To Magic, Or Not to Magic. . .

“See ya later, girls!” Emily says farewell to her friends at the front counter, who wave back in return. With her shift at the Ponyville Retirement Village over, Emily is excited to meet up with one of her best friends, Fluttershy, for their bi-weekly visits. As she makes her way through town to Fluttershy’s cottage, she offers a friendly “Hello!” to anypony she sees, who return the gesture with their own greeting. If there is one thing Emily loves about her hometown, it is the friendliness of its citizens, which was all but present in the residents of Applewood.

She eventually reaches Fluttershy’s cottage, situated just outside of Ponyville, and delivers their special knock. Before long, a yellow Pegasus with a flowing pink mane appears in the doorway.

"What's up, Shy?" Emily greets her friend.

“Em!” Fluttershy welcomes, “I’m so glad you could make it this week!”

“Me too,” Emily says as she returns the gesture, “Things have thankfully slowed down a bit since Fizzycup’s incident last week.” They giggle and enter the house, where Fluttershy has tea and snacks laid out for the pair.

“You didn’t have any trouble getting here, did you?” Fluttershy asks, taking a bite of a cucumber sandwich.

“Certainly not,” Emily responds, “I know I’ve been here all my life, but I still can’t get over how friendly everypony is in this town.”

“Well, you did move away for a little while, didn’t you?” Fluttershy asks.

“Yeah, and it wasn’t pretty,” Emily says, reminiscing on the past, “Applewood itself is magnificent, but the ponies who live there didn’t seem to care about their surroundings – or anypony else, for that matter.”

“Well, we’re certainly glad to have you back,” Fluttershy says, winking.

“Anyways, how was your week?” Emily asks her friend.

“Oh, just like all others, I suppose,” Fluttershy responds, “Angel and I are trying to get our garden started back up; it’s been tough since last winter was-” she is interrupted when Angel races into the den, frantically trying to get Fluttershy’s attention.

“What is it, Angel?” she asks and he leads her outside, where several of Fluttershy’s animals sit around looking hungry. “Oh, dear!” Fluttershy gasps as she flies to the pantry, “I was so preoccupied with preparing for this afternoon that I forgot to go out to the market this week!”

“Well, why don’t we go now?” Emily asks, “I’ll come along and help out.”

Fluttershy looks gratefully at her friend, “You’re sure you don’t mind, Em? I’d hate to cut our visit short.”

“Not at all,” Emily says, and together the trio departs the cottage in search of sustenance for the animals. When they arrive at the Ponyville Farmer’s Market, they set to work collecting supplies. Angel tries to point them in the direction of foods he likes, but Fluttershy proves not to be so willing to comply with her best friend’s demands.

“For the last time, Angel, cherries are not on the list!” Fluttershy says assertively to a sulking Angel Bunny, “Now, let’s see. .tomatoes. .carrots. .cucumbers. .bread crumbs. .all I need now is lettuce,” she says as they make their way to the lettuce stand. Before they even arrive, however, they can hear Cranky Doodle Donkey, Ponyville’s grumpiest resident, chewing out the poor pony behind the stand.

“What do you mean my order’s been ‘misplaced’?” he shouts angrily at the lettuce mare.

“I-I’m sorry, Mr. Donkey, I-” the mare stammers, trying to calm him down, “T-There must have been a misunderstanding. . .”

“Misunderstanding my hindquarters!” Cranky exclaims, “You better fix this, or I’m coming back there and giving you a piece of my mind!”

“Y-Yes s-sir,” the pony squeaks and rushes off. Emily and Fluttershy stand by, shocked by the performance; Cranky has always been grumpy, but his anger seems to be heightened beyond reason.

“Hello, Cranky,” Fluttershy greets the simmering donkey nervously, “How are you today?”

Cranky grunts before responding, “Sorry you ladies had to see that, I’m just sick and tired of waiting around for other ponies to get what I want done – especially Matilda.”

“Wait, what?” Emily and Fluttershy gasp; Matilda, Cranky’s wife, loves her husband as much as he loves her, so to hear the pair not getting along makes them even more concerned.

“It seems like every time I do something I want, she makes a big deal over it and sees me in the wrong,” Cranky explains, “but whenever she does what she likes, she doesn’t see it as wrong!”

“B-But you two love each other,” Fluttershy says, “How can you not be getting along?”

“I don’t know anymore,” Cranky says, exasperated, “but I do know one thing: there's simply no compromising with that hypocritical jenny!” he adds as he trots away, leaving the mares bewildered.

“I don’t get it; how-” Emily starts to say before Fluttershy suddenly pulls her away.

“We need to find a way to get them back together, and quickly!” she exclaims as they make their way back to Fluttershy’s cottage. Upon their return, they discuss possible remedies to Cranky and Matilda's problem.

“What do you think could have happened?” Fluttershy asks Emily as she paces back and forth, “Maybe they got in a fight? Oh, what if they were blackmailed into breaking up?” She suddenly gasps, “What if one cheated on the other?!”

“Calm down, Fluttershy,” Emily says, “I’m sure there’s a more reasonable explanation than all that.”

“Then you tell me,” Fluttershy demands, “What happened to their love?”

Emily looks at her sarcastically, “Do I look like some sort of love expert? Anyways, how they broke apart isn’t important right now; we should figure out what we can do to get them back together.”

Fluttershy sits down and sighs, “Huuuhh, I wish there was some sort of spell that we could use to get them back together. Hey, maybe we should ask Twilight if she knows any?” she asks, looking at Emily earnestly.

“Um, well,” Emily stutters, suddenly feeling nervous. She had been feeling uncomfortable ever since she found out Fluttershy wanted so desperately to bring Cranky and Matilda back together. Truth be told, there technically was a spell that could rekindle their spark of love again – but not one that one could find in any published spellbook. Emily knows this but remains hesitant to use it because of its unreliability.

“D-don’t be silly,” she stammers after a pause, “I’m sure there’s no spell for that sort of thing. Besides, I’m positive we can do it ourselves, right?” Fluttershy looks at her curiously but brushes her doubts aside.

“Well, I suppose,” Fluttershy finally says, “But how?”

“Well, it’s simple, isn’t it?” Emily explains, “We find out what happened between them, then convince them to push past their differences and love each other again!”

“Great idea, Emily!” Fluttershy exclaims, flitting her wings excitedly, “Ok, here’s what we'll do. . .”