Twilight Sparkle sat at the kitchen table. As the morning routine went, this day was no different. As she normally did, she sat enjoying a cup of tea to wake herself up. There was, however, a small difference this morning. She had arranged an early morning meeting at the library with her friends. Well most of them. She hadn't told Pinkie Pie to come.

Her mind briefly flashed back to Pinkie Pie's birthday a few years prior, where the pink mare got herself all worked up. That was one of her less fond memories of her friends. Seeing Pinkie Pie act the way she had that day had been borderline heartbreaking. Though that was bad enough, by far the worst of it was how Pinkie Pie had thought she was 'getting kicked out of the group.'

This time, however, Twilight played a lot to her advantage. Though this sounded bad, it was with perfect reason that Pinkie Pie mustn't know of the meeting. The main factor she used to her advantage, was setting up the meeting relatively early. Pinkie Pie was far from lazy, but she had admitted she was having a bit of trouble with restlessness, which meant it would be perfectly logical to keep a secret meeting from her during the morning.

The second advantage was that she had a full idea of what every pony should do to aid keeping the secret. Perfect. There was no way Pinkie Pie would find out their plan until she needed to.

First to arrive, surprisingly, was Rainbow Dash. Through the library window as normal, crashing into the floor. It was amazing that she wasn't injured from such a crash. "Hey, Twilight," said Rainbow Dash, looking over to Twilight.

"Good morning, Rainbow Dash," replied Twilight.

"So, what did you want us all here for?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I think it's better I say it when every pony else gets here," replied Twilight Almost as if by coincidence, the door knocked. "Come in!" shouted Twilight. The door opened revealing Applejack.

"Mornin' Twi, Dash." Applejack moved to take her place next to Rainbow Dash,"Ah'm surprised yer here this early, Dash."

"Hey! I can get up early if I want to you know?"

"Ah'm only messin' about with ya Dash." Applejack turned to face Twilight. "Ah am surprised Pinkie ain't here yet."

"You know Pinkie. Probably restless again," said Twilight, awkwardly.

***

About thirty minutes had passed, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle just chatting away. Yet there was a pressing issue. There was still a distinct lack of white and yellow to be seen in the library.

"Ah wonder where Rare and 'Shy are," said Applejack.

***

"Fluttershy, my love," said Rarity, muzzle pressed in Fluttershy's wing "I don't mean to rush here, but we simply must get going. We must not keep the others waiting."

"Rari...OooOOOOooohhh.ty, it won't take long. I just really need this. It feels so Oh good."

Rarity moved herself away from her lover slightly, "I'm afraid I'm not so skilled as this, I don't fully understand pegasus anatomy. I'm dreadfully sorry to ask, but do you think you could finish yourself off? I know it's unbecoming of a lady to start something like this without being able to finish the job,"

Fluttershy inspected her wings closely, "You Urrrm... Did really well."

"I did?" Rarity asked half filled with shock, half with happiness that she had been able to do something so special for her marefriend.

"Yes," replied Fluttershy, "especially for your first time. Are you sure you haven't done it before?"

"No Fluttershy. I've never really been so close to a pegasus that they have asked me to do that for them."

"Well you have natural talent at preening."

"Well, thank you, my beloved. Shall we get going?"

"Yes."

***

"I don't know," replied Rainbow Dash.

"I'm sure they will be here any minute now," added Twilight.

At this point, Rainbow Dash was getting quite impatient."Twilight, can't you just go over this for me and AJ, then go over it again for Rarity and Flutters?"

"I can only say this once. We all need to be here," stated Twilight, "this is something that needs to be planned by the book."

"Egghead," Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath. The door knocked once again, "Finally!"

"Come in," called Twilight. Two new guests entered the library. Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Terribly sorry we are late, I'm afraid we were quite busy," said Rarity.

"Ah bet ya were," replied Applejack.

"And just what are you implying by that, Applejack? My goodness. I do hope you weren't suggesting we were...."

Applejack let out a small chuckle, "Yeah. Yer gonna tell me Ah'm wrong?"

"Good heavens yes! It is unbecoming of a lady to perform such deeds outside of marriage. Besides, it is far too soon in the relationship for that. I was simply tending to dear Fluttershy's wings."

This time it was Rainbow Dash who found the fun in Rarity's statement, "urmmmm yeah. That can also be taken two ways."

Even Fluttershy couldn't argue with this. "I'm afraid she's urrmm right. You see, pegasi have extremely sensitive spots on their wings."

"By Celestia," Rarity stated, getting rather flustered, as well as annoyed, "Just because you two..."she motioned her hoof towards Applejack and Rainbow Dash "...have your minds in the gutter doesn't give you the right to have a laugh at our expenses. I was preening Fluttershy's wings for her. Nothing more. Now I would appreciate it greatly if we were to drop the issue. Hmmm."

"ENOUGH!" Shouted Twilight, "I'm sorry, but this isn't the time. I called you all here for a reason." All four of the bickering ponies stood to the silent attention of Twilight Sparkle. "Now, there is a reason Pinkie Pie isn't here, and, until further notice this meeting must be kept from her."

Every pony nodded in agreement. Well, all except Rainbow Dash, "No Twilight. I'm sorry, but she is our friend. She has just got out of hospital after trying to take her own life." Rainbow Dash didn't let much of the anger she felt for this agreement show, but the tears of anger she tried to hide did mot go unnoticed, "Why would you all agree to this? Don't you remember what happened last time we tried to keep something away from her? If this is something that we are keeping from her, I want no part in it."

"My my," said Rarity, "some pony is getting defensive. Anything you are hiding from us Rainbow Dash? Like feelings for Pinkie Pie?"

Rarity was certainly not a stupid mare. She knew the difference between right and wrong. She saw absolutely no way he comment was at all hurtful in any way. However, she also knew when some pony was upset with her. Having a blue pegasus flying into her, and pinning her down probably suggested that Rainbow Dash was, indeed, rather upset with her.

Fortunately this little scuffle was soon ended with application of Twilight Sparkle's magic. She used a mighty amount of force to lift Rainbow Dash off Rarity, before releasing her from telekenetic grip. The blue pegasus wasn't at all happy. "You know, if you all want to carry on scheming against Pinkie, fine, but I'm not being involved in this." She then proceeded to storm out of the library. On the bright side, she did use the door for once.

Rarity looked round to see Applejack glaring daggers into her, it was then that she realised her error. "She actually does love Pinkie Pie doesn't she?"

"urh huh," replied Applejack.

"Oh..Celestia"

Author's Notes:

Oh dearie me.

*Disclaimer* I love Rarity. She is best pony. So if anyone says that I'm deliberately portraying Rarity as I have because I don't like her, they are wrong.

I also think I did a pretty good job of portraying Rainbow Dash's element of loyalty. Anyway, this isn't an early upload, I've unbound myself from a schedule. I did write a blog post, but this is for those who may not have seen it