"Twilight?"
"Yes, Applejack?" Twilight responds, eyebrows raised as she stares at the cutie map before them. Both Twilight and Applejack have responded to the map's call, and they now sit at said piece of tableware.
The "Cutie Map," as the table in the center of a room of six chairs (seven if you count a small one for Spike) has been dubbed, is a magical construct that calls certain members of the Friendship Council out on missions known as "Friendship Problems" on a regular basis. After Starlight Glimmer, Twilight's new student, tried to use the magical map to go back in time to change history, there have since been known to be strange occurrences as a result. This occasion seems to be no exception, as Twilight and Applejack answer the call of the map, only to see their marks circling Ponyville itself.
"Ah don't mean to be rude to furniture," Applejack climbs onto the round table of friendship before giving a confused glare at a particular point on the map. She then turns her head to Twilight, raising a fore-hoof in the air. "but how in the hay is there a friendship problem in Ponyville of all places?"
Twilight looks up to Applejack and shrugs. "Well Applejack, to be fair, there can be friendship problems in our hometown as often as any other locale." Twilight turns her attention back to the map and stares at their destined destination. "I'll admit, though, that I'm also confused. If there were some kind of problem this close to the map, you'd think we would have already taken care of-"
Twilight is cut off as her cutie mark, as well as Applejack's, blink out of sight on the world map of Equestria. The two heroines reel back in confusion. Though the map has done strange things in the past moon, a friendship problem simply disappearing hasn't happened before.
"What the hay?" Applejack exclaims. A flash of light appears from the corners of their eyes, however. Twilight and Applejack each turn to their flanks to see both cutie marks flashing a brilliant light, as well as tiny copies of their marks flashing inward on the originals, normally signalling a mission accomplished. A dead, confused silence fills the inner sanctum of Twilight's castle.
"Well," Twilight breaks the silence, raising an eyebrow as well as her hoof while gesturing towards the map. "Problem solved, I guess?"
Twilight, however, has spoken too soon, as the two cutie marks blink into existence once more onto the map. However, this time the marks circle around a new location. Twilight looks on in confusion, while Applejack instantly recognizes the location and rears back in disgust and begins stomping her hooves on the table.
"Aw, Dangnabbit, We have to go to Las Pegasus now? Shucks, it's probably Flim and Flam up to no good, again." Applejack gets up, turns around, hops off of the table, and begins her walk out of the room. "Y'all can count me out of this one."
Applejack and Fluttershy were recently sent to Las Pegasus, a casino resort, for a friendship problem. The twin con artists, Flim and Flam of the Flim Flam brothers, became a substantial part of the problem and solution that involved a corrupt businessman. Once the problem was solved, however, the twins appeared to not have improved their behavior in the slightest, much to Applejack's frustration. As such, she portrayed that frustration to what amounted to everyone on the friendship council at this point.
"Applejack, wait!" Twilight hops from her chair and chases Applejack out of the room at a brisk trot. After following down the hallway leading out of the sanctum, Twilight quickly catches up and trots alongside Applejack. "I know you don't have any desire to be in the same place as those two again, believe me, I do. I felt the distaste in your voice every time you mentioned those two in the retelling of your trip." Twilight then dashes ahead and cuts off Applejack's path down the narrow hallway of the castle, causing the both of them to come to a halt. Twilight furrows her brow and continues. "However, there might be a serious friendship problem in that-"
Another flash in the corner of the eye cuts off Twilight once more, as she cuts off her lecture and looks back to her now-flashing cutie mark. A side glance shows Applejack also turning to her flashing cutie mark. The two mares sit in silence once more, as they try to process the new information. Applejack is the first to break the silence.
"Well ruffle my feathers and call me a mad hen, 'cause ah'm confused. Two times in about five minutes? How does that work?" The statement is punctuated by a frustrated stomp of a hoof. As if on cue, the cutie marks once more begin flashing to signal the start of a new mission, much to the chagrin of the two visibly confused mares. Applejack throws a fore-hoof in the air and exclaims, "Well that's just great, Twi, the map's broken again!"
"Now, Applejack, I don't think a magical construct as abstract and arcane as the cutie map can simply 'break.'" Twilight rolls her eyes at the absurdity of such a thought.
"Ah'm pretty sure ah recall a certain Starlight Glimmer and a certain Princess having a heck of a time fixing it the last time it 'broke,' so it's not out of the question." With this statement, Applejack begins the walk back to the room holding the map. "But, if you insist, let's get going to the map..." Applejack turns back to twilight to punctuate the remark with a simple "again," as well as a roll of her own eyes.
Twilight simply sighs as she, too, begins the trek back to the map room.
"I don't get it!" Twilight exclaims, pacing in front of the map now before them once more. Applejack, meanwhile, contents to lounging in her designated chair, chin rested on her hoof as she watches the Princess of Friendship tackle the problem. "I ran a magical abnormality scan on the map itself, searching for any kind of interference in the magical energy powering the thing, and everything seems to be fine." She stops her pacing to once again see her mark flashing. Twilight looks to the map and, sure enough, the marks are now floating above a new location. Applejack doesn't even bother looking to her own mark and instead just breathes a simple sigh of mute frustration.
Twilight, however, raises a hoof in exasperation. "This is the fifteenth time that's happened, now! Only lasting at least 30 seconds, and showing up in a different location each time! It's like these friendship problems are handling themselves!"
Once more, the cutie marks disappear from the map, and Applejack simply dips her head in mock defeat. Clearly the map, at this point, seems to be toying with them.
Raising her head up, Applejack replies, "Well, maybe they are."
"So why would the map call us to these problems if they simply help themselves!?" Twilight shouts up to the tree-root ceiling of her castle, as if expecting the tree itself to directly answer such a question. Sadly, the tree offers no response, and only a soft echo of the exclamation was heard. That pseudo-silence is then broken by the sound of a low growl. Twilight's head droops down and looks to her now growling stomach. "And, I'm hungry now. Great." Applejack gets up from her chair in response, trots over to Twilight, and drapes a leg over her shoulders.
"Ah guess Ah could get a bite to eat, too. Wanna grab something real quick and get back to figuring this mess out afterwards?" Applejack gestures to the table, which for once stays quiet and dull.
Twilight lightly brushes off Applejack's leg and responds, "Actually, now that you mention it, I could really go for a hayburger right now. We could just eat there and discuss the issue while we eat."
Applejack, at first, raises a brow at the notion of eating fast food. If it were her choice, Applejack would've already been in the kitchen whipping up something to eat. After a moment of consideration, though, Applejack simply shrugs off that thought.
"Sure, why not? You're probably gonna be the one to fix this issue, anyway, so ya might as well pick where to go." Applejack gives Twilight a reassuring pat on the back, as if to say everything's going to work out.
With that, the two friends walk out of the cutie map room, as well as the castle, ignoring the flashes of light once more emanating from their flanks. They'll cross that bridge when they get to it.
