"It'll just be for a few days." Fluttershy jammed another sweater into her saddlebag so she wouldn't have to look at Angel, standing on the carpet beside the bed with his back to her, his ears down and his front legs folded.

"Honeycomb?" Applejack drawled from the doorway.

"A week at most!" Trying to focus on tying the saddlebag closed, Fluttershy couldn't manage to loop the drawstring around the little buttons since it was taking every ounce of her strength not to throw herself to the floor beside the bunny and beg him to forgive her. "Pinkie Pie's promised that she'll come by every day to make sure—"

"In the first place,—" Orange hoofs reached from behind her and slipped the string into place as if it were the easiest thing in the world. "This time of year, ain't more'n about three places anywhere near Equestria you're gonna need that many sweaters."

"Manehattan!" Whirling, Fluttershy couldn't remember if she'd told Applejack yet where they were going. "My brother! I think maybe he's working for the weather bureau there, and—"

"And you think maybe your ma went with him when he moved." Applejack stretched to kiss Fluttershy's forehead. "You done told me six or seven times." Her confident smile made Fluttershy's heart pick up. "Might be I'm wrong, honeycomb, but looks to me like you could use a hug."

Fluttershy spread her wings and flew into her marefriend's embrace, buried her face in that strong, broad chest, almost burst into tears from sheer exhaustion. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," was all she could manage to say.

Hoofs stroked her back. "Hush, now," Applejack whispered, and Fluttershy found her muscles unclenching, the tension vanishing so quickly, she almost collapsed. Not that she ever would, she knew, not with Applejack holding her. "And in the second place,—" Applejack raised her voice. "Angel?" Looking over, Fluttershy saw Angel's gaze shift back over his shoulder. "You know how important this trip is to Fluttershy, don'tcha?"

A moment, then Angel gave a curt little nod.

"And you know how important you are to her as well, I reckon."

Angel's ears twitched, and the look that came over him, well, on any other face, Fluttershy would've called it remorse, but on Angel Bunny, that couldn't possibly—

"Then you come on over here, you big galoot, pat her hoof, and tell her you're gonna do your ding-dangedest to keep ev'rything here safe and tidy till she gets back."

His mouth a thin, black line, Angel gave half a hop, reached out a front paw, and tapped her rear hoof.

And Fluttershy couldn't keep from spinning and scooping her darling little friend up. "Oh, thank you, Angel Bunny! Thank you so much for understanding!"

He squirmed and tried to get away the way he usually did, but Fluttershy felt his little nose and whiskers brush against her muzzle as gently as they ever had. She gave a squeal of joy and set him down onto the carpet, Angel shaking himself, annoyance wafting sourly from his fur. He looked at Applejack, nodded, and bounced past her into the hallway.

Applejack was smiling at her, and Fluttershy found herself frozen in place, thoughts and emotions flooding her till she could almost smell the grinding gears in her head and heart. But with everything she wanted to say, all that would come out of her mouth was a barely whispered, "I love you."

Smile broadening, Applejack stepped over, and when she brushed a kiss over her lips, Fluttershy could move again, her whole body sighing. "And I love you. Now, we got us a train to catch."

The next fifteen or twenty minutes rushed by Fluttershy in a blur: grabbing her saddlebags while Applejack slipped into her own; trying not to look constantly back at her cottage as they trotted into town; walking up the ramp to the station platform, her knees trembling and her heart nearly bursting with love and fear to see all their friends along with Big Macintosh and the Cutie Mark Crusaders gathered there under a banner emblazoned with hearts and flowers and the words Bon Voyage!

"It's so romantic!" Rarity gushed at her. "A rail journey to Manehattan to celebrate your new-found love and introduce her to your family!"

Rainbow scowled a little, stepped close to Fluttershy, and asked in a low voice, "You sure you wanna do this?"

Fluttershy had never managed to lie successfully to Dashie, so she just shrugged and said, "I have to."

Blowing out a breath, Rainbow nodded. "I hear that, I guess." But then she gave her big grin, the one that always made Fluttershy feel better. "Still, your folks start making trouble, you just point Applejack at 'em and let her go."

Pinkie made some more Pinkie Promises about how she would watch over the cottage, and Fluttershy had to smile to see Rarity and Big Mac and the Crusaders nod knowingly behind her as if to say that they would all be pitching in to help. Behind them, though, Fluttershy noticed Twilight and Applejack in quiet conversation, the purple glow of Twilight's magic tucking a package into Applejack's bag.

Then the train whistle blew, tears flooding out of Pinkie while she tried to hug everypony on the platform at the same time. Fluttershy looked around, a little panic starting to poke at her, but then Applejack appeared at her side, raising her voice and saying, "I can't even start telling y'all how much it means to me and Fluttershy that you've come out to see us off. Just try not to have too many adventures while we're gone, and we'll try to do the same." She nudged Fluttershy toward the open door of the railway carriage, and Fluttershy stepped through. "Till a week or so!"

"All aboard!" the conductor called from somewhere, and Applejack scooted in just as the train lurched forward.

Standing and waving and waving and waving to her friends till she couldn't see the station anymore, Fluttershy thought her heart had turned into a hummingbird: excited and nervous and flitting around inside her chest as the open countryside outside Ponyville began flying past. Then Applejack was clearing her throat. "How 'bout we get ourselves settled, huh?"

"Settled?" And it hit Fluttershy all at once: In the three days since they'd had their early morning consultation with Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy had been running around making so many arrangements that she'd forgotten— "My ticket! I don't have one! I never bought it!"

With a smile, Applejack tapped her saddlebag. "Two first-class, round-trip tickets to Manehattan with sleeping compartment and full dining car privileges."

More panic flowed in. "And what about when we get there?? Where are we going to stay?? A hotel or a—??"

"Already covered." Applejack made a little popping noise with her lips. "My Aunt and Uncle Orange'll have a room waiting for us."

Still shivering, Fluttershy lowered her head till her mane covered her blushing face. "I'm so sorry, Applejack. I didn't...I wasn't—" She pulled her eyes closed. "How can you put up with me?" she murmured.

The brush of a hoof against her forehead pushed her hair aside, another hoof cupping her chin and gently pushing till she had to raise her head. "That ain't a question y'ever need to be asking." Fluttershy opened her eyes to see Applejack looking all soft but serious right in front of her. "It's you and me now, y'hear? You and me always and forever." Her lips puckered, and Fluttershy sprang to meet them, poured all the love she felt for her beautiful, wonderful marefriend into a kiss that made her float higher than her wings ever had.

A sweet little chuckle rumbled through her from Applejack, and she returned the kiss with a fervor that made Fluttershy's wiggler bulge against the flap of her lacinia, and—

Another throat cleared, Fluttershy jumping back to see a gray unicorn in a conductor's uniform smiling in the door that led into the train carriage. "Sorry to interrupt," he said, "but I'll need to check your tickets."

Every word Fluttershy had ever known deserted her, and all she could do was stand there trembling. Applejack, though, gave a laugh and nosed open her saddlebag. "We're in compartment C3." Her teeth plucked two pieces of paper out, and the conductor's horn glowed, his magic taking them from her. "I reckon it oughtta be around here somewhere."

The conductor nodded. "Right up in the next car, as a matter of fact." A few squiggles appeared on the tickets; he floated them back to Applejack, tipped his hat, and held the door open for them.

As soon as she stepped inside, Fluttershy fell in love with the room, its two little padded benches that would fold out into beds and its big picture window to watch the world go by. She'd only been overnight on a train a few times, and while she preferred being in one room with all her friends instead of in her own lonely compartment, she suddenly felt bashful with just her and Applejack there. Shrugging off her saddlebags and settling onto the rear-facing bench while Applejack stowed her own bags, she snuck a peek at her marefriend's powerful haunches, then looked away with a blush.

Applejack smiled over her shoulder, and Fluttershy's blush deepened—had she felt that glance? "You gonna be OK there, honeycomb?"

With a swallow, Fluttershy gave her a nod.

"Good." Applejack climbed onto the front-facing bench and flipped her hat off onto the cushion beside her. "'Cause I know we don't get into Manehattan till tomorrow afternoon, but, well, I reckon the sooner we get me up to speed, the better."

That made Fluttershy blink. "Up to speed?"

Blowing out a breath, Applejack reached across the space between their benches and put a hoof on Fluttershy's. "About your folks and your brother."

The hammering of Fluttershy's heart was suddenly louder in her ears than the clickety-clack of the train's wheels. "I'm right sorry," Applejack was going on, "but we gotta have a plan for this, and talking it out's the only way to get one."

Fluttershy wanted to shrink into the corner where the bench met the wall, but instead, another sudden thought made her leap to her hoofs. "Twilight's samples!" Panic almost sent her flying up to fling open the window. "She said she'd have a case for us to take, but I never picked it up!"

Applejack raised both front hoofs. "It's all right, honeycomb! Twilight gave me the stuff at the station! I got it right here in my bag!"

Trembling for another moment before collapsing back onto the cushion, Fluttershy didn't say it out loud this time. But the horrible little voice in her head asked that same question again: How can she put up with you? You're dull and lazy and forgetful and—

"So don't fret." Applejack's voice cut into her thoughts. "After all, if'n there's one thing I's learned since getting to know all you gals, it's that friends got each other's backs, y'know?" A scuffling sound made Fluttershy blink, and she saw Applejack rummaging through one of her bags. "Here we go!" She pulled out a cloth-wrapped package and unrolled it to reveal a long ceramic cylinder like the one Fluttershy had packed her toothbrush in.

"See?" Applejack popped one end of the tube off, and inside were four or five little sticks. "Twilight said you just take wunna these here sticks in your teeth, swab the other end around inside the cheek of the pony you're taking the sample from, then you bite down on the stick to activate the spell that seals it shut." Applejack wrinkled her nose. "A lot easier'n when she took your blood and all: we just gotta get your folks to open their mouths a minute." She recapped the tube, tucked it into her pack, and looked up expectantly. "So, gimme the run-down. Who's this brother of yours, and why d'you think he's in Manehattan?"

It took another few seconds for the words to unfreeze in her brain, and even then she found that she had to keep her gaze darting around the compartment to keep the feelings behind the words from settling into place and overwhelming her. "Well, Silver Burr's about a year older than—"

"Silver Burr?" Applejack sounded confused. "You mean like that kinda ragweed we gotta clear ev'ry year outta the—?"

"Oh, no!" Fluttershy leaned forward. "Please don't! Dad used to call him 'Ragweed' sometimes, and he hated it!"

Applejack blinked. "Sure thing, honeycomb. Silver Burr does weather in Manehattan, you said?"

"Well, I..." She took several breaths, tried to organize her thoughts. "He was always interested in plants—he's got three little sprigs of pussy willow for his cutie mark—so I just assumed he'd end up doing something botanical for a living. But...see..." She forced herself to focus on Applejack. "You remember after we brought Princess Luna back from being Nightmare Moon?"

A slow smile spread across Applejack's muzzle. "Reckon I recall something about all that."

Fluttershy blushed some more and let her eyes go back to their aimless wandering. "Then you remember that reporter from the Manehattan Messenger's magazine section who came to town and talked to us all at the library that one day." She only remembered bits and pieces of it herself, of course, since she'd spent most of the interview hiding behind Rainbow Dash. "When Twilight got a copy of that issue, I went into town to read it and ended up glancing through the whole paper. And in the back, they had a photo of the new weather recruits getting sworn in at Manehattan's Weather Central. And Silver Burr was standing right there with the rest of them! I could hardly believe it, but it was him!"

Applejack did some more nodding. "And you figure you ma's with him?"

Her throat thickening, Fluttershy couldn't keep her eyes open for this part. "Dad had left, and I...I left, too. But Burr wouldn't've left her on her own, I know he wouldn't. So if he's moved to Manehattan, then she...she's got to be there, too..."

For another long moment, she heard nothing but the rattle of the train and the thudding of her heart. Then a gentle hoof touched her foreleg. "I can't say I understand," Applejack said just as gently. "But I reckon you had plenty of reasons for pulling out. So don't you fret none about that."

"Thank you," Fluttershy managed to say, but knowing how important family was to Applejack, she wanted to say so much more, wanted to make her see what it had been like growing up in that little house in Cloudsdale with parents who—

Several thoughts tumbled through her brain like flicked-over dominoes. "Oh! But...but maybe you do understand!" Raising her eyes, she fixed on Applejack's surprised expression. "You said the other day that your parents aren't dead! But I'd never heard you ever mention them before, not in all the years we've known each other! So maybe you—!"

The surprise on Applejack's face turned to full-fledged, wide-eyed shock, and Fluttershy slapped her hoofs over her mouth, even the voice in her head driven to silence. When would she learn to think before she spoke?? She knew Applejack was sensitive about her parents! She didn't know why, of course, but a real friend would never have brought up the topic in the first place! How could she be so—??

"Huh," Applejack said, and she looked so much like she'd been kicked in the stomach that Fluttershy almost dove for the window again, almost threw it open, almost hurled herself outside so she couldn't hear Applejack say that she never wanted to see her again, that she hated her and that she would— "You're right, Fluttershy. You're one hunnerd percent right."

That froze Fluttershy solid. "I...I'm what?"

"You're right." Applejack took a deep, shuddering breath, and Fluttershy ached to see the pain on that sweet orange face. "You're putting yourself through this whole awful thing, going back and seeing your folks and all, just to make our future together more certain. And me, well, I reckon I oughtta do the same."

"No," Fluttershy said.

The hardness in her own voice shocked her a little, but Applejack's head actually jerked back. "Honeycomb?"

"I'm sorry." And for all the times that Fluttershy had used those words, she was pretty sure she'd never meant them as strongly as she did right then. "Your parents must be a painful subject for you since, well, since you never talk about them. And with the way I've been nothing but thoughtless and terrible all week, making you take care of so many things I should've done myself, I will not allow you to put yourself through any more suffering because of me."

Muscles clenched in Applejack's jaw. "This ain't up for discussion." She gestured back and forth between herself and Fluttershy. "We're partners now, you and me, and that means we share the bad stuff same as the good stuff. So—"

"No." It wasn't any easier to say the second time, but Fluttershy forced it out. "I won't let you—"

"Consarn it, Fluttershy!" Applejack shouted, leaping to her hoofs, and Fluttershy couldn't keep from cringing, bunching herself back against the wall behind her and staring at her marefriend. "This ain't about you!"

Applejack closed her wild eyes immediately, drew a breath, settled herself back onto her cushion. "OK, that ain't exactly true," she went on, her voice quiet and brittle. "But you gotta know. It...it's about how I been looking at you and your troubles the last couple days. I...I been feeling all smug and self-righteous, thinking how lucky I am to be an Apple. 'Cause us Apples don't never have problems like you have with your folks, do we? We're one big happy family, ain't we?"

She stopped, and Fluttershy slid forward to touch her hoof. "You don't have to say another word."

"Pretty sure I do." Shaking her head, Applejack opened her eyes slowly. "I wronged you, Fluttershy, the way I been strutting around town all week waiting for you to forget things so I could swoop in and fix 'em. I told myself I had to take care of ev'rything since you was so upset about seeing your folks again, but—" Her voice caught. "But never once did I even recollect that my own mama's right there in Manehattan. Right there, and I ain't so much as sent her a letter in...I don't rightly know how many years...."

Once again unable to believe what she was hearing, Fluttershy could only repeat the words, "In Manehattan?"

"Place called Bellview." Applejack was shaking all over now, and without even thinking, Fluttershy flared her wings, drifted across the space between the benches, and settled onto the other cushion, Applejack pressing herself to Fluttershy's side and tucking her head under her chin. "When her and Poppa divorced, things was real bad at the end. I reckon I told you they didn't never love each other? Well, they didn't even like each other near as I could tell, and after twenty-some-odd years together, when all the lust and plain ol' stupid biology ran out between 'em, it was like...like it tore holes in their heads and hearts."

Uncertain what else to do, Fluttershy stretched a wing over Applejack's back and let it rest there as softly and gently as she knew how. It seemed to help, Applejack making a little noise in her throat and nestling even closer. "After ev'rything was all over and Mama ended up in that sanatorium, Mac went and visited a couple times, but he said she...she didn't even know who he was. And now we're gonna be right there, and if'n I don't at least try to see her, I—" She pulled away suddenly and turned a look of sheer anguish toward Fluttershy, tears shimmering down her face. "I ain't never gonna be able to look you or any honest pony in the eye again."

Fluttershy took Applejack into her front legs and held her as the first sob burst out, Applejack grabbing her tight and burying her face in Fluttershy's neck. "It's all right," Fluttershy cooed over and over again. "It's all right."