Princess Twilight Sparkle’s office was a flurry of activity. Books hung suspended in magenta auras, open to various pages. Twilight stood among them, moving from book to book. Occasionally she would either job down notes in a rapidly filling notebook, or add to a sprawl of equations and graphs on a large whiteboard now taking up most of one wall.

It had been three days since Twilight had briefed the others on the island. It was indeed real, and its existence denied for very good reason. Rainbow Dash was likely already on the island, and they did not have much time to rescue her. All five of them were now hastily planning what was likely to be their most ambitious mission yet.

There was one pony who was keenly aware of the urgency of the situation. “Twi?” Applejack called as she knocked on the open door.

“It’s open,” Twilight replied without looking up from her books.

The farmpony stepped inside and closed the door behind her. “Look Sugarcube, we need to talk about - Wait, have you gotten any sleep since we started?”

Twilight looked up. Her eyes were bloodshot and lined with bags. Her mane and tail matted and unkempt. Her blazer had been cast aside, and it looked like she hadn’t changed clothes in a while.

“Oh, here and there,” Twilight said, a dopey half-smile on her face, “I’ll pass out for a few minutes from time to time, then get right back to it.”

Applejack shook her head, “That’s what Ah wanted to talk about. You’re gonna work yourself half to death with these preparations. Ah’m as worried sick about Rainbow Dash as anypony else, but you being exhausted isn’t gonna help her none.”

“I know!” Twilight exclaimed, throwing her hands up, “But this island isn’t like anything we’ve faced before. This ‘Spirit’ isn’t corporeal or even semi-corporeal. It doesn’t reason or empathize like an intelligent being. If we go in there without a full understanding of the magic at work, we will be stuck there for the rest of our lives, just like Rainbow Dash and Gilda.”

“Ah understand that, Twi,” Applejack conceded, “But could the rest of us at least help a bit more? You’re takin’ an awful lot of the work on yourself.”

Twilight rubbed her temples and sighed. A few of the floating books snapped shut and returned to rest on her desk. “I’m responsible for this mess,” she murmured, “If I hadn’t given in to Rainbow Dash bugging me to read that - that - that diary,” she practically spat the word, “none of this would have f - have happened.”

“Twi, we’re all friends here. If you gotta cuss, go for it.” That got a brief chuckle out of both mares. Even so, Twilight shook her head.

The alicorn princess shuffled back around her desk and slumped into her seat. “I thought if I just removed the pages where Gilda mentioned their foalhood and that wristwatch, it would be easier to convince Dash it was fake. We can see how that turned out.” Twilight’s head came down to rest on the desk, perhaps a little harder than she intended, which made Applejack wince.

“I should’ve burned the journal as soon as I’d finished reading it,” she groaned, her voice muffled by the mahogany in her face. “Otherwise your marefriend would still be here.”

A pair of hands resting on the desk made Twilight look up. Applejack was now leaning over her.

“Twilight, Ah won’t sugarcoat it. Ah’m mighty unhappy that you lied not only to Rainbow Dash, but to all of Equestria. Ah had my suspicions when Ah read your big announcement saying this thing was a hoax. You’ve got your tells, sugarcube. Everypony does.

“But Ah also know just how stubborn Rainbow Dash can be when she gets an idea in her head. Ah get the feeling that regardless of what you tried, she’d probably take it upon herself to look for Gilda. Look, you said that this island thing’s like a virus, right? That it seeks out creatures to come to the island to become worshippers?” Twilight nodded, and Applejack continued. “Then for all its lack of reasoning skills, it still had plans to get Dash to the island one way or another. Burning the journal first thing likely would only have delayed it.”

Twilight got up from her desk while Applejack wrapped up. “But what’s done is done, and we can’t turn back time. All we can do now is get Rainbow Dash back.” The farmpony took the princess’s hands in hers. “You can make it up to us for lying later, but right now, we have a pegasus to bring home. Please don’t try to set this up alone. Let me and the girls help you.”

The alicorn could only return with a watery smile. Applejack nodded, then turned her attention over to the whiteboard. “What’s all this you’re working on?”

“Oh! Um, thaumaturgy mostly. A lot of advanced magic involves heavy mathematics. I need to figure out all the right wards and counters for our trip to the island. Celestia’s agreed to lend us an airship, but it doesn’t have any enchantments and the island has a lot of passive magical properties.”

Applejack scrutinized the equations for a moment. Then she picked up the marker, rubbed out a few numbers, and corrected them.

Twilight recoiled in alarm and ran over to join Applejack. “Wait! What are you -” then she looked at the correction the farmpony had made. “Huh.”

Applejack chuckled warmly and clapped the alicorn on the back hard enough to stagger her. “Country ain’t dumb, Twi. You gotta have a good head for numbers if you wanna run a farm. Ah might not know that much about unicorn magic, but Ah can see when you’re botchin’ up the calculatin’ from lack of sleep.”

Twilight chuckled sheepishly. “Y-you’re right. I really do need some rest. Let’s go find the others. I’ve got to do some delegating.” She smoothed her shirt and dress out as best she could, then made her way out to the map room with Applejack in tow.

Author's Note

Shorter one tonight. Next few updates might be delayed. Depends on how the work week goes.