A quick warning, I won't be updating Friday, Saturday, and maybe Sunday because I'll be out of town those nights. I'll make sure to get you guys an appropriate Vinyl/Octavia chapter before I go though, as is tradition!

-Conflict-

Rarity was surprisingly awful in the kitchen. Twilight wasn't much better, but at least she tried to follow a recipe. If she weren't so worried about the chemical reactions going on inside the baking, she might have actually made a decent breakfast for everyone. Unfortunately, only Pinkie was good in the kitchen. Apple Jack knew her way around and Flutter Shy wasn't half bad, but neither could catch up to her years spent living in a restaurant. That's why Twilight was relieved to see her girlfriend finally bounce through the door to the fancy kitchen.

"What the heck?!" Pinkie screeched, jumping into the air and waving her arms around, Twilight couldn't blame her, if Rarity would open her eyes, she would probably faint at the sight of her kitchen like this.

"Heheh… sorry… We were gunna make everyone something to eat, but we couldn't…" Twilight said bash fully, blushing and scratching the back of her head as she glanced around the messy room. The only spotless thing was now Pinkie Pie, and her bright glowing radiance seemed to stand out even more so than usual.

"Are you alright?" Pinkie shouted, rushing to Twilight and quickly checking her for burns or cuts that might have appeared beneath the stains of indecipherable origin. "You're not hurt are you?" Pinkie asked, clutching Twilight's cheeks in her hands.

"Chill Pinkie, I'm fine," Twilight said, gently pulling away Pinkie's hands and holding them between the two girls. "I'm just an awful cook. I was trying to follow this recipe…"

Pinkie grabbed the note from Twilight's hand and glanced down it, even with Twilight's tendency for meticulous notes, her handwriting was still atrocious and hard to read. Pinkie scratched the top of her head and decided to decipher the title first. After a few puzzling seconds Pinkie understood and nodded, taking a quick glance around the room she could see almost exactly where things had gone wrong and how.

"Is it over?" Rarity asked from a corner, frightened to see the chaos that had come to her gorgeous cabin.

"Uh, let's wait in the dining room, Rarity…" Twilight said, grabbing Rarity's arms and guiding her outside, leaving Pinkie to clean up the mess. Twilight felt bad, almost as if she were taking advantage of Pinkie, but she had to fix Rarity first, otherwise they'd both be in the way.

Apple Jack was idly flipping through a book Twilight had left on the table, it was a psychology textbook. Twilight was taking a course on it in the coming semester and had wanted to take some notes before she started the class.

"Morning AJ," Twilight said, pulling a seat out for Rarity who slowly uncovered her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief to see the untarnished part of the house.

"Is everything ok in there?" Apple Jack asked, standing up briefly to glance through the closing door at Pinkie Pie tying back her wild hair.

"Nothing Pinkie can't handle. Where are the others?"

Apple Jack jabbed a thumb over her shoulder "Still asleep, far as I can tell. How on earth could those two ever get to school on time, let alone get there as early as they do?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure Rainbow would hate to miss out on breakfast. I'll go wake them up, see if you can't help Pinkie, ok?"

"Sure thing, sugar cube."

And with that, the two went their separate ways, taking on their own personal task to get done.

"Pinkie Pie…" Apple Jack said as she closed the kitchen door behind herself. Rarity probably couldn't hear them through the thick oaken walls or over Pinkie's hustle to fix up a nice breakfast for everyone. "What happened this morning?"

"Hm?" Pinkie asked dismissively over her shoulder, "Oh, that! I was just changing in the bathroom! I didn't want to wake up Twilight. Why were you up so early?" She was trying to dodge the subject that so obviously loomed between them.

"No. Pinkie, I meant those pills of yours. The Prozac. What is that? Why am I just finding out about it now?" Apple Jack said seriously, stepping forward and crossing her arms across her chest.

"Oh, th-those are nothing!" Pinkie insisted, faking a tight-lipped smile as she hummed rather loudly, stirring vigorously.

"Yes they are. We both know you're lying, and you know how much I hate to hear a lie, Pinkie." Pinkie Pie was humming louder and stirring more, trying to tune out the conflict, Apple Jack raised her voice, trying not to be too loud, "Pinkie, I want some answers, and you're gunna tell me!"

"I can't hear yoooooouuuuu…~" Pinkie hummed, her mixing becoming vigorous and her humming almost a constant drill of sound coming from between her tight lips.

"Pinkie. Put the bowl down." More humming, the stirring continued, "Pinkie, the mix will be too thin!" Pinkie ignored her friend, trying to ignore everything going on, tuning out the conflict, "Pinkie, Dammit! Listen to me!" Apple Jack pounded her fist on the table and this finally snapped the tension.

That second seemed to pause for Apple Jack. She could tell she had been too loud, she could almost feel the door behind her opening as someone either checked on the yelling or the food preparation. Apple Jack could also see Pinkie slowly flinch at the sound of her voice and saw the bowl slowly slip from between her palms, taking an agonizingly long amount of time to hit the ground and crack open, spilling it's contents on the already messy floor. A forceful "No!" Escaped Pinkie's lips at the same time the sound of the shattered bowl reached AJ's ears.

And just like that, the tension was gone. Everything was back to normal as the door slowly creaked open, a low "Whoah…" originating from Rainbow Dash's mouth in the dining room.

"Pinkie…" Twilight said softly, gently, like she was soothing a wounded animal that might bite at any second.

"Shut up! Just leave me alone!" Pinkie shouted, charging out of the room and pounding up the stairs two at a time, by the time the door slammed shut behind her, everyone had seen her sobbing face and heard her heaving breath.

"Apple Jack!" Rarity shouted indignantly, standing up, hands on her hips and a frown on her face, "What did you say to that poor girl?"

"Nothin'! Honest!" Apple Jack insisted, holding her hands up, "I just wanted her t answer me a question about something from earlier!" There, that was vague enough. Apple Jack had kept Pinkie's secret without actually lying to anyone.

"About what?!" Twilight shouted, grabbing a fistful of Apple Jack's shirt, it would've been intimidating if Apple Jack wasn't taller and stronger than the little bookworm.

Apple Jack dropped her head and fidgeted uncomfortably, "It ain't my place to say…" she said softly.

"The hell do you mean?!" Rainbow Dash shouted, "If it wasn't your place, then you wouldn't have pushed her so goddam much!"

The arguing continued downstairs and Flutter Shy slowly made her way to the wooden door of the room Pinkie shared with Twilight "Are you alright?" Flutter Shy asked, lightly touching the door.

"Go 'way…" came a soft sniffle from inside the door. Flutter Shy sighed and sat down, crossing her legs and leaning her back against the door.

"Are you angry?"

It was a long time before eventually… "Worried…" came the reply through the wood.

"Me too. But not the same as you. Well, I don't know that. That's one of the things I'm worried about. I'm also worried that you're worried. And I know everyone down there is worried about you too, even if they aren't very good at saying so right now…" Flutter Shy paused here and listened to the argument, much quieter now. "Apple Jack won't say what happened between the two of you. Not just now or whatever it was the two of you were arguing about. She may be honest, but she won't say anything that might upset you. Apple Jack is a good friend…"

"…I know…" Pinkie said softly.

"You're also a good friend. You're the one who brought us all together. Well, except Dash and me. And Dash and Apple Jack. I guess I already knew Rarity a bit too…" Flutter Shy trailed off and thought for a second, recollecting her thoughts before she trudged on, "That's not the point here. The point is that you're upset, worried about something big that you don't want everyone to worry about. And that's usually what I do. Everyone does their thing: Rainbow is the brave one, Twilight is the smart one, Rarity is the fashionable one, Apple Jack is hard working, you're supposed to be th fun one, and I'm supposed to do all the worrying for us. I'm not trying to say that you should tell me, or that you don't have th right to act like this, I'm saying that you shouldn't bear this alone. Every since we all met we started to divide our roles and share everything with each other so that we became closer together. We're more than just friends, Pinkie Pie…" Flutter Shy sniffled, she hadn't even realized she had started crying, it had been a while since she had started to cry like this, "We're a family, Pinkie. And families share. The good and the bad. Maybe not te secrets, maybe not everything. But they never hold on to all the problems one by one."

"Flutter Shy?" Pinkie asked gently, a click came from the lock and the door slowly creaked open to reveal Pinkie sitting on the other side, her hair was laying limp and covered some of her face, an eye was visible behind the pink bangs, small rivers of tears cutting lines down her face leaked out of it's corner, "I have to tell you something…"

Dont you just love cliffhangers? Please review guys!