, and-”

“Huh?” Twilight blinked a few times and noticed the cart that sat behind her pegasus friend. More specifically, she noticed the battered-looking box that sat on it. “It's here! It's here!” She bounded past Fluttershy and onto the cart next to the box. “I've been waiting all morning for this!”

“Like I was saying, I'm sorry that I-”

“You can tell me about it inside!” Twilight grinned, this time for real. She clapped her hooves together a few times and lifted the box into the air. “I've been meaning to talk to you about this for a while anyway. Now I don't have to take the time to find you.”

She scurried inside and let the box down with a thump in the middle of the room. Fluttershy followed slowly behind. The pegasi let out a small gasp as she saw the sheer volume of charts that wallpapered the room. Twilight was too busy rooting through her box to notice Fluttershy’s surprise.

“Good, good...” Her head bounced back and forth as she checked each book off of her checklist and levitated them onto the table. “Perfect! They're all here! This is great! I'm so glad they finally got here. I was afraid they weren't going to make it.”

“Um, Twilight?”

“Huh?” The unicorn spun around, as if she had just noticed that Fluttershy was there. “Oh, right, what was it you were saying?”

“Well, the box got dropped off at my house by accident, and I thought it was mine because one of my letters had gotten stuck to the box, so I opened it and looked at some of your books. I hope you don't mind.”

“No, no, that's quite alright. I was going to tell you about all this anyway. It's only fair.”

“What's only fair?”

“Well, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash know already, and I wouldn't want to leave anypony out.”

“Have you told Applejack, then? Or haven’t you gotten around to telling her yet?”

“That's— It's complicated. Let me explain everything first. Why don't you sit down?”

Fluttershy complied, gently pushing a mound of Twilight's checklists to the side to make room next to the table. Twilight cleared her throat.

“About a week ago, I realized that I- well, I have...special feelings for somepony. I didn't quite understand it at first because I'd never had those kinds of feelings before, but I talked to Rarity about it, and once she explained it to me, I couldn't help but notice it. I couldn't get it out of my head.”

“Special feelings?”

“I realized that I had a crush on somepony.” Twilight's tongue felt a bit heavier. After having three other friends in on the secret, she had expected that telling the fourth would be easier. Nope. “I've been freaking out all week trying to figure out what to do. You could probably figure out who it is just by watching me.”

“Really?” Fluttershy cocked her head to the side. “I never really noticed anything.”

“You didn't?” Twilight suppressed a sigh. She had hoped that Fluttershy would have picked up on it on her own, sparing her the effort of having to explain all the details. “Are you sure? I mean, if you had to guess who I had a crush on, who would you say?”

“Um...Cheerilee?”

“Cheerilee? No! Why would you say that?”

“Well, you both read a lot, and she comes by the library a lot, and since you're always studying and she's a teacher...”

“That's because she's always getting books to use at the school. She has me order them for her because I get a discount.” Twilight rubbed her forehead with a hoof. Fluttershy's logic wasn't entirely erroneous, but she still seemed to have totally missed the numerous cues from the past week. “Why don't you try again?”

“Hmmm.” Fluttershy thought for a moment. “Is it Big Macintosh? A lot of the single mares in town seem to like him. That's what I heard, at least.”

“No, not him either.” Close but not quite, Twilight thought.

“Can I have one more guess?”

“Sure.” Twilight bit her lip, hoping this time Fluttershy would get it. She had underestimated how tough it would be to force herself to explain it again when she didn't have any other motivation outside of a vague sense of duty towards her friends.

“It-it isn't me, is it?”

“What!? No! Of course not!” Twilight blurted before Fluttershy had finished speaking. Just as immediately, she realized that her reaction had been a bit too strong. She clamped her mouth shut, but the words were already out. “I mean, not that I don't like you or anything! Just, you know, not like that.” She began to chuckle awkwardly and to her great relief, Fluttershy began to laugh along with her. Unfortunately, the distraction only lasted about a minute, and the laughter trailed off. Twilight silently cursed Fluttershy's ability to stay on topic.

“So...who is it? If you don't mind telling me, I mean.”

The question made Twilight cringe, and Fluttershy's sensitive disclaimer did nothing to calm her nerves. The universe had dropped the opportunity to explain things right in her lap, and she was frustrated at herself for trying to disregard it. She couldn't, in good conscience, keep this from her friend.

“It's-it's Applejack.” Her tongue bumbled the name a bit as it came out of her mouth, but it still hung clearly in the air.”

“Oh.” Fluttershy's eyes widened.

“I know, I know, it doesn't make much sense because we don't have much in common. I don't really get it either.”

“Actually, I think I can see that.”

“I know, right. Out of all the ponies in town, you'd think- wait, what?”

“I can see why you might like her. I mean, you both work really hard, and you're both really dedicated to what it is you do.”

“That's not saying much. Rarity is dedicated to her shop, Rainbow Dash is dedicated to training, and Pinkie is dedicated to throwing parties. You're dedicated to taking care of your animals, and I didn't get a crush on you!”

“Well, that's true, but I think you two both have quite a bit in common.”

“Like what?”

“Um...uh...neither of you care much about your personal appearance?”

“See what I mean?” Twilight grumbled. “At first I thought that if it was going to be that random it might just go away, so I tried to just ignore it until things just went back to normal, but something made me realize that it wasn't going to happen and I needed to do something about it.”

“What was that?”

Twilight wanted to smack herself upside the head. She hadn't intended to bring that up, and now she had walked right into it. Still, no sense in dancing around it. “I had a dream about her.”

“Oh my.”

“Yeah, that's what Rarity said. It really sort of scared me. I had never had a dream like that before, let alone about one of my friends.”

“Me neither.” Fluttershy stared at her hooves. Twilight ignored the lack of eye contact.

“After that, I realized I had to do something about it. And at first, I had no idea how to go about it, but then I realized the obvious solution.”

“What's that?”

“Books, of course!” Twilight beamed as she pointed a hoof at the stack of newly ordered tomes on the table. “If I don't know how to tell Applejack how I feel, I need to learn how! And what better way to learn than from studying up on it?”

“Well, you could just talk to somepony who-”

“This is going to be perfect!” Twilight rubbed her hooves together in excitement. She had spent days prepping for this, and the prospect of getting things underway made her giddy. “I can't wait to get started!”

“What exactly are you going to do?” Fluttershy scratched her head as she eyed the books. “Are you just going to read them before you tell her about your crush?”

“No no no, it's far more complex than that. See, my plan is carefully crafted to achieve optimal results. I need to ensure that my chances of getting a favorable response from Applejack are at maximum when I finally tell her. If they aren't-” Twilight shivered and her eyes crossed for a moment. She didn't like to think about that. “Well, the whole point of this plan is to keep that from happening. I've thoroughly analyzed most of my conversations with Applejack over the past week, and I'm quite sure that I've isolated most of the trends in our interactions. Using this information, I can normalize our conversation and eliminate most of the awkwardness.”

“That...sounds like quite a plan.”

“Using these books, I'll know how to make her more positively disposed towards me so when I finally confess to her she'll be more likely to be happy about it. It might take some time, but I'll do anything to make this work out.”

“Um, that's certainly an interesting way of going about things...”

“I know, I know! It's going to be tough, but I know with all of you helping me out, I think I'll be able to do it. Thank you so much for bringing the books by.” She smiled and patted Fluttershy's head. As subtly as she could manage, she leaned into the pegasus, gently prodding her towards the door. “I'd love to have you hang around and talk a bit, but I should really start reading these. I'll talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay...” Fluttershy murmured, as she found herself on the doorstep.

“Well, I'll see you around then! Thanks again for bringing the books over.” Twilight disappeared into the library, the door clapping shut behind her with a bang.

“I still can't believe that you told Rainbow Dash about Twilight's crush! I thought you promised that you'd keep it quiet!” Pinkie bounced along behind Rarity, who proceeded forward at a pace between a walk and a trot. She had an urge to burst into a full gallop, but she knew that it would be futile. If she had to listen to Pinkie's rambling, she might as well not exhaust herself beforehand in a fruitless attempt to avoid it.

“I mean, Rainbow Dash was all like 'so what was that about' and you were like 'Twilight has a crush on Applejack' and I was like—” Pinkie gasped so loudly that she forced herself into the air for a few seconds. “—because I totally couldn't believe that you would just tell her like that! I don't even know what to think now because you might go and tell everypony about how many corn cakes I ate, or how I broke Mrs. Cake's curling iron, or how Legacy of Nightmare Moon is my favorite Daring Do book! It's a good thing that it was just a regular old promise and not a Pinkie Promise, because if it was a Pinkie Promise I'd have to—”

“Pinkie, please!” Rarity stomped the ground in frustration. “First of all, everypony already knows about the corn cakes. Second, Legacy of Nightmare Moon is drivel. Third, I didn't actually break my promise in any case. It was plainly obvious that Rainbow Dash already knew about Twilight's feelings. All I did was explain the circumstances. Would you rather have let her horribly misinterpret the situation?”

“Nooooo....” Pinkie stopped bouncing long enough to mull the thought over. “That would probably have been bad. Really bad.”

“Indeed it would have been.” Rarity nodded sagely. “In fact, I feel compelled to point out that it was Rainbow Dash's little discussion with Twilight that resulted in Twilight's decision to take action. I'm sure that you must appreciate that, what with how enthusiastic you were about getting them to get together.”

“Well, yeah. They'd be great together!” Pinkie resumed her bouncing, and Rarity resumed her slow trot. “Do you think Applejack would let Twilight would wear her hat? How adorable would that be?”

“It would be absolutely precious.” Rarity rolled her eyes, but her mind was filled with an image of Applejack playfully ruffling Twilight's mane before draping the hat over her head. Pinkie had a point.

“If they get hitched, are you going to do the wedding dresses? Wouldn't that be fun? Ooh ooh! Maybe I'll get to bake the wedding cake for them! Fluttershy can do the music and Rainbow Dash can do... something. We'll work on that. We've got plenty of time to plan for it.”

“I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself. Twilight hasn't even gotten around to even telling Applejack yet. Even supposing that Applejack reciprocates, it could still quite a while before they're even close to that point.” She blinked. The mental image of hat-sharing had already been replaced with potential wedding dress designs. Applejack needed something sweeping and dramatic; Twilight needed something more smooth and subtle. “Although I have to admit, if things do get to that point, I would certainly be willing to step in and take care of it. Free of charge, of course.”

“Just admit it, you totally want them to get together.”

“I will admit to nothing other than hoping that they'll both be happy with whatever happens. Now I must kindly ask that you stop pestering me about it. I'm starting to get a headache, and if we keep discussing this, we will only end up inadvertently letting somepony else in on the secret. You don't want that, do you?”

“Of course not! I promised Twilight that I wouldn't tell anypony about her crush on Applejack! I even did the whole house building thing. But come on, there isn't even anypony around to hear us anyway.”

“What about her?” Rarity thrust a hoof at Fluttershy. The unicorn's face immediately paled. She could have sworn that the street had been empty a few seconds earlier.

“Aw, I should have known that was going to happen.” Pinkie said, putting a hoof to her face.

“Um, are you two talking about Twilight?”

“Of course not!” Rarity's eyes bounced in every conceivable direction except towards Fluttershy.

“It's alright, she already told me about Applejack.”

“Oh.” Rarity sighed in relief. “So she talked to you about it already?”

“Yes. I stopped by the library this morning to drop off her books. They were accidentally delivered to my cottage.”

“Don't you think Twilight and Applejack would be adorable together!?” Pinkie shoved her face between Rarity and Fluttershy. “Just imagine Twilight wearing Applejack's hat!”

“I...I'm not sure. I guess it would be sort of cute...”

Rarity groaned and shoved Pinkie to the side. “Ignore her, dear. She's a little bit too gung-ho about this whole thing. I trust Twilight explained her plan to you?”

Fluttershy nodded slowly.

“I personally think she's overdoing it a bit, but I suppose it's her choice to pursue things however she chooses.”

“Yes, I'm not sure that I like her plan...” Fluttershy murmured, staring at the ground by Rarity's hooves. “I think maybe she should take things a bit slower.”

“Normally I'd agree with you, but she's been dragging her hooves all week.” Rarity flicked her mane with a hoof. “I might not approve of the method, but at least she's actually making some effort to address the issue.”

“Oh, I see.” Fluttershy nodded. “You're right, I guess. It's just a little strange to think of Twilight feeling that way about somepony.”

“I know, right?” Pinkie bounced up and landed next to Fluttershy, throwing a foreleg around her shoulders. “When she told me about it it totally knocked my socks off! Well, it would have if I had been wearing socks. You can't wear socks when you bake. It gets fuzz in the frosting and then you have to clean the socks.”

“Um, I should probably get going.” Fluttershy slid out from under Pinkie's grip. “Angel gets a bit cranky if he doesn't get fed, and I'm already a bit late. I'll see you later.”

“Goodbye then!” Rarity waved at the pegasus as she trotted away down the street. “She took the news surprisingly well.” she said to no one in particular.

“Of course she did!” Pinkie giggled. “She's probably just so happy about it that she doesn't know how to express it. I'll go get my party cannon.” She started to bounce away.

“That won't be necessary.” Rarity halted Pinkie mid-bounce, grabbing her tail with her telekinesis. “Let's leave her alone for now. She just needs some time to think everything over..”

Fluttershy's cart squeaked as she parked it in its usual space behind her cottage. As if on cue, Angel hopped out of the window and began to unhook the harness. Fluttershy slid out of it and walked slowly into the house. With a sigh she flopped onto her sofa. Every part of her body felt unnaturally heavy, especially her head.

Twilight has a crush on Applejack, Fluttershy thought. How odd. Why Applejack, I wonder. I know I said that they do have some stuff in common, but Twilight is kind of right. They really are pretty different. I wonder why Twilight would like her so much more than any other pony. Maybe it means that Twilight likes Applejack more that she likes me. She was certainly very adamant that she didn't have feelings for me. Maybe I did something wrong. No, I shouldn't think about it like that. She just likes Applejack more. I guess that makes sense. Applejack is so much stronger and more reliable than I am, after all. But what about everypony else? Why wouldn't she like Rainbow Dash or Rarity like that? What is it about Applejack that makes Twilight like her so much more...?

Angel hopped into the room, dragging a bit of harness in need of repair behind him. He rolled his eyes. Apparently Fluttershy's late wakeup hadn't been late enough. She was already asleep, snoring softly in an almost musical way. Angel sighed. He was going to have to get his own lunch.

Applejack trotted down the street, her saddlebags sagging under the weight of her purchases. Should've gone and checked on her before I picked up the stuff for dinner, she thought. She turned down a side street that lead her away from the marketplace and towards the library. For the past week, Twilight had only gotten more and more high-strung, as if some invisible force was constantly winding her tighter and tighter. Then two days ago, the unicorn had vanished altogether. Applejack has asked around, but only received the standard “I'm not sure; come to think of it I haven't seen her” response. The only exceptions were her immediate circle of friends and they were, if anything, even less helpful. Rarity waved it off with some comment about Twilight being “busy with some things”, Rainbow Dash had tried to change the subject and discuss her new training routine, and Pinkie had just started giggling uncontrollably. It was time for Applejack to take the matter into her own hooves.

As she approached the library door, she noted the hastily scribbled noted pinned to it.

“Studying in progress. Please do not disturb except in case of emergencies.”

Applejack sighed. Sure, it was hardly the first time that Twilight had sequestered herself in the library to work on something, but the signs weren't good. If Pinkie was to be believed, the last time Twilight had locked herself in the library overnight, the next day had seen her travel to Canterlot to break into the library's restricted wing with the intent of casting a powerful time manipulation spell. Granted, Pinkie being Pinkie, it was likely an exaggeration (especially the bit about the guard simply letting Twilight in after catching her), but there had to be a grain of truth in there someplace. Who knew what Twilight was plotting in that tree of hers? She knocked on the door. The upper half swung open, revealing the top of Spike's head.

“Good morning, Applejack.”

“Hey, Spike.” She arched her neck over the bottom section of the door so she could make eye contact with the dragon. “Is Twilight around? I've been meanin' to talk to her.”

“Well, she is, but she's sleeping now.”

“What's she doin' sleepin'? It's the middle of the day.”

“She was up all last night working on something. Lots of charts and graphs and stuff. I'm not quite sure what all that was for.”

“I see.” She narrowed her eyes. “Do you know when she'll be awake?”

“I have no idea,” Spike said with a shrug. “I gave up trying to keep track of her sleep schedule a long time ago. She'll probably be back to normal tomorrow. Well, as normal as Twilight gets, anyway.”

“So I guess I'm not gonna be able to see her now?”

“Nope, she told me not to let anypony bother her. Although if you're looking for a book, I can give you some recommendations. I just finished reorganizing the cooking section. We have a copy of The Apple Lover's Cookbook, if you want it.”

“Nah, that's okay. Already got a couple. One of my cousins wrote the thing, after all.”

“Oh, right. Well, can I find anything else for you?”

“No thanks. I'll just drop by later and see if Twilight is up.”

“Alright, see you later then. I gotta get back to cleaning anyway. Bye.” The door closed with a click. Applejack shook her head. Half of her wanted to buck the door down and barge into Twilight's room anyway. The other half, the part with common sense, stopped her. Twilight would come around sooner or later. She forced herself to turn away from the door, only to find Rainbow Dash barreling towards her at a far greater speed than any pegasus had any business going at ground level. “Whoa!”

“Sorry about that, AJ!” Rainbow Dash planted her hooves in the dirt and ground to a halt, leaving a gouge in the dirt behind her. “Just dropping by to pick up the next Daring Do book. I just finished Temple of Nightmare Moon.”

“You still shouldn't fly through the streets like that. You'll run somepony over.”

“But it ended on a cliffhanger!”

“That still doesn't mean that you get to do that. Why don't you just fly a little higher or- oh, it doesn't really matter.”

“Yeah, if I fly higher I'll probably bust a hole in somepony's roof or something.”

“I woulda thought that there's more stuff for you to crash into down here, but whatever.” She took a step back, putting herself in front of the library door. “While you're here, you got a minute? I got a question for you.”

“Sure, just make it quick.” Rainbow Dash hovered back and forth as if looking for a way around her friend. Applejack shuffled across the doorstep to match her. “I want to find out if Daring Do stopped the ritual in time.”

“You sure you don't have any idea what's goin' on with Twilight? She's been acting weird all week and now she's hidin' in the library.”

“Uh...nope. Just her regular studying stuff.” She pointed at the note on the library door. “See? Studying. She does that stuff all the time. Oh, that reminds me, yesterday I came up with this idea for an awesome new move, but I need to get some serious speed up for it, so if we hooked up a big slingshot—”

“Oh, no. I ain't doin' this again.” AJ stomped her hoof. “Every time I try to ask you about Twilight you go and start talkin' about your giant slingshot idea. I just want to figure out what's goin' on with Twilight. You obviously know something about what's going on that I don't, so stop trying to hide it.”

“Sorry, I can't say. Even if I wanted to tell you, Pinkie would sneak into my house and fill my bed with taffy or something. Oh, and don't tell her that I mentioned that, okay? You know how she is with the whole ‘secret’ thing.”

“Just what is it that has Twilight so worked up that she can tell you and Pinkie about it, but can't tell me?”

“Uh,I just said I can't tell you.” Rainbow Dash patted Applejack's head, knocking her hat askew. “If it makes you feel any better, I just sort of stumbled into it by accident. Don't worry, though, Twilight is working things out. I'm pretty sure that you'll be able to talk to her tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow, huh? You sure?” Applejack shoved her hat back into position. Rainbow Dash was still hiding... pretty much everything, but at least now she was upfront about it. “'Cause I'm starting to get a little worried about her.”

“Well, don't.” Rainbow Dash suppressed a chuckle. “I think everything's going to be fine.”

“Fine. If you say so.”

“Well, I do say so, so there.” Rainbow Dash took to the air again. “Anyway, you got time to help me set up that slingshot?”

“I guess I might as well. It's Big Macintosh's turn to make dinner.” She nodded at her bulging saddlebags. “I just gotta run this stuff back to the farm first.”

“Okay, I'm gonna pick up my book and then I'll meet you out in the training field. See you later.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Applejack stepped away from the door. For a moment, she briefly considered rushing into the library when Spike answered Rainbow Dash's knocking, but she dismissed the idea. She could wait one more day. Even Rainbow Dash deserved that much credit.