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// Air and Angels// Story: A Delicate Balance// by JapaneseTeeth//------------------------------//

We’re never going to get this figured out.  No, no. I can’t think like that. I have to be optimistic.  We’ve had disagreements before.  We’ll just talk. That’s all we need to do. We just need to talk, and we’ll work things out.


Whilst thus to ballast love I thought,
And so more steadily to have gone,
With wares which would sink admiration,
I saw I had love's pinnace overfraught
Every thy hair for love to work upon
Is much too much, some fitter must be sought;
For, nor in nothing, nor in things
Extreme and scatt'ring bright, can love inhere.
Then as an angel, face and wings
Of air, not pure as it, yet pure doth wear,

--Air and Angels,
John Donne

Twilight and Applejack sat at an outdoor table at the cafe, where they had shared many a lunch.  Today was no exception.  Applejack munched on a large arugula sandwich, while Twilight poked at a daisy salad.  They ate slowly, and in silence, mulling over what they would say once they finally finished off their meals and had no excuse to be quiet.  

They didn’t have the excuse of not knowing what to talk about, either.  Each of them had decided to go talk to the other, and they had ended up meeting halfway, in the middle of town.  They had gotten through the greetings easily enough, but then things had stalled a bit.

“So,” Applejack had said, “I wanted to talk to you about… you know.”

“Yes, so did I,” Twilight had answered. 

Then they had ordered their meals, and hadn’t said another word.  The food was nearly gone.
 
“I… I’ve been thinking about yesterday,” Twilight said, staring at her salad.  

“Same here,” Applejack answered.

“I’m still not quite sure what we should do.”

“Me neither.”

“I guess it would help if I knew a bit more,” Twilight said. “I didn’t really let you explain how you felt yesterday.  I’m sorry.  If I had listened to what you were saying, maybe we’d have been able to figure things out.”

“I wasn’t exactly helpin’ either.  I didn’t really want to listen to the reasons you were givin’.” She nibbled on the pickle that had accompanied her sandwich. “I just wanted to convince you.”

“I think that might’ve been the problem for both of us.” She scratched her head. “How about we stop trying to convince each other of anything and just try to explain.  I’m not entirely sure I even understood what you were trying to say, and I think we need to get all that sorted out before we can figure out what to do.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” Applejack nodded. “Why don’t you go first?”

“Me? Are you sure that you don’t want to go?”

Applejack shook her head. “I’m still not quite sure how to say what I wanna say, and if I actually understood what your reasons were, I might be able to explain myself better. Besides, I still gotta finish my sandwich.”

“Alright, then.” Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, the first reason why I think it would be better to live in the library is because it would just be much easier on everypony.  Renovating your house would be a huge hassle. It would take weeks, and it would probably cost Sweet Apple Acres a lot of money that could go to other projects. Your family would have to work around everything, too.”

“It would be kinda rough on Granny,” Applejack admitted between bites. “I don’t think it would be that bad, though.”

“It’s not just that,” Twilight said.  She bit her lip.

“Oh?” Applejack felt a chill run down her spine.

“I’m not quite sure exactly how to say it, but I guess I feel” —she didn’t want to say it, but she couldn’t think of any other way. The words stuck to her tongue, but she forced them out of her mouth anyway— “like you don’t trust me.”

Applejack nearly choked on her sandwich. “What?!” She sputtered. “What are you talkin’ about?”

“I just said, I didn’t know how to explain just what I’m feeling. What I mean is…that...” She paused and rubbed her forehead as she gathered her thoughts. “Okay, look.  When I was getting ready to pop the question to you, I spent a lot of time thinking about what it would mean for both of us.”

Applejack nodded. “So did I.”

“Well, one of the things that I thought about was what it would be like.  You know, when we finally moved in together.  I knew it would mean that I’d have to make a lot of sacrifices.  I’ve been living on my own for years now.  Sure, Spike has been with me, but he’s always been able to do his own thing without being babysat.  The whole time I was mentally preparing myself for it, because I knew things would have to change.

“I knew they would change because I knew that I wouldn’t have my life to myself anymore.  It wouldn’t just be me, it would be us.  There are a lot of things that I knew I’d need to give up, my routine, my organization, my schedule.” She smiled. “But I’m okay with that. Giving all that up might be tough, but I knew that you would be there.  Anything I gave up would be replaced by something better.”  

Applejack despondently stared at her plate for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was low. “And you don’t think I trust you enough to let go of anything to make room for you?”

“I… I guess you could say that,” Twilight said. “Remember back when we had that fight about the flowers and dinners and all that stuff?”

“Yeah,” Applejack answered in a heavy voice. “I guess I didn’t really learn much from that.”

“It does feel… familiar,” Twilight said. “I know you didn’t mean for it to be like that, and I know it’s not the whole story, but that’s how I feel.  I know you must have a reason, Applejack. I know you aren’t selfish, and you’re not against moving in with me just because  it’s inconvenient for you.  You asked me to marry you, but you still want to keep everything the same, and I don’t understand it. I want to understand what you’re feeling.”

Twilight leaned back and took a deep breath.  Hopefully she hadn’t sounded too harsh.  She couldn’t bring herself to be angry.  It was more confusion than anything else.  But if anypony could explain herself simply, it would be Applejack. 

“So I suppose it’s my turn to explain myself?” Applejack asked. She limply raised one of her hooves to scratch her head. She wanted to pull her hat over her face. “I’m sorry.  I know it looks like I’m just tryin’ to do things the way that’s easiest for me.  And honestly, I guess I kinda am.”

She took a sip of her water and forced herself to look Twilight in the eyes. “It’s not that I don’t want things to change. I know that no matter where we end up livin’, nothing’s gonna be the same, and that’s okay with me.  It’s just… movin’ off the farm… I don’t know how I feel about it.  Yeah, so the library is just a few minutes away, but that’s not the problem.”

Twilight reached across the table and put her hoof on Applejack’s. “So what is the problem?”

Applejack took a deep breath, and hoped that what she was about to say made sense. “There’s only one time in my whole life where I ever left Sweet Apple Acres. And when I say left I mean that I didn’t know whether I’d ever be comin’ back.  It was when I visited my Aunt and Uncle Orange in Manehattan.

“I was real excited about gettin’ to finally leave the farm and actually see what else was out there, you know? Anything could happen! I might end up bein’ discovered by a talent agency, or gettin’ a job with Uncle Orange, or gettin’ famous. And it was great, at least for the first couple days.

“But then the excitement started to fade, and it wasn’t fun to be there anymore.  It was all the fancy stuff; at first I thought it was because I just wasn’t used to it, but the longer I was there the more I realized that I just didn’t like it, and no amount of hangin’ around was gonna change that.  You know how the rest of it happened.”

Twilight nodded. “You saw the Rainboom in the distance, pointing back towards Ponyville.”

“Yeah, but it was so much more than that.  It was like somepony flipped a switch in my head.  It wasn’t just that I wanted to go home, it was that I realized that Sweet Apple Acres was my home.  In that instant, I couldn’t so much as think of anywhere else as my home.  All I could think about was gettin’ back to the farm.  I felt like an idiot for thinkin’ that I might not come back.

“I came down the road, saw my family standin’ there waitin’ for me, and next thing I knew, my cutie mark was there.  It was like findin’ the one piece of a puzzle that all the other pieces fit into.  I knew that there was nothing else I wanted to spend my life doin’ than workin’ on Sweet Apple Acres.

“I know everypony thinks my cutie mark is just about apples, but it’s more than that.  I got my mark when I found the place where I belonged.  Ever since then, Sweet Apple Acres isn’t just where I live, it’s a part of who I am.  It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s that I’m not sure if I trust myself.  I… it’s like if I move someplace else I’m afraid I won’t be me anymore.”

She leaned back and chewed on her lip as she waited for Twilight to answer.  Twilight simply looked Applejack in the eyes as she mulled the words over.  Every second of silence weighed heavier on Applejack’s head.  

“I know it sounds kinda silly,” Applejack said, unable to bear the silence any longer. “But I don’t know any other way to say it.”

“No,” Twilight said. Applejack’s heart pounded for a moment. Then Twilight smiled, and Applejack felt the heaviness dissolve. “I don’t think that’s silly at all.  Sometimes I just forget that not everypony grew up the same way I did.  For me, the place I lived was never that big of a deal.”

“So, you understand?”

“Well, I can’t honestly say that I have any idea what this feels like for you,” Twilight answered, “but I understand why you feel that way. At least, I think I do.  I never really realized how much the farm itself meant to you.”

“So,” Applejack said, “now what?  Even though we talked through everything, what do we do? I know it would just be selfish for me to think that after listenin’ to me you’d suddenly be on board with movin’ in.  And I know that it would probably be weird for you to live with my whole family.”

“You know what?” Twilight sighed. “I have no idea where we should go from here.  I thought we’d have things figured out once we talked things through, but I’ve got nothing.”

It was Applejack’s turn to put her hoof on Twilight’s. “At the very least, we made a step in right direction.  At least now while we’re mullin’ it over we’ll be able to think of how it’ll affect both of us.”

Twilight smiled. “You’re right.  As much as I’d love to have things decided and out of the way, this is a bit too big of a thing to decide on the spur of the moment.  Are you okay with giving me some time to think through what you said?”

“Fine by me. I gotta think over stuff, too.  Wherever we end up, I want you to really feel like we’re at home there.”

“So I guess now we go back to arguing over where we want to have our honeymoon?  I still think that Manehattan would be fun.”

For the first time that day, Applejack felt free to laugh. “‘Course it would be if you’re there. Maybe we should just chuck a dart at a map.  Even if we end up in a swamp someplace, I bet we’d still enjoy ourselves.”

Twilight returned the laugh. “I’m willing to compromise, but I want a bed.” 

“They got beds in the swamp!  I gotta sleep somewhere when I deliver the pies every year.” She winked. “We could bring the pies along and save a trip!”

“I thought we agreed that there wouldn’t be any business!” Twilight playfully kicked at Applejack under the table. “Though, that does give me an idea…”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Havin’ some pie for dessert?”

Twilight grinned. “Finally, we agree on something!”



“So, this is really what we’re going to do?  You sure that you’re okay with this, Applejack?”

Applejack nodded. “Yeah. We’ve talked about it long enough, and I think it’s time to make it official.  No point in puttin’ it off any longer.”

“Okay then,” Twilight said. “You’ve got the deposit money, right?”

“Of course.” Applejack took a deep breath, and dropped a bag of bits on the desk.  “We’ll take it!”

“Congratulations!” The Mayor brought a large rubber stamp down on the paper with a thump. “The Town Hall is now officially reserved for your wedding!”

Twilight and Applejack smiled nervously at each other.  For the past few weeks, the wedding preparations had been looming larger and larger.  This was the push that would cause the whole thing to snowball.

“It’s so weird,” Twilight said as they trotted lightly out of the Mayor’s office. “It just feels so much more official now that we went and reserved the place!”

Applejack chuckled. “‘Cause orderin’ the dresses, pickin’ the music, and gettin’ the invitations ready didn’t get through to you.”

“Ugh, why did you have to mention the invitations?” Twilight groaned. “It’s going to take us all day tomorrow to address all of those!”

Applejack snorted. “It’s not my fault I got so many relatives.  All those stamps are gonna cost a ton, though.  What’s next on that giant list of yours?”

“Well…” On cue, she pulled the scroll out of seemingly nowhere. “Let’s see, the big thing is getting the catering figured out.  I know Bon Bon is willing to give us a discount for the desserts, and Pinkie told me that the Cakes will give us a great deal on the… well, you know.”

“And my family is gonna handle the appetizers,” Applejack said with a nod. “That just leaves us with… the whole main part of the meal.” She shook her head. “I’ll ask around and see if anypony can recommend someplace to handle that stuff.”

“Same here,” Twilight said as she looked over the scroll. “Ugh, I still got something that I have to take care of.”

“Mare of Honor?” Applejack asked with a smirk.

Twilight nodded sullenly. “I still haven’t picked anypony. Not all of us are lucky enough to have a brother who lives so close by.”

“Aw, come on, I bet Shinin’ Armor would love to do it!  You were his Best Mare, after all.  Or Cadance.”

“I thought about it, but they barely found the time to come to the wedding at all.  I don’t want them to have to go through all the fittings and rehearsals.”

“Listen, I don’t know Shinin’ Armor and Cadance that well, but I’m pretty sure they’d do it.  They might be a bit tired, but that’s not gonna stop ‘em.”

“I’d love for one of them to do that, but I just think it would be too hectic. They’re not even arriving in Ponyville until the middle of the night before the wedding, and they’re leaving early the next morning.  Even if they’re okay, you know perfectly well that I’d be a nervous wreck.”

Applejack thought for a moment. “Good point. Rarity wouldn’t be happy about you curlin’ your hair up like that, either.”

“Ugh, it’s like the Grand Galloping Gala tickets all over again!  Only this time I’m not going to be able to get extra tickets!  I can’t make everypony my Mare of Honor!”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “It’s not that bad. They aren’t all trippin’ over themselves to get on your good side, are they?”

“Well, no.”

“And if you wanna be technical, you could make them all your Mare of Honor.”

“But if I do that it wouldn’t really be any different than not having one at all!”

“So?” Applejack poked Twilight in the shoulder. “What’s the big deal if you don’t have a Mare of Honor?  We’re gonna have all our friends there.  What does it matter if we don’t pick one to be extra special?”

“I know that, but it just feels like something would be missing.”

Applejack shrugged. “Well, it’s your call.  If you really want somepony to be your Mare of Honor, you gotta make that choice yourself.”

“I know, I know,” Twilight said with a sigh. “It’s just been bugging me for a month now.  And with the wedding just a few weeks away, I’m really starting to feel the pressure!”

“Well, accordin’ to Rarity, it’s only gonna get more hectic from here, so whatever you’re gonna do, you should probably do it as quick as you can.”

“Easier said than done,” Twilight grumbled. “Oh well, at least we got something done today.”

“That we did,” Applejack said, nodding. “I better head back to the farm. Big Macintosh wanted to talk about the wedding reception. You wanna come along?”

Twilight shook her head. “I think I’ll pass. I need to figure out this whole ‘Mare of Honor’ thing, if only so I can get it off of my mind.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later then.” Applejack gave Twilight a peck on the cheek. “Good luck gettin’ it figured out.”

“Thanks. Bye!”  Twilight waved goodbye as she trotted back toward the library.  She smiled, but her head was in a whirl, the question of her Mare of Honor stuck in her mind like a splinter.



“Yeah, I’m with Applejack on this one,” Spike said as he meticulously swept the floor around Twilight’s desk.  “What’s the big deal if you just don’t have a Mare of Honor?  It’s not like they really do anything special.  Well, they organize your bachelorette party, I guess, but other than that all they really do is stand there.”

“It just feels like it would be… incomplete.  And more importantly, it would make the wedding parties asymmetrical!” Twilight pounded her hoof on her desk. “The only way to fix it is to either find somepony, or kick Big Macintosh out of the wedding, and there’s no way I’m doing that!”

“Oh, right. Symmetry.” Spike waited until Twilight was looking away before rolling his eyes so hard he made himself dizzy.  “Why don’t you just draw names out of a hat or something?”

“That would trivialize the whole role! I want to pick somepony who’s played a special role in my life, somepony who helped Applejack and I get to where we are!” She groaned and slumped over the desk, smearing the still-wet ink on her notes.  “But they’ve all done that!  How am I supposed to pick one?”

“I have no idea!” Spike threw his claws in the air. “I don’t know what else to tell you. Either you’ve gotta pick somepony, or not.  There isn’t a whole lot else you can do.”

She sighed. “I know, I know.  It feels like I’m stuck.”  She lifted her head off of her desk.  The last few lines she had written in her notes were now scrawled across her face. 

Spike giggled. “Uh, Twilight…”

“I have ink on my face, don’t I?”

“Just a little.”

“You know what? I think I’m done with this for the day.” She closed her book.  “I’m going to go take a nice bubble bath and clear my head. I’ve already done enough today.  I’ll worry about this tomorrow.  Don’t let anypony bother me, okay? I just need to relax."

Spike nodded. “I kinda figured.  Go enjoy your bath.”

“Thanks, Spike.”  She disappeared into the bathroom and the door locked with a click.

Spike chuckled to himself and resumed his sweeping. “About time she unwound a little.”



Bon Bon rolled her eyes as she watched Twilight parcel out hooffulls of peanut brittle into their bags.  “So what you’re saying is that everypony has been giving you advice for the past week, yet you haven’t taken any of it?”

“I don’t know if I should listen to them or not!  Everypony says that I should just have all my friends do it, or pick somepony at random or something, or just not have one at all, but none of those feel right!” Twilight levitated a bag of peanut brittle over the scale and let it drop. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Just do whatever you want!” Lyra plucked the bag off of the scale and tied it closed with a lopsided bow. “It’s your wedding.  So what if it’s a bit un-typical?  If you like it it doesn’t matter what anypony else thinks! Unless it’s Applejack, ‘cause it’s her wedding too.”

“I know that,” Twilight mumbled as she fixed the bow Lyra had tied.  “But I just keep thinking about it. I mean, I’m only going to get married once, hopefully.  I want to do it right.”

Lyra snorted. “That’s what you’re worried about? Can I let you in on a little secret?”

“Secret?”  Twilight gave a Lyra a sideways glance. “Sure, I guess.”

“The secret is” —Lyra paused for an infuriatingly long moment— “the wedding itself really isn’t that big of a deal.”

“What?” Twilight blinked as she measured out another bag of candy. “What does that even mean?  Of course the wedding is important!”

“Well, it is and it isn’t,” Lyra continued as she tied another bag. This one didn’t even get a bow; it got a knot. “Everypony makes such a big deal about the wedding.  Making sure everything is perfect, that you have the right food, the right music, the right venue, as if all that stuff somehow matters in the long run.

“Sure, you want it to be nice, but that’s not what a wedding is about.  Weddings are about the ponies who are getting married.  It’s about taking their relationship, and… well, I guess you could say that you’re formalizing it, but that makes the whole thing sound really boring.  But the whole thing is a way of showing each other and all your guests how much you mean to each other.  It’s coming out and saying ‘I love this pony and I’m gonna spend the rest of my life with her!’ As long as you accomplish that, all of the other stuff is just frills.”

Twilight froze halfway through untangling the knot that Lyra had left on the bag.  Then she grinned.  “You’d think by now I’d have gotten it through my head that doing things ‘right’ is overrated.  I’ve given myself so much trouble because I couldn’t remember that.”

Lyra shrugged as she clumsily tied another bow.  “Everypony needs to be reminded about some things.”

“Like how to tie a bow, for example.” Bon Bon gave Lyra a shove.  “Twilight, would you switch with Lyra, please?  At this rate you’re going to just be retying every package.”

Lyra wiggled her snout at Bon Bon. “Still nicer than when you tie them.”

“You try tying a bow with these.” Bon Bon held up her hooves. Then she turned back to Twilight. “As much as I hate to admit it, Lyra is right.  You do want to have fond memories of your wedding ceremony, but in the end that’s really all it is.  Our wedding was quite nice, but it’s not the reason that we’re still together.  The fact that we picked our wedding parties at pretty much the last minute didn’t really matter in the end.”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Out of curiousity, who ended up being your Mare of Honor?”

“My little sister,” Bon Bon said. “Lyra’s was her roommate from university.  Octo-something.”

“Octavia, Bon Bon. Seriously, you’ve met her a bunch of times.” Lyra shook her head. “Remember when we went to go see her play at the gala?”

Bon Bon nodded. “Yes, yes, of course.”

“Ooh! I should see if she can play at the wedding! I bet I could get you a discount!” She winked at Twilight. “Should I go for it?”

“I guess you could, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble. All we really need is somepony to accompany Fluttershy’s birds during the processional.”

“Alright! I’ll” —she stood, ready to sprint off, but she was fixed by a glare from Bon Bon— “finish with this peanut brittle and then send her a letter.”

“That’s a good plan,” Bon Bon said, turning her attention back to the chocolate covered strawberries she was arranging.  “We wouldn’t want to get too caught up, after all.”

Twilight nodded thoughtfully as she watched Lyra begin to fill a bag of peanut brittle. “No. No, we wouldn’t.”



Applejack sniffed the pot of stew on the stove.  She snorted, and added some pepper. The scent of the vegetables demanded her attention so strongly that she barely heard the knock on the door.

“Apple Bloom, can you get that?  I’m kinda busy.”  She heard Apple Bloom trot past behind her as she stirred her dinner. Of course somepony would show up just as they were about to sit down to eat.

“Hey, Applejack! Twilight’s here!”

“Huh?” Applejack turned her head so quickly she almost sprained her neck. Sure enough, Twilight stood in the doorway.  “Twilight?  What’re you doin’ here? I thought you weren’t comin’ by til after dinner.”

“Don’t worry, this won’t take long,” she said with a smile. "I just wanted to tell you that I finally figured out what to do about the whole Mare of Honor thing.”

“Really?  What are you gonna do?”

“Well, that’s a surprise.” Twilight winked. “That’s actually what I’m here for.  I wanted to tell everypony at once.  Do you think you could stop by the shop tomorrow morning?”

“Sure. What about everypony else?” 

“Spike is going around and telling them what’s going on.  I just thought I should tell you myself.  I could’ve waited until later, but I didn’t want somepony else to beat me to it.  And now that I delivered the message, I should get back home.  I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Yup. See you.” 

Twilight winked again before heading out the door.  Applejack shook her head. “Wonder what she finally ended up doin’? This oughta be fun.”



Twilight surveyed the group that had gathered in the chocolate shop.  She could hardly believe that she’d managed to get all of her friends in the same place at the same time.  Or that Bon Bon had let her use the shop as the meeting place.  Behind the counter, Bon Bon and Lyra watched, with varying levels of interest.

“I suppose you’re all wondering why I asked you to be here today,” she began. “I-”

“Not really,” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

Pinkie nodded in assent. “Yeah, Spike told us why you wanted us all to be here.”  

“Hush!” Rarity poked Pinkie in the flank. “Don’t interfere with her introduction.” She turned back to Twilight. “Go on, dear.”

“As all of you know, I’ve spent the last few days thinking about who I wanted to be my Mare of Honor.  Well, I’ve come to a decision, and I thought it would be best to tell all of you at the same time.  I wanted to explain my decision, since I know it might be a bit of a surprise for everypony.  I didn’t even think of it until yesterday, myself.” She cleared her throat before continuing.

“I just didn’t know what to do.  All of you are my friends, and I just couldn’t bring myself to choose any one of you over the others.  You all mean a lot to me, and I just want to make sure you know that, because, well… I can’t pick one of you, so I’m not picking any of you as my Mare of Honor.”

A murmur went through her friends. She knew they weren’t surprised, per se, but her answer still affected them.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that all of you are part of our wedding, but I just can’t bring myself to say that any one of you is any more important than anypony else. All of you are my friends.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” Fluttershy said. “I’m sure everypony else does, too.”

The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

“Whew.” Twilight sighed in relief. “I’m glad you all see that. I needed the pony that I picked to be somepony that helped me in a different way.”

“Wait a sec!” Applejack stared at Twilight. “You mean that you actually did end up pickin’ somepony?”

“Yes!” Twilight nodded emphatically. “I decided that my Mare of Honor ought to be somepony who really helped me keep my head on straight and encourage me, even when things got difficult.” She slowly turned around. “Lyra, I know this is kinda short notice, but I would be happy to have you as my Mare of Honor.”

She heard her friends gasp, but she ignored it.

“Me? Really?” Lyra asked, confused. “Are you sure?”

“Listen, nearly the whole time I’ve been going out with Applejack, you’ve helped give me the perspective I needed to keep me from tripping over my own hooves.  Without your advice, I’d probably have driven myself crazy. And probably driven Applejack crazy, too.  You’ve really helped me, and I want to recognize you for that.”

Lyra looked pensive for a moment, then grinned widely. “That would be awesome!”

“Great!” Twilight beamed. “I’m so glad everything worked out.”

“See, Twilight, I told you it’d all work out!” Applejack ruffled Twilight’s mane lightly.

“Indeed,” Rarity said, striding past Twilight and Applejack. “Hmmm…” She stopped in front of Lyra, studying her mane. “Yes, I think this will turn out quite well. When can you drop by my boutique?  The Mare of Honor must have a fitting ensemble!”

“Have fun with that!” Rainbow Dash snorted. “Just be careful, once she gets you trying on dresses, you’re not getting out for a while. If she needs a model for some of her other dresses you might be there all night!”

“But on the bright side, if she does keep you there all night, at least she feeds you!” Pinkie added. “Hope you like crumpets!”

“She does make very good crumpets,” Fluttershy said. “It really is worth trying on a couple dozen dresses.”

“Okay, I’ll—” Lyra paused. “Wait a minute, a couple dozen?”

“We must make sure your dress is perfect after all,” Rarity said with a wink.  “When can you drop by the shop?”

“After she’s done with work,” Bon Bon said.

“Oh, yes, of course.” Rarity nodded. “I suppose we should all be going, now that Twilight has made her announcement. Unless she has something else to announce.”

Twilight shook her head.  “No, that was everything. I’ll catch up with all of you later.  Thanks for understanding.”  She waved at her friends as they headed back to their own jobs. Except for Pinkie, who had to be shooed away from the sample dish.  

“Sorry for the trouble,” Twilight said as she began to re-organize the chairs her friends had moved around.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Bon Bon said. “I could hardly begrudge you a few minutes for this. Though I must say, I was not expecting you to make Lyra your Mare of Honor.”

“If I could have, I would’ve picked both of you.  I just figured you… uh… wouldn’t appreciate it as much as Lyra would.”

Bon Bon nodded. “I’ll be busy enough without having to worry about rehearsals and dress fittings and all of that.”

“Well, I just want to thank you anyway.  You’ve helped me a whole lot, as well.”

“It’s the least I could do,” Bon Bon said. “I know exactly how stressful such things can be, and I see no reason not to help you.”

Twilight nodded. “And I’m really glad you did.”

“You are welcome.” She turned to Lyra. “Now then, how about we get back to work?”

“Did you hear that, Bon Bon? I get to be in a wedding!” Lyra trotted excitedly in place. “Ooh! This means I get to plan Twilight’s bachelorette party too, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, yes,” Bon Bon rolled her eyes. “But that does not mean you get to slack off on your job.  I am not going to do double duty just so that you can go off and party and try on dresses.”

“Yeah, I know.” Lyra sighed. “It’s so exciting, though!”

“You have a whole month to be excited, Lyra.  We do not have a whole month to finish packing our inventory for the week.  It isn’t like you’re the one getting married.”  She turned to Twilight. “And even if you are getting married, you still must focus.  One cannot neglect their duties just because a special occasion is coming up.  At the moment, I would like you to sweep the floor.”

Twilight nodded. “Of course.  I don’t want to get too preoccupied with the preparations.”

Bon Bon smirked. “No. No you don’t.”



“You sure you’re alright, with Lyra being my Mare of Honor?” Twilight asked. “I really should’ve asked you first.”

“Twilight, I’m fine with it, really.” Applejack chuckled as she poured a mug of cider for her fiancée.  “I’m just happy you were able to take care of it. Though I admit I probably wouldn’t have ever thought of that particular solution.”

“I barely thought of it myself.” Twilight took a sip of cider. “It’s so nice to not have to worry about that anymore.  I finally feel like we’ve made a real dent in all the preparations.”

“Or at the very least, now it’s somepony else’s problem,” Applejack said. “I’d hate to be Rarity right now. She’s probably got dresses comin’ out of her ears right about now.  Although…”

“Although what?” Twilight drained her mug and began to pour herself another. 

“I just thought of something else we gotta take care of.”

Twilight’s face went pale. “What did we forget?  Did we forget to include an RSVP with the invitations? Did we invite too many ponies?  What happened?!”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that! Calm down.” Applejack wrinkled her nose. “I’ve just been thinkin’ about that little kerfuffle we had about livin’ arrangements.”

“Oh, right,” Twilight said. “That.  I knew that would come up again eventually. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and if living here on Sweet Apple Acres means that much to you, I could—”

“Just stop right there!” Applejack sounded like she was telling a cart to stop before it ran over a foal. “Don’t say that.”

“W-what?” Twilight scratched her head in confusion. “You mean you don’t want to stay here?”

“I do, and that’s the whole problem.  I’ve been thinkin’ about this a lot, too.  And I took a page outta your book and did some research.” She opened a drawer under the kitchen counter and took out a folder.  “Take a look.”

Twilight took the folder and began to leaf through it. “Local real estate listings?  You’re thinking of buying a house?!”

“Well, I’m not plannin’ on takin’ out a loan or anything right this second.  I’ve just been goin’ over everything you said about movin’ in together and all that, and I decided that movin’ off of Sweet Apple Acres is something I need to do.”

“You need to do?”

Applejack nodded. “Yes.  It’s like you said, I gotta be willin’ to give stuff up.  I asked you to marry me, and when I did that, it was a promise that we were gonna share our lives with each other.  And if I decide that I’m gonna keep livin’ here, it feels like I’m breakin’ that promise.  I might be givin’ that up, but I know that if we go through all this together, I’ll be just fine.”

“Are… are you sure?”

“Quit askin’ me that!  It was hard enough makin’ this decision for myself. If you keep askin’ me about it, I might end up changin’ my mind.” She sighed. “I figured we could start lookin’ for someplace, and until we find somewhere, it ain’t gonna kill me to live in the library. Not like I don’t spend a ton of time in there anyway.”

Twilight smiled so widely her cheeks ached. “That’s perfectly alright with me.  We’ll have to start reorganizing!  And cleaning!”

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Applejack said with a laugh. “We can talk about redecoratin’ tomorrow.  For now, let’s just be happy that we know where we’re redecoratin’.”

“Good point,” Twilight said. “At least I know Spike will be happy.” She chuckled. “I promised him that if you moved in, he’d get his own room.”

Applejack smiled. “At least I know he won’t be mad about me movin’ in.”


“You mean I’ll finally get my own room? Finally!” Spike drummed his claws together in excitement. “This is great.  I can finally hang up all those posters you won’t let me put anywhere!”

“I’d let you hang them up if they weren’t so… colorful,” Twilight said.  “I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t even be able to sleep with those things on the wall.”

“Wouldn’t bother me!” Spike hopped backward and landed square in his bed. “I can sleep through anything!” 

“Not everyone is so lucky,” Twilight said. “I’m sure you know a bunch of stuff is going to change when Applejack moves in, but right now I’m too tired to think of anything specific.”

“Eh, I’ll be fine with whatever,” Spike shrugged. “Applejack and I get along fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s not going to be that easy, you know.”

“Eh, maybe, maybe not. There’s nothing I can do about it now, so what’s the point in worrying about it.” He yawned. “Just relax.  You’ve earned it.”

“You know what?” Twilight flopped limply onto her bed. “I think you’re right. I’ve done everything I can do.  There’s more to do, but nothing I can do right now.”

“Well, there is one thing you can do.”

“What’s that?”

Spike chuckled. “Look forward to it.”

Twilight smiled. “I can do that.”
