The next day, Twilight Sparkle found herself hovering near Rainbow Dash’s house, above and to the right to be specific, and bored out of her mind.

It was noon, for Celestia’s sake!

When was Rainbow going to wake up?!

She had things to do, places to be- although this was frankly the most important of them, but still!

Twilight had been levitating- no, that’s not right, levitating implies not using wings, but magic… but I don’t want to use hovering twice in my internal monologue in one minute… ah yes, floating!- Twilight had been floating near Rainbow’s cloud house for hours.

After some thought yesterday, she had concluded that the best way to experiment would be to watch Rainbow, observing without interfering.

After all, interference would wreck the data.

But she hadn’t had wings for very long, so they weren’t all that strong yet, and keeping her in the air for hours was tiring them out.

She thought that perhaps she could peek into the house to see if Rainbow was awake, but no, that was an invasion of privacy.

After all, she didn’t know what was in all the rooms.

But what if I see her awake and, say, eating breakfast? Then I could just pop in and say hello!

…What if I see her sleeping? Watching someone sleep is creepy.

Oh Celestia, what if I see her bathing?! Nopenopenope, not looking through any windows.

…

Stop imagining her bathing, self!!!

Exhausted, and blushing from embarrassment at the thoughts no doubt inspired by some of the more, ah, graphic romances she had been reading for research, Twi was about to give up when- Yes! Victory! Rainbow Dash flew out of her home.

Finally!

Twilight’s eyes drank in the sight of the winged mare.

Light blue coat, magenta eyes, rainbow mane and tail…

Certainly, she had seen her crush many times before, but it had been weeks, as she had been holed up at home, researching love.

And oh! those eyes…

The swish of Rainbow’s tail…

Her powerful wings…

Rainbow, oblivious to Twilight, was flying away.

Snapping out of her reverie, Twilight followed her crush.

After a minute or two of flying, she made a realization: Rainbow was not flying anywhere in particular, for breakfast or otherwise.

No, she had already had breakfast, and was now doing her daily exercise, training for the Wonderbolts.

And, because Rainbow Dash was quite fast, and in addition was good at endurance, this practice would likely take some time.

Time Twilight Sparkle did not have, because she was about to fall out of the sky from exhaustion.

Literally.

She could practically hear her wing muscles screaming in agony.

Twi gritted her teeth.

“Hiya, Twilight!” exclaimed a certain pink pony.

Turning her head, Twilight saw Pinkie Pie in… some sort of flying machine? Made of candy? Huh.

Ah, whatever. It was Pinkie, after all.

Oddity was the norm for her.

“Pinkie?”

“Yes? Yeah? Yuh-huh? Yepparoni? -Oh, hey Dashie!- You were saying?”

“Could I borrow your contraption? My wings are extremely overused at present...Oh, and could you not tell Rainbow Dash that you saw me here today?”

“Okey dokey lokey!” said Pinkie, jumping out of the machine.

Is she okay? Where did she go?!

Who cares right now? I’m in pain!

Twilight had juuuuuuust enough strength left in her wings to fly into the contraption; once in it, she collapsed, exhausted, to its floor.

Sighing, she cursed internally as she remembered that she still had that hot air balloon.

I could have used that instead, and saved myself so much effort…

My wings will probably ache for days, neigh, weeks!

Ah well. Too late now; it was what it was.

Hmmmmm… Was she supposed to be doing something? she wondered, looking around.

The clouds- cumulus mostly, with one or two stratocumulus here and there, because she wasn’t flying very high up- were puffy today, and bright white, not a single thundercloud among them.

The sun was bright and hot; it almost made her wish it would rain. Almost.

The sky was cyan, and she smiled through the burning pain, remembering the cyan pegasus-

Yes! That was it!

She was supposed to be following Rainbow Dash!

But… where was she?

Frowning, Twilight looked around again, but the rainbow-and-blue pony was nowhere to be seen, having vanished while Twilight was thinking.

She thought back idly to the past minute, searching her memory for something she could use to track Rainbow in the present…

Collapse, ache, hmmmmm, a noise akin to an explosion, sun, remem-

Oh yes, of course! Rainbow Dash had performed a sonic rainboom while she was distracted!

Now she saw the rainbow lines, which were already fading, but if she hurried, she could catch up.

Rainbooms were tiring, so Dash would be going slower now, almost done with her daily exercise. It wouldn’t be too hard to catch her.

After several minutes and three ½ as many attempts to figure out how to operate the flying machine, Twilight finally got it.

She followed the rainbow trail all the way to Rainbow Dash herself, who was entering- and thankfully not crashing into- the library.

Should I go in, or will she notice me? What to do, what to do…

Twilight really didn’t want to be seen following Rainbow, but she reallllllllllllllllllllly wanted to go to the library, and so eventually the latter portion of her brain won out.

Stepping inside, she breathed in the musty scent of old books.

Looking around, she noticed several books she had never seen before, and wondered if they were new or the librarians were simply displaying previously conspicuous books more prominently.

Picking one up, she began to read it- silently, of course.

It all started when-

“Whatcha reading, egghead?”

“HOLY CR- oh, wait, there are children present. HOLY CARP!” screamed Twilight, jumping quite high in the air due to her wings.

“Jeez, chill! I’m not an evil villain who’s gonna try to conquer Equestria, or whatever!” groaned Rainbow Dash.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Rainbow, why in the name of Luna did you do that?”

She tried to ignore the conflicting emotions she felt about the fact that the gap between them was infinitesimal.

Rainbow smiled cockily. “I saw you reading that and decided to pull a Pinkie. Duh!”

I’d like to wipe that smirk off her face.

…But how? Hehe.

Maybe by-

STOPITTWILIGHTUGH

Frowning in frustration, Twilight realized that Rainbow was still watching her; she had thought she might have left due to the silence.

But it was fine, because Dash couldn’t read minds.

…Right?

Right?!

Right.

“Well, I should probably get back to reading. Or would you like to join me? I can show you the latest edition of the dictionary…”

“No thanks...”

Slowly, Rainbow began to back away, eyes wide and ears back.

“Are you sure? There’s a multitude of intriguing words. For example, I recently read the P section before bed. There’s persnickety, pulchritudinous, palimpsest, p-”

WHOOSH!

Rainbow Dash was gone.

A librarian with a red-and-purple mane looked up from her desk to shush the vanished rainbow blur of a pony.

Mentally, Twilight congratulated herself.

The old dictionary approach! Works every time.

Now, back to reading.

“Hmmm…”

“Ooh, drama!”

“Yay!”

“Oh my Goddesses, that was a shocking plot twist!”

…Wait.

Wasn’t I-

Oh.

Oh, duck- you know what, I can curse in my thoughts, it’s fine.

OH, BUCK!

WHOOSH!

Twilight Sparkle was gone, leaving behind several disgruntled ponies, many lovely books that she would have to read and reread another day, and a bi flag-colored trail.

Approximately 47 seconds later, give or take some digits in the billionths place, she landed, frazzled and even more physically exhausted than she had previously thought it was possible to be, at Sweet Apple Acres.

“Huh… I know her trail led me here, but why? Why did she go here? It’s not even cider season…” Twilight pondered aloud.

She looked down and saw a set of familiar hoofprints.

Some were missing at intervals, as though the pony was lifting off the ground occasionally, perhaps by flying.

So of course, she followed them- for research, obviously. What other motive could she have?

Obviously.

Making sure to stay hidden by the trees but still near enough to the path that she wouldn’t get lost, she walked in the direction that the hoofprints led.

There was a faint noise emanating from up ahead; it sounded like a pony speaking.

Twilight was still too far away to hear the words clearly, but the voice had a country twang to it, and it sounded like said pony was talking to itself.

“-and then after ah check if the different kinds a’ apples’re ripe yet, ah’ve gotta harvest the corn, feed the pigs, make the zap apple jam, water the grass, collect the chicken eggs…”

Craning her neck forward to try and see the pony- she was almost positive she knew who it was, but just wanted to confirm- Twilight saw a bright, multicoloredd indistinct shape at the top of her vision. It appeared to be quite close by.

…Rainbow squirrel?

Wait, that’s not a thing.

So that must mean that the prismatic object is…

With a start, Twilight jumped back.

She hit a tree, but thankfully, due to her training in parkour, she was able to use that momentum to propel herself forward and up, landing high in the branches of another tree.

Looking down and forward, she saw Rainbow Dash sitting in another tree, watching Applejack.

Twilight figured Rainbow’s thought process right now was something like this:

‘Ha ha, she doesn’t even see me spying on her! I’m so good at this. In a few, I can jump out and surprise her, and then maybe if I ask, Applejack’ll give me some cider.’

Applejack continued to talk to herself as she worked, something about grapes, hay, sheep, and giving Winona lunch.

Rainbow Dash twitched her tail as she watched Applejack.

Twilight reflected on how quintessentially meta it was to be secretly watching a pony who was secretly watching a pony.

Finished listing her chores for the day, Applejack began to remark on the lovely summer weather.

Twilight noticed that Rainbow had gone still and was tensing her muscles- her gorgeous muscles, impressively big and shiny from sweat and- SHUTUPTWILIGHTSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP

Anyway…

She’s about to pounce.

This should be good.

Rainbow jumped…

And crashed.

Almost.

Instead, she did a barrel roll about five inches from the ground, followed by several loop-de-loops.

And then she crashed.

“Are you oka-” Twilight put a hoof over her mouth. She had spoken on instinct, because she needed Rainbow to be fine, to not be injured, because she was perfect and amazing and she couldn’t be hurt, she just couldn’t, which she knew defied all logic because technically Rainbow could get hurt, scientifically speaking, but anyway, she didn’t want to get caught spying on Rainbow, so she needed to be quiet.

“Rainbow, stop spyin’ on me n’ mah apples! Ya know ah don’t like it when ya do that. Also, are ya okay?” asked Applejack, bending over the collapsed mare.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. She blinked several times.

Rubbing her eyes, she muttered, “I’m fine. Cool. Awesome. Just dizzy… If it wasn’t for those rad stunts, I totally would never have crashed! Totally. By the way, did you hear a voice?”

“Ah think ya might’ve a concussion.”

“No I don’t!”

“Well, ah didn’t hear any voice.” said Applejack with skepticism, who still thought that Rainbow was most likely concussed.

Rainbow Dash slowly stood up. She stretched. “Well then…”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Yeeeeeeeeees?”

“...could I have some apple cider?” asked the blue pegasus, smirking.

In the tree, Twilight facehoofed- how could her crush be so amazing, and yet so idiotic?

Applejack drew herself up to her full height.

That’s odd… I never noticed before how tall she is.

Twilight mentally catalogued it under folder Friends, subfolder Applejack, subsubfolder Appearance.

“Rainbow Danger Professionalism Dash…” growled Applejack menacingly.

“Um, yeah?” the cyan pony asked innocently, smiling.

Her eyes flitted back and forth, searching for an escape route.

Applejack’s eyes narrowed to slits. She stared Rainbow Dash down.

Rainbow continued to smile, waiting for Applejack to speak, but it looked more like she was baring her teeth, which Twilight found confusingly hot?

Damn, I really need a psychiatrist.

Maybe I could ask Cadance for advice about love, since she’s the alicorn of love?

…

Absolutely not.

“It. Ain’t. Cider. Season. And ah know ya know it!”

“...oops…” whispered Rainbow, uncharacteristically meek.

Finally, Applejack opened her mouth to speak. “Ah’m gonna give you three options here, and ya can choose one. No more, no less.”

“Number one: ya come n’ have some food at the farmhouse. We don’t got no apple cider, but there’s lots a’ other foods for ya to have. Of course, first ya’ve gotta help out with all’a mah tasks” she drawled.

“Number two: if ya don’t wanna take that option, y’best skedaddle on outta this here orchard. Ah’m not saying ya’ve got ta go home, but in that case, ya can’t stay here.”

“N’ lastly, number three: ya don’t wanna help out, but ya ain’t leavin’. Well then… Bless. Your. Heart.”

Twilight, still sitting up in the apple tree, with slowly numbing fetlocks, mentally flipped through her dictionary of Southern Equestria vernacular.

Mhm… Mhm… OK, there’s skedaddle… Uh-huh… Uh-huh…

Oh.

Bless your heart is an insult! That’s interesting. When did I add that to my mentally compiled dictionary?

“I’ll just be going, I guess. Don’t worry, I’ll be out of here in ten seconds flat!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, spreading her wings.

Good, she’s back to normal.

Twilight surreptitiously admired Rainbow’s wingspan.

“Oh no ya don’t! Y’ain’t goin’ anywhere. Not flyin’, leastaways. Ah’m still pretty sure ya’ve got a concussion.” Applejack said, stepping in front of Rainbow Dash, who was tensed for liftoff.

“Ugh, you’re not my mom! Stop it! I’m fine! Besides, you’re not even a doctor, so how do you know I’m concussed?!” argued Rainbow.

“Ah’m not Twilight, but that doesn’t mean ah’m an idiot, Dash. Ya ain’t flyin’, and that’s that.” pronounced Applejack.

“How am I supposed to get to town by walking? That makes it about 20 percent less cooler! Plus, I haven’t eaten since breakfast, which I immediately followed up with a ton of flying. I’m too exhausted to do anything!” declared Rainbow Dash, closing her wings and flopping to the ground dramatically.

Twilight sighed. She thought Rainbow was acting like Rarity. Not that that was a bad thing, but still…

Then again, she is tired.

And Applejack and Rainbow Dash have never gotten along very well…

“Well, fine. Ah suppose ya can come n’ eat some vittles before ya go…”

“Yes!”

“Follow me.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash trotted off down the path.

Quietly, Twilight followed them via teleportation, hoping she would get some food herself- it was past her normal lunchtime.

That being said, if she wanted food, she would have to steal it…

Stealing’s bad, but… apple fritters do taste good…

Hm. I’ll choose what to do once I’m there.

Rainbow and Applejack continued to walk through the orchard.

Twilight teleported inside a tree near them.

AJ and RD cantered along.

Twilight Sparkle teleported into the sky above them.

Two mares, one blue and one orange, paced through the apple forest.

Twi teleported into Princess Celestia’s throne room, where Tia was eating cake.

Realizing her error, she instantly teleported out.

Celestia blinked.

Meanwhile, a pegasus and an earth pony ambled, chatting.

Twily teleported underground beneath them.

The Dash and the Apple galloped to lunch.

TS teleported several feet in front of them, to the outdoor picnic, which had been set up for the Apple reunion.

She quickly hid under the table before they could notice her.

Rainbow skidded to a stop before she could hit the food.

“Celestia, that looks good!” she exclaimed.

Applejack beamed with pride. “Ah know, right? Made ‘em mahself.”

“I’be been- *chomp* -cravibg abble- *chomp* -btrudel for, libe,- *chomp* -boreber!” Rainbow said around a mouthful of apple strudel.

“While ah appreciate that ya like mah food, ah don’t think ya should chew with yer mouth full.” Applejack commented, raising one eyebrow.

Under the table, Twilight tried not to drool at the fragrant, delicious scents of apple-related food wafting her way.

Rainbow Dash swallowed.

“Yeah yeah, whatever… Hey, by the way, are you and Rarity dating yet?” she asked innocently, tilting her head and trying not to smirk.

Applejack huffed.

“If ah’ve told ya once ah’ve told ya a million times: ah will never date Rarity! She’s so… So…” She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to think of a fitting adjective.

“Pretty?”

“UGH! STOPPIT!!!” yelled Applejack, blushing furiously.

Rainbow smirked.

Twilight snorted.

Could AJ and Rarity be any more obvious?

They’re the perfect image for the dictionary definition of the enemies to lovers romance trope!

I mean, the time I had that sleepover?

And the time on the train when Rarity was jealous of that apple tree?

Perfect! Just pe-

Her stomach gurgled, reminding her that she had bigger fish to fry.

Cautiously, she slid a hoof out from under the table and quickly snatched an Æbleflæsk, which she only knew the name of from the Dencutiemarkish dictionary she read the other month, devouring it whole.

It eased the hunger slightly, but just barely.

So she grabbed something else.

And another thing.

And some stuff, for good measure.

And anything.

And everything.

Eating the last apple-based item, she was finally satisfied.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash paused from arguing as they looked over at the table.

“Um… didn’t there used to be food there? Like, a lot of it?” questioned Rainbow.

Uh-oh.

“Ah do believe there did…” Applejack responded hesitantly.

“And now it’s gone, in ten seconds flat!” Dash exclaimed, throwing her front hooves into the air.

Applejack strode up to the table. “Well, ah reckon there’s one way ta get ta the bottom’a this.”

She lifted the picnic blanket to reveal…

…nothing.

Applejack blinked.

Rainbow Dash blinked.

Twilight looked down on them from one of the farmhouse’s balconies.

Breathing fast, she thought about the pros and cons of her decisions.

On the one hoof, I didn’t get caught.

On the other, I’ve been running, flying, and teleporting all day, and now I’m utterly exhausted…

Oh well. It is what it is.

She idly used her mouth- because her magic was exhausted too- to pluck a flower from the window box.

“Wait, what time is it?” asked Rainbow Dash suddenly, eyes wide in alarm.

Applejack adjusted her hat with a hoof.

“Ah’m not sure, but judgin’ by how hungry ah am, plus the fact that ah just saw the Crusaders runnin’ by, ah’d say it’s around twelve thirty or so.” she replied.

Twilight had seen the Crusaders too, and wondered what they were doing with a stapler, several fluorescent green lightbulbs, and six jugs of lemonade, but decided it was best not to know.

Rainbow’s irises and pupils shrunk.

“Why d’ya ask?” Applejack queried, staying calm despite the fact that the amount of time she had to complete her daily tasks was only getting smaller.

“IjustrememberedthatI’mlatetofeedTankokaygottagobyeeeeeeeeeee!” Rainbow Dash called back, already flying away at the speed of light.

Applejack sighed.

“Ah told her not to fly any more today…”

Twilight Sparkle sat on the farmhouse balcony and wondered which mode of transportation to use next. She was in no rush, as she already knew where Rainbow lived.

Well, I can’t use teleportation, because my magic’s just about used up for the day…

Same for flying and running, since I’m physically exhausted…

Pinkie’s apparatus is still outside the library, and I can’t teleport to get it…

Nor can I teleport to fetch my hot air balloon…

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Eyes closed and hooves on the floor, she pondered.

And pondered.

An-

Aha!

I’ll just create an airborne contrivance of my own!

Using the last drops of her magic, Twilight floated to the ground.

Making sure to avoid Applejack, she quietly gathered supplies- wood from a chopped-down apple tree, metal scraps from a hill that was mysteriously full of metal sticking out of the ground, rusty screws from the barn, et cetera.

Soon she had a helicopter-esque machine created, complete with controls.

She spent the next hour or so flying to Rainbow’s house, waiting behind a cloud so she wouldn’t be seen, and finally, when Rainbow Dash left her house, following her to Sugarcube Corner.

Twilight landed behind a bush.

She idly speculated on why Rainbow took so long in her house.

Reading Daring Do?

Eating another lunch, since I ate hers? Whoops…

Trying on sunglasses?

She couldn’t have been…

No no no.

I’ve been reading too many romance novels.

Shaking her head, Twilight dismissed that ridiculous idea.

Besides, it wasn’t like Rainbow had chemistry with anyone else.

I mean, the very notion of Fluttershy and Rainbow dating?

Puh-leeze…

They might be friends since they were fillies, but that doesn’t mean they’ll ever be anything more.

And don’t even get me started on Ap-

The sound of the door to Sugarcube Corner closing startled Twilight out of her thoughts, thankfully.

Right- following Rainbow.

Twilight hurriedly tiptoed to the door.

Peeking around the frame, she didn’t see Rainbow, although she could hear snatches of her ordering from Mrs. Cake.

Huh… a potato-flavored cupcake?

“That’s silly! Maybe you misheard her?”

“Indeed, it’s very odd… Yeah, Pinkie you’re right- maybe I misheard her.” mused Twilight.

“Wait, Pinkie?!”

Pinkie bounced up and down excitedly, the bush she was bouncing in making loud cracking noises every time she landed.

“I’m Pinkie, all right! Wait, or am I? But if I’m not, then who am I? Fluttershy? Rarity? Applejack? Rai-” Twilight Sparkle shushed her.

Crouching down, Twilight waited for Rainbow Dash to fly out and confront her for spying, but nothing happened.

“PSST! CAN I TALK NOW?” faux-whispered Pinkie.

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but heard Rainbow’s voice getting louder and opted to give a Meaningful Glance™ to Pinkie instead.

Ducking back into the bushes, she heard Rainbow come out, no doubt with a potato-flavored cupcake, and begin to trot away.

So she followed her.

For the rest of the day.

In a bush.

**************************

Hours later…

Twilight collapsed to the floor as soon as she entered her castle, the door closing behind her.

She sighed.

My experiment was a complete failure!

I didn’t learn anything- besides how exhausting and hard spying is.

Especially not anything about whether or not I love her.

I barely even got to see her, because I was too busy following and hiding from her!

And I missed dinner, to boot.

Plodding upstairs, she wondered what to do next.

Should I stop the experiments?

…

No. I can’t.

I must continue… in the name of science.

How do alicorns love? Ones that aren’t the Princess of Love, that is.

The world needs to know!

Or, at least, I do.

Lying down in her bed, Twilight smiled softly.

This experiment didn’t work.

But all that means is…

I need to take a different approach.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait, everypony! In other news, I have no idea when the next chapter'll be out, but enjoy this one!
(I'm not positive the part with the new Ponyville library is canon, but it is canon that Moon Dancer- the librarian in that scene- moves to Ponyville and lives in that library, so I mean, why not have her fix it into a proper library again?)