Two hours later, at Sweet Apple Acres:
"Are you telling me that Rainbow is finally a Wonderbolt as of yesterday morning, sugarcube?" asked Applejack incredulously after bucking one of the countless apple trees with hind legs to fill fruit baskets all around.
"Yes." Sunset said before trying to kick another tree to fill the harvest baskets as well. "Why? You make it sound like I told a lie."
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, sugarcube, you're telling the truth, I'm not saying the opposite, just..." the mare briefly rubbed her neck to chase away a discomfort. “... It's weird to find that out the next day. Rainbow is not a slacker when it comes to bragging, I thought the day it happened, she'd go talk to everypony the very next minute after finding out. She'd be making Rainbooms all day long, but now I hear it from you a day after, it just feels too weird."
Sunset thought back to the day before. "Probably she takes the project so seriously, that she’d rather be training."
"A project? What project?" Applejack asked.
"Through a letter, Princess Celestia asked Spitfire to complete an older project so that a Wonderbolt could wear the armour involved on said project, and become a guardian of harmony. And since Rainbow Dash was a reservist, having helped save Equestria several times, and is the only one who can break the sound barrier, Spitfire didn't have to look very far to find the one she needed."
"So Rainbow is going to become a special kind of Wonderbolt?"
"It will be a special unit of the Wonderbolts under Spitfire's orders, but she will have no wing pony, on the event that a menace threatens Equestria's safety, as Rainbow must be able to join Twilight without having to leave the copilot behind."
"About that, how's Twilight?"
Sunset looked away, biting her lip before screwing up her face. She let her anger run free and ran to another tree, hitting it with a flying kick to make apples fall into the basket. "She just needs time. Spike makes sure she eats, and once she passes the stage of depression, she should be fine."
"The stage of depression? What are you talking about, sugarcube?"
"Bereavement following a death is divided into five stages. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The time between it’s stages varies from one pony to another. After her meeting with Princess Luna, Twilight came to meet me as if nothing had happened. She was clearly in denial that it had happened, or that she wanted to talk about it when we were all there. In the bedroom, when Rainbow couldn't believe Pepper had killed Celestia, Twilight exploded with anger. Since Pepper is now dead, taking for granted that Chrysalis wasn’t lying, that is, and assuming Nightmare Moon was telling the truth, there’s no way to negotiate bringing Princess Celestia back. This has led Twilight straight to where she is now, depression. I would probably be in the same state if I hadn't been kicked out fifteen years ago." she added distractedly.
"That's a lot of words to say she's having a hard time."
Sunset smiled briefly. "Yes."
"Applejack! Sunset! Hello," Pinkie shouted from afar as she joyfully leapt towards them.
"Hello Pinkie Pie," chirped the farmpony and unicorn. "What brings you here so early?" Applejack asked.
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"Well, Rarity came to the shop to take her daily order of cupcakes for tea time and she told me that Rainbow Dash was officially a Wonderbolt so I was wondering if you still had a jar of Zapapple jam to celebrate the event with a cake."
"Wait a minute sugarcube, since when does Rarity know about that?”
Sunset stepped forward. "I told her yesterday afternoon after I left Rainbow with Spitfire at the Wonderbolt Academy, since I had promised to visit her. Between my kimono and this announcement, she had several ideas and started a couple sketches of a new concept for her next few dresses."
"Oh." Applejack adjusted her hat. "I forgot about your promise, sugarcube." She turned to the earth pony with a light pink coat. "It's true that we keep a few jars for special occasions. I suppose we can open one this time."
"That would be great." Pinkie shouted, rearing up on her hind hooves to flail around her forelegs.
Sunset looked around for a brief moment before returning her gaze to Applejack. "I was wondering, considering you’re the element of Honesty and all...about Pepper, didn't you see anything coming? I mean, did she ever say anything that seemed strange to you?"
"As I said two days ago, she was mostly hanging out with Rainbow." she pointed out. She tried to remember how little she had come to know about her. "From the first moment I saw her, she always seemed especially nervous, being all shifty-eyed and such."
"Oh, yes! Like the time when Princess Celestia came to be released from prison, Pepper never turned her back on her, she walked backwards until she was out of the room," Pinkie Pie added.
"And that didn't seem strange to you?"
"Well, Princess Celestia told us that everything would be fine, that Princess Luna would find the words to calm her down, and then asked Rainbow to help Pepper get used to life in Equestria."
"Why Rainbow specifically? Shouldn't this have been entrusted to Twilight instead? She was already the Princess of Friendship, wasn't she?"
Applejack and Pinkie looked at each other before the pink-haired mare turned around to Sunset, lifting a hoof to answer the question with a big smile. "Oh, Oh, I know! You see, after she left the room, Fluttershy said that Pepper reminded her of an injured animal that would refuse to be treated by anypony who tried to approach her, so Princess Celestia gave Rainbow the task of gaining her trust, as the element of Loyalty."
"Twilight told me that Pepper seemed singular, but not malevolent, but now you're not going to tell me that there was nothing to worry about this human?" Sunset asked.
"Listen Sunset, Pepper was already with Rainbow Dash the whole afternoon and Princess Luna during the night. What more could we do? Monitor every single one of her actions?"
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Pinkie took a deep breath. "You mean like when Twilight received a visit from her future self to warn her of a disaster without having time to say exactly what and as a result present Twilight began to monitor absolutely everything in Equestria to the point of almost not sleeping all week and that we ended up by breaking into Canterlot's archives in Starswirl the Bearded’s room to grab a time spell and that in the end there was no disaster the Twilight of the future which was therefore the Twilight of the present left to tell the Twilight of the past that there was nothing to worry about?" she exposited in one breath.
It took Sunset a few seconds to process the endless sentence. "There’s a time travel spell in Starswirl the Bearded‘s room?" She didn't wait for an answer. She turned around, cast the fire wings spell while galloping, and flew towards Canterlot, her wings flapping as fast as they could. Starswirl the Bearded was the precursor in the field of magic, he was the author of many spells still used today. To learn that he had invented a time travel spell was not surprising, although it surprised Sunset that she had never known of the existence of such a spell before.
Abandoned on the spot, Applejack and Pinkie stared at Sunset’s ever smaller shape, already far away on the horizon. "When you explained the outcome, Twilight said that the spell you found only worked once per pony and couldn't go back more than a week, right?" Applejack asked.
"Yep!" replied Pinkie with a big smile.
"And you didn't tell Sunset that because...?"
"A hunch." she replied, her smile persisting.
Applejack watched Pinkie for a moment, her predictions, her insights, she had learned like the rest of Ponyville never to question them, and she would not seek to understand them. She’d rather accept it than have a pot of flowers land on her head. She moved towards the wicker saddle, pulled it up on her back and walked towards the farm. "I'll give you a jar of Zapapple jam right now, sugarcube."
"Thank you Applejack," replied Pinkie, following her as she bounced, always smiling.