“To most people nothing is more troublesome than the effort of thinking.”

James Bryce

Twilight rushed into the library. “Spike! Are you home, Spike?”

A soft snore from upstairs ended with a snort. “Wha...?”

Twilight stepped in place. “Wake up, Spike! We have an experiment to set up!”

“An experiment?” Applejack peeked through the front door and glanced around. “This ain’t gonna be risky, is it?”

“No-no-no, of course not!” Twilight rushed back and pulled her inside. “Just sit over here while we set up the equipment. It shouldn’t take too long.”

“Well, don’t be too quick about it,” Applejack said, “there’s no need to cut corners.”

“It’ll be fine, really. I have all the equipment: I just need to throw everything together.” She looked up at the second floor. “Spiiike!”

“I’m up, already. Just gimme a...” Spike came downstairs, yawning. “...just gimme a minute.”

Twilight rushed over and gave him a check list. “No time! We need to set everything up before Applejack changes her...” Twilight snorted, trying to suppress a giggle.

“What’s so funny?”

“Heh... before she changes her mind.”

“Applejack, you mean?” Spike said. “Once her mind is made up, there’s nothing anypony can do about it.”

“I like a challenge.” Twilight tapped the list. “Just get everything on that list as soon as you can. I want this ready to go within the hour.”

Spike glanced at the list. “Compared to the last list, this should be a piece of cake.”

“Good, good.”

Applejack wandered over. “Hey, is there anything I can do to help out?”

“Not right now,” Twilight said, “but we should be ready to go in an hour or so. You can sit over there until then.”

“I gotta just sit for an hour? I’m gonna go stir crazy without nuthin’ to do.”

“Well, you could read some books if you like. This is a library, after all.”

“Eh. That’s not really mah thing.” Applejack looked around the room. “Do you have a spare newspaper sittin’ around?”

“Certainly!” Twilight's horn glowed and a rolled up newspaper hovered nearby. “I have Ponyville’s monthly agricultural report here!”

“Much obliged, Twi!” Applejack flipped through the pages of reports and essays, but her ears drooped. “Dag nabbit! Somepony already did the junior jumble. Nevermind.”

“Yeah sorry,” said Spike. “It was a really good one this week.”

“Excuse me. I’ll be right back.” Twilight went into a back room and came out with a paperback children’s book made of cheap, flimsy paper. She set it on the table, and set out a mug filled with crayons.

“Connect the dots and color by numbers? Hot-diggity-dog!” Applejack sat down and started scribbling. “Thanks, Twi. You’re a real pal.”

“Of course. Just let me know if there’s anything else you want.”

“Nope! I should be good for at least an hour.”

Twilight watched as Applejack scribbled on the paper, squinting resolutely.

Something tells me Applejack is a little too qualified for this experiment.

Spike dragged his little wagon back to the library, careful not to let the heap of equipment fall over. He turned around pushed the library door open with his back, pulling the wagon in behind him.

“Hey, Twilight! I got the stuff here. Where do you—”

Spike turned around and shrieked in horror. The spelly-welly thingy-wingy had been deployed in full, and connected to a variety of whirring devices. Applejack was lying in a reclining dentist’s chair, with all four of her legs clamped into place. There were little wires taped to her  neck and a metal frame clamped over her head and ears. All of these cables fed into the base of the central machine.

“What have you done!” Spike shouted. “It took me two days to pack everything away, and you just took it all out again!?”

“Is that you, Spike?” A panel on the side of the central device opened up and Twilight's head poked out. “Thank goodness you’re here! We’ve almost run out of time!”

Spike pulled the wagon over and set the items on the floor. “Time for what?”

Twilight pointed at Applejack: She was wearing a pair of headphones and was bobbing her head back and forth with a smile.

“I’ve almost run out of country and-or western music for her to listen to! We have to set this up before she gets bored!”

“Why would that be a problem?”

“Because if she gets bored, she might ask questions. And if she asks questions, she might decide not to help us!”

 Spike’s eyes widened. “You haven’t even told her what this is all about?”

“I told her she’d be helping me and that it would be completely safe.” Twilight’s horn glowed, and the equipment in Spike’s wagon disintegrated into a cloud of individual components, right down to the nuts and bolts. “That’s all she needs to know, really.”

“Then she only agreed to this because she trusts you.” Spike clenched his fists and glowered at Twilight. “I can’t imagine why.”

“She trusted me because it was the truth. It is safe. And she is helping.”

Twilight took an industrial strength hair dryer and fixed it onto the back of Applejack’s chair: She continued to bob her head, smiling. A second chair moved into position beside her, and a cloud of components whirled around it. Within seconds, an identical chair congealed out of spare parts.

“And now, the moment of truth!” Twilight jumped into the second chair and clapped the manacles around her ankles. “Spike! Check the readouts on the magnetoencephalographic multiplexor! Watch for neural oscillation, and announce any changes over two and a half percent!”

Spike glanced at the readout device. Now or never, Spike. If you’re going to put your foot down, it’s now or never.

“Hey, Twilight?” Applejack shouted over the noise from her headphones. “I think ah heard this song before. You got anything else I can listen to?”

“Spike, hurry! Please!”

Spike ran to the control panel and pressed a button. She’s never hurt anyone before. She’s not gonna start now.

The device hummed with power. The industrial strength hair driers lowered into place over Applejack’s and Twilight's heads, covering their eyes.

“Hey!” Applejack shouted. “I haven’t finished the picture yet! What’s goin’ on?”

Spike watched as the readout needles shook back and forth, drawing a curved zigzag on the paper printout.

“Talk to me, Spike!”

“Activity in your occipital lobes are at normal levels! Eleven hertz for you, and nine for Applejack!”

“Good! Connect the first pair of electro-dynes!”

Spike grabbed the first of three switches. He squeezed the hand lever and gradually pulled it down. It locked into place with a heavy click. Spike winced as the spelly-welly thingy-wingy churned louder and brighter.

The control panel beeped and spit out a sheet of paper. Spike tore it off and examined the bar graph. “These numbers are crazy! Frequency, amplitude, phase... they’re all off the charts!”

“Normal! That’s normal!” Twilight shouted over the din. “It’s just feedback from the interocitor meta-links! Connect the second pair of electro-dynes!”

Spike threw the second switch. The whirring of the machinery grew louder, and the cables connected to the hairdryers pulsed with electrical arcs.

“Second coupling, complete!” Spike shouted.

“Good! The readouts will tell you when to throw the last switch!”

“What!?” Spike looked up from the control panel. “Why can’t you just tell me when!”

“Because I can’t see the...” Applejack shouted. “Wait a sec. Was I... sayin’ somethin’?”

“Because I can’t see the readouts, Spike!” Twilight shouted. “You can do this! Just follow the instructions, and everything will be okay!”

Spike grabbed the last switch, but didn’t pull the trigger grip. He kept his eyes locked on the readouts. The needles were moving regularly now. His eyes widened as he watched the pattern on the paper.

“Twi! You and Applejack’s cerebral hemispheres are both showing a lot of—” One of the devices crackled with electricity, spraying red-hot sparks all over the floor of the library. Spike glanced at the nearby bookshelves full of flammable paperbacks. “The hyper-nucleonic compressor just blew! Twi, we gotta call this off!”

“We don’t need it anymore,” Twilight and Applejack said. “Reroute power from the secondary crystallographic capacitor! It should have just enough power left!”

Spike clenched his teeth. He opened up the console and began digging through the guts of the machinery, disconnecting one wire and linking it to another. When he looked up, a nimbus of light surrounded Applejack and Twilight. Their manes spread out as the air hummed with static electricity. They sat together like queens on matching thrones, and the machine behind them surged with energy.

“The last switch!” They both shouted. “Throw the switch!”

Spike pulled the last switch into position.

Scootaloo walked down main street with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to either side. Ponyville’s afternoon crowd was as casual and relaxed as always, with ponies browsing stalls and chatting with neighbors.

Scootaloo looked down the main street and towards the library. “So does anypony know what all that junk in the street was for?”

“What junk?” said Applebloom.

“There was a whole row of ladders and mirrors and hammers right in the middle of the street. A whole bunch of other stuff, too. I guess they cleaned it all up pretty quick.”

Sweetie Belle pointed at the library. “I saw Twilight working on it this morning. My favorite part was the billiard ball that rolled down the rail and bumped into a bunch of other things... and then those things bumped other things!”

“Twilight made all that?” Applebloom said. “I thought maybe Rainbow Dash was getting ready for a new stunt. Guess I didn’t miss anything after all.”

“I dunno,” Scootaloo said, eyeing both of the recently demolished warehouses. “Something smells fishy. Maybe we should take a camping trip for the next few days. Someplace way in the wilderness.”

“Are you crazy?” Sweetie Belle said. “We can’t camp out in the forest without a grownup. It’s dangerous.”

“I didn’t mean the wilderness wilderness. Sweet Apple Acres has a few old fields, doesn’t it? We can use one of those and pretend it’s the wilderness.”

Applebloom hopped in place. “That sounds like a swell idea! We can ask big sis about it right now.”

Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “I thought you said she was busy.”

“It’s no biggie. Let’s go find ’er!”

Scootaloo pointed at the library. “I saw her go in there an hour ago. I heard she was helping Twilight with something... it could be important.”

“She’s always busy. Both of ’em. I’m sure they won’t mind one quick question!”

“I dunno,” said Sweetie Belle. “Rarity was talking about Twilight yesterday. I guess she’s got a super-special project for the princess. What if we interrupt something?”

“Oh, come on!” Applebloom said. “Let’s just sneak in and take a peek. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Sweetie Belle looked back over her shoulder. “Every time you say that, my tail goes all frizzy.”

“Come on,” Scootaloo said. “Could you imagine if we burst in on one of Rainbow Dash’s stunts? She needs total focus. The last thing Twilight needs is us barging in with wacky hijinks.”

Applebloom hooked Scootaloo’s neck and pulled her close. “Scoots!” she hissed, “you promised you wouldn’t tell anypony about that!”

“Huh?”

Scootaloo glanced at the nearby party-favor shop, just as Wacky Hijinks came out. His coat was charcoal black with hot-pink dapples, and his black mane was a straight curtain dyed with a rainbow of neon streaks.

Sweetie Belle’s eyebrows furrowed. “You still have a crush on Pinkie Pie’s nephew? I dunno what you see in that goof.”

Applebloom pawed at the ground with a hoof. “He makes me laugh. Thas’ all.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Nevermind. If we’re going to go pretend-camping, we might as well just sleep in the clubhouse.”

Sweetie Belle pouted. “That’s too much like a sleepover and not enough like camping.”

Applebloom looked at Ponyville’s public library, down the street. “I guess we can ask big sis about it later. There’s still a couple hours till sundown, any-who.” She turned and went back down main street.

A crackle of electricity surged around the trunk of the treehouse library, and an explosion echoed across the village. The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked back in shock. A blast of purple light radiated from every window.

All three of them shouted in unison. “Cutie Mark Crusaders emergency disaster response, go!”

They charged ahead but skidded to a halt as the library’s front door blew off its hinges. A cloud of shredded leaves and scorched paper burst out of every window.

“Whoa,” said Scootaloo. “Maybe we should leave this one to the professionals.”

Applebloom gasped as a rugged, wide-brimmed stetson landed on the road in front of them, singed around the edges.

“Big sis!”

She charged ahead at a gallop. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shared a glance before chasing after her.

Applebloom ran into the library and looked around. The place was a mess, but there was no major structural damage: a few shelves had fallen over, and heaps of books were scattered across the floor.

Applebloom climbed over the debris, avoiding a number of sparking devices. She reached the top of the heap and looked down at the clearing in the middle of the room, where Spike was helping Twilight over to a table. She looked dazed and confused and her mane and tail were a mess, but she looked uninjured. She gasped as she saw Applejack sitting in a second chair: her eyes were hidden under a hair-dryer dome. Her mouth was slack.

“Sis, no!” Applebloom jumped down from the heap of debris and jumped onto Applejack’s lap. She pulled the restraints free and lifted up the hair drier. Applejack’s eyes were wide and staring.

“Sis?”

Applebloom waved a hoof in her face, with no response.

“Snap out of it, sis!” She stared into Applejack’s eyes. “Ain’t you gonna say something? Anything at all?”

Slowly, Applejack’s eyes wandered around the room. Applebloom moved over, putting her own face directly in front of hers. It took a few seconds for Applejack’s eyes to focus on her. She was still slack jawed.

Applebloom felt her own eyes sting with tears. “Wontcha say somethin’?”

Applejack looked down at the booklet in her hoof. Her lips moved, hesitantly, but no noise came out.

Applebloom lifted the booklet up to her face. “There! Is this what ya want?”

Applejack stared at the half-filled word puzzle on the page. “...That’s not how ya spell edjumacated.”

Applebloom hugged her around the neck. “Yer okay! I knew you’d be okay!”

Applejack held the booklet like it was a dead rat. “That’s my hoofwriting. Did I write this?”

Scootaloo dropped down from the pile of debris and walked next to the chair. “Is she okay?”

Applebloom poked her sister’s nose. “Don’t you remember me? Don’t you remember... anything?”

“Yer... Applebloom, ain’t ya?” Applejack watched her for a moment. She smiled, and some of the fog left her eyes. “Yer mah little sister. How could I ever forget you?”

Applebloom hugged her around the neck again, with an even bigger smile. “I knew you’d be alright! I just knew it!”

“No thanks to somepony,” Scootaloo said and pointed at Twilight. “Something fishy’s going on here.”

“It was perfectly safe,” Twilight said. “Applejack was just helping me with something.”

“Well, you could have explained it a little better,” Applejack said and climbed out of the chair. “Honestly, Twilight. You never explained any of this before we started.”

“I gave you all the pertinent details! I didn’t want to confuse you with the technical aspects.”

“Oh, is that so?” Applejack rolled her eyes as she walked to the table. “You thought I was too dumb to understand it, so you didn’t waste any time tryin’ to explain it.”

“I... I never said you were dumb!”

“It’s not a matter of bein’ dumb or smart. You still shoulda explained it in a way that woulda given me the jist of it.” Applejack sat at the table. “This misrepresentation of th’ facts is exactly the sorta gross negligence that leads to unethical scientific practices!”

“Misrepresentation?” Twilight sat upright on her cushion. “Everything I told you was true! I didn’t lie to you at all!”

Applejack squinted at her. “And what about lyin’ by omission? Thas’ a contextual falsity if ever there was one.”

“I... I’m...” Twilight slumped against the table. “You’re totally right. I’m so sorry, Applejack. Can you ever forgive me?”

Applejack’s frown softened. She gave Twilight a pat on the shoulder. “There, there. Ya didn’t do any real harm. And I know how important this experiment was to ya. If you’d explained everything, I woulda been glad to help.”

Twilight peered up at her. “...Really?”

“Well, shucks yeah! You did say it was safe, and that weren’t no lie. We all know you’ll do to run the river with.”

“...Huh?”

“It means yer reliable.” Applejack rubbed her head and looked around. “And ya did it all for science, right? I dunno what you were trying to do here, but I’m sure it was worth it.”

“Thank you so much, Applejack!” Twilight stood up and hugged her. “I’m so glad you understand!”

“Yeah, I...” Applejack trailed off, gazing at a nearby device. “I... understand.”

Twilight sat at the only library table that hadn’t been knocked over or covered with debris. She stared at the scroll in front of her, tapping her hoof against the table. She lifted her quill and scribbled something down, but stopped halfway through. She scratched a line through it and wrote something else underneath.

“Three minutes left,” said Spike.

Applebloom hopped onto a chair and watched her papers. “Is this a test or sumfin’?”

“Yes. It’s designed to measure the subject's general intelligence quota in a wide variety of subjects and fields.”

Applebloom glanced up at Twilight, then back at the papers. “Is this a sciency test?”

“Very much so,” she said. “The Cattle-Horn-Carroll theory describes two separate types of intelligence. There's crystallized intelligence, which is dependant on education and experience, and fluid intelligence, which—”

Spike waved a pocket watch in the air. “Two minutes,” he said.

“Right, right!” Twilight scribbled faster.

Applebloom glanced over at Applejack, who was sitting in a beanbag on the far side of the room. She was all by herself, staring wide-eyed at nothing in particular.

“I meant the science thingy,” Applebloom said. “Is this test a part of something sciency? Is that what Applejack was helpin’ you with?”

“Yes,” she said. “It’s a very important project for the princess herself. She offered to help.”

“Did she?”

Twilight frowned at her. “What are you implying? She volunteered for this.”

“I just wanted to know if she really did help you. If it was worth it.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well that’s what we’re trying to find out right now. Analysis is always the most important stage of any experiment.”

“Experiment!?” Applebloom’s ears perked up. “You did an experiment on my big sis!?”

Twilight turned to give Applebloom her full and undivided attention. “We’ve been over this already. It was completely harmless, and she admitted herself that it was for an important purpose.”

Spike waved the pocket watch again. “Uh, Twi?”

Twilight leaned against the table and turned to look at him. "Spike, would you please stop distracting me? This is a very important topic, and—"

Her eyes fixed on the stern expression on Spike's face, then the pocketwatch in his hand.

“Aahh  thirty seconds!” She said and scribbled voraciously. “Sixteen! Seventy-three! Four-thirds times pi times radius cubed! Green! Alexander Graham Bull! The butler did it! False-false-true-false-true-false-true-true-false-true!”

“Time,” Spike said. “Quills down.”

Twilight sighed and pushed the stack of papers across the table. Spike shuffled through them, jotting marks with a red-inked quill as he scanned the answer sheet.

“I hope it was all worth it,” Applebloom muttered. “I’d hate to think sis went through all this for nuthin’.”

"Fifty seven percent," Spike said.

Twilight sat upright, eyes wide. “I flunked!?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Pretty hard, too. If you sent this in to the canterlot university, they wouldn’t even send a rejection letter... just a postcard with the word ‘no’.”

“Woo!!” Twilight jumped up on her seat. “This is amazing! Wonderful! I can't remember the last time I flunked a test!”

Applebloom stared up at her slack jawed, one eyebrow raised.

“Sorry. It's complicated.” Twilight sat down and cleared her throat. “Spike, get the equipment ready. We need to see if my magical ability is similarly affected.”

Spike looked at the debris all around them. “You mean the equipment you took apart?”

“We’ll cobble something together. Just pick up anything that still functions and put it in a pile over there.”

Spike looked at the nearest device, still smoking. “That won’t be a very large pile.”

Twilight stood up and cast a spell. A swarm of mechanical parts hovered out of the mess and arranged themselves neatly in the air. “Don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t have taken any of this apart if I couldn’t... whoa!” The spell flickered, and a few of the items wobbled in midair. Twilight fussed over the individual items and redoubled her effort. Slowly, the machinery reassembled itself.

“Twilight?” said Spike. “Are you actually having trouble with a spell?”

“Just a little. It took me by surprise.” Twilight set the assembled machine on the table. “I don’t remember the last time that’s happened to me.”

After a moment, Spike held up a hand. “High four.”

Twilight smacked a hoof against his hand. “Yes! This is wonderful... amazing! I can’t wait to get started!”

She stopped as she saw Applebloom. She and her friends were staring at her in confusion.

“Sorry.” Twilight settled back into her seat. “It’s complicated.”

Applebloom frowned at her. “What about big sis? Does she need a test?”

“Well, she—” Twilight glanced across the library. Applejack was nowhere to be seen. “Where’d she go?”

“You lost her!?” said Applebloom. “How do you lose an entire big sister?”

Twilight shrugged. “She’s already done her part, so there’s no need for her to stay. She probably just wanted to get back to her farm. I’m sure she’s fine.”

Applebloom galloped out the front door. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle chased after her.

Spike pointed a thumb at the door. “Shouldn’t you go help look for her?”

“I’m sure she’s fine.” Twilight levitated a metal filing cabinet back upright and searched through the contents. “Hurry up with that equipment.”

Applebloom raced through mainstreet. She tried to see through the crowd of shopping ponies, but she only came up to their shoulders. She couldn't hear anything over the laughter and conversation.

Scootaloo called from somewhere behind. “Applebloom! Wait up!”

Applebloom hurried along, and went to the nearest shopping stand. “Sir? S’cuse me, sir! Have you seen Applejack today?”

The stallion shrugged and went back to his work. Applebloom ran to the next stall, and the next, with the same question. After a minute, Scootaloo caught up with her.

“Applebloom! We’ll find her quicker if we work together!”

“I’m sorry, Scoots. She’s just so confused, and all alone...” Applebloom looked down, trying to ignore the sting in her eyes. “Grown-ups aren’t supposed to get lost.”

Scootaloo stepped next to her and hugged her neck. Applebloom sniffled and leaned against her.

“Hey! Over here!”

They looked up and saw Sweetie Belle waving at them. They ran over and saw a stallion and a pegasus mare talking to her.

“Hey Caramel Apple! And good morning, Wind Whistler!” Applebloom smiled at the couple. “We’re looking for Applejack. Have you seen her around?”

He nodded back down the street. “Just a minute ago. She was heading towards the farmer’s market.”

“Was she... okay?”

“Seemed so,” Caramel Apple said, “but she was taking her own time. Looked like she was just out for a stroll. She looked at some of the stalls, but didn’t do any shopping.”

“Windowshopping?” Applebloom said. “Applejack never just browses.”

“She did seem a little out of sorts,” Wind Whistler said, “like she wasn’t really sure where she was going. We even said hello, and she just walked past us.”

Caramel Apple nodded. “We figured she hadn’t heard us.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders rushed down the road without a word.

Caramel glanced at Wind Whistler, and the two of them followed after.

Applebloom caught sight of a familiar blond ponytail, and shoved her way through the crowd. She came to the large white-canvas tent where farmers bought and sold crop seed. Ponies gathered to discuss baskets full of grain, and tree saplings in clay planters.

Applebloom rushed over, and saw Applejack standing by a table filled with tiny baskets. She didn’t chat with the mare behind the table, nor any of the other customers. She simply stared at the samples.

“Big sis!” Applebloom ran over to Applejack. “Are you okay?”

“Bloom?” Applejack snapped out of her trance. “I’m fine, bloom. Jes’ fine.”

Applebloom stamped her tiny hoof.“Then don’t you ever run off like that again! If you’d gotten lost or hurt, I wouldn't have had any way of findin’ you!”

“Sorry lil’ sis. I never meant to give you a scare. It won’t happen again, honest.” Applejack shuffled her hooves, then snapped upright. “Now wait just a second! I thought I was the older sis!”

“Shows what you know!” said Caramel Apple as he came through the crowd. “You okay there?”

“Yeah, fine. Why’s everypony askin’ me if I’m okay?”

“Just a minute ago, you walked right past us without saying hello.”

“Did I? I’m so sorry! I guess I didn’t notice y’all. I swear I never meant to be rude or nuthin’.”

“There, see?” Caramel Apple said. “She’s her old self, just like always.”

He gave Applebloom a pat on the back, and walked away with Wind Whistler.

Scootaloo looked at the Apple sisters. “So everything’s okay?”

“Sure is,” Applejack said. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“So, can we use one of your empty fields for a camping trip?”

“A field? What about the clubhouse?”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Too much like a sleepover...”

“...And not enough like camping,” finished Sweetie Belle.

“No can do girls,” Applejack said, “I’m gonna need those fallow fields for something.”

“Awwww...”

“Don’t you fret!” Applejack said. “There’s a perfect camping spot in the southwest field. It’s in a patch of trees right by the creek, and there’s cultivated fields on all sides. It’s just like a real forest, ‘cept you can’t possibly get lost.”

“That’d be great!” Scootaloo said. “I gotta go get my sleeping bag!”

“Just like a real forest?” said Sweetie Belle. “This is going to be so exciting!”

Applebloom followed her friends but paused to look back. Applejack was staring at the baskets of seeds, just like before.

“What do you need them fields for?” Applebloom said. “Aren’t they fallow?”

“Yeah,” Applejack said. “That means they’re no good for growin’ crops anymore.”

“Then whaddya need ’em for?”

Applejack looked at the table. “Clover.”

“Clover?” Applebloom tilted her head. “That’s kind of a specialty crop, isn’t it? I thought they only grew that in greenhouses.”

Applejack tipped over a basket of clover seed and watched the contents slowly spill on the ground. She pawed through the tiny heap for a few seconds.

“...Clover.”

“Oh... kay. See you later, I guess.” Applebloom watched her for a few seconds, then bolted back into the crowd.

The mare behind the table cleared her throat. “S’cuse me, Miss.”

Applejack pawed through the little pile of seeds on the ground.

“Miss Applejack? Are you going to be paying for that?”

“Clover.” Applejack looked up at her with a goofy smile. “It’s clover!”

“Yes it is. And will you be buying any?”

Applejack nodded to the mare. “A hundred and twenty pounds, please. Have it sent up to the barn. I’ll pay for it there.”

The mare’s eyes widened. “That’s enough for fifteen acres! What in the wide world of Equestria are you going to do with fifteen acres of clover? Applejack? Applejack!”

Applejack hummed to herself as she walked back into the crowd and down the street.

Heh... clover.

Next Chapter: %i%: Twilight loses her glasses. Wait... she wears glasses? Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 34 Minutes