Chapter 7: What Matters
Angel threw his plate across the room, shattering it in the far wall. Fluttershy, who had ducked, frowned at the small rabbit. "I'm sorry Angel, but you really mustn't throw things." her eyes widened and she ducked again as another plate- this one taken from a rather angry squirrel- was hurled by the white bunny. "Okay, I'll make you a new lunch." Fluttershy conceded. She had served Angel his usual salad, or thought she had, but apparently she had messed up in some way, which was the reason for her pet's outburst.
As the pegasus began to remake the salad, her mind began to wander. Again. This was the reason she had messed up the first time, more likely than not. Her mind kept wandering back to her date and night with her friend Twilight. The issue was that she was having a hard time thinking of her as anything butfriend. Hadn't they shared something special? Hadn't Fluttershy felt love that day? She had thought she would feel it at some point, and she knew that she enjoyed every moment with Twilight, but in her heart she feared that nothing had changed. Was that a bad thing? If she didn't love Twilight but still valued her as a good friend, was there anything wrong with it?
If Twilight truly loves me though...oh, I can't bear to lead her on. But if I tell her I don't love her it might break her heart.
A sudden thwack to the back of her head jolted Fluttershy out of her thoughts. She gave Angel an irritated frown then huffed and went back to finishing his salad. She gave it to him and he seemed to grudgingly accept the secondary attempt. With a sigh she went back and fixed the squirrel's lunch as well, since Angel had ruined it all over the wall.
She was in the midst of cleaning up the mess her rabbit had made when an idea suddenly came to her. As she pondered love and why she might not feel it for Twilight, or why she might just not be recognizing the feeling, she remembered that the expert on love had said that she owed her, and all of her friends, an invaluable debt.
"Princess Cadence!" she suddenly blurted out. The animals all looked at her and she blushed in embarrassment. "Um, never mind," she said, hovering backwards and into her bedroom. For a few seconds, she searched her room for a paper and a quill, neither of which she had. She made the decision to go into town and get them, so she did a quick check on everything at her cottage to make sure her critters would be alright when she left. Angel wasn't a fan of this oddness in her behavior and routine, but didn't throw up much of a fuss other than giving Fluttershy attitude when she said she was going out to get paper and quills.
She was halfway into town when the doubt started to settle in. What if my questions are stupid? What if I'm just being a foal about it all? The voice in her head was given a hoof-to-mouth by another, similar voice. What if you end up leading Twilight on for years and she misses the chance at loving someone who loves her back?
That idea steeled Fluttershy enough to get to the store, buy the writing materials, and get back home with no more doubts. She cared far far too much for Twilight to do something as cruel as lead her on when, after the most romantic day of her life, she could not differentiate her feelings for Twilight from her feelings for any of her other best friends. She had to ask for help, no matter the inconvenience.
Settling herself at her dining table, Fluttershy began to doubt herself once more, and each word she wrote made her feel more and more apprehensive about finishing the letter at all, let alone sending it.
Dear Princess Cadence,
I'm sorry to bother you from your duties in the Crystal Kingdom, but I'm having trouble with something that I think only you can help me with. You're the most knowledgeable pony about love and thats the problem I'm having.
A dear friend of mine has professed love to me. I thought I loved her back, and I accepted the offer to be her special somepony on Hearts and Hooves Day. It was a wonderful, romantic date, but even after all we did together I cannot feel anything different. She's very precious to me, but so are all of my closest friends. I love them all in unique ways, but equally. I'm sorry if this doesn't make any sense, but its why I'm asking for your help. I'm so confused.
~Fluttershy
Fluttershy looked at her note and frowned. She was considering starting over and replacing all of the "her"s with "him"s, or with "them"s to try to hide the fact that she was most likely talking about one of her obvious friends, but she couldn't think of any good reason to lie. The more Cadence knew the better. She might even mention that its Twilight if she ever got a reply, if that would help.
Rolling it up and sealing it, she wondered how to get it to Cadence. She could send it in the mail, but that would take a long time. Days, weeks even. She could have Spike send it, maybe. Would he do it? She didn't want him to have any extra trouble on her account. But she had to get it to Cadence as quickly as possible.
She went as quickly as she could- her timid pace none to quick at all- to the library. When she entered the first pony she saw was, of course, Twilight. The purple unicorn beamed at Fluttershy and rushed over to greet her. So naturally that it surprised Fluttershy, the two mares leaned in and kissed each other tenderly for a moment. Fluttershy was the only one blushing after the quick kiss, more by how nice it felt and yet how nothing felt different.
"Hello Twilight," she said, "Um, is Spike here?" She asked.
"Spike?" Twilight asked, "Um, yeah, he's just in the other section," she pointed with her hoof, "Mind if I ask what you need him for?"
"Well, um," Fluttershy stammered, retreating into her flowing pink mane, "I have a letter to send to Cadence and I don't know the best way to get it to her since the Crystal Kingdom is so far away and I thought that Spike could use his magic fire to send it to her." She was sincerely hoping that Twilight wouldn't ask why she was writing to Cadence. Fluttershy didn't know if it would be worse to tell her the truth or to lie about it, but neither sounded appealing.
"Ah," Twilight said, curious about the letter but not as prying a pony as Rarity, "I can get him for you, but he can only send letters to Celestia."
"Oh," Fluttershy said, dejectedly. "Then I guess I'll just go to the post office." She looked sad and Twilight didn't like that look at all.
"Hold on," She said quickly, "I can write a quick letter to Celestia and send it with yours, asking her to send it to Cadence. That shouldn't be much trouble."
Fluttershy came back out of her mane, smiling with joy at Twilight. "R-really? That would be wonderful."
"Spike!" Twilight called as she levitated her own pen, ink, and paper from a nearby table.
The orange mare from Sweet Apple Acres was not feeling all too happy as she rode the train to Manehattan. Sitting alone on a train was nothing new to Applejack. She'd made numerous trips to Appleoosa, Dodge Junction, and other places on her own. She wasn't upset about where she was going either. She'd been to Manehattan a few times to visit her Aunt and Uncle, and she found the city quite pleasant in small doses. No, the cause for Applejack's lack of joy for this trip was the reason behind her going to Manehattan.
Her best friend Rarity had talked her into accepting an invitation to a speed date session in her place. Rarity was busy elsewhere this weekend and insisted that Applejack be the one to go. Applejack had a hard time saying "no" to her friends, especially when they gave a pretty good reason for it. Applejack hadn't been on a date in years, and she was so busy working on the farm that she had no time for proper dating. Speed dating could actually help her relationship situation. She hadn't realized just how lonely she'd been feeling until Twilight had asked Fluttershy out. That had been a bit of a wake-up call, and an unpleasantly strong one.
The train ride wasn't helped by the new dress Rarity had made for her for the occasion. It was less frilly than her normal attempts to get Applejack to dress up, and, for once, it was designed so that her favorite hat would work with it. Rarity actually made a point to insist that Applejack wear her stetson, saying that it "Completed the ensemble" and that "Without your stetson the entire dress would be ruined." While Applejack didn't understand how or why her hat affected the appearance of her dress, she was glad she could keep it on. Well, she was glad she had Rarity's go-ahead to keep it on. Applejack didn't usually care how she looked, but when Rarity said that her hat didn't match a dress she was being forced to wear, Applejack tended to feel somewhat on the self-conscious side. Not because she cared what other people thought, but because she didn't want to lose sales or credibility just because she wanted to wear her hat.
The train slowed down and eventually came to a loud, hissing and screeching stop in Grand Stable Station near the center of the big city, Manehattan. Applejack left the train with the other passengers and, despite previous visits, still had to look around like the tourist she was. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that the speed dating would only take a couple of hours and she'd be catching the train back home that same afternoon. Probably for the best, was what she figured.
Looking at the address on the ticket, Applejack found the street she was supposed to be on, but which building was harder to determine. She caught the attention of several passers-by while trying to ask for directions, but the first five completely ignored her. The sixth person made a skeevy remark that got Applejack to back away with a scowl but the next person was actually helpful, telling her that he, too, was going to the speed dating event. Thanking the stallion, Applejack followed him into one of the monolithic buildings and into a brightly lit room with a chandelier that she thought might have been bigger than her barn.
Applejack followed her guide up to a fancily dressed unicorn who gave the stallion a number, pinning it to his dress jacket. Applejack walked up next and gave the unicorn her ticket.
"Miss...Rarity?" the unicorn asked, reading the ticket.
"Oh, uh, naw," Applejack said, suddenly feeling a little nervous. If they up and threw her out she'd have to wait at the train station for three hours until the next line to Ponyville. "Mah name's Applejack. Rarity's mah friend an' she couldn' make it to this here shindig so she asked me to come in her stead."
"I see," the Unicorn said, giving her a rather scornful look while a book levitated out from behind the podium that he stood behind. It opened up and he looked down at the pages as they turned.
"Ah yes, here it is. Applejack." He said, the book shutting and his demeanor doing a complete one-eighty as he smiled politely at her and magically pinned a number to her hat.
"Erhm, what am ah supposed ter do?" she asked, not sure what to do or where to go next.
"Just enter the main hall," the unicorn explained cheerfully, "And go mingle with the other mares. When it is time to begin the host shall explain the procedure. I assure you it is quite simple." Applejack didn't know if that 'simple' was a shot at her or not, so she let it pass.
"Thankya kindly." she said, walking around him and through the red velvet curtains into the massive hall. She looked to her left and saw a horde of stallions just standing around talking and glancing at the mares, who were all on the other side of the room. Applejack joined her fellow dress wearing attendees and waited a few more minutes. No one came to talk to her, which was just fine by Applejack since most of these people seemed to be Rarity's type. She had nothing against the rich and snotty other than their attitudes. In fact, Rarity was the only one she could tolerate longer than a couple of minutes.
An earth pony walked into the middle of the room and cleared his voice loudly. Once everyone was looking at him he smiled and began to speak.
"Mares and Stallions, allow me to welcome you all to Manehattan's most prestigious event, the Fancy Pants Social!" There was a polite pattering of hooves that Applejack joined in. Unlike the others, who were just being high-society polite, Applejack really wasn't impressed by the name of the event. It was just a bunch of single people hoping to meet as many people like themselves as they could in as short a time as possible.
"For those of you who have never done this before," the host, Applejack assumed him to be 'Fancy Pants', since had a monocle and top hat and looked rather fancy, "The procedure is simple. The ladies," He looked over to the mares and gave a vague gesture in their direction, "Will each sit at their numbered table. The stallions will do the same. You will have two minutes to converse with your partner. After that, a bell will ring. There will be a thirty second window where the two of you can exchange contact information, if the date went well, and the stallions move on to the next table. Once every stallion and every mare have met, the social is over and you are encouraged to engage anypony you found charming enough to give your mailing address here. Any questions?"
He looked around the room and spotted Applejack, as she was the only one raising her hoof. "Yes madam?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah, when are we gonna get some grub?" she asked. There were a few chuckles; some mares laughed disdainfully as though they were better than her, but a couple of the stallions laughed in a manner that suggested agreement.
"An excellent question!" Fancy Pants declared, "When you take your seats there will be menus. After the first five rounds, waiters and waitresses will come for your orders. By the tenth round your first course will be served, and every tenth round your dishes will be taken and your next course delivered. Five rounds will pass between refils of your beverages. Anything else?"
There were no questions this time, and Fancy Pants rang a bell to begin the event. Applejack found her way to her seat and looked at the stallion she'd met before.
"Hey, small world." he said. Applejack just nodded, her eyes already half-glassing over from boredom. She kept telling herself that she would give each guy a chance, but each time the bell rang and each time they rotated she felt like she was just watching a mind-numbing slideshow of stallions trying to stud themselves with the only noticable variation being the presence or absence of horns and wings.
When the food arrived a pegasus who had just sat down with her gave a sigh of relief. "NO offense or anything, but I'm totally starving." he said before he started to dig into his meal with abandon. It was a sentiment that Applejack could understand, as she, too, was quite hungry and she joined him in the ravenous eating. When their time was up she offered to give him her address so that they could actually get to chat some time since they'd eaten most of their time away. She wrote it down on a slip of paper and told him to write her before he rotated away.
The next dozen or so stallions were as lackluster as the first batch, but just after the second course was served a very familiar pony sat down.
"What in tarnayshin...Braeburn?" Applejack asked with more surprise than confusion.
"Well howdy there Applejack," her cousin said, "Didn't expect ta meet you at this shindig."
"Ah certainly never figur'd on y'all bein' here either." Applejack said, "What got you all the way out here from Appleoosa?"
"Well a friend o' mine out there said he couldn't make it to this Social and asked me to go for him. Ah reckon he's tired of seein' me be the brash young bachelor in town and wants me ta find a nice mare and settle down."
"Ah," Applejack said, "Sounds more or less the same way I got roped in here."
"Heh, well ain't this akward?" Braeburn said.
"How 'bout we just don't speak of this again?" Applejack suggested. Braeburn agreed and, when the bell rang, moved on. The rest of the Social went on in more or less the same manner as before. There were a few stallions who managed to get Applejack to show interest in them. One guy who was great at cracking jokes, one who boasted a lot about his athletic achievements (it was less her interest in him than her interest to compete with him) a rather smart unicorn and a young buck who was so shy and polite it was almost sickeningly sweet. Almost. She found him rather charming and gave him her address as well.
At the end of it all Applejack met up with Braeburn and they compared experiences as they went back to the train station and waited for their respective transports home. Braeburn had more success than Applejack did, having almost twenty names to write to, two of them from Appleoosa, which excited him to no end. Applejack was in the middle of telling him about the few stallions she was expecting letters from when her train arrived. She bid her cousin farewell and boarded.
A few hours later she was back in Ponyville and she immediately went home to Sweet Apple Acres. The first thing she wanted to do was get out of the dress and get comfortable again, then she needed to find Big Mac and see what all needed to be done now that she was back to work.
The second part was easiest since before she made it back into the house Big Mac was just stepping outside. He looked at Applejack and chuckled a bit. He'd seen her leave with the dress that morning and already gave her a friendly razzle about it, so now he just kept it at a simple laugh. It still irritated his younger sister.
"Howdeh Big Mac," she said, "How y'all been doin?"
"Pretty good," Big Mac said, "Yerself?"
"Ah just got back from that shindig Rarity wanted me ta go to." Applejack said, "If ya don' mind ah'd like ta get in and take off this dress 'n get ta work."
"No need," Big Mac said, "Applebloom go her Cutie Mark Crusaders ta help out tahday. Made a right mess o' things, but they got it all cleaned up. Ah wish you'd a've been 'ere earlier though."
"Why's 'at?" Applejack asked.
"Well, ya know how we had to give Applebloom the Birds'n'Bees talk a few months ago?" Applejack nodded, "Well, she saw Twilight and Fluttershy on a date the other day and ah had to explain-"
"What?" Applejack asked, "Y'all mean Fluttershy said yes?" Applejack had left before Fluttershy could reply to Twilight, but she had imagined that the yellow pegasus would simply, politely, turn down Twilight's momentary act of compassionate madness. There was a painful twinge in Applejack's gut at the thought of Fluttershy bashfully accepting Twilight's offer for a date on Hearts and Hooves day just so that she wouldn't hurt her friend. It made her a little angry, actually, but not at Twilight or Fluttershy. Just...angry...ish...sort of.
"Aww, poor Fluttershy," Applejack said, "She never could say no to a friend. Musta been miserable."
"Actually," Big Mac said, "Ah saw her and Twilight when Cheerilee and ah were leaven the restaurant. Fluttershy seemed quite happy. Still wierd though. Ahm glad Cheerilee got me outta there."
"C'mon now Mac," Applejack said, her tone changing to a defensive one, "Y'all don't gotta go callin mah friends wierd jus' cuz they ain't inta stallions."
Big Mac shrugged while saying "It jus' ain't natural."
Applejack stomped her hoof on the floor. "Now that's goin' too far. It don't matter what y'all think. If they're happeh with each other then I'm happeh. Heck, Ah'm more than happeh that they're happeh." She stomped right up into Big Mac's face, getting the older, larger stallion to back up a few steps and seem to shrink, "And if y'all said anythin' to Applebloom that'll make her think there's somethin wrong with mah friends I'll buck you so hard you won't be applebuckin' fer a month!"
Big Mac just nodded his head, agreeing to a non-existing question. He remained in a semi-frightened hunched form while Applejack stomped her way into the house, muttering to herself. When she was up in her room and removing the dress, careful not to rip it for fear of Rarity's wrath, she felt her eyes start to sting. She was crying?
Why the hell em ah cryin? she wondered, Ain't Twilight's fault Fluttershy can' say "no" worth a darn. Ain't Fluttershy's fault that Twilight's willin ta make a foal of 'erself in public to give somethin' special to Fluttershy on Hearts'n'Hooves day. She thought about those two for a few seconds, then a few minutes. Smiling, laughing, out on some romantic date, kissing...
Applejack shook her head and wiped her eyes with her arm. "No ma'am," she said, "No more o' that kinda thinkin' now. Ain't right." As soon as she said it she slapped her hoof over her mouth.
Ain't right? What aint right? Love ain't right? she wondered. She was stuck on that thought for a rather long time. It don' matter what ah think. Or what Mac things. Or what Granny thinks. If a mare loves a mare, then whats wrong with that? Love's love...right? As she thought this she didn't think of Twilight and Fluttershy.
Ebony black hair gleamed in the torch light, contrasted sharply by the bright gold lines that detailed the mane around Dune Sea's head. She was sitting in contemplation over the five insectoid bodies that her guards had brought in. More and more of these changelings had been found over the last few weeks. The closer they got to the Mare Mountains the more of these Changelings seemed to appear.
She glanced to her right, her cold, black eyes looking at one of the young Zebra warriors she had converted into a soldier of the Rising Sun Empire. He looked back at her patiently, waiting for his orders. The tip of his spear was still red from the executions she had him commit that morning, and even the deepest parts of his eyes showed now remorse. Her conversion spell was powerful indeed.
Giving him a feline smile, she said "Go fetch me the nearest alchemist. It is high time I find a permanent solution to this problem." The obedient zebra nodded and walked away at a decent clip. Dune Sea got up on all fours and prowled around the corpses. She prodded them with her claws, sniffed at one curiously, and examined the pale green eye of another before another young zebra, this one a female, entered.
Like her escort, this one's tattoo had been overwritten with a more appropriate one. A scarab curled into its own shell, the sign of alchemy. Dune Sea was quite the accomplished alchemist in her own right, but the zebras had taken it to a new level.
Gesturing to the bodies on the floor, Dune sea told the zebra girl to begin examining the bodies and learning what she could about them and their peculiar powers.
"I will have one of my warlocks assist you." she added. "By the end of the week, I want a way to expose the Changelings at our whim, not by deciphering minute nuances."
"Yes Empress," the alchemist said, bowing low. Dune Sea smiled and left the hut. Her zebra and sphinx entourage formed around her. She made a gesture with her tail and five sphinxes stepped forward from the crowd. "Prepare to break camp. We are going to continue our journey north. These Changelings are coming from the Mare Mountains and we shall find them. They will join us or be wiped out."
The sphinxes bowed and scattered. The rest of the group surrounding her let up a roar- or in the case of the zebras, a whinny- before they bowed as one to her. "Enough," she said, bored of their antics. The group spread out and began the act of packing up belongings and taking down tents. It was time to move on.