Changing Love

Twilight awoke to somepony lightly tapping on her shoulder. Simultaneously rolling over and clearing her mental fog, she looked up to see the conductor for the train.

“Excuse me, princess, but we will be arriving in Ponyville in fifteen minutes.”

“Mmm thank you, we will all be up by the time we arrive.”

With that, the conductor left Twilight and the others, leaving Twilight the arduous task of waking her friends. She went over to Rarity to find her sound asleep, neatly tucked into her compartment bed with her sleep mask on. She tapped the alabaster unicorn until she uttered semi-coherent sentences about “beauty sleep.” She then went over to Pinkie Pie, and tapped her. Pinkie leapt into the air like a coiled spring and somehow landed perfectly on all four hooves, fully awake and as energetic as ever. Fluttershy was surprisingly already awake, sipping tea and enjoying the company of some birds that had flown in through the train window. This left Rainbow and Applejack. With a sigh, Twilight approached the door to their separate compartment and flung it open. On the bed, Applejack had fallen asleep flat on her back with her limbs splayed out in odd angles. Rainbow had crawled beside AJ and nestled under one of her arms. Twilight walked up to the side of the bed and tapped Applejack. Being a farm pony, AJ was quite used to getting up early. She was alert almost instantly. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was a completely different story. Her sleeping skills were legendary around Ponyville. Twilight tried prodding her on the shoulder for at least five minutes to no avail. Eventually, Applejack gave Rainbow’s tail a good tug, waking her instantly and causing her to let out a loud yelp.

After everypony was awake, whether they wanted to be or not, they began to gather their belongings as the train began to slow down. When the train stopped, the six of them hopped onto the familiar Ponyville train platform. They were finally home.

The six of them said their goodbyes and headed their separate ways. Twilight returned to the library in hopes of finding a book of tips on asking someone out. Fluttershy had a date planned with Big Macintosh at Sugarcube Corner later that afternoon, so she hurried home to prepare. Pinkie bounced her way back to Sugarcube Corner after giving Rarity a quick hug and peck on the cheek, eliciting a deep blush from the alabaster mare. Rarity, in turn, made her way back to the Carousel Boutique to complete one of the constant orders keeping her occupied. Applejack and Rainbow practically raced towards the Apple family’s barn, only to trip and fall in a heap, eliciting groans from the pair and chuckles from everypony nearby.

Cadence spent half of the night and all of the following morning pacing across the gleaming marble floors of the Crystal Palace's throne room, a nervous habit that she had picked up from a certain lavender alicorn. Her mane was frizzy and her right eye had a slight twitch. Shining Armor had never seen his wife so bothered by something before. After a quick deliberation, he decided to approach her and ask what could possibly be bugging her so much.

"What's wrong, Hun? I've never seen you so worked up over something."

"It's nothing, Shining, I just need to think some things through, it's nothing you need to be worried about," replied Cadence with a strained smile as she tried to reassure her beloved husband.

"But you seems so stressed and-"

"I said it's nothing you need to be worried about,” snapped Cadence, dropping her happy facade.

Shining took a few steps back, surprised at Cadence. Since they had known each other, Shining had never seen Cadence snap at anyone, especially not himself. Something was very wrong. Shining decided to retreat and leave Cadence to her thoughts for the time being. As he walked out, he began formulating a plan in his mind. He was going to get to the bottom of this, one way or another.

Cadence immediately regretted snapping at her love, and she watched sadly as he left the throne room. Tonight, she would apologize and make it up to him in earnest. For now though, there was work to be done. Cadence continued her pacing, deep in thought.

Fluttershy glanced into her mirror at her tiny cottage home. She was wearing one of her favorite floral dresses and was currently having her hair brushed by some of her animal friends. She closed her eyes and let relaxation flow over her. Being groomed was perhaps the only guilty pleasure that Fluttershy had. It was one of the reasons that she cherished her trips to the spa with Rarity so much. She wasn’t quite sure why she liked it so much, perhaps because it was a time where she could clear her mind and reflect. Fluttershy looked back on the all of the crazy events that occurred yesterday. She was extremely happy that her friends had found their true loves and got to experience the affection and kindness that she did. It was amazing that Cadence had been capable of such a thing. Thinking of Cadence brought memories of her odd behavior yesterday rushing to the forefront of the yellow pegasus’ mind, causing her to become concerned again. Perhaps she should write a quick letter to Cadence and see if she was alright. She was suddenly drawn out of her inward reflection by a gentle tug on her tail. Looking down, she saw Angel pointing to a nearby clock.

“Oh goodness! I’m nearly late,” exclaimed Fluttershy as she looked at the clock. Saying a hasty goodbye to all of her animal friends, she rushed out the door and hurried to Sugarcube Corner for her date.

Big Macintosh had spent the bulk of the morning plowing the southern field, as it was getting close to planting season. However, his mind was hardly on the work. His thoughts wandered to a certain yellow pegasus. To say that he was excited for his date that afternoon would be the understatement of the year. Time couldn’t move fast enough for Big Mac. When he was finally finished with his work for the day, he made his way to the barn to put away his plow. As he approached the familiar structure, he heard an odd noise. Somepony was....moaning? As he got closer, he could hear panting between the moans that were only getting louder. Suddenly, he began to wonder if he should go inside the barn.

He stood in front of the barn door for what seemed like ages weighing his options. Finally, he took a breath to compose himself and opened the barn door to see Rainbow Dash and Applejack furiously making out on a bale of hay. After standing in the doorway of the barn with his trademark blank expression, Big Mac took a step inside, gently set his plow down and backed out of the barn as fast as possible. He then rushed to the house to shower and perhaps, if Celestia was merciful, drown the image that was now branded into his mind.