Twilight rested her chin on her hoof, glaring out over her desk. Scootaloo, Spike, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle huddled around a book, whispering among each other. Her gaze flicked to the clock, then back to the group, leaning into her hoof and struggling to not groan.

Sitting up, she popped a kink in her neck and let out a sigh. Chewing her lip, she flipped her cracked and ragged book back open.

“Hey, Twilight?” Scootaloo asked for the tenth time that afternoon.

She suppressed another groan and closed her book again, turning to Scootaloo and offering a strained smile. “Yes, Scootaloo?”

“Did Rainbow Dash maybe tell you when the snow’s supposed to start? I know it’s usually right after the Running of the Leaves, and there’s this cool thing in here about making igloos…”

Twilight met Spike’s excited gaze and her smile widened. “I think she said next Wednesday is the first storm, but it’ll probably be a few weeks before there’s enough snow to build anything.”

“Aww…” Scootaloo sunk back to the floor and flipped a page. “I hate waiting.”

Twilight muttered, “Me, too,” under her breath and dared to open her book again. She found the first blank page and started browsing back through the entries. “It’s one of these…”

“Ooh, this looks good!” Spike broke her concentration, causing her to turn several pages at once.

“Oh, wow,” Apple Bloom agreed. “That looks just like the one I carved with my sister!”

Sweetie Belle pouted. “But Nightmare Night’s already over.”

“That don’t matter none. There’s always a bunch a’ pumpkins left in the yard that don’t get made into pies or nothin’. I bet’cha Applejack’ll give us a few if we ask!”

Scootaloo’s wings buzzed with excitement. “Ooh, if we kept the seeds, we can make one of ‘em look like it’s barfing!” The three leapt to their hooves.

Twilight breathed out in relief and turned back to her book just before Spike said, “I’ll catch up with you girls at Apple Bloom’s.” She tried to hide her wince.

“Alright, Spike!” They chimed as they rushed out the door, shouting, “Cutie Mark Crusaders jack o’lantern carvers!”

Spike got to his feet and walked to Twilight’s desk. “You need me for anything?”

“No, that’s okay, Spike.” She shuffled the last few pages, searching for her place.

“Not dreams again,” he grumbled. “You’ve had your snout in that journal all the time lately.” He leaned over the desk, glaring at the book. “If there’s something bothering you, I don’t think it’s in your dreams.”

Twilight rubbed the bridge of her muzzle and slid the book away. “Spike…”

“Oh, come on, Twilight, I know you said Princess Luna wants you to study dream magic or whatever, but it’s obvious.”

She sat back and popped the kink in her neck, taking in a deep breath and letting it out evenly. “Yes, Spike. I’m still feeling unsettled and I don’t know why.”

“Well, things’ve gotten less crazy-busy, did that help at all?”

“Not really; I already knew that wasn’t what was bothering me.”

“Well, did’ja talk to Rainbow Dash?”

“Yes…and no. I tried to talk to her right after we talked, but she won’t tell me anything, other than it not being because everypony was busy. Anyway, I know it’s not her, because even if Rainbow won’t talk to me I know something’s upsetting her. Something else is making me uncomfortable.” She prodded her book. “And I’ve often felt strange when writing out my dreams recently.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What kind of strange?”

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out as she struggled to put it into words. She grimaced and slumped her shoulders. “It’s like…déjà vu. But every time I look back through my entries, none of the dreams match up to each other or older dreams, and they’re all really weird, so it’s not like they’re reminding me of something that really happened.”

Spike rubbed his chin. “Huh. And you’re sure it’s not Rainbow Dash?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” she huffed. “Rainbow being upset is already bothering me, but this is something else.”

“Oookay. Have fun reading about dreams again.” He stepped back from the desk and grabbed his backpack from beside the door. “You sure you’ll be okay without my help?”

She smiled at him and nodded. “Go have fun, Spike. We’ll reshelf tomorrow morning.”

He waved as he left and she fell back to her book, muttering, “Finally,” as she found a dream she remembered feeling odd while writing. She scanned back through.

I’m lying on a beach sunbathing. Pinkie is playing in the surf while Rarity and Fluttershy are talking about something under an umbrella. Rainbow and Applejack are playing volleyball. Rainbow keeps cheating by using her wings, but Applejack just finds it funny. A small wave splashes my tail and surprises me. I sit up and the water rises to my chest. I’m not afraid and hold out my hooves like I’m expecting something. The water recedes, and there’s a clamshell in my hooves. It opens and there’s a pearl inside. I try to remove the pearl with my magic, but the clam closes again.

I look back up and all my friends are gathered around the shell. Rarity tries to open the clam with her magic, but it won’t budge. Fluttershy tries talking to it, but still nothing. Pinkie blows a raspberry to ‘make the clam laugh.’ Rainbow grabs it from my hooves and tries to force it open. Applejack takes it from Rainbow and says, “There’s a trick to it, Dash.” She sets it on its side and taps it. The clam opens again. Applejack takes the pearl out and puts it in my hair. I wake up.

Twilight groaned and leaned away from the journal. “Why are dreams so stupid?” Pulling out the dream interpretation book and her notes, glancing over the usual meanings for clams, pearls, beaches, relaxing, passivity, and receiving gifts in dreams. “I am not worried that Applejack is trying to tell me a secret, you stupid book. If she was, which she isn’t; she’s horrible at keeping secrets, I would be curious,” she grumbled, slapping it shut again. She did the same to her dream journal for good measure.

Standing up, she stretched out her back. “This is all so stupid. I know something’s wrong, but I have no idea what and I feel like I’m pulling at straws! And it’s making me talk to myself like a crazy pony!” She growled and stomped a hoof.

Glaring at the books, she turned and marched out into the room, pacing back and forth. “I hate not knowing what’s going on in my own head. I never know what to do, and it just digs at me while I try to figure it out , taunting me with the fact that I don’t know what it even is.” She ground her teeth. “Why can’t it ever be obvious? It’s always like this!”

She sunk to her haunches and let out a drained whine, drooping her head. “I haven’t felt this wound up and confused in months.”

As the words left her mouth, her head snapped back up. A thoughtful frown creased her mouth as she followed the idea behind the sentence. “When was that…?” she muttered, standing and walking back towards her desk. “It was late winter, and…”

Her frown deepened. “…And I wrote to Princess Celestia about it…” She looked up at the ceiling, towards the lower loft of her bedroom. The old feeling of confusion and panic filled her mind as she traversed the memories: letters sent, letters received, a log sheet of her autonomic responses covering weeks, all bottled up into a pressure cooker that only had the steam released in the scant and blissful hours of dates with Rainbow Dash.

“…And I realized I loved her.”

Twilight turned to her dream journal. She stepped around her desk timidly, still awash in the memories of her self-analysis that seemed so laughable after Princess Celestia had written her back, saying, Nopony’s heart thinks in words, my dear student. Elevated heartbeats tracked, moments of nervousness, a swooping feeling in the pit of her stomach at random times she later figured out were when something reminded her of Rainbow Dash, unsettling her in the involuntary nature of her own responses.

It was funny afterwards how little of it she even noticed until it was staring her in the face, down to as minor a thing as how she wrote Rainbow’s name.

She sat down carefully at her desk and flipped open her book to the dream about the pearl, holding her breath, trying to not think anything. She looked through her hoofwriting one word at a time. After years of note-taking, Twilight almost always wrote in simple block letters to keep from having to translate and rewrite everything into something legible afterward. Almost always. Rainbow’s name flowed in loopy script in her entry with an extra flair on the tail of the ‘w;’ Twilight recalled first noticing she wrote out her marefriend’s name like that a month after confessing her love.

Applejack’s name was also written in cursive.

A knock at the door sounded out, barely cutting through Twilight’s trance. She mechanically grabbed the handle with her magic and pulled it open, still staring at Applejack’s name, still marveling over the flourish trailing off the ‘k,’ feeling her stomach leap at the sight, throwing her weeks of disquiet into a context she didn’t want to accept.

“Hi, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, stepping into the library, “I was hoping you had a book on—Twilight, are you okay?”

“…I, uh…” Twilight tried to tear her eyes off the page. She slammed the cover shut and stumbled back a step.

Fluttershy frowned. “What’s wrong?”

She leapt to her hooves. “Oh, Celestia, I didn’t notice again?!” she shouted, galloping up the stairs. Her bedroom door banged open in her rush as she raced to her bed. She tore open the drawer next to the bed and yanked a forgotten hair tie out. “Olfactory sense has the strongest connection to memory,” she rambled to herself before holding it over her snout.

Twilight inhaled.

A rush of images washed over her mind: rows of trees fat with fruit, the spice of fresh cider, worn hats, and Applejack. Applejack bucking the fields, handing her a mug, and smiling at her. She couldn’t help smiling into the tie as butterflies danced in her belly.

Déjà vu struck her again as she accepted the truth, linking with memories from months before when she stared at the letter from Celestia.

She shoved the ribbon away and rushed back downstairs, past Fluttershy to the bookshelves, dancing on her hooves as her eyes whipped from one title to another.

“Twilight, are you having a panic attack?”

“Where is it? Where is it?! Spike!” she shouted, flying to another shelf. “Spike! I need help! Where are you?!”

“Oh dear, you are panicking.” Fluttershy walked into the kitchen.

Twilight jumped from one row of books to another, not taking in the titles. “Self-help was here! Where is it now?! Or was it over here? Did I put it with the romance fiction?!”

Stacks rained down to the floor as she pulled them off the shelves. “Where’s ‘r’?” she pleaded, desperation edging into her voice. “Spike, where did you reshelf Relationships and You?! I need it right now! Spike, where are you?!”

Her vision wavered and she blinked away alarmed tears. She realized on some level she was hyperventilating as she pulled the entire contents of her library down, but book after book was wrong, nothing had answers, nothing was right. She ran back to her desk and tossed the contents. “Did I leave it here?! Where—”

Fluttershy’s hoof caught a back leg at the cannon and Twilight tumbled to her haunches. Before she could get back up, her friend prodded her into a sitting position and shoved a steaming cup of tea in front of her face. “Drink,” she commanded.

Twilight sputtered. “Fluttershy, I’m—”

“Very upset and tearing apart your own home. You need to calm down and think instead of panicking. Drink.”

Twilight tried to glare in defiance at her friend, but Fluttershy’s expression was hard-set and unwavering. Twilight looked down; the teacup shook in her hooves.

Fluttershy’s voice softened. “You know I’m right, Twilight.”

The thought crossed Twilight’s mind to lift Fluttershy off the floor and fling her out of the room so she could continue the search. The violence of the impulse slapped her in the face, and she closed her eyes in shame, lifting the cup to her lips.

“Chamomile,” she mumbled, sipping slowly to keep from burning her tongue. It grew easier to drink as she swallowed; the tremoring stilled and her jackhammering heart evened out. Her thoughts writhed like snakes, but she forced herself to focus on the tea. She set the cup on her disheveled desktop and took a shaky breath.

Fluttershy’s shoulders drooped and she let out a huff. “Sorry I was so forceful, Twilight.”

“It’s okay…you were right.” Twilight closed her eyes and leaned back. She opened them again and looked out across the wreckage of the library. “Me exploding doesn’t solve anything.”

Fluttershy put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Are you feeling better?”

Twilight breathed out slowly, leaning forward. “No.”

Sighing, Fluttershy patted her and sat down. “If you want to talk about it…”

Twilight turned to Fluttershy with a grimace on her face. As she looked over her friend’s concerned expression, she recalled the conversation she had with Rainbow months before, picturing worry turning into squeaks and blushes. She ran a hoof through her bangs and looked back out into the room, wincing again.

Fluttershy followed her gaze. “…Let’s go into the kitchen and have another cup of tea.”

“Okay.” Twilight stood up and followed Fluttershy out of the room and away from the destruction. She sunk down at the table, glancing up with an unsteady smile of thanks when given a second cup.

Fluttershy sat opposite her, sweeping a hoof through her mane and looking down at the table. “I…I don’t know if you want to talk to me about your problems, but I’ll listen if you need somepony.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy.” Twilight took a sip of tea and let her shoulders sink. The cup settled back on the table as she released her magic, and she stared at the curl of steam. As the silence stretched out, her looping thoughts grew more insistent, threatening to rush out of her. “I—I don’t know what to do!” she groaned, leaning back and thumping the top of her head against the wall.

Fluttershy tapped on the table nervously. “What’s going on, if you’re okay with telling me?”

“I’m—” she glanced at her friend and grimaced again, screwing her eyes shut and forcing her mind into order. Her voice came out agitated, but slow and measured. “I…I figured something out. It explains why I’ve been feeling off for a while now, but it makes more problems than it solves.” Fluttershy met her gaze. “This will really hurt Rainbow. I can’t bear to hurt her, Fluttershy. I can’t.” Her throat grew thick and she swallowed, looking back at the table and wiping her eyes. “Oh, Celestia, I’ve made a mess of things…”

Fluttershy’s hoof slid over and rested on top of her own. “Will it hurt Rainbow more not to know?”

Twilight closed her eyes and bowed her head. “…Yes. I…I have to talk to them both. I have to make this right, or else…” She sniffled. “I just have to.” She felt her friend squeeze her hoof and she wiped her eyes again. “Oh, I feel so stupid…”

“Things will be okay, Twilight,” Fluttershy soothed. “I know you, and Rainbow Dash knows you. You don’t hurt ponies on purpose, so she’ll understand about…whatever’s going on. You two make a really nice couple and everypony sees that.”

She offered Fluttershy a weak smile. “Thank you. I…th-things will be okay.”

Fluttershy grinned back. “Of course they will. Are you feeling better now?”

“A little.” Twilight sniffled. “It’ll take a while to feel all the way better, but…well, I’m not going to wreck the library anymore.”

Fluttershy giggled and tried to hide it behind a hoof. “That’s good.”

She couldn’t help smirking. Taking a deep breath, Twilight vigorously rubbed her face with both hooves. She let the air out slowly and shook her head. “Okay…now that that’s over with…were you looking for a book when you came in?”

“Oh! Yes. I was hoping you had something about tree care, or diseases. There’s a poor little elm right outside my yard that’s looking droopy. I wanted to see if there was anything I could do before bothering Applejack by asking.”

Twilight’s stomach backflipped again.

“But, uhh…” Fluttershy leaned sideways and peered out at the torn apart shelves. “…Maybe I can help you put everything away first?”

Twilight sighed and stood up. “You’ve helped me enough today if you’d rather go home, and I can send you the right book when I find it.”

Standing, Fluttershy followed Twilight to the main room, minding her hoofsteps over the mess. “I don’t mind helping you…”

Twilight stopped and turned to her friend. Her expression was a mixture of gratitude, worry, and exhaustion. “Thank you, but…I need some time to think.”

Fluttershy nodded in understanding. She glanced around for somewhere to step and opened her wings, floating off the floor towards the door. “I’m sure everything will turn out just fine, Twilight. If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me.”

They exchanged a smile as Fluttershy forced the door open through the mess. As it shut behind her, the books she displaced tumbled back. Twilight took another steadying breath and began floating stacks back onto the shelves. She was haphazard in her placement, knowing she and Spike would get everything properly ordered in the morning. She kept an eye open for Fluttershy’s book on tree care, as well as Relationships and You, as she worked.

As the last book lifted off the floor, the setting sun glinting off the lettering through the windows, Twilight knew what she was going to do.

Twilight paced in front of the balcony door, her mind racing, alternating between mussing up her mane and patting it back down. Her head was a battleground of nerves and dread and her gait gradually sped up just so she had something to do with her hooves. She chewed her lip until it hurt.

The latch to the balcony clicked and she whipped around to see Rainbow. “Hey, Twi, got your note.” Her marefriend sauntered into the room, expression flat and bored as she glanced around the room. Their eyes met and Rainbow frowned. “You alright?”

Twilight pawed at the floor and cleared her throat. “I…have something important I need to talk to you and Applejack about.”

Her brow knitting, Rainbow replied, “Okay…is AJ coming over?”

“Yes. I sent her a note, too.” Twilight started pacing again, meeting Rainbow’s gaze and then looking away fitfully. “She should be here soon.”

Bewildered, Rainbow trotted closer. “Did something bad happen, Twi? You look like somepony ran you over.”

Twilight took a deep breath and forced a smile. “Nothing bad happened. I…I’ll tell you and Applejack at the same time.” She cleared her throat and turned towards the stairs. “Applejack should be here soon.”

“Yeah…you said that already, Twi.” Rainbow followed her marefriend down to the library, staring at the back of Twilight’s head. She watched with growing confusion as Twilight circled the center table, disappearing behind the bust with each pass. She looked around the room for some sign of whatever had thrown Twilight off the deep-end, noticing half the books were shelved upside-down, sideways, or backwards. She glanced sidelong at Twilight.

A knock sounded out and Twilight stopped. She cast a fearful eye over at Rainbow before pulling the door open.

“Hey, y’all, I…” Applejack took in the sight of Twilight’s mane and skittish eyes, then Rainbow’s confusion. “Uh…everythin’ alright?”

Rainbow shrugged at her.

Clearing her throat, Twilight looked back and forth between the two. “Um…yes. I need to talk to both of you.” She rubbed her knee, looking away from them, her eyes darting around. “L-let me make us something to drink.” She headed for the kitchen, Rainbow and Applejack glancing at each other with growing nervousness.

Applejack mouthed, “What’s going on?” at Rainbow, who shrugged again before following Twilight into the kitchen. Rainbow found her marefriend pouring three glasses of juice, the jug shaking in her hooves.

“Twi, are you okay?” she asked, stepping close to rub Twilight’s back.

Twilight started and set the juice down, closing her eyes and swallowing. She turned from the counter, her voice low and urgent. “Rainbow, I need you to know something and it’s very important.”

Numb, Rainbow nodded.

“Regardless of what I say out there, I need you to remember…” She stepped forward, taking Rainbow by surprise as she nuzzled her, the action just as earnest as her voice, their coats rubbing against each other neck to neck. “Remember that I love you.”

“Y-yeah, I know,” Rainbow mumbled. Twilight stepped back and looked away, lifting the glasses in her magic and plodding back to the main room. Rainbow followed and mouthed over Twilight’s shoulder to Applejack, “Whu….uh…I have no idea.”

Twilight walked to the fireplace and sat down on a floor pillow, settling the three glasses in front of each of them.

Applejack looked at her glass as she sat down. “So, uhh…what’s this all about, sugarcube?”

“Yeah, Twi. You’re sorta freaking me out here.”

Twilight’s mouth opened before she jumped in her seat. “Oh! Applejack, this is yours.” She floated her friend’s hair ribbon from a bookshelf to Applejack’s waiting hooves. Applejack blinked at it and looked sidelong at Rainbow, who was chugging her glass of juice. She refocused on Twilight with growing confusion. Twilight took a sip of her own juice before looking from Rainbow to Applejack and then back again. “I…have a confession to make.”

Rainbow and Applejack exchanged another glance.

Twilight took a deep breath, straightened up, and leveled her gaze at Applejack. “Our arrangement has been…great, Applejack. Really, really great. I’ve had a lot of fun, and I’ve looked forward to our Saturday nights more and more each week. In fact…” She looked at Rainbow and her eyes skittered away from her marefriend, cheeks growing pink. “I like them a little too much.”

Applejack opened her mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say. She looked to Rainbow, who shrugged helplessly again, and turned back to Twilight.

Grimacing, Twilight’s focus flicked to Rainbow and back, her ears falling flat. “I, uh, I’m…” She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let the words rush out of her. “I’ve developed feelings for you, Applejack.” A beat of silence passed and she cracked one eye open. At their continued bewilderment, she continued, “Romantic ones. For you. I’ve, uh, I’ve fallen in love with you.”

Applejack and Rainbow rocked back on their pillows and Twilight saw flashes of recognition across their faces. Twilight watched her marefriend fearfully, looking for pain or betrayal, growing confused herself when understanding was followed by the briefest glimpse of relief, and then guilt. A wave of remorse crashed over her seeing the pain in her lover’s expression.

Her throat bobbing, Applejack opened and closed her mouth a few times, sputtering out, “Twilight, I—“

“I’m sorry, Rainbow!” Twilight lamented, letting her head and shoulders droop. “I know this arrangement was about us having something fun and carefree, but I didn’t even notice it was happening! I still love you, though; nothing changed that, I swear to you, I still love you!” Twilight’s throat grew thick with emotion, and she swallowed, wiping at her eyes with a hoof.

Rainbow’s mouth hung open as Twilight’s crying turned to sobs. She looked at Applejack, her expression lost and helpless, and her friend smacked her back, shoving her off balance towards Twilight. Rainbow stumbled before closing the distance, embracing her marefriend. Twilight hugged back, hitching against Rainbow’s chest, holding on as the worst of her terror and sorrow bled out of her.

“It’s okay,” Rainbow mumbled, “I get it.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, clinging tight, dampening Rainbow’s coat. A heavy stillness hung over the room, broken only by her tears, until at last she stilled, more exhausted than calmed. She sniffled, rubbing her face into Rainbow’s chest, and leaned back. She turned to face Applejack, her face red and puffy. Her voice came out rough. “I owe you an apology, too, Applejack. We had something nice, and I had to go mess it up.”

Applejack looked down at her untouched juice, kneading the pillow with her forelegs. “A pony ain’t got much say in what her heart wants.”

Twilight turned to Rainbow and kissed her still shocked face. She pulled away from the hug and her marefriend drifted backwards to her pillow. Rainbow shook her head and ran a hoof through her mane. “So, uh, what…what now?”

Wiping her face and closing her eyes again, she took a steadying breath. “We end the arrangement.” Rainbow and Applejack both winced. “I don’t really want to stop, but…this won’t go away if I don’t. I’m committed to you, Rainbow, and I don’t want that to change. The only way for things to go back to the way they were is if we get some distance.” She offered Applejack a strained smile. “I don’t want to stop seeing you, Applejack; we’ll still spend some time together, just…not that type of spending time.”

Applejack adjusted her hat, looking away. Her eyes caught her glass again, and she lifted it up, draining it in a few swallows. She wiped her muzzle and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right…Now that it’s about winter time, I was plannin’ on lookin’ ‘round town for somepony to start courtin’…” She didn’t meet Twilight’s gaze as she said, “’Fore I got too attached to y’all.” She looked to Rainbow and her expression slowly set, as if bracing for an explosion. “What’s your say on it, Dash?”

Disappointment and guilt warred on Rainbow’s face, meeting somewhere in the middle with a look of nausea. “…Whatever you two want.”

Twilight nodded and let out a sigh. “I am sorry, both of you. I didn’t mean to make things awkward like this.” She looked at her marefriend. “And I never meant to hurt you.”

Applejack looked between the two of them, a strained smile on her face. “Ain’t nothin’ the two of ya can’t work through. I seen lots a’ lovebirds, an’ what ya got together is somethin’ really special. Little ol’ me ain’t gonna come between that. I’m awful sorry I helped muck things up, though.”

Inhaling deep, Applejack set her hat firm and stood up. She stepped over to Twilight, leaned down, and planted a soft kiss on her friend’s forehead. “Ya ain’t gotta apologize for nothin’, sugarcube.” She turned and kissed Rainbow in the same place as she sat wooden and unmoving. “I’ll be missin’ this, but I ain’t gonna regret one second of it.” She straightened and headed for the door. As she let the cold and windy night in, she glanced over her shoulder at the two, all their expressions drawn with remorse. “I’ll be seein’ ya around…and I’m gonna be rootin’ for the both of ya. Don’t you forget that.”

The door clicked shut behind her.

Rainbow stared after Applejack, her expression vague and detached. She pulled herself out of her reverie when she heard Twilight sniff again. She turned back to see her marefriend looking at the floor and hugging herself.

“D-do you hate me?” Twilight whispered.

“What?” Rainbow shook her head hard enough for her ears to flap back and forth. She leapt off the floor. “No! No, of course I don’t hate you!”

Twilight’s gaze stayed lowered, but her voice rose, some of the tension gone. “But…aren’t you jealous, or…?”

A refuting grunt left her throat, but she snapped her mouth shut. She sat down abruptly, brow creased. “That’s…uh…no, I’m not. Is that weird?” She raised an eyebrow and then shook her head again. “Listen, Twi, it’s not a big deal and I’m not, like, angry or anything.”

Twilight sniffled and rubbed her muzzle. “So…you believe me?”

Rainbow stood up, shaking her head. “Twilight, when I got up this morning, you were holding one of my wings like it was a stuffed animal. It took me five minutes to get you to let go without just waking you up. You were chewing on it. You—” she prodded Twilight in the chest, startling her into looking up. Rainbow couldn’t help but smile at her lover’s face, full of relief and earnest hope. “—are crazy about me.” She puffed out her chest and struck a pose, shooting a cocky smirk that earned her a giggle. “Everypony knows it.” She leaned down and kissed Twilight hard and fast. “And I’m crazy about you. Nothing’s changed.”

Leaning forward, Twilight nuzzled into her neck and she closed her eyes, returning the affection. Her tone dropped as she mumbled, “I get it, Twi. I fe—” Her throat seized up on her. She swallowed. “I’m—” She hugged Twilight around the shoulders to keep her hooves from shaking. “I…really liked being with Applejack, too.”

“I know,” Twilight mumbled. “This was your fantasy. I’m sorry I messed it up.”

Rainbow’s jaw hung open, but she couldn’t force sound out of it. She clenched her eyes shut and gave Twilight a squeeze. She fixed her expression to neutral before sitting back. “You feeling better now?”

Twilight sighed and slumped again, looking down at her juice. She floated it to her lips and drained it. “Not really. I’m mostly tired now.”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, me, too. That…sucked.” Twilight snorted. “C’mon, let’s go to bed.” She helped Twilight up and turned around to grab her empty glass. Her attention caught on Applejack’s pillow for a moment, and she rushed to it, sweeping her wing open across it. She turned around with Applejack’s glass in her teeth. She scooped up her own in the crook of a foreleg and hobbled towards the kitchen. Twilight rolled her eyes and followed with her own glass floating next to her.

Dishes in the sink, the two climbed the stairs to their bedroom, up the loft and straight into bed. Twilight pressed into Rainbow’s back as she lay down, hugging her around the middle. She snuggled backwards into the embrace, stroking Twilight’s hoof.

As her marefriend’s breaths evened out, Rainbow carefully opened her wing, wriggling it out from the hug so she could extend it without waking Twilight. Applejack’s forgotten hair ribbon fell out. She held it to her muzzle and inhaled the scent of orchards and hard work.

Rainbow told herself that she had trouble sliding the ribbon into the drawer of the bedside dresser because it was dark, not because her vision was wavering with tears.

Author's Notes:

tl;dr

The chapter where all this narrative stuff got in the way of boning.

(For those of you who don't follow me and/or read my production blogs: Room for One More is moving to a weekly Wednesday update schedule until it's completed)