Twilight Sparkle loved problem solving in all it's forms, mathematics and friendship problems being at the top of that list (and yes, she had a physical list which she updated periodically). So whenever a new problem presented itself to the young princess, she met said problem with gusto. To date, she had yet to fail to solve a problem in some form or another. But as she sat at her dining room table, eating a bowl of warm oatmeal with bits of apple in it, she found herself perplexed by a problem she had yet to really identify.
Just down towards the center of the table sat a bowl of fruit. A quite unremarkable bowl, in itself. The fruit, while presumable delicious and nutritious, was just that: fruit. Bananas, oranges, a few apples, and even a bunch of grapes. In fact, one of the apples that had called this particular bowl home had found itself sacrificed on the altar of breakfast this very morning.
So why in Equestria was this bowl of fruit eating at Twilight? Twilight found herself frowning more and more at this bowl of fruit; this mocking bowl of fruit. And the more she stared the more she felt like she'd forgotten something very important.
"Are you trying to blow up that fruit without using magic?" The voice of Twilight Sparkle's number one assistant, best friend, confidant, and co-resident of the castle asked. "Because it made sense when I tried that, but you've got magic." Spike pointed out.
"What? No. I'm trying to remember something." Twilight retorted, keeping her eyes locked on the fruit like a hawk watching a field mouse.
"By blowing up fruit without magic?"
"No."
"By blowing up fruit with magic?"
"No."
"By blowing up the fru-"
"I'm not blowing anything up!" Twilight snapped, already sick of Spike's obsession with blowing things up today. "I'm just trying to remember what I forgot."
"But if you forgot it, how can you remember what you forgot?"
"If I think hard enough I'll remember what's forgotten even if I forgot to remember it." Twilight responded, acting as if this were the natural progression of things.
Twilight's dragon friend scrunched his face up, deep in thought. Finally he sighed in acceptance.
"Okay, you've lost me. I'm gonna get started on my chores. If you remember let me know, okay?" Spike asked, genuinely curious about what Twilight was stressing over this time. That and he wanted to know if anything was getting blown up today. Explosions were cool. If Spike had to rank explosions on a coolness scale, they'd be just above fezzes and just below exploding for a second time.
Spike set off to start on his unreasonably long chore list, which was quite a bit longer than the one Twilight had. In fact, Twilight didn't have a chore list. It was one of the only types of list Twilight didn't have for herself. Spike started on the first chore, cleaning the windows, thinking about how fair the division of labor was.
~~~
Twilight loved reshelving days. The time she spent organizing the books was nigh meditative for her. It allowed the mare to focus her thoughts and solve problems while she occupied herself with a task that let her flex her magical abilities. While it wasn't a scheduled reshelving day, Twilight felt that it was important to do so, nonetheless.
And so Twilight found herself in her library surrounded by dozens of books floating around as she reorganized and relocated every book in her vicinity. As some of these books floated past she would glance at the titles looking for any sort of book to jog her memory. 101 Ways to Prepare Oats didn't spark anything so it went to the "C" shelves, filed alphabetically under "O" for oats. Discerning Gemstones? Filed in "D" shelves, subsection "G" (for gems). Thief of Virtue was filed away under "T", in the "C" portion for criminal mischief.
As Twilight filed away more and more books, she saw nearly every subject under Celestia's sun. Books on flora, fauna, cooking, cleaning, agriculture, horticulture, exploration, how to relax and even more subjects floated past the mare's watchful gaze before being carefully deposited on a shelf that made sense to the princess. But one book caught her eyes and made her hesitate.
Fruit Bowl Paintings Through the Ages. Twilight put the reshelving on hold, setting the book down and skimming through it at a reading speed that would put anypony else in the kingdom to shame (the same speed that had gotten the mare banned from speed reading competitions across Equestria). It did nothing to jog her memory.
The book, while informative, held no words that made Twilight remember what she'd forgotten. Instead it held paintings of fruit bowls by nearly every influential painter throughout Equestrian history from Rembridle to Sabridle Andalusian to Salvador Dales. Some even had quotes on what the artist was feeling when they painted their particular fruit bowl painting. But none of it helped Twilight remember what she wasn't remembering!
"Well, if books won't solve this mystery, then there's only one thing that will. Science!" Twilight exclaimed to the empty library.
~~~
After finishing the reshelving (as it is counterproductive to leave a task unfinished), Twilight made her way down to the deepest parts of the castle, where nopony would bother her. Except maybe Spike.
Twilight had laid out everything she needed for her experiment. Bowl of fruit from upstairs? Check. Lab coat? Check. Excessive amount of scary-looking machines? Double check. Twilight put on her safety goggles and got to work.
She ran every conceivable test under the sun. She zapped the fruit with electricity, only to find it to be non-conductive. She cast a growth spell on an apple, theorizing that maybe a larger reminder would help her faulty memory. Instead she got the vague sensation that Applejack was somehow cross with her. She even cast a copying spell on the fruits to see if maybe it wasn't mass that would make her remember, but quantity.
It was near the end of this experiment that Spike found Twilight, buried in fruit with a single hoof thrust out of the fruit like somepony trying to reach the top shelf.
"Uh... You okay down here Twilight?" Spike asked, covering his mouth with a claw to hide his grin. The massive amount of fruit vanished with a pop of magical energy, leaving just the single bowl of snack food looking untouched.
"I'm fine." Twilight responded crossly. "I'm just trying to remember something."
"What are you trying to remember?"
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be trying to remember!"
"Oh, right." Spike responded lamely. "Anyway, Fluttershy's upstairs. She said something about just the two of you having picnic plans?"
Realization hit Twilight like Tirek hit the Golden Oak Library. Of course. The thing she'd been looking forward to all week, and she'd forgotten. Hoof met forehead as Twilight smacked herself for being so foolish.
"How could I forget?" Twilight groaned, turning beet red in frustration. Without another word, the lavender alicorn dashed up the stairs, stopping midway to float the bowl of fruit with her.
Fluttershy waited patiently, humming a tune everypony seemed to know but nopony could identify. She wore two saddlebaskets, with a red and white checkered cloth poking out of both. Twilight could smell delicious baked goods even before getting close to Fluttershy.
"Hi Fluttershy. Sorry I kept you waiting." Twilight blushed sheepishly. She silently took note of the white daisy poking out of Fluttershy's pink mane. It complemented her mane perfectly.
"Oh, no problem. Spike said you were in the middle of an important experiment." Fluttershy replied, smiling that gentle smile of hers. "I'm not interrupting, am I?"
"No, no! Not at all!" Twilight exclaimed. "I just finished up. I'm all ready to go! And look! I brought fruit!"
"Oh you didn't have to bring anything. I have plenty of food for the both of us." Fluttershy giggled.
"Well, you could say fruit's been on my mind all day." Twilight grinned sheepishly. Fluttershy said nothing, instead leading the way out of the castle to a lovely picnic spot she'd picked out earlier that day. She wore a smile the whole time.
