Chapters 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. . .”
To Magic, Or Not to Magic. . .
The next day, Fluttershy trots in the direction of the Ponyville Day Spa. Today marks another one of her weekly spa days with Rarity; Fluttershy, however, arrives earlier than expected, ready to put phase one of their plan into action. Before long, the yellow pegasus spies Matilda trotting towards the Day Spa, and Fluttershy beams in anticipation.
“Matilda!” Fluttershy says, “I’m so glad you could make it today.”
“Oh, it’s nothing dear,” Matilda greets the mare warmly, “Besides, I could certainly use some relaxation after the week I’ve had.”
“Oh? May I ask what the matter is?” Fluttershy asks, feigning confusion as they enter the building.
“Well, to be perfectly honest,” Matilda confesses, “Cranky and I haven’t exactly been getting along lately.”
“Oh, that sounds terrible,” Fluttershy responds with mock surprise, “But, I thought you two loved each other more than anything in Equestria.”
“If only it were that simple anymore,” Matilda says, “But Cranky just seems grumpy all the time nowadays. . .” The rest of their appointment lasts with Fluttershy listening as Matilda points out Cranky’s every little flaw and becoming more and more exasperated. As time goes on, Fluttershy begins to doubt the effectiveness of their plan.
“. . .and he just does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, rarely considering how I might feel about the situation!” Matilda finishes yet another one of her rants against her husband.
“My, that’s. . .interesting ” is the only response Fluttershy can muster.
“I mean, sometimes he treats me like I’m invisible,” Matilda continues, “Can you believe that! And another thing, he-he—h,” Matilda suddenly stammers, “I-I’m sorry, but – I have to go.”
“Wait, Matilda, please-” Fluttershy begins to say, but Matilda has already changed out of her robe.
“I’m sorry, dear, but,” Matilda says, and as she looks back, Fluttershy can see tears forming at the edges of her eyes, “I—I just remembered an errand I need to run,” and Matilda gallops away, leaving Fluttershy devastated. At that moment, Rarity enters the spa, notices Fluttershy, and canters over to her friend.
“Hello, darling,” Rarity greets, “Terribly sorry I’m late, my latest client wanted a rush delivery. Oh, good, you’re all ready to – hey, what’s the matter, darling?” she adds, seeing Fluttershy’s downcast look, “Is everything alright?”
“Not really,” Fluttershy answers honestly, “Have you heard about Cranky and Matilda?”
“Oh, certainly,” Rarity says, “Tragic, I know! But, I suppose it just wasn’t meant to be, right?”
Fluttershy nods, though not entirely confident in her friend’s assumption. There has to be more to it than just that , she thinks to herself, there just has to be .
Meanwhile, Emily has less luck with Cranky in the farmer’s market; she managed to catch him checking back on his order of lettuce. Like Fluttershy, she tried to convince him to remember all the good times he and Matilda shared together. All she received, however, was an hour-long tirade about how much better his life would be without his wife.
“. . .she just doesn’t get me anymore,” Cranky says to a tired-out Emily, “I try to explain my side of things, but she refuses to listen and only believes that what she says is right and what I say is wrong!”
“But Cranky,” Emily tries yet another direction, “you shouldn’t let all that nitpicking take away what you and Matilda had - I mean, have - together.”
“Nitpicking! You don’t believe me, do you?!” Cranky exclaims as the same pony from the other day packages Cranky’s order, “Well then, maybe you should just ask her about it yourself because I’m done!”
“Cranky, wait!” Emily calls out, but Cranky is already away; she sighs heavily, “Well, Fluttershy, I hope you had better luck than I did today.” They convene back at Fluttershy’s cottage and relay the events of their day to one another, leaving them more stumped than before.
“I just don’t get it,” Emily grumbles, “If we asked them a week ago the same questions we asked today, we’d certainly get vastly different answers. So what happened since then that now has them hating each other’s guts?”
“I don’t know, Em,” Fluttershy says, “but we do know one thing; our efforts today failed, which means we need to go to phase two.”
“Hold on, what’s phase two?” Emily asks.
“We couldn’t persuade them to fall back in love, so now we have to force them to get together," Fluttershy says, "Here’s what I’m thinking. . .”
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.
To Magic, Or Not to Magic. . .
The next day, Fluttershy searches for her friend everywhere in Ponyville, but her results have been fruitless thus far. “Oh, Emily,” she says to herself, “Where could you be?” She eventually finds her sitting on their favorite bench, just outside the Everfree Forest; her eyes look red from crying.
“There you are, Em!” Fluttershy exclaims, relieved that her search is over, “Have you been out here all night?!”
“Of course not,” Emily says weakly, though she does not sound convincing. Fluttershy takes a seat next to Emily, and they sit in silence for a while before anypony speaks again.
“I’m sorry for how I acted last night,” Fluttershy finally apologizes, “It wasn’t right of me to overreact the way I did; it’s just – I can’t bear to see ponies who love each other arguing. Call that the element of kindness acting up or whatever you wish, but that’s how I’ve always been. I guess Cranky and Matilda breaking up hit me harder than I thought.”
“I forgive you,” Emily says gratefully, “and I understand.”
“Why did you run off last night?” Fluttershy asks her.
“Because my spell didn’t work,” Emily admits.
“What spell?” Fluttershy asks again.
“It’s a spell that’s supposed to make ponies instantly fall in love with each other again,” Emily explains, “I came across it many years ago in one of my textbooks from school. At the time, my parents had divorced, but I so desperately wanted them back together, so I spent weeks – months, even – practicing and perfecting the spell until I got it just right. When they met up with each other, I used the spell, and it was like everything was back to normal.”
“That’s incredible!” Fluttershy interjects, amazed.
“But I can’t explain why that didn’t happen last night,” Emily continues, “I could have used it at any time, but I was worried because I hadn’t used it in a long time, so I wasn’t sure of its effectiveness anymore. I’m sorry for putting the both of us through so much trouble when I could have fixed this in the blink of an eye.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Fluttershy says, “You shouldn't have to be the one to put everything right. But why didn’t you tell me about your spell?”
“Because I don’t want it to be exploited,” Emily says, “This kind of magic – it can drive a pony crazy if used improperly. I was just afraid, if you knew, then you’d be asking me to make love potions or something.”
Fluttershy smiles, "Listen, you're my best friend. I would never ask or force you to do anything that was out of your comfort zone - and I know you'd do the same for me. Besides, you should know that I'm in no rush to get a coltfriend. Remember when Rarity tried to hook me up with that stallion from Manehattan?" she adds jokingly.
Emily chuckles, "The one who ended up face-first in a stack of daffodil sandwiches?"
"Yep, that was a good one," Fluttershy says, and the two share a good laugh over the memory.
"Thank you for understanding," Emily then says as she pulls Fluttershy into a hug.
"That's what friends are for, after all," Fluttershy responds, embracing her friend back.
"Indeed!" comes a raspy voice from behind the pair of friends. They turn around to see Cranky and Matilda, holding hooves and walking up to them.
"Oh, hello Cranky and Matilda," Emily greets, "We're sorry about what happened last night."
"Don't be, dears," Matilda says warmly, "In fact, we came to thank you two!"
The mares look at each other, confused; “What do you mean?” Fluttershy asks.
“Well, after you used that spell on us last night,” Matilda explains, “I don’t know what it was, but something told us that we should come together and talk about our problems.”
“So we ended up back at our place,” Cranky continues, “and when we started talking, we didn’t discuss our problems – we could only remember the fun memories we shared together.”
“And we couldn’t be more grateful to you both for helping us remember the love we thought we lost.”
Fluttershy suddenly gasps, “Maybe your spell doesn’t make ponies fall in love, Emily,” she says, realization washing over her face, “Maybe it helps ponies remember the things that made them fall in love in the first place. . .”
“. . .and whether or not they fall back in love is up to them!” Emily finishes, putting all the pieces together, “That’s why it didn’t seem to work last night!”
“Well, we’re glad we could help,” Fluttershy says to Cranky and Matilda, “We couldn’t be happier that you’re back together.”
“Thank you dears,” Matilda says, “I’m just glad I’ve got my Cranky Doodle back,” she adds; Cranky blushes and the happy couple holding hooves walks away from the two mares.
"Wow, Em," Fluttershy says, "Looks like we knew what we were doing after all!"
Emily chuckles, "Yeah, we make a pretty good team, Shy," and they trot away, talking about their next endeavors together.
