To Magic, Or Not to Magic. . .

The next night, Cranky arrives at Café Hay, dressed to the nines in a bow tie and top hat. After receiving an invitation to a “special night out” by Emily, she had made sure he looked his finest, which did nothing but give Cranky something else to complain about.

“Ugh, this collar is so itchy,” he grumbles, tugging at his tie, “Where is that mare, anyway?” he asks rhetorically, looking around for the pink unicorn. Suddenly, he hears a voice – a very recognizable voice – call his name; he spins around and is greeted by the sight of Matilda, who dons a beautiful sparkly blue dress – something Cranky has not seen her wear in years. Being himself, however, he overlooks this observation and immediately frowns.

“Hello, Cranky,” Matilda says monotonously.

“Mrph” he grumbles, “What’re you doing here?”

“Fluttershy invited me here,” Matilda responds, “You?”

“Emily,” he says tersely.

“Ah,” Matilda answers. An awkward silence passes between them before Matilda speaks, “Well, I suppose we could wait at a table until they get here.”

“Mrph,” Cranky grumbles again. Emily and Fluttershy, on the other hand, watch the couple closely from within a nearby bush.

“I hope this works,” Fluttershy whispers to her friend.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it will,” Emily whispers back, and they continue their observations. Cranky and Matilda find a table and sit across from each other, silence falling between them for a long time.

“So,” Matilda says, breaking the tension, “What have you been up to?”

“Hmph, nothin,” Cranky responds grumpily, and they go back to the silence.

“Ugh, if this goes on any longer,” Fluttershy vows in a hushed tone, “I'm going to intervene myself!” Emily, however, is lost in her thoughts; she knows her spell would be perfect for this moment, but she would rather do anything than to try using it just yet.

Suddenly, they hear Cranky trying to initiate conversation, “Where’ve you been since we – you know.”

“With my sister,” Matilda says, then her face turns sour and mumbles, “who actually listens to me.”

“Excuse me, I didn’t quite hear you,” Cranky says sarcastically, “over how much I couldn’t care about who listens to you ranting all the time.”

“Oh, well, there you go again!” Matilda explodes, not hiding anything anymore, “Not caring about anypony but yourself! It’s no wonder we broke up!”

“Don’t go twisting my words again, missy!” Cranky shouts, “You know that’s not the reason we broke up; we broke up because you couldn’t handle me hanging out with Steven for the day!”

“It was our anniversary, for Celestia’s sake!” Matilda exclaims incredulously, “You couldn’t hold off your plans to spend one day with your own wife!”

“Well, I’m sure you had an absolutely wonderful time with your sister at that saloon on our anniversary day!” Cranky retorts.

“Well, what else was I supposed to do?!” Matilda says, “Spend our one-year anniversary alone? I don’t think so, mister!”

Some of the other ponies in the café tell them to quiet down, but their arguments prove fruitless. All while Cranky and Matilda argue, Emily and Fluttershy look on helplessly, horrified that their plan went south so quickly. Eventually, Fluttershy jumps out from behind their bush to intervene.

“Cranky! Matilda! Please stop arguing!” she cries to the arguing couple, tears starting to form in her eyes, “This won’t solve the problem, please stop!” she continues to say but to no avail.

Finally, Emily jumps out from behind the bush, a determined look on her face. She squeezes her eyes shut and lights up her horn, letting a brilliant red light grow brighter across the café. Finally, she lets her magic free, which singles Cranky and Matilda out and attaches to their foreheads; this lasts for a few second longer before her magic dies down and she slumps in exhaustion. Everypony in the café looks between Emily, Cranky, and Matilda until the latter two begin to stir.

“Ugh, what was that?” Matilda asks rhetorically.

“Well, whatever it was,” Cranky says, “It sure didn’t feel as bad as listening to your whining. I’m outta here!” and with that, Cranky storms out of the café.

“No. . .no, no, no. . .” Emily mutters, looking back and forth between the two donkeys.

“Well, fine!” Matilda says angrily, despite tears forming in her eyes, “Be that way!” and she trudges away as well.

“What was that, Emily?” Fluttershy exclaims in desperation, “You’ve only made things worse! What were you thinking?”

Emily, however, is lost in her own thoughts, “I-It didn’t work. . .why d-didn’t it w-work?” and she gallops away from the café.

“Emily!” Fluttershy shouts to her friend, “What are you talking about?” But Emily is already gone, tears streaming from her eyes as she runs away.