Author's Note

WARNING: This chapter takes place after the chapter Dear Twilight Sparkle and is a replacement for the chapter Wolves And Woodpeckers. That chapter is no longer considered part of the story and I will most likely be dismantled and used in other chapters.

I will, however, be keeping that chapter available for people who wish to read it. For the time being, at least.

Cheers for all the support, as always.

Love you guys.

Dear Applejack,

Twilight couldn't keep still.

Just over there, across the room, on the table, sat a letter from one of her friends.

A letter from Rainbow Dash.

She briefly remembered the surprise when a page of the book she was reading slipped out and fell to the floor. She also remembered the utter relief she felt when she found that one of her precious books hadn't been tarnished by an uncaring customer or, Celestia forbid, herself. The page was mostly intact, unusually damp in some places, and covered in a series of scribbles that seemed to replicate the format a letter or a diary entry might take on.

A letter from the prismatic mare wasn't strange in itself. Oh, no. Why, Twilight was simply overjoyed that Rainbow had taken a liking to the art of letter writing.

But then she went and read it.

The letter itself wasn't very long. In fact, it barely took up half a page. But what struck Twilight the most, was the undivided attention and care solidified within. It was surprisingly eloquent in the way it tried to explain to Twilight how exactly the author felt about her, and the fact that the letter 'i' in Twilight's name had been dotted with a star within a heart did quite a lot to push her toward the correct conclusion.

The conclusion being that Rainbow Dash, her long time friend and reading buddy, had a crush on her.

Now, this didn't come as much of a surprise as she thought it would. Just yesterday, the speedster had fumbled her way into the library, blushing profusely all the while, just to look at one book before bolting straight back out the door.

One glance at the withdrawal log had also told Twilight that the Pegasus had spent the last few weeks withdrawing books from the rarely-used romance section.

And there was also the fact that Rainbow had been acting uncharacteristically shy around her recently. Every time her group of friends had been called together for a picnic or meet-up at Sugarcube Corner, Twilight had spotted the prismatic mare staring at her before turning away quickly several times.

The prospect that Rainbow liked her explained a lot of it.

It all made perfect sense, really.

But that didn't stop her from freaking the buck out about it.

What am I gonna do? She yelled to herself. Turn up at the restaurant and say "I got your letter."? That wouldn't work! What if she doesn't turn up? What if this is just a joke? What if the letter was there for a really long time and I was supposed to read it earlier and she was waiting patiently for all that time?

She paused.

What if she actually likes me?

She blinked.

I've never been in this situation before. I could mess up and ruin our friendship forever. Then all of my friends would hate me for breaking her heart.

She began to shiver.

I'd have to move back to Canterlot and back in with my parents. Celestia would probably be disappointed in me and cancel my studies in friendship and then the elements of harmony would stop working and Equestria would be overrun by monsters!

She collapsed to the floor.

What am I supposed to do?!

The library fell into the silence that it was used to, with the exception of Twilight, who was quietly mumbling to herself and throwing quick glances to the letter whenever she deemed it necessary.

"Twi? You alright there, sugarcube?"

Twilight immediately shot up and widened her eyes at the farm mare leaning in the doorway, who was regarding her studious friend with a look of concern. Twilight then began to quickly smooth out her frazzled mane and make a small show of clearing her throat.

"Oh, hi Applejack!" She said as politely as she could. Just because she was questioning whether or not she had accidentally and inadvertently caused one of her to crush on her, didn't mean she couldn't at least be civil. "I didn't hear you come in," she then added, letting the statement hang openly.

"Oh, well, I did knock." Applejack responded.

"I'm sure you did," Twilight reassured. She briefly wondered whether the reassurance was aimed at Applejack or herself, but quickly filed it under 'unnecessary inquires' for further study. Preferably when she was alone. Despite it, she threw a couple of nods in there for good measure.

Applejack smiled at her. A calm smile that somehow let on more peace than was originally instilled within it. Twilight didn't complain, however. A little bit of calm was preferable to stressing over a simple piece of parchment.

Even if that parchment held more than just information.

Twilight coughed lightly and smiled back. "Anyway, did you need something? Or did you come to check out a book?" She allowed a small amount of excitement to creep into her voice at the latter's concept, just to spite the utter unlikeliness of such an event taking place.

Applejack chuckled, and fiddled with her stetson. "Oh, nah. I just popped over to check on ya, make sure y'all haven't suffocated in them books a'yours. Can't be having that, now can we?" She chuckled again, like she was remembering some old joke somepony had told her back in the day.

In all likelihood, Twilight figured Applejack was just a content mare, and the familiarity of the usual company was enough to instill a bit of happiness. It all honesty, it was more than a little inspiring.

But she digressed.

"That's very kind of you, Applejack. I was just..." She paused, her hoof hovering in the air. "I was just reorganising some books. I've decided that sorting books in alphabetical order is better than that boring old Dewey Decimal method." She grinned internally at her cleverly constructed ruse.

It was a fiendish lie, of course. The Dewey Decimal system was obviously superior.

"Right. And I suppose that's why you were rolling about on the floor, stressing up somethin' fierce?" The apple bucking mare questioned, that signature smirk masking the constant hint of concern in her voice.

Twilight's ears immediately went back. "Y-you saw that, huh?"

"Eeyup."

"And I don't suppose I can just explain it away with how organisation stresses me out sometimes?" She ventured, hopefully.

"Eenope."

"Figures." She mumbled.

Applejack snorted. She went to respond again, but stopped herself. Maybe it was better to just let Twilight talk herself out of whatever state she had put herself into than to pry the information out of her. And even if she did choose the latter option, she didn't have any immediate advice to give that would fix everything. If she listened, she'd at least have some time to think up an appropriate response.

So she did just that.

A comfortable silence fell between the two friends, interrupted only when Applejack decided to stop hovering around the doorway and take a seat in the main room. The following few moments were made up of Applejack sitting, leaning forward, ears perked, and Twilight opening and closing her mouth as she tried to formulate a sentence that would explain the predicament in its entirety.

Eventually, Twilight spoke.

"...When I lived in Canterlot, I never really had many friends." She said, her voice taking on a hint of melancholy.

"Well sugarcube, you already told us th-"

"And the ones that I did have, I ignored so that I could focus on studying. I still kind of regret that decision." She quickly interrupted.

Applejack was silent.

"The point is, I never really got close to anypony other than Cadence, Celestia and my family. Because of this, I never had to worry about the inevitability of somepony wanting more than just a platonic relationship."

It was at that point that Applejack sat up in her seat and regarded her friend with an odd look. "It isn't anypony I know, is it?"

"It is, but I think that I should keep their identity a secret for now. It's nothing personal, but it's just that..." Twilight trailed off.

"It's ok, Twi, I get it. Please, carry on." Applejack reassured her.

Twilight nodded. "Right. Anyway, this particular pony has... asked me to go on a date with them." She finished cleanly, congratulating herself on the winning of the pronoun game.

"So what's the problem?"

Twilight's smile froze on her lips.

"Well, I'm trying to decide on whether going on the date is the wisest decision. I mean, I don't think I could handle the repercussions if the date went wrong or if I said the wrong thing and insulted them. I don't want to ruin the friendship between us."

Applejack was quiet for a while, before she suddenly spoke up.

"Y'know, my granny told me this story. She said that there once was a group of earth ponies going for a balloon ride, and it was going fairly well all in all. But, suddenly the pilot knew the balloon was on track to crash into a cliff, potentially injuring the ponies on board. Even after throwing all of the sandbags overboard, the balloon was still too heavy to make it over the cliff in time, so the pilot decided that one of the ponies had to bail ship in order to make the balloon light enough."

Twilight's eyes grew as she considered the implications of such a situation.

"One of the ponies, thankfully, volunteered, and a rope ladder was lowered so that the pony was as close to the ground as possible. But just as the pony reached the very bottom of the ladder that she realised that she was scared out of her boots of the drop. And the longer she took holding onto that ladder, the higher up the balloon went and the larger the drop became."

Twilight was on the edge of her seat as she listened raptly to Applejack's story.

"But, in a sudden stroke of bravery, the pony let go of the rope and fell. Thank Celestia she only injured herself a bit, maybe spraining a leg or two. With the extra loss of weight, the balloon made it over the rocky cliff side and everyone got out of it mostly unharmed." Applejack grinned as she watched Twilight's body flush with relief. "The point still stands though, that if the pony had waited, she and the ponies in the balloon may have been seriously injured from the crash."

"So, you're saying that I should let go of the concept of going on a date with this pony, and instead stay safe at home?" She pondered hopefully.

"I'm sayin' that sometimes it's necessary to take risks. It may turn out a mite better than you expected it to."

Twilight sat there, a thoughtful look on her muzzle as she thought about the concept of the story. "So..." She ventured. "You think I should give the pony a chance?"

"Darn tootin'. But those are just my two bits. It might be worth chattin' to Rares 'bout this kinda stuff to be honest. Ah don't really have much expertise in this kinda thing, myself." Applejack admitted, chuckling.

"That... actually helps, Applejack. Thank you," she said, smiling gratefully.

Applejack nodded and smiled back. "I'm plum happy to help, Twi. It's just what friends do for each other."

The two ponies sat there, smiling warmly, as they listened to the muffled cacophony going on outside. It was nearing the end of the afternoon, and the market outside was beginning its final wave of buying and selling wares.

Twilight got up and stretched her legs, each joint clicking in sequence. She then regarded her friend with a content smile, before a thought suddenly struck her. "Oh! I forgot to offer you a drink. Would you like a glass of juice? I'm sure I have some apple juice left somewhere around here."

"I'd be mighty appreciative, Twi. I'm parched."

"Great! I'll get right on that."

It was nearing the end of the day, and the sky was getting darker and darker as the sun descended below the horizon. The area around the carousel boutique was deathly silent, and the only movement that could be seen was the movement of the autumn leaves as they danced in the breeze. This was a stark contrast to the movement within the boutique, however, as the seamstress Rarity could be seen rushing from mannequin to mannequin, taking measurements and draping different pieces of fabric in a haphazard collage of cotton and silk. The floor of the boutique was a brilliant sea of colour, ranging from moccasin yellow to orchid pink, from peruvian brown to snow white.

Rarity huffed as she scrutinized the design sheet in front of her, scribbling out measurements and cutting lines in order to replace them with almost exact replicas, the only difference being on a near-microscopic level.

"Surely this will work, right? It simply has to! I have absolutely no room for error!" The pearly white unicorn said to herself. She huffed again, and charged back into the commotion of cloth, haphazardly waving her tape measure around and screaming a mighty war cry as she did so.

A few hours later, after that bout of fabric wrestling, Rarity found herself sat at her desk, quietly sipping at a cup of earl grey tea. Behind her, around fifteen different dresses sat, finished and price tagged. The sun had set, and the moon was beginning its slow crawl into the sky.

Rarity sighed a contented sigh and made to get up, before a piece of parchment popped into existence in front of her.

Out of habit, caught the letter in her magic and removed the seal, before unrolling it and reading it to herself.

Dear Rarity,

I hope this letter finds you well.

How are you today? Or should I say tonight? I did leave this letter to the last second. So sorry about that.

I was hoping, if it isn't too much trouble, that you could come over sometime tomorrow. I have some information I would like to share with you. I would also like to ask you about some *ahem* romantic issues.

There will be tea and biscuits, as well as other refreshments as per the usual.

Thanks in advance,

Twilight Sparkle

Rarity's grin had widened to a broad, beaming smile by the end of the letter, and her squee could be heard for miles.