It was a game everypony had played as foals. It was childish. It was foolish. It was Rainbow’s idea.

It was even stranger, Applejack thought, when Rainbow called it a test.

“You hate tests.” Twilight said.

“It’s not a test for me,” Rainbow said.

“Then who’s it for?” Already there were beads of sweat rolling down Twilight’s head.

“If I told you, that pony might fail.”

“Fail!”

“Twilight hates pop quizzes.” Spike walked in with a stack of books.

“Darling, calm down. Rainbow’s idea of a test is probably just a—” Rarity started.

“Jest!” Pinkie laughed. “Rarity, I rhyme-finished your sentence!”

“Do you know what the test is, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yup! But I can’t say. I Pinkie promised!”

Everypony grew quiet, either musing or nervous.

“Hey! It’s not bad. It’s still a game. We’d still have fun!” Rainbow said. After tentative agreements, she started positioning her friends around, forming a line.

Twilight was last. Applejack was next to her. She heard Twilight laughing.

“You’re really excited ‘bout this, huh Twi?”

Twilight giggled. “I know, it’s silly.”

“Well, silly, yes. But I reckon it’d be excitin’ if you’d never played it before.” Applejack smiled back.

“Ponies can only say the message twice,” Rainbow explained, then nodded at Spike. “We’re ready, Spike. Write the message. Then we’ll see if Twilight says the same one!”

Spike nodded. “You got it!”

He ran over to the writing desk, and Rainbow took her place between Rarity and Applejack, giving the farmer a suspicious smirk. After scribbling the memo, Spike ran over to Pinkie and showed her the message.

Pinkie looked at it, laughed, and with her hooves covering her mouth like a funnel, she hovered over Fluttershy’s ear, whispering.

Fluttershy stared back, registering slight shock. She turned toward Rarity, seemingly lost, but found Pinkie again.

“Um, can you repeat it please?”

“Of course, silly!” Pinkie repeated the message.

Fluttershy sighed, and Applejack wasn’t sure if Pinkie had purposely messed up or if she truly hadn’t heard it. Or maybe the Spike’s message was too complicated. Applejack readied herself; when it was her turn, Rainbow would either purposely speed through the message so Applejack couldn’t understand her or she’d change it altogether.

Fluttershy whispered to Rarity, and the unicorn cleared her throat.

“C-Could you repeat that, darling?”

It was repeated. Then Rarity shuffled near Rainbow. Like everypony else, Rainbow, confused, asked again.

Finally, her turn. Rainbow leant towards her, and felt Rainbow’s breath on her ear.

“Twilight’s had a crush on you for months. She’s too eggheady to figure out what to do about it.”

“WHAT?!”

She hadn’t meant to yell.

Everypony was giving her a strange look. Pinkie was giggling. Rainbow scowled and leaned in again.

“Chill out. I’ll repeat it: Twilight’s had a crush on you for months, Applejack. She’s too eggheady to figure out what to do about it.”

Rainbow went back in line.

And Applejack stared. She looked at Twilight, her face flushed. Was this the test? Was this what Rainbow was trying to do? She was the Element of Honesty! Was Rainbow trying to sabotage that? Or was she trying to sabotage her own feelings for Twilight?

Twilight looked at her expectantly, anxiously.

Dear Celestia, help her. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t lie.

She swallowed her pride, her dreams, her fears, and cleared her throat.

“Here’s the message: T-Twilight’s… h-had a crush on you for months, Applejack. She’s too eggheady to figure out what to do about it.”

Applejack stepped back. Twilight’s eyes shrunk to atoms. She froze.

And Applejack felt profoundly sick.

“Twilight?” Spike asked.

“Dragons dilly-dallying downstairs do dawdle,” she mechanically spat. Applejack didn’t know where that phrase had come from.

“…Wow! That’s amazing! Same as my book. You guys didn’t botch up the message.” Spike said. “Somepony always messed it up for us…”

Applejack looked at Rainbow. A beehive could’ve made its home in her mouth.



Afterwards, the two promptly cornered Rainbow.

“W-Wait, I wanted to see if—”

“Like tartarus! You tricked us!”

“So?”

“So? You embarrassed both of us!”

“But at least you two know you like each other,” Rainbow said. “Does it really matter?”

But before Applejack could say anything, Twilight took her hoof, and Applejack's frustrations dissipated.

“No.” Twilight smiled at both of them. “It doesn’t matter.”

She turned to face Applejack. “Hey, um, awkward confessions aside, would you like to get dinner sometime?”

Out of instinct—and perhaps nervousness—Applejack adjusted her hat. “Mm. Sure.”

She couldn’t help but smile.