"How do ya do it, Twi?" Applejack muttered. "You manage to sift through things like this ev'ry day since you were a filly. I can't stand this from day one."
Twilight shrugged. "I guess I just have an eye for detail," she said. "Have you found anything?"
The cowpony shook her head. "Not a thing. At least, I don't think so. There was nuthin' on yer list that was in their order forms, and there was nuthin' on them I couldn't tell what it was."
"Well, it looks like this might be another dead end. Still, we need to be thorough. Keep it up, we're more than halfway done."
Applejack nodded and kept leafing through the sales orders, not noticing Flim once again sticking his head in.
Not they she hadn't noticed him and his brother looking in before. Twilight had as well, leading both of them to suspect they were up to something.
Both of them were nervous by this point. They had long since closed the shop, doing it as soon as they could without alerting their unwanted guests. Now they were pacing in the front room.
"What are we going to do? They're going to find it eventually and put two and two together!”
“Easy, there,” Flam said, calming his brother, though his voice was swaying as well. “Let’s not be hasty. That’s what cost us in Ponyville.” He took a deep breath. “Twilight Sparkle might be a legendarily studious pony, but even she can miss things. We don’t even know if she’ll notice anything. Or maybe Applejack will be the one to see it and not look inside.”
Flim took a few deep breaths. “Well… what if they do? We can’t take them both on…”
“Oh yes we can,” Flam said calmly.
“But… they’ve taken on armies…”
“Dear brother, they lost to the changelings,” he said. “Trust me. If it comes down to it, we’ll be able to handle it.”
Hours passed with nothing being found. Flim and Flam, acting unusually magnanimously, sent Silver Shill out for pizza. The two continued working between bites. As much as Applejack hated it, she wanted this task done today. There was little that could be worse than letting whoever did this get away.
Still, the cowpony was getting tired. Not being up and about was making her lethargic, and having a full belly was making her feel sleepy. But she needed to stay awake. Twilight was counting on her, she needed to…
…
“APPLEJACK!”
The Earth Pony jumped, her eyes wide open. “Huh? Sorry, Twi, I…”
Twilight was nowhere in sight. She wasn’t even in Flim and Flam’s shop.
She was dreaming again. And Luna was in front of her, looking somewhat disappointed.
“Falling asleep in enemy territory is foalish,” the Princess of the Night stated.
“It ain’t like Flim n’ Flam are killers or nothin’,” Applejack mumbled, a little embarrassed. “Now if it were Trixie, maybe…”
“Those two would steal Twilight Sparkle’s horn off the top of her head if they could get away with it. You’re lucky she’s still awake.”
Applejack kicked at the ground a bit, feeling like she was a filly getting scolded by Granny Smith. “Well… look, is there any particular reason you’re here? I don’t suppose you could tell us that you found out anythin’?”
“Well, I was going to tell you that Flim and Flam ‘spilled the beans’, I suppose the expression is, but I believe you’ve discovered that for yourselves.”
Applejack’s ears drooped. “H-how far has it spread?”
“I doubt there’s a single creature in Canterlot or Ponyville who doesn’t already know about the wedding.” Despite the sympathetic tone, Luna’s face gave away her amusement. “And it’s spreading quickly. I say that it should be in the Crystal Empire by tomorrow night.”
Applejack’s face turned red. “Figures. How are we gonna get that separation without everything comin’ out?”
“I would not worry,” Luna said, actually sounding reassuring. “My sister tells me that stories like this come and go quickly. In a week it will be old news, and within another week we can pass the whole thing off as a hoax. All the two of you must do is watch what you say and do.”
“I… I suppose…” It would involve telling lies, something she wasn’t any good at, but it had to be done.
“Of course, there’s the easier option.”
The Earth Pony blinked. “Wha…”
“You could just stay married like I know you want to.”
Applejack’s face turned redder, anger mixed with her embarrassment. “I can’t… Not now…”
“Fine, whatever you claim,” Luna shrugged. “Now then, I think perhaps it’s time to wake up.”
Rarity finished her third dress. She had worried excessively about finishing the dresses she needed in time, but she was on autopilot now, and without her worry her subconscious was working uninterrupted.
She needed to be careful how she approached Blueblood with this.
Should she confront him directly? That would likely be a disaster. Try weedling something out of him? Doubtful that would work. Trying to outtalk a politician was a recipe for disaster. Maybe… maybe some champagne would loosen his lips.
She shook her head, silently scolding herself for that thought. Getting somepony drunk on purpose? That would be uncouth… but effective…
Then she shook her head again. If she got the answer out of him that way, he’d likely shut down against any further attempt to help him. A short-term gain would be a long-term loss. And it seemed doubtful that Blueblood would get drunk again on accident, given the restrictions Celestia had put onto him. Add to that she couldn’t risk being caught disobeying Celestia’s instructions, given how much trouble she was already in.
Then what? What could she do? What could she say?
The door opening silenced her thoughts. Quickly, she tried to remember if she had hidden the crest she had stolen. She had, thankfully.
“I came by to make sure you were keeping up with your job,” Blueblood said.
Rarity was silent. The prince was… different today. There was none of his playfulness, to use a generous term. His voice was flat, all business, something she thought would sound more in place on a prince, but not on Blueblood.
“Why yes… much better than I have been doing, I must say. If this keeps up, I should be finished with the last of the dresses by tomorrow evening.”
“That’s… excellent.” Again, no emotion.
“I’m going to need some more gems for the next design. It’s one from the line that Sapphire Shores is modeling for, and she loves her gems, so I wanted to add a few more to the headdress and…”
“You went to the library this morning.”
Silence.
“You’ve… you’ve heard about that?”
“Honestly, you’re a prisoner, remember? I have guards watching you. Let me guess, you went looking into the crest after last night?”
Rarity felt herself sweat. “Wow… you are good.”
Blueblood, normally not one to pass up a chance to have his ego stroked, just looked at her. “Look, I know you think you’re going to help me… but you’re not. There’s nothing you can say that Auntie Celestia, or Twilight, or Moondancer hadn’t already tried saying to me.”
Now Rarity was just shocked. Blueblood being this direct about it was the last thing she expected.
“Well… I thought maybe…”
“Why do you care anyway?” It wasn’t said angrily, like Rarity expected, only flatly. “You don’t even like me.”
“I suppose… it’s because I didn’t get the Element of Generosity by only being generous to those I liked.”
That sentence hung in the air.
“Just… be ready for dinner tonight.” He trotted out. “And… I asked the Royal Chef to cook you something special for lunch.”
Applejack’s eyes fluttered open. The back of her head was on something soft, and warm… and moving.
“You’re awake.”
Applejack bolted up. “Ah, Twi, I… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…” She turned her face away, hoping that Twilight wouldn’t see her blush.
“Relax, you got enough done awake. We’re almost done anyway, there’s only another stack left.”
“Uh, then let me handle it,” Applejack said quickly. “You’ve done plenty.”
“I can...”
“I know ya can,” the Earth Pony said, hurrying to snatch the papers out of Twilight’s grip (forgetting, as she often did, that she could grip it with her magic). “I just don’t wanna make you do everything.”
“Applejack, it’s fine, I don’t…”
“I don’t wanna hear it, Twi. I ain’t gonna shirk my share of the work.” Before the Unicorn could object further, Applejack slammed the orders down on a nearby table and began sifting through them.
Twilight sighed, but smiled just the same. “As stubborn as ever, aren’t you?”
Applejack mumbled something under her breath that sounded like a defense.
“Don’t feel embarrassed. I actually admire that about you.”
Now Applejack was embarrassed. “Huh?”
“When I was a filly attending Princess Celestia’s school, I was so excited to learn. But the work was harder than I expected. Still, I really wanted to learn magic, so I kept pushing and got straight As, and I did it all while taking care of Spike. So I was confused when so many of my classmates left in the first two years.
“When I asked them, they said it was too hard. I never got that, at first. It was weird to me that somepony would just give up because it got hard. I found out later that not everypony thinks like me.
“You did. Whenever I see you work like that, it reminds me that you know something that’s so obvious, but not a lot of ponies get: if you want something, you have to keep working at it, even if it gets hard. I used to think everypony thought that way. I… I guess it was good seeing that again.”
Applejack blinked. “Wha… Twi, you were the one tellin’ me ‘ta slow down durin’ Applebuck season.”
Twilight shook her head. “I admire that you don’t give up, but I don’t like it when you try to go it alone. Whenever I needed help, I asked Princess Celestia, or Moondancer if they could lend me.”
“...Moondancer?”
“Spike’s babysitter when I had too much work. We were kind of friends. The point is, I like how stubborn you are, but I’m going to call you out when it’s a problem.”
Applejack just smiled. Now it was a fond memory. “And… I wanna thank you for that. That was the day I decided I wanted you as part of my family… er, that is, to make ya an honorary Apple.”
Now Twilight was confused. “Why?”
“Twi, it’s easy to tell somepony you don’t like when they’re bein’ an idiot. A friend… not so much. You came in an’ gave gave me a good swift kick in the flank when I needed. I respect that, Twi. A real friend…”
She had been focusing on Twilight and hadn't been paying the greatest deal of attention to the papers in front of her. Which is why her hoof managed to knock a small packet onto the floor. One it hit the ground, it spilled out photographs of the wedding.
"Well, I guess we stumbled upon the photos," Twilight said after an awkward silence. She used her magic to levitate them up, cringing at the drunken kiss. "Man, I really hope Mom and Dad don't get… too… what the?"
"What's wrong, Twi?"
"Look at this."
She gave the picture to Applejack, and the Earth Pony saw the problem. Instead of the wedding, it was the scene from just two months ago, with the Elements of Harmony surrounding Discord.
"What the… why would they have this?"
"It's not just that. Look, here's a show of the Wonderbolt Academy when Lightning Dust got kicked out… here's us fighting that giant timberwolf outside the Everfree Forest when Spike decided he owed you a life debt…”
"Then… Flim an' Flam have been spying on us! Those varmints!" Applejack made a move to the door. "I'm gonna give those two a piece o' my…"
She stopped then the door smacked her in the nose. Falling back, she rubbed her muzzle. "What?" She worked the doorknob. "It won't open!"
Twilight reached for the door with her magic. Only to step back herself. "There's magic," she said. Her eyes widened. "Flim and Flam enchanted the door. We're locked in!"