//------------------------------//
// The Calm// Story: A Delicate Balance// by JapaneseTeeth//------------------------------//

	This could either be the best or worst idea that I've ever had.
	
	
Our storm is past, and that storm's tyrannous rage,
A stupid calm, but nothing it, doth 'suage.
	
—The Calm,
John Donne

	
	Fluttershy trotted towards the cafe where she was scheduled to have lunch with Twilight. She was a few minutes early, but that didn't matter. Twilight always showed up at least fifteen minutes ahead of time. Which was nice; it meant that Twilight could claim whatever table she wanted before the lunch rush showed up. Sure enough, Twilight was already seated in the corner. Only this time, instead of examining the menu, she was engrossed in that magazine that she had had in her bag yesterday. Occasionally, Twilight looked up to glance back and forth, as if she were nervous that somepony would see her.
	
	As Fluttershy approached, she saw Twilight notice her, and immediately close the magazine and slip it under the table. Then she waved for Fluttershy to join her.
	
	“Good afternoon, Twilight,” Fluttershy said as she took her seat. As usual, Twilight had gotten one of the tables with an umbrella that gave them both just the right amount of shade. She felt an urge to ask about the magazine, but resisted it. “How are you doing?”
	
	“I'm doing fine,” Twilight said, smiling widely. “I've been doing a bit of thinking.”
	
	“Really? About what?”
	
	“Well...” Twilight's eyes darted back and forth down the street, and then she leaned across the table and whispered. “Can you keep a secret?”
	
	“Of course,” Fluttershy said quietly.
	
	Twilight silently put the magazine back on the table and slid it towards Fluttershy.
	
	“A jewelry catalog?” Fluttershy asked. She tried to think of any upcoming occasion that would require jewelry and couldn't think of anything. “Why would you-?”
	
	Twilight wordlessly flipped the catalog open and tapped a certain page.
	
	“Oh, they're having a special on engagement jewelry. That's ni—” Then the word hit her like Rainbow Dash flying into a wall. “E-e-e-e-engagement!? You're going to ask Applejack to—”
	
	“SHHH!” Twilight shoved a hoof into Fluttershy's mouth.
	
	“Hmmf?”
	
	Twilight removed her hoof. Fluttershy gasped again, and asked her question again, this time in a low voice.
	
	“You're going to ask Applejack to marry you?”
	
	“I don't know!” Twilight said. “That's what I was thinking about. I mean, the idea just sort of popped into my head yesterday and I haven't been able to think about anything else.” She snatched the magazine back and hid it under the table. “But even so, I'm not sure what to actually do. I mean, I've never really thought about the idea seriously before.”
	
	“So you're thinking about it seriously now?”
	
	“Yeah, I guess. I mean, our relationship has to go somewhere, right? We can't just keep dating forever. If we stay together, sooner or later we'll end up taking the plunge!” She shivered. “I just don't know whether it should be sooner or later.”
	
	“Um, maybe you should—”
	
	Fluttershy stopped as the the waiter appeared next to the table. “Are you ready to order?” he asked.
	
	“I'll have a daisy sandwich and a glass of water, please,” Fluttershy said.
	
	“I'll have this!” Twilight jabbed a hoof at the menu despite the fact that she hadn't taken a single look at it.
	
	“The bean sprout soup. An excellent choice.” The waiter scribbled the orders on his pad and strode away.
	
	“Bean sprouts?” Fluttershy asked. “Twilight, you hate bean sprouts.”
	
	“What about bean sprouts?”
	
	“That's what you just ordered.”
	
	Twilight looked down at the menu, where her hoof was still pressed firmly to the soup section. “Oh, horseapples.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I'm just trying to figure out how I want to go about this. Should I start planning for it now? Part of me wants to, but I think that might be going too fast. We've only been a couple for a year. It hasn't really been that long.”
	
	“That's true...”
	
	“But on the other hoof, we were already really good friends for years before that. Even before we started dating we were pretty close.” She slumped down in her chair. “But I don't know how she'd react to that. What if she wants to take things slower? I don't want to put her on the spot or anything.”
	
	“That's true, too,” Fluttershy said.
	
	“And what if she says 'no'? What would that even mean?” Twilight slumped forward onto the table. “If she didn't want to get married, does that mean that we'd be broken up? Or does it just mean that we'd just keep dating?”
	
	“You would know that better than I would,” Fluttershy said. “Besides, I'm sure that if Applejack would turn you down she would give you a good reason.”
	
	“So you think she might turn me down if I asked her?”
	
	“That's not what I meant!” Fluttershy held up her hooves. “I'm just saying that if she did, not that she would, she'd tell you why. I don't know why she wouldn't say 'yes' though.”
	
	Twilight perked up, and a grin popped onto her face. “You think she'd say 'yes'!?”
	
	“I don't know!” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “The only pony who knows that is Applejack. You'd have to ask her.”
	
	“But I don't know if I'm even ready to ask her! I don't even know if we've been together long enough that that question should even be on the radar!  I mean, at what point in a relationship are you supposed to start even considering that?”
	
	“Um, if you aren’t even sure of whether you should be thinking about it, isn't it a bit early to be looking for engagement jewelry?”
	
	“Well, uh, I'm not really looking yet,” Twilight said indignantly. “I'm just... getting a feel for what it would require if I would ask. It's not like I'm deciding what sort of gem I'm going to buy her, I'm just trying to get a feel for how much it might cost me if I was seriously going to think about asking her. Hypothetically. There's a lot to take into account!”
	
	“There is?”
	
	“Of course!” Twilight slapped the magazine down on the table, and began to flip through the pages. “I want to pick something good, obviously. This isn't something I could skimp on. But at the same time, I don't want to go overboard and use up my life savings on it, either. Applejack wouldn't want that. She wouldn’t want to wear some giant, gaudy jewel anyway. I'd need to find one that shows how much I care about her, but wouldn't be going overboard.” She sighed. “And then I'd need to find one that would actually look good on her!”
	
	“Um, maybe you could ask Rarity. I'm sure she'd be able to give you some pointers.”
	
	“No!” Twilight shook her head violently. “We can't tell her! The minute she hears that I'm even considering the idea of proposing she'll go into wedding planner mode and start designing dresses, picking out invitations, picking the music. I don't want to deal with that right now.”
	
	“Well, I won't tell her about it.”
	
	“Thanks.” Twilight rested her head on the table. “I wish I knew what to do.”
	
	Fluttershy was silent, then she shrugged. “I wish I knew what to tell you. Maybe you could ask somepony else.”
	
	“I was thinking about asking Lyra, seeing as she's been through this whole thing before, but I don't think I will. At least not yet. I feel like this is something I need to figure out on my own. This is between Applejack and I, and it would just feel weird to bring other ponies into it.” She smiled. “I think I'll be okay. It's not like it's a pressing issue or anything. I can afford to wait and see how things go. What I really needed was just to get this off my back.”
	
	“Well, I hope you get it figured out. Are you sure that you'll be okay?”
	
	“Yes, I'll be fine.” Twilight rolled up the magazine and tapped it on the table. “I just need to talk to Applejack. Not about this, but just about us. Maybe I can get some idea of how she might feel about where we're headed. Figure out whether I should even be thinking about this now or just forget it for a few months.”
	
	“In the meantime...” she paused just long enough for the waiter to leave their food on the table, “...let's just enjoy our lunch.”
	
	“Wow,” Fluttershy said as she watched the waiter walk away. “Did you plan that?”
	
	“No, I guess I just got lucky with the timing.” Twilight giggled. “Let's eat.”  She looked down at her lunch, and found a bowl of sickly-looking bean sprouts staring back at her.  “Or not."
	
	
	
	Applejack felt both normal and a little bit strange. More specifically, she felt mostly normal, and her awareness of that normality struck her as just a little weird. Applejack had a handy rule of hoof for that: the more Twilight tried to convince her that something wasn't a problem, the more likely that it actually was. And it was obvious that something was bothering her. But despite her head telling her that she should be worried, her stomach, which by all rights should be filled with butterflies, hadn't gotten the message.
	
	Even if something was bothering Twilight, there was no reason to worry. Twilight worried sometimes, but she always got her head on straight eventually. Their relationship wouldn't fail because Twilight had an anxiety attack. Applejack wouldn't let it. They'd talk, and work it out. She'd help Twilight get over whatever it was, and that would be that. In any case, there was nothing she could do at the moment besides wait to see if Twilight would figure it out herself, or if she'd need a nudge. In the meantime, she had decided to finally fix that hole in the roof of the barn.
	
	She held the last board in place, and began to feel around for her nails. She looked back over her shoulder. The can of nails sat just on the edge of the platform that she was standing on and, naturally enough, was just barely out of reach.
	
	“Aw, c'mon.” She stretched as far as she could manage while still holding the board in place. The tip of her hoof brushed the edge of the can. It wobbled for a second before toppling over the edge. “Oh, ponyfeath—” She stopped herself as the can suddenly floated back up, surrounded by a faint, purple glow. Applejack poked her head over the edge of the platform. Twilight was standing at the base of Applejack's ladder. “Hey, Twilight!” Applejack waved with her free hoof. “How are you doin?”
	
	“Much better than I was yesterday,” Twilight said as she started to ascend the ladder. “Do you need some help?”
	
	“I don't need help,” Applejack said with a smile, “but I'd sure appreciate it. If you could hold this hunk of wood up while I nail it in...”
	
	Twilight nodded and took hold of the board with her telekinesis. “I'm sorry about yesterday,” she said. “I just had some... insecurities to get over.”
	
	“And did you get over 'em?” Applejack plucked a nail out of the can and poked it into the wood.
	
	“I guess you could say that.” Twilight shrugged. “Turned out I didn't really have any insecurities to start with.”
	
	“Huh?” Applejack picked up the hammer.
	
	“It's hard to explain. I guess I just had a moment of doubt. You know, about us. I just started thinking about how different things are between us now than they were when we first started going out. It took Mrs. Cake giving me a lecture about it to realize the change was a good thing.”
	
	Applejack pounded the nail in and put the hammer down. “Well, for what it's worth, I like things the way they are now.” She positioned another nail. “Much less awkward.”
	
	“Yeah, well for some weird reason I got it in my head that we had lost something because I wasn't all nervous and flustered about it.”
	
	“But?” Applejack paused before hitting the next nail.
	
	“But we didn't, obviously. Like you said, things are better now. I just feel kinda stupid for not catching on.”
	
	Applejack chuckled as she added another nail. “I knew you'd get it figured out. You coulda told me, though. I would have helped you out.”
	
	Twilight sighed. “Well, hindsight is 20/20, after all. It was just a bit embarrassing, you know? I didn't want you to think I was doubting you.”
	
	“Nah, I know you're not like that. Everypony has times when they feel like something is wrong. I mean, even I'm not sure of myself sometimes.”
	
	“Really? You have doubts about us, too?”
	
	Applejack sighed. “I ain't proud of it, but yeah, I guess. Every now and then it just hits me how totally out-of-the-blue the whole thing was, and I worry a bit that I went along with it just because I didn't want to make you sad.”
	
	“And...?”
	
	Applejack smiled to herself. Normally she'd take a few minutes to think of a suitable response, but this was one thing she had thought about so often that the answer was already engraved in her mind. “And then I actually talk to you and realize that that's a dumb thing to be worried about, 'cause you make me happy, too.” She pounded the final nail into place. “I know I care about you, and that's all I need.” Applejack began to climb down.
	
	“I wish I could deal with things so easily.” Twilight shook her head. “Thanks for putting up with all my... idiosyncracies.”
	
	“'Puttin' up with', nothing.” Applejack snorted. “I just said, I like bein' with you.” She swiped her hat across her forehead and gave Twilight a kiss. “Sorry, I'd cuddle a bit, but I'm kinda sweaty and dirty right now. Spendin' the day in a barn tends to do that. Why don't we head back to the house? You can grab some lemonade or something while I get cleaned up. Then we can talk a bit more.”
	
	“Sounds good to me.”
	
	“So are you sure you're alright?” Applejack asked. “You still look a bit... jittery.”
	
	“I'm fine,” Twilight said. “It just got me thinking about how much things have changed in the past year, and where we might be a year from now.”
	
	“A year from now, huh? Who knows? Maybe we'll be— OW!” Applejack pulled her hat down, protecting her eyes from the sudden brightness as she stepped out of the barn. “I really should've brought a pair of sunglasses.”
	
	Twilight chuckled. “So maybe we'll be what?” She mentally steeled herself. If she was going to attempt it, might as well be now. “Married?”
	
	Applejack made a noise that wasn't quite a word, but if it would have been, it would have been something like “Wuh?”
	
	“Well, a lot can happen in a year, you know?” She prodded Applejack in the shoulder. “Do you think a year would be too soon?”
	
	“I, uh, wow.” Applejack scratched her head. “No, it's just that I never really thought much about it. I just sorta took it day by day. I just... I got nothing.”
	
	“Nothing?”
	
	“Not a thing.” Applejack shook her head. “The way I figure, there's too much that can change in a year, you know? I mean, if so much changed this year, who knows how much is gonna be different a year from now? Maybe by then it'll be a real possibility. What the hay, maybe we'll even have taken the plunge. For right now, I couldn't tell you.”
	
	“It's future Applejack's problem then?” Twilight said with a smirk.
	
	“Well, not really. Future Applejack is me, after all. I'd just need to give it some thought before I'd know. But right now, I'm happy with how things are goin'.”
	
	Twilight smiled. “That's all I needed to hear. Now where's this lemonade?”
	
	
	
	Twilight yawned. She had slept beautifully. It was miraculous how effective a simple talk could be. All the questions that had been weighing so heavily on her mind had evaporated. As of this morning the only thing she had to worry about was breakfast. Which would be waffles, because waffles were the best breakfast. As she rolled out of bed, a glossy piece of paper caught her eye. Maybe she had one more itty bitty little thing to worry about.
	
	She shoved the corner of the magazine the rest of the way into her saddlebag. She'd need to return that to Lyra, both because Lyra needed it to pick out an anniversary gift for Bon Bon, and because if anypony else saw it, they'd probably jump to conclusions. The last thing she wanted was whispering around town. Especially not now that she had decided to put off so much as thinking about weddings for at least another few months.
	
	She devoured her waffles, put on her saddlebags, and trotted out the door. Her mind was so occupied with her customary mental review of Bon Bon's price list that she didn't even notice the flap of her saddlebag catch on one of the bushes outside her door, revealing the corner of the magazine within. Fortunately for her, only one other pony so much as noticed that she even wore saddlebags. Unfortunately for her, the one pony who did notice was Pinkie Pie.
	
	
	
	Fluttershy trotted along the road, scanning the various bushes and shrubs for any sign of her missing chicken. The cutie mark crusaders’ foray into the art of the Potato Gun had left a conveniently chicken-sized hole in her pen. And once again, Elizabeak had decided to do some exploring. One would have thought that after her run-in with the cockatrice she would have realized the wisdom of not wandering off whenever there was a gap in the fence. At least this time, the chicken had the sense to wander toward the town rather than away from it.
	
	“Elizabeak? Where are you?”
	
	“Not here!” came a voice from behind her. Fluttershy spun around to stare at the bush from which the call had issued. As she had recognized the voice, it didn't come as any surprise at all to a see a large, poofy, pink tail protruding from the foliage. One of the branches slid to the side, and two large eyes became visible.
	
	“Pinkie, why are you hiding in there?” She paused as she noticed Pinkie Pie's hat. “And why do you have a bird's nest tied to your head?”
	
	“I'm waiting for Applejack, and for stealth reasons!”
	
	“Waiting for Applejack?”
	
	“Yep!” Pinkie nodded so hard that the giant fake parrot in her nest-hat whipped around and nearly smacked her in the face.
	
	“Why do you need to be stealthy?”
	
	“So Applejack doesn't see me and I can pop out when she comes by! That's what my headpiece is for!”
	
	“Um, I'm not sure how much that would help.” Fluttershy poked the fake parrot. “This type of bird isn't native to this area.”
	
	“But you have one!” Pinkie said.
	
	“Yes, but I take care of it. It couldn't live on its own in the wild!” Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Maybe next time you should use a fake pigeon, or maybe a cardinal. Both of them live around here. If you're trying to sneak up on Applejack, you should use a disguise that won't draw her attention.” Fluttershy paused, and processed what she just said. “Why don't you want Applejack to see you? Are you trying to scare her or something?”
	
	“Of course not!” Pinkie shook her head, dislodging the bird. She caught it and put it back on her head. “Why would I want to scare her?”
	
	“Well, if you aren't trying to scare her, why were you going to jump out? If you wanted to talk to her, couldn't you just go to her house? Why hide here and try to ambush her?”
	
	“I couldn't go to her house because I need to talk to her about secrets. I couldn't talk to her where somepony else might hear us! It's something super duper important! I think. Maybe.  This way nopony else will know I was here!” She slid a hoof under the bird's nest and scratched her head. “Besides this is totally more fun than just standing around and waiting.”
	
	“There's something important you need to talk to Applejack about?” Fluttershy had a hunch, and decided to make a guess. “Is it about Twilight?”
	
	Pinkie leaped straight up out of the bush as she gasped. “How did you know!?” She grabbed Fluttershy and yanked.
	
	“Pinkie, what are you—” Fluttershy found herself in the midst of the bush. Pinkie had cleared out a surprisingly large amount of shrubbery. At the very least, it wasn't nearly as prickly or uncomfortable as she would have guessed.
	
	“What do you know!?” Pinkie said, pulling a lamp out of her tail and shining it in Fluttershy's face. “Where were you on the night of last Tuesday!?”
	
	“I-I was at home reading a book!”
	
	“What book?”
	
	“Daring Do and the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.”
	
	“Silver Monkey, huh?” Pinkie squinted at Fluttershy for a moment before shrugging and stowing the lamp back wherever she had gotten it from. “That's okay, I guess. If you had been reading Daring Do and the Gardens of Equestria, then we'd have had a problem. That book is so overrated!”
	
	“So, uh, what did you have to talk to Applejack about?”
	
	“Can you keep a secret?”
	
	“Of course.”
	
	“Good!” Pinkie's eyes darted back and forth, even though they couldn't see anything outside the bush. Then she pulled Fluttershy even closer and whispered, “Twilight and Applejack are getting married!”
	
	“What?” Fluttershy could only stare at Pinkie.
	
	
	“You know, married! Having a wedding! Trading vows! Taking the plunge! Tying the knot!”
	
	“Really?” Fluttershy knew that Twilight had been planning to get a feel for Applejack's thoughts on the matter, but unless Applejack had been incredibly gung-ho about the idea, it was a bit soon for them to have reached that point. Their relationship hadn't exactly been rushed this far, after all. There was, however, an obvious alternative. “Pinkie, are you sure?”
	
	“Sure, I'm sure!” Pinkie said indignantly. “Mostly.”
	
	“Um, how did you find out that they're getting married? Did one of them tell you?”
	
	“Well, no,” Pinkie admitted.
	
	“Did you overhear one of them talking about it?”
	
	“Not exactly.”
	
	“Did they say anything that even hinted that they might be getting married.”
	
	“Uh..... no.”
	
	Fluttershy didn't get frustrated often, but she was getting there now. “Then where did you get the idea from?”
	
	“Well, this morning I saw Twilight going out, and she had a jewelry catalog in her saddlebag! And it was the special Hearts and Hooves day edition!”
	
	“That doesn't mean that they're going to get married.” Fluttershy shook her head. “Applejack might not even know about it!”
	
	“Well yeah, but Twilight wouldn't be looking at it if she wasn't going to ask! And if she's going to ask there's no way that Applejack would ever say no! So they have to be getting married soon!”
	
	Fluttershy could feel her head starting to hurt from the effort of following Pinkie's train of thought. “Or maybe she was just looking for an anniversary gift,” she said. “There are other sorts of jewelry besides engagement rings, you know.”
	
	“They already had their anniversary. If Twilight is only just now getting around to buying a gift, she'd be freaking out a lot more! When I saw Twilight she looks pretty normal and not-freaking-out.”
	
	Fluttershy tried to scratch her head, but there wasn't enough room inside the bush to do so. She settled for sighing. She needed a way to get Pinkie onto another train of thought without letting her know she had talked to Twilight about that very same subject. “If Twilight was going to propose to Applejack,” she said cautiously, “don't you think she'd be worried about that?”
	
	“Of course!”
	
	“But you said that she wasn't worried.”
	
	“I sure did!” Pinkie nodded. “Wait, so that means she's not? Then why would she have that catalog?”
	
	“Maybe... um...” Fluttershy tried to think of a plausible explanation. “Maybe the mailpony delivered it to her house by mistake and she was just dropping it off at the right house.”
	
	“But that's so boring!” Pinkie said. “It would be way more dramatic if Twilight was planning to propose!”
	
	“Well, that's too bad, I guess,” Fluttershy said. “Um, why exactly were you going to jump out at Applejack anyway? If Twilight was going to propose, wouldn't it be better if it were a surprise? You wouldn't want to ruin it by telling her what Twilight was going to do.”
	
	“But what if it was after Twilight asked?”
	
	“Then Applejack would already know, so there wouldn't be any reason to surprise her with it. It doesn't make sense. And I still don't know why you were waiting here to ambush her rather than stopping by her house or something.”
	
	“I wanted to talk in a secluded area where nopony else would see us.”  Pinkie sighed. “And I wanted an excuse to pop out of the bush,” she admitted. “You have any other ideas? It'll be a waste of a day if I don't jump out at somepony, and I need some sort of reason to jump out or everypony will think I'm crazy!”
	
	“Well, we can't have that,” Fluttershy said, refraining from making the obvious remark. “Is anypony's birthday coming up?”
	
	“The next pony to have a birthday is Roseluck, and she doesn't like surprise parties. Last time we threw one for her she fainted. Besides, I don't have a cake ready. Today isn't a holiday, is it?”
	
	Fluttershy shook her head, rustling the bush. “No.”
	
	“You sure? What if it's one of those more random ones? Like Arbor Day!”
	
	“I don't think it's arbor day,” Fluttershy said.
	
	“Flag day?”
	
	“I don't think so.”
	
	“April Foal's Day?”
	
	“It's not April.”
	
	“Ugh. I guess I'll have to make up my own holiday again.” She sighed. “You should probably get going. Unless you want to help me brainstorm another holiday to celebrate.”
	
	“Um, okay...” Fluttershy began to back out of the bush, but then paused. “What do you mean, 'again'?”
	
	“Last year I made up a holiday called 'Bobunk' so I had an excuse to use up all of our extra fudge to make a cake! It celebrated the not-very-valuable contributions that cats make to our society! Opal was the guest of honor!”
	
	“Oh my, that's quite a—” Fluttershy didn't know what to say to that, but she didn't have to.
	
	“What are you two doin'?” Applejack's voice said. Fluttershy and Pinkie poked their heads out of the bush to see the farm pony standing in the road, eying them with curiosity. “I was just headin' into town, and I saw your tails stickin' out. I ain't gonna ask why Pinkie's in there, but you don't usually make a habit of standin' around in bushes, Fluttershy.”
	
	“I, uh... Pinkie was just telling me about Bobunk.”
	
	“Oh, that.” Applejack rolled her eyes. “I still can't believe Mayor Mare let her rent out the whole Town Hall for that. It took a week to get all that fudge out of Opal's fur. Rarity just about had a coronary. Anyway, I was gonna drop by the shop and say hi to Twilight, so I'm just gonna be on my way. You keep hangin' out in your bush.” She waved and turned back down the path.
	
	“Wait!” Pinkie called after her. “I have a question!”
	
	Fluttershy cringed. Even Pinkie should have more tact than to bring up the subject of marriage to Applejack point-blank.
	
	“Yeah?” Applejack said.
	
	“Would 'Festivus' be a good name for a holiday?”
	
	Fluttershy tried to keep her sigh of relief from being too noticeable.
	
	“Uh, sure, I guess,” Applejack said with a shrug. “Let me know if you come up with anything. See you later.”
	
	“Well, I had better be on my way, too.” Fluttershy clamored out of the bush. “I have a chicken to find.”
	
	“Oh, Elizabeak is fine!” Pinkie chirped. “She got into Bon Bon's storeroom somehow and Lyra was looking for you so you could go get her!”
	
	“Why didn't you tell me that earlier?”
	
	“You didn't ask.”
	
	Fluttershy mentally kicked herself. With Pinkie Pie, you always ask. “Thank you, Pinkie,” she said. Then she trotted off after Applejack.
	
	
	
	“There's a what in the storage room?” Twilight asked.
	
	“A chicken,” Bon Bon said, her voice more fatigued than it should have been so early in the day. “Don't ask me how it got in there. I don't know.”
	
	“What are you going to do about it?”
	
	“Well, I'm quite sure it's one of Fluttershy's chickens, so I sent Lyra to go find her. Celestia only knows where she disappeared to. She's been gone for over half an hour now!”
	
	“Maybe she just couldn't find Fluttershy,” Twilight suggested as she returned to her sweeping.
	
	“I doubt it. Knowing her, she hasn't even gotten to Fluttershy's house yet. Probably took a detour to pick up a bagel at the cafe or stopped to talk to Carrot Top or something.” She groaned. “I should have sent you to find her. You'd know where to find her, and you wouldn't get so distracted.”
	
	“Do you want me to go look for her?”
	
	“No, no, it's much more useful for you to stay here. If you go off after Lyra I won't have anypony to run the register while I make my next batch of pralines. Although I do briefly require your assistance for a moment.”
	
	“Yes, Ma'am!” Twilight said as she carefully leaned the broom against the wall.
	
	“I told you, don't call me ma'am! I'm barely any older than you are!”
	
	“Sorry.”
	
	“Now, I have to get some boxes of nuts out of the storage room, but I'd rather not let that chicken escape, especially not if Lyra somehow did find Fluttershy and sent her over here. I need you to pick up the chicken with your telekinesis so it doesn't escape while I get my ingredients. Then you can put it in the janitor’s closet so it won’t eat any of my stock.  Can you do that?”
	
	“Of course.” Twilight nodded. “Weren't you there when I performed for those Saddle Arabian diplomats?”
	
	“I was too busy putting my shop back in order after Trixie decided that she needed a statue of herself made entirely of chocolate. She must have made me remake the thing half a dozen times! Apparently she couldn't grasp that while I may be a gifted chocolatier, I am no sculptor. Even Lyra is better at that than I am.”
	
	“That couldn't have been easy.”
	
	“It wasn't,” Bon Bon said. “Now, I'm just going to open the door slowly, and you pick up the chicken. All I need is a box of semi-sweet.” She put a hoof on the doorhandle. “Are you ready?”
	
	Twilight rapped her hoof on the ground. “Ready!”
	
	Bon Bon swung the door open, and nothing happened. The chicken was nowhere to be seen or heard. Twilight slowly stepped into the room, scanning for the rogue chicken.  If Bon Bon hadn’t told her about it, she wouldn’t have even known that a bird was in there. It was probably scared, she thought, trapped in an unfamiliar place. It was probably cowering behind a box. Twilight did her best clucking sound in a futile bid to lure the chicken out of hiding.
	
	“Was that supposed to be a chicken?” Bon Bon asked. “It sounded more like a duck.”
	
	“Well, I'm not Fluttershy! I'm not really well versed in bird calls.”
	
	“I realize that, but I would think anypony could tell the difference between a cluck and a quack! It can't be that difficult.”
	
	Twilight wrinkled her nose. “The sounds are pretty similar you know. They both start and end with hard consonants!”
	
	“So? The rest of the word is completely different, and that's not even considering the tone.”
	
	Twilight looked back over her shoulder, trying not to glower at her boss. “Well, if you'd rather make the sound, you could—”
	
	“BWAAAAWK!”
	
	Twilight's head spun back to the storage room just in time to catch a glimpse of Elizabeak, who had not been hiding, but rather lying in wait.
	
	“AHHHH!” She stumbled backward as a mass of flailing feathers smacked her in the face.
	
	“I've got it!” Bon Bon leaped toward Elizabeak, but the bird flapped its wings, gaining just enough lift to sail over her head.
	
	Twilight leaped to her feet and spun around, charging in the direction the chicken had escaped. Unfortunately, Bon Bon was still in the way. The two mares crashed against the counter.
	
	“She's getting away!” Twilight gasped.
	
	“I can see that!” Bon Bon retorted, from underneath Twilight. “Why couldn't you grab her?”
	
	“Sorry, I wasn't expecting to get attacked.” She began to untangle herself from Bon Bon's limbs. “At least the door is still closed, so she can't get out of the store.
	
	The bell above the door rang.
	
	“Whoa! What the hay is goin' on in here!?”
	
	Twilight rolled over and saw an upside-down Applejack. “Lasso the chicken!”
	
	“Right!” Without missing a beat, Applejack whipped out a lasso, and hurled the loop at Elizabeak, who was halfway through the door. “No you don't!” She yanked the rope, and the angry mass of feathers at the end whipped back through the door. And then it hit her square in the face. “AGHH!” She blundered into one of the tables, sending the vase of flowers that rested on it skidding across the floor. Then Applejack stumbled the other way, and backed into the wall, causing the picture hung on it to fall and land squarely on her head.
	
	Elizabeak thrashed wildly, squawking like a rusty hinge as she tried to wriggle free of the lasso.
	
	“Elizabeak!” The movement ceased instantly. Fluttershy stood in the doorway, looking surprisingly intimidating. “What have I told you about running around town? You can't just go running into random shops!”
	
	The chicken hung her head, thoroughly chastened.
	
	Fluttershy turned to Bon Bon, who was surveying the damage. “I'm so sorry! The Cutie Mark Crusaders knocked a hole in my fence, and I didn't realize it until this morning. If I would have known I would have come sooner! If you want I can help you clean up!”
	
	“No, no, that won't be necessary,” Bon Bon said with a sigh. “My stock room is more or less undamaged, and all we need to do now is clean the store again.” She brushed at her mane. “Twilight usually does a thorough cleaning three times a day, anyway.”
	
	“Well, in that case, I should take Elizabeak back to the chicken coop.” Fluttershy freed Elizabeak from the lasso. “I'm sorry about the trouble, really. If I hadn’t been caught by Pinkie Pie on my way over I would have been here sooner!” She turned and headed out the door.
	
	“Pinkie Pie?” Bon Bon asked flatly. “What's she doing now?”
	
	“She's tryin' to come up with a new holiday for some reason,” Applejack said. “I'd try to stay away from her if you could. She might ask you to make up some chocolates for it.”
	
	“I think not!” Bon Bon snapped. “Not after she used up all of my fudge for that ‘Bobunk’ nonsense.  Besides, I'm busy enough as it is.” She stomped over to where Applejack had collided with the wall and picked up the picture that she had knocked off the wall.
	
	“I'm sorry about that,” Applejack said, “It's not broken, is it? If it is I can get you a new frame.”
	
	“No, no, it's fine.” Bon Bon placed it delicately back on the wall, and Applejack got a good look at it. Framed in a cheaply-made pink wooden heart was an image of Lyra and Bon Bon standing in front of the famous APPLEWOOD sign. Lyra had a suitably gigantic grin plastered on her face, and one of her forelegs slung over Bon Bon's shoulder, pulling her close. Bon Bon had a small smile and a slight blush.
	
	“I’ve always liked that picture,” Twilight said.
	
	“Thank you,” Bon Bon said. She stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she carefully straightened the picture. “It's from our honeymoon. We went to Las Pegasus.”
	
	“Should've known from the sign,” Applejack said, staring at the picture. “I hear it's really nice out there. Never been there myself, but I got a second cousin out in Applewood. He says the weather is great.”
	
	“Yes, we had quite a nice time,” Bon Bon said. “Though it was a rather short trip, unfortunately. I had too much work to spend too much time away from the store. Speaking of which, I really must get back to work. Twilight, can you handle things out here?”
	
	“Of course.” Twilight saluted.
	
	“Then do it.” She waggled a hoof at Twilight and Applejack. “Now you two have your little sweetheart moment, and please try to make it quick.” She spun around and stomped into the kitchen.
	
	“Well, I should probably let you get back to work.” Applejack shook her head, and went to work setting the table back up. “Good thing that vase is made of plastic.”
	
	“Yeah, fake flowers, too.” She chuckled as she put them back in the vase. “Maybe I should have just given you these. You wouldn't have to water them or anything.”
	
	“If I want to see flowers I'll just come here to see you,” Applejack said with a grin. “See you later, Twilight.”
	
	Bon Bon watched through a crack in the door as they had their customary kiss before Applejack rang the bell on her way out the door. She smiled. They'd do just fine.
	
	
	
	Lyra sighed as she walked along the street. Bon Bon was never going to let her hear the end of this. She had been out of the shop for nearly an hour trying futilely to track down Fluttershy, who had apparently vanished. Fluttershy's cottage was empty, and any and all attempts to get any information out of that rabbit of hers met with failure. The pegasus apparently wasn't in town either; Lyra had been through the marketplace twice already, and Fluttershy hadn't been at any of the outdoor cafes either. She's probably looking for her chicken, she thought. If I were Fluttershy, where would I look for a lost—
	
	“Ow!” She stumbled backward and looked up to see that she had walked right into Fluttershy. “Sorry about that! I was just looking for you, actually. I need you to come by the shop and pick up your,” she noticed that Elizabeak was perched on Fluttershy's back, “chicken.”
	
	“Oh yes, I just picked her up,” Fluttershy said. “I'm so sorry for the trouble. There was a hole in my fence.”
	
	“Well, I guess that means I don't have to look for you any more, then. There wasn't too much damage in the shop, was there?”
	
	“Um, a few tables got knocked over, but Twilight and Applejack were cleaning that up.”
	
	“Oh, Applejack was there, huh?” Lyra smirked. “I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Some days she's in there just as much as Twilight is. I swear, Bon Bon has a soft spot for those two. She wouldn't let anypony else loiter like that. Anyway, I better get back and help them clean up. Bon Bon probably won't be happy that I wasted so much time trying to find you.”
	
	“I'm sorry,” Fluttershy said. “Next time I'll try to be easier to find.”
	
	“Don't be,” Lyra said, shaking her head. “It's just that sometimes when Bon Bon sends me on errands I get a bit... distracted. Then again, if it wouldn't have been for one of those distractions, Twilight and Applejack might not have ended up where they are, so who knows? See you later, Fluttershy.”
	
	“Bye,” Fluttershy said as Lyra trotted away.
	
	
	
	Applejack rolled over in her bed. Then she rolled back the other way. Then she flipped over onto her stomach and buried her face in the pillow. Then she pulled the pillow out from under her head and put it on top of her head. It didn't help. She grunted and sat up. She had an urge to smack herself in the head, but she didn't think that would help. It was so dumb. Yesterday she had been totally fine. Why was it that her brain decided that now was the time she needed to think about what she and Twilight had discussed yesterday?
	
	After their conversation, she had shoved the whole “marriage” thing into the part of her mind where she stored the things that she didn't need to think about much in day to day life. They mutually decided that it wasn't a pressing issue, after all. But something had dragged it back to the forefront of her mind. It was that picture.
	
	Maybe she had just caught it at a weird angle, or maybe her eyes had just been playing tricks on her brain, but she could have sworn that for just a moment, she had seen herself and Twilight inside the frame. In and of itself, that wasn't too weird. All couples probably shared those moments. But that had been their honeymoon. They were married in that picture, and Applejack could still see herself in it.
	
	It's just a picture, she told herself. They were just standing there; no reason to think that it means anything. You don't have to be hitched to go to Las Pegasus. She groaned. That didn't help. It wasn't the picture, it was just the idea... that could be us. For the first time, the weight of her own words hit her. A lot can change in a year, she thought. She had just thrown it out there to make the conversation a bit more comfortable, but it was true. Maybe in a year they would be married...
	
	A chill ran down her spine, and she couldn't tell whether it was fear or anticipation. It seemed like such an insane idea, but if that wasn't where they were headed, where were they headed? What were their options, really? Stay together or break up. She had no reason to break up with Twilight so the alternative was... what? Keep dating? If they were gonna stick together indefinitely, was there any reason not to make it official? Applejack couldn't think of anything.
	
	She stood and began to stumble downstairs. Her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth and she needed a drink. Chances were there were plenty of reasons that it was too early to think about tying the knot, and she just couldn't think of them because she was too tired. Besides, even though Twilight had been the one to bring it up, there's no way she'd ever be up for it until she had gone through and addressed every single problem that could possibly arise. That alone would probably take another year at least. Then another thought crossed Applejack's mind.
	
	What if I don't want to wait that long?
	
	“No no no, no good thinkin' about that.” Applejack poured herself a glass of water and downed it in one gulp. “We just ain't ready for that.” She put the the glass in the sink and turned to go up the stairs.
	
	A gleam of moonlight caught her eye, reflecting off the glass of a picture frame on the far wall. She smiled. It was the goofy picture she had taken with Twilight when the circus had come through a few weeks back. Their faces stuck through a goofy-looking cutout of two clowns riding a bicycle backwards. It wasn't all that different from Lyra and Bon Bon's picture.
	
	But still, getting married… it seemed so final, so permanent.  Sure, they were a couple now, but it didn’t always quite feel that way.  It wasn’t like Lyra and Bon Bon, or Mr. and Mrs. Cake, where if you saw one of them without the other you’d wonder why.  For the most part, she and Twilight still lived their own lives, they just spent more time together, and used the time to do things that couples would do.  They weren’t joined at the hip or anything.  
	
	But if they got married, that line would blur.  Being in each other’s company would become the regular state of things.  They’d share everything; they’d live together, eat together… sleep-
	
	She shook her head.  She was getting ahead of herself.  When they had started going out, she had never even considered the idea that one day it might become irrevocably permanent.  When they had started going out, hadn’t she told Twilight that she was just seeing where things would go?  But then again, that had been over a year ago.  What did she want now?
	
	Applejack rapped herself gently on the forehead. Now wasn't the time. She could think about it later, when she was awake.
	
	