It's a brain thing.

by jillswift

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character, Gilda
Length: 5125

A scientist does some field research just outside Ponyville. She brings an idea with her that is new to the Mane 6.

A scientist does some field research just outside Ponyville. She brings an idea with her that is new to the Mane 6.

Published 2013-12-11 02:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-11 02:20:02 UTC

1. Meetings are awkward.

Twilight was awoken by the warm nudges of Princess Celestia's morning sunlight.

She sat up on her bed, letting her comforter slip from her as she stretched her wings, and blearily looked out the bedroom window at the cloudless blue sky and the beginnings of the daily bustle of Ponyville.

It had been a while, but today Twilight enjoyed the results of a full night's sleep, her latest project completed the evening before. Without the temptations of books and new things to learn and a quiet week on the Equestrian political scene, she had managed to get to sleep at a reasonable hour and so felt well rested and fresh this morning, even if not yet quite yet fully awake.

She stood and used her lavender magic to straighten and make her bed. Padding around toward her dresser, she peeked into Spike's bed to find he was also just starting to wake, adorably sprawled with four limbs and a tail dangling over the edges of the basket.

"Good morning, number one assistant." She said softly.

He sleepily waved a silent good-morning to her. She giggled pleasantly and finished her trip to the dresser.

Spike crawled out of bed as Twilight started to impose order on a severe case of morning-mane.

Now presentable, she headed out the bedroom door toward the library's small kitchen. It didn't take long for the scent of breakfast to make it to her nostrils. Spike was not only pretty good at cooking, he and his green fire made short work of it.

Twilight passed the dining nook and magicked open a cupboard. As she reached her levitation spell inside, she looked at Spike.

"Spike, I hope you know how proud I am of you." She started in a serious tone. "Lately you've been just wearing yourself out helping everypony with so much."

Spike smiled broadly. "It's easy to want to help friends!"

"True." Twilight agreed, levitating a small box onto the table where Spike laid out their breakfast. "I thought you deserved a treat for it anyway."

Spike gleefully opened the box and peered inside. A healthy sized kyanite crystal sparkled back at him. One of the silicates, it was as much candy to dragons as any sugary confection was to ponies.

"Ooohhh." He said, mouth watering. "Can... can I eat it now?"

Twilight giggled. "It's yours, Spike! You decide."

He immediately started to pop it whole into his mouth, then paused.

"I think I'll wait." He said as he put the crystal back in the box. "Anticipation and all that."

Twilight smiled again - the very young dragon was a quick learner. Rarity had talked about anticipation as a necessary part of appreciation a few days ago, and Spike had understood the concept and started making use of it immediately. Of course, it was a big help that he was able to focus more completely for (and on) Rarity than for any other pony, but Twilight was no less proud of Spike for it.

The two ate in that comfortable silence that can only be afforded the best of friends or the closest family - their relationship having elements of both.

"Whoa." Twilight made a quiet exclamation. "Do you sense that?"

The purple dragon nodded. "That's a lot of magic."

They both got up from the nook to go find out what was happening.

Twilight carefully rounded the stairs to the library's main floor, Spike peered around her foreleg.

A unicorn mare stood at the central table, levitating five books in front of her while a quill magically scratched furiously at some parchment. The pages of the books turned with regularity.

The source of the strong magic became clear - a lens spell darted between the unicorn's eyes and the books. Bending light was an energy hungry task. Few unicorns would bother, preferring glasses over the effort.

Twilight quietly moved to approach. The visitor was bright pink, much like Pinkie Pie's bright coat - except hers was mottled with a lighter pink - with bright green eyes. Her mane was a deep pink that verged on red, darker than Pinkie's, and braided behind her head.

Her horn was unusual, coming to a sharp point rather than the more common rounded top - reminding Twilight of her Aunt Daisy's pointy horn. Her cutie mark was also unusual, several ovals criss-crossed around a dot. Twilight couldn't begin to guess at what that might represent.

Twilight stepped up to the table and turned on her most polite and businesslike voice.

"Hello! If there's any..."

The pink unicorn startled so badly that she stumbled and landed on her butt with a loud thump. The spells all dissipated, sending books tumbling, parchment fluttering, and making a rainbow-edge diffraction pattern as the lens spell went random before it failed.

"Oh! I am so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

The pink unicorn stood again, but kept her eyes on the floor. "It's OK." she said so quietly Twilight almost didn't hear.

Pink magic started gathering the books and parchment.

"Let me help you." Twilight offered, taking a couple of steps closer.

The unicorn startled again, stepping lightly back a few paces to keep the table between her and Twilight. "I've got it. It's OK, really." She said.

Twilight looked confused.

"Please. Really, it's OK." She stammered sotto voce, focused on the parchments on the table.

"OK, then. Let me know if you need anything."

"'K. Thank you."

With that the books and quill returned to hovering, hiding her from Twilight. She made a small grunt of effort and Twilight could feel the magic build and manifest for the lens spell. It wasn't long before the quill returned to its manic scratching.

Twilight looked over at Spike, who remained on the stairs. He shrugged.

Leaving the visiting pink unicorn to her studies, Twilight Sparkle and Spike spent the morning pursuing Twilight's own research, a quick re-sorting of the basement shelves, and some dusting of less popular books.

All done in near silence, much to Spike's chagrin. Getting to chat with Twilight was part and parcel of making work tolerable, even fun when Twilight was in her best moods. Having somepony in the library made Twilight really put on the role of librarian... Spike was sure he'd do something he'd regret if she shushed him again.

"Oh." Spike exclaimed quietly. "She's gone, Twilight,'" He said with more of his customary volume, "can we make noise now?"

"Oh, Spike." She said with equal parts exasperation and adoration.

The pink unicorn was totally gone - the books she had been using were back on the shelves in their proper places, the parchment that had fallen to the floor had been gathered, and even the small spot of ink that had hit the table was cleaned up. She may as well have been a ghost.

"That was nice of her to clean up so completely." Twilight commented.

Spike could not help but agree - more because it meant less work for him to do than any appreciation of politeness, of course. Baby dragons did have slightly different priorities to those of young adult alicorns.

Twilight was aware that the silence had worn on the little purple dragon, and despite her often stern mothering of the little fellow, she was really quite soft hearted about him. Despite starting the day with a reward for extra good behavior, she felt he deserved yet another.

Thus the logical conclusion was to take Spike out for lunch at his favorite fast food restaurant. Fortunately she had a few extra bits, enough that he could order a semiprecious stone for dessert.

"So, how about we get lunch at Alfalfa King..." Spike was out the door and down the road before Twilight could actually finish making the offer. Spike had no problems making his mind known!

“Spike! Wait up!”

Soon they were settled into the not-exactly-comfortable seats around one of the outside tables. It was a pleasant day, and both alicorn and dragon wanted to enjoy a little sunshine on their faces while they ate.

Spike was nibbling at his bit of Lapis Lazuli dessert and amusing Twilight with a bite-by-bite critique of the stone's quality when a bit of a commotion drew the pair's attention to the street.

"What is she doing here?" Spike asked, his distaste obvious.

The pink unicorn from the library stood in the street, tapping a hoof into the chest of a griffin as if to reinforce a point with each poke as she lectured.

It was the griffin to whom Spike referred. Gilda, a rather self-involved, shallow thing who, during a previous visit to the town, had earned nothing but contempt from most of Ponyville's population for having bullied Fluttershy and having frightened Granny Smith, as well as acts of petty theft and simply having made a nuisance of herself in general.

This time, however, the usually gruff Gilda was very much cowed by the little pink unicorn. The pony's face was free of emotion, totally impassive, but her demeanor spoke of anger. They were too far away to make out anything, but when the unicorn stomped her hoof back to the ground from poking at Gilda, Twilight could hear "Do you understand, now?"

Gilda nodded, still taken aback. The pink unicorn simply nodded once in response and headed down the road. Gilda glared at her back for a moment, then launched into the sky with a powerful stroke of her wings.

"What was that about?" Spike asked.

"I can't say, Spike. Honestly, it really isn't any of our business."

Spike huffed, dissatisfied but still having to acknowledge it wasn't his business.

Twilight wondered at the pink unicorn - she had been so timid and shy at the library, more than even Fluttershy at her worst. Yet she had just intimidated a full-grown, healthy griffin known for her atrocious attitude.

Her business or not, Twilight did love the mystery of an enigmatic dichotomy. She admonished herself to resist it, even as she knew she wouldn't.

"Hello again!" Twilight said with much morning cheer.

Eyes peered from above the books that were again hovering over quill and parchment.

"Hi." The supremely quiet response came, and the eyes retreated.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Twilight Sparkle."

Green eyes again peeked over the books. "I... um... I know, Princess. I'm Tombfly. Um... Tombfly Totentanz."

"Good to meet you!" Twilight said as she noticed the green eyes flicked from spot to spot, but never lighting on Twilight's own gaze.

After a moment, those same eyes started retreating behind the books again.

"So, uh..." Twilight cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I noticed yesterday, you know Gilda."

"Yes, Princess." Tombfly said.

Twilight waited another couple of heartbeats.

Tombfly peeked again, looking very nervous.

Twilight frowned, confused. "I, ah, I guess I'll let you get back to your work."

"'K."

The quill began its manic scratching again.

Twilight retreated to the basement for today's studies, Spike on her heels.

"What kind of name is tewm-fly toe-ten-tantz?" Spike asked, speaking the unfamiliar name slowly. "I've never heard one like that."

"I have. Some unicorns visited Princess Celestia years ago, they lived out in the arid south-west at the boarders of Equestria. They all had names that referenced death in some way or another. In her case, a tombfly is an insect that feeds on corpses, and 'totentanz' is old Germane for 'death dance'. Their colony had been started by a charismatic cult centuries ago - they worshiped death as a personified force. The cult's long gone now, but some of the traditions remain."

"Creepy."

"I don't know that it is, Spike. Death bothers most ponies, sure. But why, really? It's just a part of life."

"Yeah." Spike said sardonically. "The last part."

Twilight chuckled at Spike's premature cynicism.

"So, did all the unicorns from that tribe act all weird like Tombfly?"

"No, they were just regular ponyfolk." Twilight shook her head. "No, wait. It's not fair to call her weird, Spike, any more than it would be to call Fluttershy weird."

"Fluttershy is weird." Spike said.

"Spike!"

"Kidding! Kidding!" Spike said hurriedly. "I get it, Tombfly is just shy. Really shy."

The library's large (and, fortunately, sturdy) front door slammed terribly hard, ending the pair's conversation and irking Twilight a bit for the abuse to her home.

"Seriously?" Spike grumbled.

The lavender alicorn lead the way up the stairs to investigate.

"Hello Gilda." She said on reaching the main floor, Spike again peeking from behind Twilight's foreleg.

"Yeah, uh. Hi." The griffin's smoky voice sounded uncharacteristically reserved. She seemed to catch herself, and gave the shallowest curtsy. "Princess."

Tombfly had put down her books, and was staring solidly at the floor between Gilda and Twilight.

"It's been awhile. Are you doing OK?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, doing great." Gilda was obviously nervous.

"Where do you know Gilda from, Tombfly?" Spike asked.

"Here." The pink unicorn answered, eyes locked on the floor. "Met her in the market."

"Yeah. She hired me as a scout." Gilda said with some pride in her voice.

"Oh?" Twilight's interest was quite piqued.

"I needed somepony who could fly in order to scout sites quickly. I'm an equitologist and archaeologist." Tombfly explained. "She had the flexible schedule I needed. Most of the pegasuses in Ponyville had schedules to keep at the weather service."

Tombfly's eyes never wavered from the floor.

"Wow! That sounds exciting!" Twilight said with all sincerity. "What site are you looking for around here?"

"I.. I'm.." she cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, but I have to keep that a secret for now. Others are looking for it too, and some of them can be kind of cutthroat."

"Oh. That's OK, I understand."

"Oh, big secret, it's just that..."

"Gilda!" The pink unicorn's warning shout was loud and crystal clear, and she was focused on Gilda solidly.

Her face was still impassive, but her focus was so keen that it seemed like she could see into Gilda's soul, and dispassionately sorted through her deepest secrets. Gilda cringed, and Twilight found herself cringing in sympathy.

Tombfly levitated over a folded piece of parchment to Gilda, who gingerly took it in her talons.

"I think it's time to scout the fourth site." She said.

"OK, Toombfly. I'll be back in about an hour."

"I'll wait for you at the park." She seemed to soften a bit. "Be careful, that area's not known for being safe or pleasant. No use risking injury over this, OK?"

Gilda felt embarrassed by the show of concern, and simply spun on a hind paw and powered through the front door, leaving it hanging open, then leaping into the air as soon as she cleared the library's canopy of leaves.

Pink hued magic gently closed the door.

"I am sorry about the abuse to the door." She said, inspecting a small new stress fracture near the hinges. "Gilda can be a little... coarse."

"A little coarse?" Spike said, incredulous.

Twilight shot him a cautionary glance.

"No real harm." Twilight dismissed. "We kind of know about Gilda's, um..."

"Meanness?" Spike suggested, eliciting a stronger cautionary look.

"Apt." Tombfly said. "Not much use in denying it."

Twilight was a bit shocked. "Isn't that a bit harsh?"

"I've never understood the whole padding the truth thing." She shrugged, eyes on the wall behind Twilight. "Objective reality is often terribly harsh."

"It... It's how we get along. A basic kindness? Good social graces?"

"Yes." Tombfly agreed. "I know why it's done. I just don't understand it."

"Wait, what?" Twilight was well and truly confused.

Tombfly walked over to the bookshelves on the other side of the room, and selected a book. She flipped through the pages on her way back, squinting at the words.

"Here." She said, offering the book to Twilight, a magical pink arrow pointing out the passage of interest.

"Asperger Disorder. A pervasive developmental disorder, an autism spectrum disorder, characterized by by abnormalities of social interaction and communication and especially a marked lack of empathy and weak or missing social instincts."

Twilight read on in silence for a few moments more.

"Oh, I see." Twilight looked thoughtful. "Knowing what something is isn't the same as understanding what it is, and without social empathy, you'd never be able to understand that nuance."

"Yes." Tombfly agreed as she put away the books and packed her parchments in her saddlebags.

"I don't get it." Spike said.

Twilight opened her mouth for an explanation, but Tombfly started first.

"You know what magic is, right?"

"Sure." Spike said.

"Ok, so - why do we have to soft-route in an asymmetrical slide?"

"Huh?"

"It's about some very advanced magic, Spike." Twilight explained. “Slide fields are what we call the static energy around us that we can use to channel magic. One that's asymmetrical can be used to adjust the magic a bit before actually structuring the spell.”

"Now you know what it is, young master dragon. Feel for it, Spike." Tombfly suggested. "Reach out without magic, let your horn sense the asymmetry of the slide field around you."

"I don't have a horn!" Spike complained.

Twilight and Tombfly waited.

"Oh." Spike said. "Ohhhh! No horn - no social instincts. I get it."

"That's a pretty good analogy." Twilight commented. "I guess you have to explain that a lot."

Tombfly nodded. "I haven't really found a good analogy to use with unicorns, though. I've tried talking about flying, but when I get to the bit where they have no wings, most of them start talking about levitation."

"Way to miss the point." Spike grumbled.

"Well, I guess it's how it is - ponies take their points of view for granted, it's very hard to see another's." Twilight thought aloud.

"Yes." Tombfly nodded. "I need to go. I have some errands to get done before Gilda returns."

"OK. See you tomorrow?" Twilight asked.

"Depends on what Gilda finds." Tombfly stated frankly as her pink magic opened the door.

"Well, then 'till next time."

Tombfly paused and looked back toward (but not at) Twilight. "If I do find the site I'm looking for, I'd like to invite you and Spike out to see it. I don't often get to share findings with scholars of your quality."

Twilight blushed. "I'm just a unicorn from a small suburb of Canterlot." She said with a shrug, and an eye-roll from Spike.

"If it's OK to say, you've made yourself more than just that, now, Princess. Please, though - would you like to come see the site, if I do find it?"

Twilight smiled. "I would very much, yes."

Tombfly nodded and left for her errands.

Tombfly lay on the park grass, parchments spread out before her and held down against the gentle breeze with magic. The books she had found at the Ponyville library were real treasures - the sort she felt could only reasonably be expected to be in the central repository of the library at Canterlot Castle.

It seemed that the Ponyville library would have other unlikely treasures hidden within, thanks to Twilight Sparkle's influence. She would have to give the place a proper looking over, after she managed to locate and successfully excavate the evidence she needed to prove her theory.

That was something that seemed more likely than ever, thanks to those unusual tomes.

Tombfly's train of thought derailed as Gilda made one of her trademark hard-landings-and-a-pose.

"What did you find?" She asked, gathering her scattered notes.

Gilda smiled and gently set an object down in front of Tombfly.

Tombfly lifted it up just as gently with her magic, and examined the object carefully.

"Gilda, " The unicorn said with some excitement in her voice. "I think you just earned your bonus."

The Everfree forest had a quality to it that made most ponies nervous, even frightened. Tombfly found that she was no different in this regard.

Dark and wild, full of creatures who were red of tooth and claw. Even the plant life could not be trusted – from the innocuous but annoying poison joke to the bizarre flora-as-fauna timber wolves. The weather was utterly unpredictable. Even the trees took on a frightening look.

Tombfly was very glad she had Gilda along. They had already tried and discovered Gilda was more than strong enough to carry Tombfly out of harm's way. Though Tombfly has no idea how she would repay Gilda should it come to that. Despite Gilda's apparent willingness to play the hero's part, Tombfly knew her salary was not enough to reasonably cover such a tremendous expectation.

“Huh. Is that a hut?” Gilda said, her griffin vision spotting something afar.

Tombfly squinted and tried to make out what Gilda saw. “I think it is.”

“People live here?” Gilda said, astonished. “They'd have to be crazy!”

“Crazy might prompt somepony to live here,” Tombfly noted, “but they wouldn't last. To live here and thrive, you'd have to be smart, and knowledgeable.”

“Kind praise from interesting strangers.” A voice said, behind the staring pair. “What brings you out to face these dangers?”

Tombfly and Gilda both whirled around, quite startled.

“Oh! Oh wow! A zebra!” Tombfly stumbled over her words, at once startled and excited to meet a pony from race she'd only read about.

“Yes, that I am. Zecora is my name. Your pink coat brings to mind a friend of some fame.”

“I'm Tombfly.” she said quietly to the ground, her usual discomfort now taking over.

“Uh. I'm Gilda.”

“We're passing through to get to a possible dig site.” Tombfly explained, so quietly as to cause Zecora to lean closer and cock her head to listen. “I'm an equitologist and archaeologist.”

“Ah! A digger learning of the past so we might make our own society last.”

Tombfly's gaze suddenly locked on to Zecora's. She liked that description, not for the rhyme but for the sense of the purposefulness of her science. It was something few people thought of her chosen field, seeing it more as something for its own sake, or just a waste of time.

“Goodness, your stare is strong. Have I done something wrong?”

Tombfly quickly looked down again. “I'm sorry. I do that sometimes, I forget it's not polite.”

“No need for an apology. In fact, come this way again do feel free to visit me.”

“Thank you.” Tombfly responded. “If this does turn out to be the site, we'll probably be though here a lot.”

“Splendid! If you like to share, I would love to hear tales of what you find there.”

“'Till next time, then. We have to press on, it'll be dark soon.”

“Good to meet you miss Zecora.” Gilda added.

“Good journey to you folk. Do avoid those patches of poison joke!”

“Ugh.” Tombfly groused as she and Gilda returned to their trek. “I can't stand that plant.”

Zecora chortled at the unicorn's complaint as she headed to her home.

2. Developing relationships are painful.

Six young mares and a baby dragon sat around the center table of the library's main floor. Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were gathered close, facing one side of a game board. Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack were gathered close on the other side of the game board. The young dragon watched from beside.

Dice rattled in a small cup, Rarity's light blue magic shaking it as she smiled mischievously at her opponents.

"You're going to get it now, girls." Rarity punctuated her playful threat with a clatter of dice over the board.

All eyes watched the dice expectantly.

"Aha!" "Woohoo!" Rarity and Pinkie Pie shouted their satisfaction with the dice roll. "yay" Was Fluttershy's quintessential response.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchanged disappointed glances.

"You know," Rainbow said as she turned to Twilight, "the team with you on it usually wins."

Twilight raised an eyebrow and looked disapprovingly at Rainbow Dash. "It does help to occasionally take my advice, Dash. Besides, this game doesn't reward the aggressive player, it rewards the subtle player."

Twilight looked over the board to Fluttershy and smiled. "That's really more in Fluttershy's skill-set than mine, anyway."

The yellow pegasus blushed and hid behind her lovely pink mane.

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs and looked grumpy.

As Rarity and Pinkie moved their team's pieces and occasionally removed their opponent's pieces, Spike collected the out-of-play pieces and put them in the game's storage box.

The library's door swung open, a pink magical aura around it.

"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed. "Hello, Tombfly. It's been a while."

Tombfly was frozen in place in the doorway, staring at the collection of friends. Her jaw worked a few times, but she made no sound.

"Tombfly?" Twilight looked concerned.

"I..." The pink unicorn swallowed. "I am sorry. I saw the lights were on. I assumed the library was open. Please forgive me. I'll come back tomorrow." Her speech was quiet and rapid.

"No. It's OK, you're not disturbing us." Twilight tried to comfort the frightened looking unicorn.

"This game's very nearly finished." Rarity explained. "Would you care to join us for the next round?"

Tombfly locked her stare onto Rarity. Again her jaw moved a little, but no words came. She grunted a brief "um".

"Twilight can I please ask Spike to send this letter to the Sun Princess because regular mail is far too slow and I am afraid of losing this claim please," she said so fast that it was a little difficult to understand, all while still staring solidly at Rarity.

Rarity nervously glanced at Twilight.

Tombfly didn't move. The chill night air began to invade the room through the open door. Pinkie Pie looked on the verge of exploding with joy.

"Sure. Please, come in?" Twilight more asked than offered.

Nervously and hesitantly, the pink unicorn stepped into the library and closed the door behind her, finally removing her intense stare from Rarity. Spike hopped off the table and walked up to Tombfly, who levitated the letter into his waiting claws. With a small flourish, the little purple dragon sent the letter on its way.

"Thank you, young master dragon," Tombfly said.

"No sweat." The little fellow replied.

"Please pardon my manners, " Twilight said, turning to her friends. "I'd like you all to meet Tombfly Totentanz. She's an archaeologist and equitologist, doing some field work near town."

Twilight turned back to the shivering Tombfly.

"This is Rainbow Dash, the lead for the local weather crew and fastest pony in Equestria."

"Hey."

"And this is Applejack of Sweet Apple Acres."

"Hey there!"

"Rarity, fashion expert and owner of Carousel Boutique."

"Pleased to meet you, Tombfly."

"That's Fluttershy, animal caretaker and vet."

"H.. hello."

"And this is Pinkie Pie, baker of treats and the best party pony in Equestria."

Pinkie Pie could hold back no longer. Lunging over the table she zipped up close to Tombfly and shook her hoof, causing the pink unicorn to stumble.

"Hi! Are you new here? I bet you're new here, because I don't know you and I know everypony!"

"Pinkie..." Twilight tried to interrupt.

"Welcome to Ponyville! I'm gonna throw you a big welcome party!"

"Oh, Celestia, please no." Tombfly barely squeaked.

"Huh?" Pinkie looked genuinely confused.

Tombfly yanked her hoof out of Pinkie's and stumbled towards the door. Forgetting her magic, she fumbled with the handle, and galloped into the night the second the door swung out of her way.

Pinkie stared after the fleeing unicorn with a open-mouthed look of pure confusion and hurt, her lower lip trembling.

"Pinkie, it's OK." Twilight comforted, coming to stand beside her friend. "Tombfly is a little different. You just overwhelmed her."

"But, it's a party." Pinkie's voice was uncharacteristically reserved. "Everypony loves a party, right?"

"Almost everypony does." Twilight gently observed. "Tombfly doesn't have... well, what you have more than most, Pinkie, she has less."

The pink earth pony looked thoughtful. "Pink? She seemed pretty pink to me."

"Ah, no."

Pinkie thought again, then gasped. "Balloons?"

Twilight looked sideways at her friend, wondering if she did this obtuse thing deliberately.

"She has Asperger's syndrome. Tombfly doesn't handle social situations very well – which is what I meant about you, Pinkie. You've got the best social skills of anypony I can think of. In that, she's kind of your opposite."

Pinkie looked genuinely sad. "Oh." She looked toward her other friends still at the table. "That's why she wouldn't come in."

Twilight nodded.

Pinkie perked up again. "That's OK. I know lots of ways of making ponies feel welcome. I'll bring a smile to her face yet!"

Twilight looked a bit dubious.

"If anyone can manage that, my dear Pinkie, it's certainly you." Rarity nodded approvingly to the party pony.

"Ah don't think ah get it." Applejack cocked her head at Twilight. "Ah mean, she wasn't exactly a shinin' example of bein' personable, but she was polite enough. Even thanked Spike well and proper like."

"As I understand it, AJ, ponies with Asperger's learn to mimic social behavior. Like anypony would learn any given skill."

Pinkie Pie closed the library door and returned to the table. Twilight followed.

"So, it's different from just being shy?" Rainbow asked.

"I... I know what's expected," Fluttershy said, "I'm just nervous about... well, about not being liked."

Twilight smiled at her yellow friend. "Right. Where Tombfly might also be nervous about that, she also has to think about what's expected of her, too. The more ponies she has to deal with at once, the harder it is to for her to keep up. I imagine it can be easy to get overwhelmed."

"Hardly seems fair." Rarity mused. "Some ponies can be awfully judgmental about one's social graces. I can only imagine that she's had a few opportunities closed to her because someone thought her rude or uncouth."

Rarity looked at the door and sighed. "Frankly, and regretfully, I'm likely among those who would have judged her harshly. Simply for not knowing this Asperger's thing existed."

"It's OK, Rarity," Pinkie Pie said with a smile. "It's just a fact that normative ponies are privileged over unnormative ponies and that privilege includes not having to cope with being singled out. That so often makes us blind to the effects of that kind of attention. What counts is when we do learn about something our privilege protects us from, that we include it in our consideration for others. We're all really lucky. We're mostly normative and our exceptions tend toward excellence in things ponies value. Like Applejack and Dashie's athleticism, or Twilight's academics." Pinkie giggled. "Or my parties!"

Five ponies and a small dragon gave Pinkie nonplussed looks.

"What?" Pinkie looked equally perplexed at their looks.

"That was impressively insightful, Pinkie." Twilight complemented.

"Thanks!" Pinkie said with pride.