“Okie dokie! While you do that, I’ll wait up in the bedroom. See you in a minute!”

As if on cue, the door swung open and slammed into the wall, nearly knocking off the clock from its perch. Without giving it a second thought, Harmony bounded over to her bestie’s florally patterned bed. Chucking her saddlebag onto the covers, she hoisted her abnormally long fourteen-year-old body up after it. She sat for a moment, swinging her deer leg loosely over the edge.

Clicking her tongue absentmindedly, she gazed around the room for something entertaining. Pany’s practically bare walls of only a few pictures framed above her tidy shelves of books with a few scattered plants here and there reflected her simplistic style and, unfortunately for Harmony, left little to the imagination, since anything worth looking at was tucked neatly away in organized drawers. Realizing this, she gave up the searched and huffed a sigh in defeat.

“Gee, why is it taking her so long?” she grumbled. “I mean, how much effort does it take to water a few plants in the greenhouse? You just turn on the water and boom- you’re done!” Glancing at the door which was now slightly cracked open after rebounding back off the wall, she could feel it mocking her in its motionless state. Even the ticking cuckoo clock seemed to take pleasure in pointing out the crushing silence.

“Uuuuuggghhh, Pansy, come ooooonnn!” Harmony whined, before dropping dramatically onto the heart covered pillows, her arms flopping on either side of her. She felt despair sink in.

I’m going to waste away by the time she gets in here and all that’ll be left will be my feathers and mane. Then she’ll be sorry she took so long.

With that comforting thought in mind, she let her eyes wander freely as she awaited her predetermined doom. That’s when she saw it.

On the window sill to Harmony’s left, a pale blue notebook decorated with mint-shaded leaves and a teal tasseled bookmark sticking out, leaned innocently against a vase of fresh marigolds. Harmony didn’t need any words to tell right away that it was Pansy’s diary. The thought came into her head before she could stop it, and she felt her cheeks warm with embarrassment.

No, of course, I’m not gonna read her diary! It’s a private dealio. What kinda friend would just snoop into their bestie’s secrets?

And yet, as she was thinking this, she couldn’t look away from the book; as though staring hard enough would enable her to see through the cover at the information inside. The juicy, intriguing information. Harmony bolted straight up, wringing her clammy claws as if to hold them back from snatching the dairy. She looked around for something, anything, to distract, but her thought’s rebelliously remained fixated on the book.

Eyeing it warily, she swallowed the lump in her throat.

Then again. . . we are besties. . . and besties don’t keep secrets from each other, she reasoned. Besides, I just wanna peak- oh! and I’ll only read the sections about me in it! Yeah! Pansy shouldn’t mind that.

Harmony took one more quick glance at the door- still in the same cracked position-, before reaching over and gently snatching the diary with her claw. Nervously, she fumbled to get the book open and anxiously scanned the page for her name; her mouth almost salivating at the thought of all the juicy details inside.  She started reading the top of the first entry she came to.

Dear Little Diary,

It’s been absolutely miserable today. Poor Pintree ̶h̶a̶d̶ has come down with the pony pox and is puking everywhere. I feel so sorry for him, and so does mother, although I can tell she’s upset that PT stayed out in the rain when she said not to ( he does this a lot). Eclipse says it serves him right, but I think that’s too harsh. He just wanted to see Kiara is after all. I think Eclipse is just sour that we had to spend all day ̶d̶i̶s̶e̶n̶-̶-disinfecting the castle. Hardly a moment went by that PT wasn’t coughing up phlegm or sneezing snot everywhere. It almost made me feel sick, and once I had to leave the room for fear of puking myself-

Harmony stopped her muzzle wrinkling in disgust.  Yuck. Okay, moving on.

Dear Little Diary,

I got an A+ in History today! Mother was so proud of me, she even hung it on the fridge with my favorite magnet- the little pink bunny one. I wish I could get A’s all the time. Not so the refrigerator can be covered in my tests, but just so Mother would be proud of me all the time. She says she already is, but it’s not the same thing. I know Mother wants me to be as smart as her, and so do I! Maybe one day I’ll be. If I keep working hard, then perhaps I’ll be able to live up to my mother’s expecta-

Boring, Harmony yawned. Next.

Dear Little Diary,

I felt it again today.

He was helping me clip the hydrangea bushes after school, and at one point I looked up at him. He was too busy cutting away and didn’t seem to notice me staring, which made me want to look even longer. His eyes and his coat and his mane…it just seemed so soft and sweet and gentle. And the way he handled the plants so tenderly, I just couldn’t stop looking. And then when he handed me the scissors and his paw grazed (glazed?), I felt that jolt again. It was so confusing, so I just sat there and tried to hide my face ( I think I was blushing).

I wouldn’t mind these new feelings so much if they weren’t so random. I can hang around him for hours at a time and not feeling anything special. But then something will change or…spark inside me and…I’ll start feeling giddy, nervous, woozy, scared, and happy all at the same time. I’ve even caught myself daydreaming about him sometimes! I asked Daddy if he did the same thing when he fell in love with Mother, and he said yes. As comforting as that was, I’m still struggling to come to terms with my, what I believe to be, crush on Lokie-

Wait.

Harmony froze, her pupils mere specks as they stared at her brother’s name.  She read it once, then twice, then a fourth time. Her mouth hung agape as her eyes widened with realization.

Pansy has a cRUSH ON-

“Harmony!?”

The voice, a distressed, high pitched shout, pierced like a bolt right through the defeaning silence and into Harmony’s gut. Both fillies locked eye with each other, one filled with horror, the other with shock. The cuckoo clock barely seemed to tick at all.

Finally, Harmony’s throat sporadically began working again, and she could hardly mumble out, “Pansy- I- uh. Um. This- you. I didn’t mean to-”

Slowly, Pansy inched her way forward, as if scared something might jump out at her. Her eyes never left the book. “Is that . . . my Dairy?”

Harmony gazed down at it as if she wasn’t sure herself. She stared at it, dumbfounded. Before she could look up, the book slipped through her numb fingers as Pansy yanked it away.

“How could you?” Pansy whispered in a voice, so broken, Harmony dare not move.

When Harmony failed to answer, Pansy pulled the book close to her chest and scooted a few inches on the bed from the dracony, before turning her head away.

The silence pounded in Harmony’s ears and for a second, she felt she couldn’t breathe. Then it all came pouring out.

“Pansy, I – I’m so sorry. Sososososo sorry. Really. I-I know I shouldn’t have read your Dairy- I just couldn’t help it. I was just gonna read th-the parts, the parts about me in it. Honest! And I didn’t mean to read about your, your brothers getting sick and throwing up and your History test on the fridge and Aunt Twily being all proud of you and I rea-really didn’t mean to read about your crush on my brother and I-”

“My what!?” Pansy exclaimed, swiveling around, her eyes wet and wide with dismay.

Ooops

“Oh…uh…your crush on Lokie. You know, where you wrote about your feelings for him and…and yeah,” she muttered guiltily, fidgeting with her fingers.

Once again, silence fell over the two.

“I’m really sorry Pansy…”

. . .

“Are you . . . upset with me?” Pansy whispered, her eyes glued to the lavender flowers beneath her.

Harmony shot up in surprise. “What! Upset you? Why would I be upset! Gee, if anyone should be, it’s you?”

“Well, I mean . . . he is your brother after all.”

“Wait. . . is this about Lokie?”

Pansy didn’t move; the only sound she made was her kitten-like sniffling.

“Are you…are you worried I’m upset that you have a crush on my brother?” Harmony asked, slowly realizing.

Pansy nodded.