Equestria Girls: Applejack's Secret

Chapters

The Lie
The Pursuit
The Truth
The Reason
The Aftermath
Outro (Author's Notes)
Bonus: Exclusive Side-Story!

The Lie

It was another beautiful day at Canterlot High School. The sun was slowly making its way into the clear morning sky as the students began to converge to the main entrance of the school. It was Friday, the last day before their two days of freedom from books, homework, and annoying teachers and many of the students were relieved about that.

As the students began walking about the halls of the school, either to get to class or to go to their lockers to gather their necessary supplies, the Principal’s voice came on over the loudspeaker.

"Good morning, students, and happy Friday,” Principal Celestia’s voice echoed throughout the building, “Just a reminder that the ‘drama club’ will be meeting in the auditorium at three o’clock today. All students who are interested in auditioning for this year’s school play should report there right after school.”

As the rest of the morning announcements went on, Sunset Shimmer was making her way through the school with one of her friends, Fluttershy, besides her.

“Thank you so much for helping me at the animal shelter this weekend,” said Fluttershy, her voice soft and meek, “We just got a new batch of baby kittens and we’re going to need all the help that we can get.”

“No problem, Fluttershy,” said Sunset Shimmer, “What are friends for, right?”

It was hard to believe that it was only four months since the school was visited by a “princess from another world” who had taught all of them the true meaning of friendship. Since then, the once bitter and vengeful Sunset Shimmer had turned over a new leaf and became more friendly and likeable amongst her peers. Also, she became really close with the friends that Twilight Sparkle had said would help her understand friendship even more.

As the two of them walked down the halls together, they passed by Applejack, who was putting some book into her locker. When she saw the two of them approaching, she smiled and waved to them.

“Hey Fluttershy,” she called to them, “Hey Sunset!”

“Hi, Applejack,” said Fluttershy as she offered a small wave to her.

“What’s up, Applejack?” asked Sunset Shimmer as she offered a high-five to her.

Returning the gesture, Applejack said, “Ah have some great news to tell ya at lunch!”

“Really?” the timid girl asked.

“You betcha! Ya’ll are gonna be so surprised!”

“A SURPRISE!?” a voice came out of nowhere, causing Applejack to jump and drop her books. Fluttershy let out a small eep as she ducked behind Sunset Shimmer, who had also jumped in surprise.

They all turned to Applejack’s open locker to see Pinkie Pie’s head sticking out of it, a huge grin across her face. As the three friends tried to regain their composure, she jumped out of the locker and kicked it closed with the back of her foot.

“Pinkie,” said a startled AJ, “Why were you...?”

“I know,” said Pinkie as she pointed a thumb at the locker, “You really need to clean that out. There are way too many books in there. Anyway, I can’t wait to hear all about the surprise!”

With that, she skipped off down the hall, a huge grin on her face. As they watched, Sunset Shimmer let out a sigh and said, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to her antics.”

Confused, Applejack shook her head and turned to the others. “Like ah was sayin’, I have a big surprise for all of ya. Ah’ll tell ya all ‘bout it at lunch with the other girls.”

Before any of them could say anything, the first bell for the morning rang, signaling that it was almost time for class.

“Okay,” said Sunset Shimmer as she began making her way down the hall, “I can’t wait.”

“Me neither,” said Fluttershy, “See you girls then.”

As the two girls made their way down the hall, Applejack stood there for a few seconds, waving at them as they left. When the two of them turned the corner and were out of sight, Applejack let out a small sigh and lowered her head.

Ah wish it didn’t hafta be this way, she thought as she began picking up the books she had dropped. Ah wanna enjoy today, but ah can’t stop thinkin’ ‘bout tomorrow.

With her books in her hands, she adjusted her Stetson and let out one last sigh before making her way down the hall to her first class.

A few hours later, the bell rang for the students to make their way to their next class. However, for a certain group of friends, it meant that it was time for their lunch period.

Rarity and Sunset Shimmer, who had the same class the previous period, walked into the cafeteria together, going directly to the lunch line to get their food.

"I'm telling you, darling,” Rarity said with a smile, “The Boutique a gorgeous place to work. The pay is really good and you don’t have to know anything about fashion to apply.”

“I don’t know,” Sunset Shimmer said, scratching the back of her head, “I just don’t see me working in a place like that.”

“Well, it’s just a suggestion, is all. I just thought it would be good for you. Besides, it’s a great way to make new friends outside of school.”

"I'll think about it."

When they got their sustenance, they turned and began making their way through the crowded room. Some students were reading books and doing homework while they ate while others were looking through magazines or prepping the instruments that they had. Others were practicing for their auditions for the drama club and some were innocently chatting with one another.

As the two of them weaved their way through the crowded room, they saw Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie sitting together at a table in the back, obviously waiting for them. As they got closer, they heard the two of them engaged in some sort of conversation.

“And that’s what I plan to do!” Pinkie said, “So, what do you think?”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh, Pinkie,” she said. “You didn't say anything. You just sat down and said, ‘that’s what you plan to do’.”

Pinkie blinked twice in surprise and said, “Oh”.

Tapping her finger against her chin, she looked up to the ceiling as if she was thinking really hard about something. Then, she looked at Rainbow and asked, “But it was still a good plan though, right?”

Rainbow Dash responded by slamming her palm against her forehead.

When Rarity and Sunset Shimmer sat down, the four of them began to eat their lunch. It wasn’t long until Fluttershy joined them with Applejack not too far behind.

With all of her friends present, Applejack smiled and said, “Girls, ah have a big surprise for all of ya!”

“Ooh! Ooh!” said Pinkie as she began bouncing up and down in her seat, “What is it? What is it? Did you find a way to open that window-thing so we can see Twilight again?”

Applejack blinked in surprise. Then, she looked flatly at her and responded with a simple, “No.”

“Aww, bummer!” she said as she rested her head on the table, a saddened look on her face. A split second went by before she livened up again. “Well, what’s the surprise then? Tell us, tell us!!”

Clearing her throat, Applejack said, “Well, the weekend is here and ah thought, what better way to celebrate than with a girl’s night out? So, ah was thinkin' the six of us could go to that new movie theater that opened last week after school. Then, we can go to that restaurant across the street afterwards.”

All of them beamed in excitement at the thought of their special outing that night; all of them except Rarity, who had a look of concern on her face.

“Applejack, darling,” she said, “I do appreciate the gesture, but those places are very expensive! I don’t think I have enough to...”

“Don’t you worry yer pretty head about price,” she said, offering her a wink, “Ah’ll pay for all of us!”

The excitement in all of their faces began to turn into looks of surprise at her statement.

Crossing her arms, Rainbow Dash asked, “And how exactly do you plan on paying for all of us?”

Raising an eyebrow, Applejack asked, “Whaddaya mean? Ah have enough money to pay fer ya'll. Ah wouldn't be offerin' if ah didn't!”

“How is it that you have so much money that you can spend?”

Applejack felt her heart skip a beat as she lowered her eyes in shame. Although this wasn’t the first time she was asked this, she always found it hard to answer whenever she was.

“It doesn’t matter how”, she said, looking back at her. “All that matters is that ah have the money and ah wanna spend it on all of us.”

“Um, Applejack,” said Fluttershy. “Is it possible that we can make it for tomorrow instead of tonight? I’m a little busy this afternoon and I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it.”

A quick look of guilt came across her face as she looked down at the ground. Then, she turned to her friend and said, “Ah can’t. Ah...Ah hafta leave town this weekend.”

“Again?” asked Rarity.

“Yeah,” said Applejack as she let out a sigh. “Again.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, where exactly do you go, darling?”

Applejack’s heart began to speed up; this was the first time she was asked this from her friends. Therefore, she didn’t have an answer ready for them. They knew that she left on certain weekends, but they never seemed to question where she went or why. Why did they all of a sudden wonder where she was going now?

She quickly fished her mind for something to say, taking off her brown hat to scratch the back of her head. Then, an idea came to mind, causing her to flash a quick smile and put her hat back on her head.

“Ah hafta get some supplies for mah family...supplies that they don’t sell in town.”

Then, she went to take a drink of her juice, only to realize that she had forgotten to get one when she got her lunch. Before any of them could say anything else, she told them she was going to get a drink, got up and walked away. As she did, the five of them noticed that she was walking with her head hanging low, looking like she was upset about something.

When she was out of earshot, which was easy since the cafeteria was loud to begin with, Rarity leaned in and said, “As much as I despise talking about people behind their backs, I must say that Applejack is up to something.”

“I agree,” said Rainbow as she crossed her arms. “Where is she getting so much money that she can throw around?”

“Was she always like this?” asked Sunset Shimmer. Since she wasn’t really Applejack’s friend for very long, she was the only one who didn’t know about her strange disappearances.

“Sort of,” chimed in Fluttershy, her voice barely audible in the noisy room. “She was like this for a little while in the beginning of the year, but not as much. She used to leave once or twice a month, but now it seems likes she’s leaving every week.”

“If you ask me, I think she’s hiding something!” said Pinkie, pointing in the direction that Applejack went.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and said in a flat, sarcastic tone, "You don’t say, Pinkie.”

“I do say,” she replied. Then, she pulled out a pair of binoculars from her puffy pink hair and looked at Applejack, who was standing in the lunch line with a drink in her hands. “Just look at her, standing in line with that juice container in her hands! She looks so suspicious!”

“Pinkie, she’s just buying a drink,” said Sunset Shimmer. “Besides, we can see her too, you know. You don’t really need binocu-”

“Yeah, but it’s the suspicious way she’s buying a drink,” interrupted Pinkie, lowering the binoculars. “I think we should keep an eye on her.”

“I don’t know about that, Pinkie,” said Fluttershy. “I don’t think she’d appreciate us snooping into her personal business like that.”

“I agree with Fluttershy,” said Rarity. “Besides, I wouldn’t stoop down to a low like that.”

“Maybe you won’t, but I will,” said Rainbow Dash. “I’m with Pinkie Pie on this one. I think we should keep an eye on her, just to see what she’s up to.”

“Well, I’m with Fluttershy. I think we should stay out of her business.”

“Yeah, well, I bet Sunset Shimmer is with me on this, right Sunset?”

She just sat there, staring blankly at the four friends before her. Sunset Shimmer shifted her eyes back and forth, trying desperately to come up with an answer. Sure, she wanted to find out what Applejack was up to, but she didn’t want to stick her nose where it didn’t belong either.

"Well...I...uh...” she stuttered. Then, much to her relief, Applejack returned with her drink in her hand. As she sat down, she stuck the straw into the container and took a swig of her drink, licking her lips when she was done.

“I’ll get back to you girls on that,” Sunset said, trying to keep her answer as vague as possible. Luckily, Applejack didn’t catch on.

“Well, whaddaya say, girls?” she asked, “You up for a little girls’ night out tonight?”

“Sure, why not?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Okie-dokie-lokie!” said Pinkie.

“Very well,” said Rarity as she flicked her hair.

“I’ll see if I’m not too busy,” said Fluttershy, “I’ll have to get back to you later.”

Sunset Shimmer only nodded to her.

Applejack flashed a smile to them as she began to eat her lunch.

Riiiiiiiiiing

“Have a nice day, students,” said the teacher as the class got up and began to head out. It was time for the students to make their way to the last period of the day and many of them were excited about that.

Sunset Shimmer walked down the hall, her mind racing with the conversation from earlier. Although she wanted to find out what Applejack was hiding from all of them, she knew that it was wrong to stick her nose into other people’s business. As that thought ran through her mind, she let out a tiny scoff; if this was before Twilight’s visit, she wouldn’t have any problem getting into another person’s personal life. However, she knew that if this was back then, she would only do it to destroy him or her, not to help.

As she turned the corner, she caught a glimpse of Big Macintosh putting some books into his locker. She stopped walking when she saw him, a thought coming across her mind.

Maybe Applejack is telling the truth, she thought to herself. It won’t hurt to confirm her story with her brother.

Nodding to herself, she walked over to him and said, “Excuse me, Big Macintosh. Can I ask you something?”

“Eeyup,” he said as he closed the locker door.

“Well, you see, it’s about your sister,” she said, an unsure look on her face.

As if on cue, a girl on a scooter rolled by with her two friends following close behind, one of them being Apple Bloom. When Big Macintosh saw his younger sister, he called out to her, stopping her in her tracks.

“Yeah?” she asked with a smile.

“It seems Sunset Shimmer has something to say about you,” said Big Mac as he crossed his arms, a look of disappointment on his face. "What did ya do now?

Apple Bloom gave the two of them a worried look. "Ah didn't do anythin', honest!"

Sunset Shimmer face-palmed herself; how could she forget that Big Mac had two sisters and that both of them were in the same school?

A weary smile came across her face. “Actually, I was talking about Applejack.”

“Oh,” he said, unfolding his arms. He directed his attention back to Apple Bloom. “Sorry ‘bout that, sis.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “What’s wrong with Applejack?”

“Well, the thing is,” Sunset Shimmer said sheepishly. “Applejack told us that she was going away this weekend and I was wondering if you two knew anything about it.”

Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom gave each other a surprised glance. Then, they both looked at Sunset Shimmer and asked in unison, “Again?”

Sunset blinked in surprise. “You mean you two didn’t know?”

"We know she goes away on certain weekends," said Big Mac, "But we didn't know she was leavin' this weekend. Ah’m pretty she woulda told us later, though."

“Do you know where she goes?”

“A little,” said Apple Bloom, “She says she leaves to meet up with some outta-town friends or somethin’. That’s ‘bout it, though. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. It came up at lunch and I was just curious.”

“Well, ah better get goin’ before ah’m late,” said Big Mac, “See ya ‘round.”

“Me too,” said Apple Bloom as she turned and began running down the hall, “See ya later!”

Sunset Shimmer bid the two farewell and began making her way to her own class.

‘Out-of-town friends’? Sunset Shimmer thought. I thought she was leaving for ‘supplies’. Looks like she’s telling us one thing and telling her family another, but the question is why.

She entered her classroom and sat down just as the bell rang. One thing’s absolutely sure, she thought. Applejack is hiding something, something she doesn’t even want her family to know.

It wasn’t long before the last bell rang and the students of Canterlot High were free from school for the next two days. Although most of the students were walking home, there were those who drove, so they made their way to the school’s parking lot.

Sunset Shimmer walked over to her car, pulling out her keys from her pocket as she did. However, her attention was quickly sidetracked when she saw Applejack heading towards her truck, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom not too far behind. However, what caught her attention was the look of worry on her face. Quickly, she checked her surroundings to make sure none of the other girls were around. Then, she made her way to her, calling out to her when she did.

“Applejack!” she shouted, catching her attention. When she caught up to her, she put her keys in her jacket pocket and asked, “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

Applejack could feel an uncomfortable chill run up her spine as she asked the question. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Apple Bloom and Big Mac standing there, both with a confused look on her face.

She turned to face them and said, “It’s fine, ya’ll. Ah’ll be right there.”

The two of them exchanged confused glances before getting inside the truck. Then, Applejack turned to face Sunset Shimmer and asked, “What’s up?”

“Well, I wanted to talk to you in private to ask you something,” she said, crossing her arms. “Where exactly do you go when you leave town?”

Putting her hand on her hips, Applejack said, “Ah already told ya, ah leave ta get some supplies they don't have in town.”

“Uh-huh,” said Sunset, narrowing her eyes at her, “What kind of supplies?”

Once again, Applejack was taken off guard. She began looking at the ground, her eyes shifting back and forth as she bit her lower lip. Seeing this reaction, Sunset Shimmer simply raised an eyebrow.

Then, Applejack blurted out, “What difference does it make? All ya need ta know is that ah hafta leave town for ‘em! That’s it, end of story.”

Letting out a small laugh, she said, “You know, you’re very secretive for something as trivial as getting ‘supplies’. I’m pretty sure your family would be willing to tell me all about where you go. Maybe we should go talk to them about it.”

In a flash, AJ turned to her with an angry expression on her face. She pointed a finger at her and shouted, “Don’t you DARE!”

Sunset Shimmer took a few steps back, her eyes wide and her hands up in surrender; she had never seen Applejack get this angry before, not to her or anybody. “Geez. Sorry, okay. I didn’t know it was that big a deal.”

Applejack inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to calm herself down. Then, she said, “No, ah’m the one who should be sorry. Ah shouldn’t have snapped at ya like that. It’s just that...well...”

Lowering her hands, Sunset Shimmer could see that, whatever it was that Applejack was hiding, it was bothering her deeply. If she didn't know any better, she looked like she was on the verge of crying. However, Applejack took another deep breath to regain her composure.

“It’s nothing, honest,” she quickly replied. “Just don’t worry yerself about it.”

With that, Applejack turned to get into the truck. Before she did, she turned to Sunset Shimmer once more and asked, “See you tonight?”

She smiled at her and said, “Sure.”

Then, she got into the truck. A few seconds went by before the truck began to back out of the parking spot. Sunset quickly waved goodbye to Applejack as it began to pull away. She turned and began making her way to her own car, taking the keys out of her pocket again.

Whatever it is that Applejack’s hiding, it seems to be affecting her badly, she thought as she unlocked her car and opened the door. I hate to say it, but there’s only one way we’re going to get to the bottom of this, and that’s by seeing where she goes.

Author's Note

I'll admit that there's a LOT of factual errors in this fic. A follow-up blog post will be made when the story is finished to explain most of them.

The Pursuit

“This is so uncouth,” said Rarity, a look of disapproval on her face, “I simply cannot believe I let you talk me into doing this.”

“Get real, Rare’s,” said Rainbow Dash from behind her. “We didn’t force you to do this, you know! You could have said no, but you didn’t. Just admit it; you’re just as curious as we are to find out what Applejack is up to! Besides, you’re the only one with a car big enough to fit all of us in.”

“Be that as it may, I still find this behavior atrocious!”

It was Saturday evening now, 5:37 to be exact (according to the car’s clock). The five girls found themselves crammed into Rarity’s white sedan with the fashionista at the wheel, Sunset Shimmer riding shotgun, and the others stuffed in the back. Earlier that day, Sunset had told the others about what Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom had told her about Applejack. When the two stories that she had told them didn’t connect, she had agreed to follow Applejack to see where she went, much to Rarity’s disapproval.

They waited on the side of a street corner in the suburban part of town, overlooking a certain house on the street. The high-ranch house looked like every other house on the street, except this one was white, had a red door, and green shutters on the windows. What made this house more important than the others was the old truck that sat in the driveway. It seemed a little out of place for a worn-down truck to be parked outside of the refurbished home, but they figured Applejack and her family had their reasons for keeping it instead of getting a new one.

Are you sure she’s going to be leaving around now?” asked Sunset Shimmer.

“Of course I’m sure,” Rainbow answered. “When I went over to her house at a quarter past 6, the truck was gone and her family said that she had left.”

“Well, I do hope she comes out soon,” said Rarity. “We’ve been waiting her for thirty-seven min-”

“THIRTY-EIGHT!” shouted Pinkie as she leaned forward from the back and pointed at the clock. “It just changed!”

“Thirty-eight minutes,” she corrected as she rolled her eyes. “There’s still no sign of her leaving.”

“Pinkie, will you please sit down!” Rainbow said in annoyance. “It’s hard enough that the three of us are stuffed back here without you jumping around and making it more uncomfortable.”

Quickly, Pinkie Pie sat back in her seat, an innocent smile on her face.

“I hope the animal shelter won’t be too mad at us for cancelling at the last minute,” said Fluttershy, guilt in her tone.

“I’m sure they’ll understand,” Sunset said reassuringly. “Besides, they had plenty of help without us, so they shouldn’t be too upset.”

Fluttershy simply responded with a head nod. After that, the five of them fell silent as they continued to watch the house and wait for Applejack to depart.

Applejack sat at her dresser, looking at herself in the mirror while brushing her blonde hair. After she was done, she put the brush down and let out a sigh, lowering her head in shame. Then, she directed her attention to the small calendar that she kept nearby.

She picked it up and flipped past the month they were in to the next one. Then, she took a red marker she had and circled the Saturday that was in the middle of the month. She put the calendar down and looked at herself in the mirror again.

Only a few more weeks, she told herself, trying to cheer herself up. After that, ya won’t hafta do this anymore. Ya should be able ta keep it a secret ‘til then.

Unfortunately, as much as she tried to be optimistic about it, a small tear escaped her eye and managed to make its way down her cheek. Sniffling, she wiped it away with the back of her hand, knowing that crying about it now wasn’t going to help her.

Grabbing her Stetson and putting it on her head, Applejack got up and left her bedroom, trying her best to put on a smile. Before she left, she grabbed a brown overcoat and held it in her arms as she closed the bedroom door behind her. She walked down the hallway and headed for the front door, making sure she had the keys to the truck in her pocket. However, as she reached out for the door knob, she heard a soft voice call her name from behind her.

"Applejack," said Apple Bloom. "Are ya leaving now?"

Letting out a sigh, Applejack said, “Yeah, ah am.”

“How long are ya gonna be gone?” asked the deep voice of Big Macintosh, who took Applejack by surprise.

Turning around to face the two of them, she answered, “Ah should be back by tomorrow night.”

“Yer gonna be gone the whole weekend again?” asked Apple Bloom, a look of shock on her face.

Applejack only nodded in response.

“When are ya gonna tell us where yer really goin’?” asked Big Mac, crossing his arms.

Straightening her posture, Applejack said, “Ah thought ah already told ya! Ah’m just goin’ outta town ta see some friends, that’s all."

The buff young man narrowed his eyes, clearly not convinced with his sister’s alibi.s alibi. Truth be told, he had a feeling that Applejack wasn't telling him the truth. However, he decided to let it go; he had tried to pry it out of her many times in the past and always got the same answer. Besides, he didn't have any proof to accuse her of lying.

"Are ya gonna introduce us to yer new friends some day?” asked Apple Bloom, an innocent smile on her face.

Turning around, the older sister said, “Maybe someday.” Then, she said her goodbyes and went outside, closing the door behind her. As she began walking down the porch steps, she sighed to herself again.

Ah hope ya never hafta meet 'em, she thought to herself.

Wasting no time, she got into the truck, put the overcoat on the back seat, and started the truck. Before she pulled out of the driveway, she reached under the driver’s seat and took out a brown paper bag. She opened it up and poured the contents of it onto the passenger seat. One of the items in the bag brought a small flicker of a smile to her face while the other two made it vanish as quickly as it appeared.

The first item was a wad of twenty dollar bills that was rolled up and held together with a small rubber band. She remembered when there was so much more money than what was present. Unfortunately, she had to spend most of it on other things, so there wasn't that much left. Removing the rubber band, she counted all that remained: three-hundred dollars.

The second item was a small sticky note that was once attached to the wad of bills. It no longer had its adhesiveness, so it lied on the seat by itself. Applejack picked up the small paper and she read it to herself again: Here’s your cut with an added bonus. Buy yourself something nice. See you next week.

The last item was the one thing that Applejack cringed at the moment she laid eyes on it. Right now, it was rolled in a ball, its black color sticking out on the truck’s seat. The only thing noticeable about it was that a small part of it was in the shape of a star. Applejack only stared at it for a few seconds before she quickly shoved it back into the bag, cursing herself for ever buying it in the first place.

Then, she crumpled up the note and stuffed the money in her pocket, keeping the brown bag on the seat. She gave herself one final look in the rear-view mirror and sighed one last time. Then, she put the truck in reverse, pulled out of the driveway and made her way down the road, the road she regretted going down every single week.

“She’s leaving! She’s leaving!” shouted Pinkie Pie, leaning forward once again and pointing to the house.

“Eep!” shouted Fluttershy, taken aback from Pinkie’s sudden outburst. Even Sunset Shimmer, who had closed her eyes for a few moments, nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Yes, Pinkie, I can see her,” said Rarity. “No need to shout in my ear.”

“PINKIE PIE!” shouted Rainbow Dash, taking her by the shoulder and pulling her back into the seat.

All of them watched as Applejack got into her truck. She waited in the truck for a while before pulling out of the driveway and making her way down the road. Luckily, she was heading in the opposite direction from them, so they didn’t have to worry about being spotted.

When the truck was about a block away, Rarity turned her car on and began to follow, keeping an eye on Applejack as she turned onto the road.

“It’s about time she left,” said Rainbow as she crossed her arms. “I was starting to get bored.”

“Hopefully, we’ll get some answers to where she goes and why she’s so keen on keeping it a secret,” said Sunset Shimmer.

“Maybe,” said Rarity. “So long as we keep our distance and not bring any unnecessary attention to ourselves.”

The five friends fell silent as they continued to follow Applejack, who was leaving the suburbs and making her way to the city. As they weaved through the busy streets, Rarity kept agood three car lengths away from her to avoid any suspicion.

"Ooh! Ooh! I know, let’s play a game while we drive!” said Pinkie, as she bounced up and down in her seat.

“What kind of game?” asked Fluttershy, an unsure look on her face.

“Let’s count how many red cars we see as we drive!” she exclaimed. She looked out the window and began counting every single red car she saw, whether they were parked or on the road.

As she continued to count, it became very obvious that Pinkie was counting by herself, since none of the others bothered to chime in. Fortunately, she was so wrapped up in her self-appointed game to notice that the others weren't playing along.

Some time had passed before Applejack made her way from the city to the highway, getting on the ramp and onto the busy main road. As they followed, they kept an eye on the signs around them, making a mental note of where they were heading.

“Ooh, more cars!” shouted Pinkie Pie. “I bet I can count them all!”

She began jumping up and down in her seat as she counted every single car she could see. All the while, Rarity slowly weaved her way through the traffic, not taking her eyes of the truck. Although some cars managed to get between her and Applejack, she wasn’t too overly concerned about it; it only lessened the suspicion of them following her.

After a while, mostly out of boredom, Sunset asked, “Where do you think she’s going?”

“I’m not sure,” said Rarity. “Hopefully not very far.”

“What if she’s telling the truth?” Fluttershy asked. “What if she really is getting supplies, or seeing some out-of-town friends?”

“Yeah, right,” said Rainbow, sarcastically. “If she was really doing that stuff, why would she tell us one thing and her family another?”

“I agree with Rainbow Dash,” said Sunset. “If she was telling the truth, she wouldn’t be so secretive about it.”

“I know,” said the timid girl. “It’s just that it’s not like Applejack to lie to us, that’s all.”

“You’re right, Fluttershy,” said Rarity as she put on her blinker to enter the next lane. “Applejack wouldn't lie to us. Makes me wonder why we’re doing this in the first place.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Rainbow chimed in. “We’re following her to make sure she’s not getting herself in any serious trouble with the wrong people.”

She opened her mouth in preparation to come back at her, but for the first time in a while, what Rainbow Dash had said made sense. So, she closed her mouth and concentrated on her driving, keeping the truck in sight.

Silence fell upon them once again as they continued to follow their friend. They continued driving on the highway for about an hour before they saw the truck pull off at the nearest exit. Rarity followed, looking at the road signs to get a good idea to where they were heading. Although the night skies made it hard to see, she was still able to read the signs as they passed.

“Looks like we’re heading to the next city over,” said Rarity.

“Well, at least we now know where she goes,” said Sunset Shimmer.

Some more time had passed before they entered the city that was next to theirs. As they surveyed their surroundings, all of them had shocked expressions on their faces; even Pinkie Pie, who had been playing her “game” all this time, had fallen to silence.

Applejack appeared to be heading to the slums of the city, where a lot of the buildings and apartments were old and decrepit. Graffiti littered the walls and trash littered the ground. The apartments were all clumped together and the streets were very narrow, giving them a very claustrophobic feeling.

Fluttershy whispered to the others, “I don’t like it here.”

“Me neither,” said Rarity. “What in the world is Applejack doing in a place like this?”

“We’re about to find out,” said Sunset Shimmer. “Look!”

They all directed their attention to the road and watched the truck pull into what looked like a motel. However, it looked like it was falling apart with some of the windows boarded up and the neon sign above it with no cover on it. To make themselves less conspicuous, Rarity pulled over on the side of the street that was adjacent to the establishment. The moment they saw Applejack get out of the truck and head towards the building, she shut off the engine of her car. They continued to watch as Applejack went into the main building of the motel, no doubt going to get a room key.

“Don’t tell me she’s staying in this dump!” said Rarity, cringing and shuttering at the very thought of what the insides might look like. “With the money that she freely throws around, you’d think she’d stay somewhere with more class, to say the least.”

“Looks like she is,” said Rainbow. “Now know where she stays while she’s here.”

“All that’s left is finding out where she goes and what she does,” said Sunset Shimmer.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Fluttershy, her voice sounding like she was on the verge of crying. “I think we should just go and leave it at this.”

“No way,” said Rainbow Dash. “We’re here now, so we may as well see what else she’s hiding.”

Before anyone could say anything else, they saw Applejack walk out of the main building and head to one of the rooms, opening the door and going inside. A short while later, they saw her exit the room and close the door, heading towards her truck again. However, instead of going into the driver’s side, she opened the passenger’s side and took out what looked like a brown paper bag and a brown overcoat. Then, she closed the door, put the overcoat on and began walking towards the sidewalk.

The second they saw her approaching, they all ducked down out of sight, slightly peeking out to see where she was heading. They watched as she looked both ways, as if checking to see if anyone was around, before making her way down the road, completely oblivious to the fact that she was begin followed.

“What should we do now?” Rainbow whispered. “Follow her on foot or in the car?”

“If you think for one moment I am walking in this dreaded place on foot, you’ve got another thing coming,” Rarity whispered back.

“Fine, but we’ll have to wait until she’s further away,” Sunset whispered. “Otherwise, we’ll catch her attention with the sound of the car.”

“Uh, guys, can I ask a question?” asked Pinkie.

“Sure, Pinkie, what is it?” Sunset answered.

“Why exactly are we whispering?”

The only sound they heard was Rainbow Dash face-palming herself.

A few minutes went by before they were convinced Applejack was out of earshot. All of them sitting up straight again, Rarity started the car and slowly began to follow her, keeping her distance from her. Although they had to go even slower than before because Applejack was on foot, they were able to stay on the side of the road to let on-going traffic pass them with ease.

This went on for about 4 blocks before they saw her enter a building, making sure no one was following her before she entered. Coming to a complete stop, they saw that she had entered what looked like a clothing store.

“I wonder what she’s doing here,” said Sunset Shimmer.

“Maybe what she said was true,” said Fluttershy with a nervous chuckle. “Maybe this is where she is getting the supplies she mentioned. Looks like she’s telling the truth! Can we go home now?”

“Get real, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow. “If she was just getting supplies, like she claims she’s doing, she wouldn’t book a room at a sleazy motel.”

Just the mere mention of the complex sent chills down Rarity’s spine, making her shutter in her seat.

“What should we do now?” asked Fluttershy.

“I’ll go in and see what she’s up to!” said Rainbow as she opened the door and got out.

“What? Are you crazy?” asked Rarity. “You stick out like a sore thumb!”

“Trust me. I know what I’m doing!”

A little skeptical, Sunset Shimmer said, “Alright, Rainbow. Just try to keep out of sight.”

“Don’t worry about it," she said as she gave them a thumbs-up. “‘Undercover’ is my middle name!”

“Really?” asked Pinkie as she raised an eyebrow. “I thought your middle name was ‘Jennifer’!”

Rainbow only responded by giving her an annoyed look and slamming the door closed. Then, she quickly made her way into the store. As they sat and waited, Rarity looked at a few of the outfits that were in the window, silently judging them and comparing them to other outfits she had seen and made. Then, she looked at Sunset Shimmer, a small smile forming on her lips.

“You know,” she said to her. “The job at the Boutique is still available. I could get you in, if you’d like.”

Sunset gave her a worried look. “I told you that I’d think about it.”

“What’s there to think about? A job would be very good for you.”

“I know,” she answered with a sigh. “I just don’t see myself working in a fancy place like that, that’s all.”

“If you insist,” the fashionista said with a shrug. “Just thought I’d help you out, is all.”

“I appreciate it. I just need a little time to think about it.”

Some time had passed before they saw Applejack walk out of the store. She began walking down the road again, only this time, the brown bag that she was carrying looked fuller than before. Five minutes later, Rainbow quickly bolted out the door and into the car, letting out a small huff when she did.

“Well, what did you see?” asked Sunset.

“Looks like she just bought an outfit,” said Rainbow. “I couldn’t see what kind because I was trying to stay hidden, not to mention she hid it from sight. It was almost like she was embarrassed that she was buying it.”

Sunset scratched the back of her red and orange-streaked hair, lost in thought.

“Well, the only thing to do now is keep following her,” said Rarity as she started the car again. Soon, they were making their way down the road again, following Applejack to her unknown location.

She walked for about five blocks before she turned the corner and headed down the road for another three. After about twenty-five minutes of them silently following their friend, they finally saw Applejack head towards a building that was lit up with neon lights. There were two doors, one of which was guarded by a muscular man with a tight-fitting black t-shirt. They watched as Applejack headed towards the second door that was off to the side near some bushes that were placed around it.

As they watched, Rarity saw that there was a parking lot in front of the building, so she decided to park. After she shut off the engine, they all focused their attention to the name of the building that was illuminated in neon lights.

“‘The Dark Side’,” read Pinkie, who instantly smiled at the name. “You know, I saw a movie with that name in it once!”

“Is this a night club?” asked Sunset Shimmer.

“Looks like it to me,” said Rainbow Dash.

“What would Applejack be doing here?” asked Rarity.

Fluttershy felt her heart beginning to race. “Maybe we should go,” she said nervously. “It looks like she works here, so that’s it; mystery solved! What do you say we leave it at that?”

Rarity was about to agree when se was silenced by the sound of one of the car doors opening.

"Sorry, girls, but I need to know what exactly she’s doing here,” said Rainbow as she got out.

Sunset opened her door and got out, the others following suit. “Maybe Fluttershy’s right,” she said. “She’s probably just a waitress or something. There’s no need to-”

“I don’t buy it,” Rainbow interrupted. “Why would she hide a job? Why would she travel so far away to work here? Why here of all places and why for just the weekend? I’m sorry Sunset Shimmer, but I need answers and I need them now!”

Not waiting for the others, Rainbow began marching her way to the front entrance. She had only taken a few steps before she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning her head, she saw that it was Rarity, accompanied by the others.

“You’re not going in there without us,” she said. “As much as I really don’t want to.”

“Um, guys?” asked Pinkie, “How are we gonna get passed the guard?”

“Leave that to me,” said the fashionista as she flipped her hair back. They all followed her up to the front door, the guard standing there turning his head to face them as they approached.

“Uh-hem,” said Rarity in the most lady-like manner she could muster. “Excuse me, good sir. Is it possible for you to let a couple of girls like us into your club? You see, a friend of ours works here and we just want to pay her a visit.”

“Very well,” he said with a gruff voice. “Just don’t cause any trouble.”

With that, he stepped aside to allow the five of them to enter. As they walked in, Rarity had a smug look on her face.

“All it takes is a little charm,” she boasted.

“Yeah, not to burst your bubble or anything, but I don’t think your ‘charm’ had anything to do with it,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I agree,” said Sunset. “I have a feeling that anyone was allowed in. Had we just walked passed, he probably wouldn’t have said anything.”

They all fell silent as they saw a corridor drifting off to the left. It wasn’t all that long, maybe about a yard or two. At the end of the corridor was the entrance to the night club that branched off to the right. Silently, they all walked down the corridor, their eyes straining from the slightly dim lighting that engulfed the walkway.

Then, they reached the end of the corridor and came face-to-face with the night club. The moment they laid their eyes on their environment, all of them froze where they stood, eyes wide and hearts pounding.

Author's Note

I'll admit that there's a LOT of factual errors in this fic. A follow-up blog post will be made when the story is finished to explain most of them.

The Truth

They didn’t have to investigate their surroundings for long to realize where they truly were; the extremely dim lights, the runway in the center of the establishment, the people sitting around it and at various tables in the place, the bar in the back to their left, the girls walking around in extremely risqué clothing, and the long pole that rested on the end of the runway made it all too clear.

“This isn’t a night club,” Rarity said, “This is a gentleman’s club!”

Pinkie Pie squinted her eyes and tilted her head back and forth. Then, she tapped a finger on her chin and said, “It looks more like a strip club to me!”

Rainbow Dash would have face-palmed herself again but her forehead was starting to hurt from it, so rolled her eyes instead.

“What...? Why...?” Sunset Shimmer tried to ask. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t find the right words to come out. Rainbow Dash must’ve been reading her mind because she managed to ask, at least, one of the many questions that floated in her mind.

“What the hell is Applejack doing here!?” she asked, an annoyed look on her face.

“Now, now, let’s not jump to any conclusions here,” said Rarity, trying her best to maintain her composure, “We should probably make sure we know what’s going on before we do anything brash.”

“Rarity’s right,” said Sunset, trying to put on a smile, “It’d be a better idea if we ask someone where she is so we can talk to-”

“Excuse me, can you please move?” an impatient man said from behind them.

They hadn’t realized that they were standing in the entrance way all this time, blocking other people from getting in. Slowly, the five of them entered the strip club, all of them trying their best not to get separated in the dimly-lit room.

Suddenly, music started playing by what looked like a DJ’s booth, the blue and white lights in the room shining down on the stage. Then, an announcer of some kind spoke in a microphone, announcing the next dancer to the stage. The instant they saw the girl enter, the five of them tried their best to look away.

“Can we please find Applejack and get out of here?” asked Rarity, blocking the corner of her eyes with her hand, “I don’t want to see any of these horrid displays, thank you very much.”

As all of them tried to look away from the strip show that was going on, Fluttershy let her curiosity get the upper hand, causing her to peek at the stage from the corner of her eyes. The moment she saw the girl on the stage beginning to peel her clothes off, she let out a small eep as she covered her eyes again, her breathing starting to shallow.

“Well, where do we start looking?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Sunset Shimmer didn’t have to look far for an idea to come to mind. Quickly, she walked over to the bar and grabbed the attention of one of the bar tenders that was busy getting drinks together.

“Excuse me!” she shouted against the music that was playing, “Can I ask you a quick question?”

The young girl behind the counter gave a patron his drink before answering, “Sure, but make it quick! We’re very busy tonight!”

Clearing her throat, she asked, “We’re looking for a friend of ours named Applejack! We were wondering if you know where she is!”

The bar tender thought about it for a moment, her eyes shifting back and forth in thought. Then, she leaned in and said, “There’s no one here who goes by that name!”

“Surely you jest,” intervened Rarity, “We saw her come in here, so she’s gotta be here! Maybe if you know what she looks like...”

Rarity was interrupted by another patron who was becoming more inpatient by the second. The girl behind the counter said, “Sorry, girls, but there’s no one here named ‘Applejack’!”

With that, she quickly went back to work, leaving the group of friends with question marks over their heads. They all shot each other confused glances as they tried to assess the situation.

“Something’s not right here!” said Rainbow Dash, “We saw her come in! Why would no one know who she is?”

Sunset Shimmer was about to add her two-cents when she realized that someone in their group was missing: Pinkie Pie. Quickly, she looked around to find where she had gone, only to find her approaching them from the other side of the room with a look of defeat.

“Where were you?” she asked.

“I went to ask if anyone had seen Applejack anywhere!” Pinkie said.

“Any luck?” asked Rainbow.

“Nopey-dopey. It’s like they’ve never even heard of her!”

“It’s possible that she goes by another name!” suggested Rarity with a shrug, “Maybe she changed her name to conceal her identity!”

They all let out a sigh of defeat as they scanned their surroundings as best as they could, trying to see if they could recognize her. Before they could investigate the surrounding area, a girl in extremely revealing clothing approached them. They all gave her a passing glance, smiling as she walked by. However, the nervous look on Sunset Shimmer’s face was all the convincing the stripper needed to walk up to her.

Putting a hand on her shoulder, the exotic dancer gave her a sultry look and asked, “Hey, sweetheart. Are you having a good time?”

“Uh...” Sunset said, looking at the others with a confused look. She looked back to her and said with a shrug, “Maybe?”

“You look like you could use a little relaxation,” she said, running her fingers in her red and yellow-streaked hair. “How about you and I go somewhere a little more private?”

Eyes in pinpoints and sweat forming on the back of her neck, she feigned the best smile she could muster before shaking her head.

Still giving her a playful smile, she asked, “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” she managed to choke out.

The dancer shrugged at her response and said, “Suit yourself.”

As she walked away, Sunset Shimmer remained frozen, her brain trying to wrap around what had just happened. Her heart started pounding in her chest as blood began to rush into her cheeks. Pinkie and Fluttershy were too stunned for words as Rainbow tried her best to conceal her laughter; fortunately, the darkness made it hard for them to see her. Rarity, on the other hand, looked appalled.

“That’s disgusting!” shouted Rarity. “Have they no shame?”

“Yeah, right,” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically. “Just look at where we are and ask if they have any shame!”

Finally able to get her mind on track, Sunset Shimmer rubbed her temples with her fingers. “Look, we’re getting nowhere fast! We need to find Applejack and ask her what’s going on!”

A loud cheering and applauding echoed in the room as the music began to lower. The announcer from before could be heard again as he announced the next dancer to the stage.

“It brings me great pleasure...and I do mean ‘pleasure’...” the announcer said.

“Can we please get out of here?” asked Fluttershy, “I really don’t want to be here anymore!”

“...to announce the next dancer to the stage...”

Rainbow gave her a determined look. “No! Not until we find...”

“...Candy Apples!”

None of the girls bothered to turn around to see the show that was going on behind them. However, Fluttershy, who had let her curious eyes wander again, caught a quick glimpse at the girl who entered the stage. The second she saw who it was, her eyes went wide and she let out a gasp of horror. She backed up against an empty seat at the bar, cupping her hands over her mouth.

“What’s wrong with you, Fluttershy?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy didn’t respond with words. All she did was point at the stage, prompting the others to look. Reluctantly, they all looked at the dancer who had entered. When they did, all of them shared Fluttershy’s sentiments by backing up to the bar in shock.

None of them could find the words to say as the girl entered the stage, wearing a red, white, and blue sheer top that covered only her upper chest and her shoulders and was tied in a knot in between her breasts. She wore a red skirt that was up to her nether region, and high heels that looked extremely difficult to walk in. However what caught their attention was the brown Stetson that sat atop her blonde hair. They didn’t need to investigate any further to know that it was Applejack that was on the stage, confirming Rarity’s statement about her changing her name.

As she slowly stepped onto the stage, the crowd went wild as the music shifted into a country-esque theme, fitting the mood of the dancer before them. As she began to dance, shaking her hips in time with the music, the others watched in horror, none of them mustering up the courage to speak. They continued watching as Applejack bent over to her audience, shaking her butt in front of them with a coy smile on her face.

The crowd began whistling as she stood up straight and continued dancing to the music, shaking her hips in a circular motion while making her way up to the pole at the end of the runway. She put one hand on it and began grinding her vaginal against it, licking the fingers on her other hand as she did.

As the music continued, she spun in a half circle and took a few steps away from the pole, keeping her back to her audience. She removed her top by untying the front and tossed it to the back of the runway. Then, she undid the zipper on her skirt and stretched her arms into the air. Shaking her hips back and forth, she let the skirt fall to her ankles. She stepped out of it with one foot and used the other to kick it to where her top was. Finally, she turned around and showed the audience what she was wearing underneath it. The moment they laid their eyes upon it, all five of them let out a gasp, covering their mouths with their hands.

Applejack was wearing a black bra and g-string combination. However, the strings of bra were extremely thin and exposed every part of her breasts except her nipples, which were covered by a small piece of fabric that was in the shape of a star. The g-string she wore looked like it was a thin piece of fabric that barely covered her pussy and completely exposed her ass; Apple Bloom’s hair bow probably had more material on it than what she was wearing now.

The girls continued to watch in horror as Applejack did a split, her legs stretching apart and bringing her down to the ground. Putting her hands in front of her, she began to grind her pussy against the stage, her ass bouncing up and down. She turned her head to the side to look at her audience, offering them another coy smile as she licked her lips.

Then, she spun around and stood up, continuing to sway her hips to the beat of the music. She went over to the pole and grinded her pussy against it again. As the music continued, she matched her gyrations with the beat; the g-string looked like it was about to slip off to the side and expose her nether region. Furthermore, her breasts shook back and forth, the material barely able to keep herself covered.

Her hands still on the pole, Applejack spun around to the end of the stage. Once there, she bent over, her ass facing the audience. When she heard the reaction she wanted from the roaring crowd, she began to shake her ass back and forth, the audience whistling at the erotic display. To give them more of a tease, she turned her head to face them as she slapped her ass, offering a wink to all of them.

Straightening her posture, Applejack reached behind her, took one of the strings of her bra, and slowly began pulling on it until the knot holding it closed came out. After slipping it off of her shoulders, she whipped it down to her side and spun around to face the audience again. The girls found themselves holding their breaths in horror at the train wreck that was happening before them; they feared to look, but they couldn’t turn away.

It should be noted that Applejack was not the bustiest girl in school, nor was she flat-chested; she was a good handful or two at least. Therefore, as she began to spin her hips in a circular motion while twirling her bra in the air like a lasso, her breasts had little to no trouble swaying back in forth, her nipples rock hard.

After a few moments, she threw her bra towards the rest of the discarded clothing, not stopping her dance. The crowd began whistling and howling as she leaned her back against the pole and began rubbing her ass against it, her hands fondling her breasts while running her fingers against her nipples, licking her lips as she swayed back and forth.

Lowering herself into a squatting position, she spread her legs open to expose her barely covered nether region. With one hand still playing with her tits, she began rubbing the outside of her g-string with her other hand, softly stroking where her pussy was. All the while, she had a look on her face that she was enjoying this as much as the audience was.

When a guy stood up, she got up and walked over to him and bent over, her ass going in front of his face. The girls watched as he took what looked like a dollar that was in his hands and put it in the string of her underwear, Applejack sending a kiss his way in response. Another individual stood up and Applejack did the same thing, allowing him to place his money in her g-string.

As she secured the money in place, Applejack walked to the middle of runway, putting her hands behind her head as she began pumping her crotch in the air. Then, she began lowering her hands down her body, rubbing her breasts and teasing her nipples again on the way down to her stomach. Finally, she took her thumbs and placed them underneath the strings of her underwear.

Time seemed to stand still as the girls watched Applejack beginning to lower her g-string, slowly making its way to her pussy. Sunset Shimmer, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had the same look of shock on their faces, none of them mustering up the courage to even look at each other, let alone say anything. Fluttershy was also shocked, but instead of being frozen in fear, she had her hands cupped over her mouth the whole time. Tears streamed down her face as she began to hyperventilate, a really bad taste coming into her mouth. However, Rainbow Dash didn’t share the same sentiments as her friends. She wasn’t shocked or even upset about what she was seeing. Instead, she was angry, her eyebrows furrowing and her hands clenching the seat she was sitting on.

None of them could believe what was happening right now. Here was Applejack, one of their good friends that they’ve known for a while, dancing on a stage and exposing herself to complete strangers in one of the worst ways imaginable. Now, she was about to flash them her pussy and, judging by the look on her face, the coy smile and her tongue slowly making its way across her upper lip, she didn’t seem to mind that she was doing it. In fact, if they didn’t know better, they’d all go so far as to say that she was actually enjoying what she was doing.

The crowd went wild as Applejack slowly continued lowering her g-string, her hips still rocking back and forth in time with the music. Still breathing heavily, Fluttershy began taking several steps forward, lightly pushing past the others. That seemed to knock them out of their trance as the four others watched the timid girl slowly make her way to the stage.

“Stop,” she said softly. It was like she was trying to call out to her, though her voice wasn’t heard by anyone but herself. With every step she took closer to the stage, she felt her stomach beginning to churn uncomfortably. However, she didn’t let that stop her as she continued to make her way to the stage.

“Stop,” Fluttershy said again, a little louder than before. She walked near a table where two young men were sitting and enjoying the show. However, when she was next to it, she had to stop walking. Clutching one hand against her stomach, she covered her mouth as the bad taste from before came back into her mouth.

With one last look at Applejack on the stage, Fluttershy’s breathing began to intensify. Then, without any warning whatsoever, she turned her head to the side and regurgitated.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” shouted one of the men sitting at the table as he stood up to avoid getting hit by her vomit. Backing up, he bumped into another table, causing it to fall over, the empty bottles and glasses on it colliding with each other and shattering.

The commotion caused everyone to look at what was happening; even Applejack had stopped her dance to see what was going on. The DJ lowered the music and programmed the lights to shine on what was happening. Everyone watched as the young man began shouting at Fluttershy, making her back up towards the other girls.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!?” he shouted, pointing a finger at her.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she repeated over and over again, tears running down the corners of her eyes.

“Leave her alone!” Rainbow Dash shot back as she stood between him and the frightened girl.

“Oh yeah?” he asked as he stepped closer to her, “What are you gonna do about it, bitch?”

“Call me that one more time and you’ll find out, you fuckin’ asshole!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity intervened, Sunset Shimmer and Pinkie Pie trying to calm them all down. “Watch your language! There’s no need to stoop to his level of ignorance.”

Then, everything froze to a halt as the five of them realized that everyone, including Applejack, was looking at their scuffle. They all looked at Applejack, who was just as terrified as they were. Her heart began to race as she looked at each of them, who were all looking back at her. Eyes as small as anything, she took her thumbs out of her g-string. Then, she used one hand to cover her pussy while using the other to quickly grab her Stetson to cover her exposed breasts.

“What the...?” she managed to choke out, even though no one heard her say it.

Giving Applejack one last look, Fluttershy began crying profusely as she pushed past everyone and ran out the main entrance, covering her eyes.

“Fluttershy!” Sunset Shimmer exclaimed as she began running after her, Pinkie Pie and Rarity not too far behind. Rainbow Dash began to follow them, purposely knocking into the guy who had insulted her moments before. However, she gave Applejack one last look of resentment before bolting out of the establishment to join the others.

Slowly, Applejack backed away from the stage, grabbed her clothes and made her way to the dressing room in the back. As quickly as she could, she took the g-string off and began putting on her casual clothes, her heart pounding in her chest and her face as pale as anything. The other dancers in the room looked at her with concern as she fumbled to get her clothes on.

“Candy, is everything alright?” a voice came behind her. Applejack turned to see that it was the manager standing there with a worried look on his face.

“Sorry, but ah hafta leave,” she said as she put on her shirt, “Ah’m really sorry. Ah’ll make it up to ya, promise!”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, ah’m alright. It’s just...somethin’s come up.”

Letting out a small sigh, he took out a huge wad of bills, the revenue they had been making all night. When Applejack was finished placing all her belongings into her brown bag, she put on her brown overcoat and started to leave. However, the manager stopped her and handed her a large wad of twenty-dollar bills.

“That’s mighty kind of ya,” she said, “But ah don’t deserve all this. Ah wasn’t here long enough and...”

“Nonsense,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, “You’re a good kid and I know you need this more than anyone else.”

Applejack smiled as she wrapped her arms around him in an embrace. Then, she put the money in her bag and said, “Ah’ll be back tomorrow.”

“We’ll be waiting,” he said with a wink.

Then, she left the building, looking in all directions for her friends. No matter where she looked, she didn’t seem to find any traces of them. Letting out a sigh of temporary relief, she began running back to the motel, her heart continuing to pound in her chest.

Great, just great, she thought to herself. Now what am ah gonna do? How am ah gonna explain all this to them? How can ah make them understand?

She shook her head to regain her focus. Worry about that later. Right now, just focus on gettin’ home!

With that, she continued running down the road towards the motel, hoping against hope that she wouldn’t run into any of her friends and praying the Fluttershy was alright.

Author's Note

Okay, it's not the most erotic writing in the world, but it's something, considering that I've never written scenes like these before.
I'll admit that there's a LOT of factual errors in this fic. A follow-up blog post will be made when the story is finished to explain most of them.

The Reason

Applejack ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Unfortunately, with the fear coursing through her body and her heart racing even before she started running, she wasn’t able to go as fast as she would have liked. Her breathing shallow, she felt like stopping for a moment to catch her breath, but she knew that that wasn’t an option right now; all that mattered was getting to the motel as fast as she could so she could think about what she was going to say to her friends when the time came, which she knew was very, very soon.

Everything was running through her mind at once; the terrified look of her friends, Fluttershy running away with tears in her eyes, the angered look on Rainbow Dash’s face. What would they think of her now? Would they be able to look at her the same way again? Would they even want to remain friends with her, knowing what she’d just done? She tried her best to shake her mind of these thoughts and focus on getting to the motel, but to no avail.

It seemed to take longer than it usually did, but soon, the motel was in sight. She gave out a small sigh of relief as she began to slow down, trying her best to prevent her heart from pounding out of her chest.

Jogging up to her truck, she opened the front passenger door and placed the brown paper bag into the glove compartment. However, her heart skipped a beat again when she heard the sound of a car door opening and closing within close proximity of her. Lifting her head, she saw that, a few car spaces away from her truck, Sunset Shimmer had gotten out of Rarity’s car and began walking up to her. As quickly as she could, Applejack slammed the door shut and began running to the motel, reaching into her pocket to get the key for her room.

“Applejack, wait!” she heard her yell, though she didn’t acknowledge her request. She stood in front of the door, her hands shifting back and forth in all of her pockets, trying to find her key.

“Looking for this?” she heard the familiar voice ask next to her, making her come to a halt. Turning to her right, she saw that Pinkie Pie was standing there, the key ring that held the room key dangling from her finger.

“How did...?” Applejack began to ask, before cutting herself off, realizing that asking questions was irrelevant. Quickly, she reached out to grab the key, only to have Pinkie quickly pull it away and shove it into her hair (makes you wonder what else she keeps in there), crossing her arms with a serious expression on her face.

“Give it back, Pinkie!” shouted Applejack as she took a few steps closer to her. Pinkie only turned her back to her and let out a small huff of defiance. She was about to advance on her when Sunset Shimmer’s voice froze her in her place.

“Applejack,” she said, making her turn to face her. Behind her, she saw that Rarity was also approaching them from her car. “You’re not going anywhere.”

She wanted to run, bolt away and not turn back, but she didn’t have anywhere to go, anywhere where she could escape. Tears beginning to well up in her eyes, Applejack leaned her back against the motel door, trying to keep herself from breaking down. She took her Stetson off and held it in front of her as if she was trying to hide behind it. She looked up at the three of them, all of them glaring down at her, only to notice just that; there were only three of them before her.

Lowering her head and keeping her voice low, she asked, “How’s Fluttershy?”

“Oh, she’s just dandy,” Rarity said sarcastically. “Forgive the sarcasm, darling, but you of all people should know how she’s doing.”

Tears began to stream down Applejack’s face as the image of Fluttershy, running out of the club the way she did, flashed through her mind again. “Where is she?”

“She’s in the car, crying her eyes out after seeing that horrid display back there!”

Silence dawned on them as Applejack wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. After a while, Sunset Shimmer began rubbing her temples and let out a sigh.

“So many questions running through my head right now,” she said. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“I do!” an angered voice called out to them. All four of them turned their heads to see an enraged Rainbow Dash approaching them, her hands balled into fists at her sides. She walked right up to Applejack and said, “What the fuck was that back there, huh?”

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity shouted at her, eyebrows furrowed. “What did I say about your language?”

“I’m sorry, alright,” she said. “I’m just a little...oh, I don’t know...pissed off that I had to see one of my friends up on a stage, shaking her ass and showing her tits to a bunch of strangers!”

Applejack cringed at her words as she clutched her hat closer to her chest, trying to conceal her already covered body.

“Thank you for that, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity, rolling her eyes and putting her hands on her hips. “Honestly, you can be so callous sometimes.”

“Hey, it’s the truth.”

Letting out a sigh of disapproval at Rainbow’s statement, Sunset Shimmer turned to Pinkie and said, “Think you can give Fluttershy some company?”

Pinkie only nodded in agreement as she began walking away. She handed Sunset Shimmer the motel key before making her way to the car.

“Good idea,” said Rainbow, crossing her arms. “She needs all the comforting she can get! You know, you might have mentally scarred her for life with that little performance of yours. Hope you’re proud of yourself, ‘Candy Apples’.”

Those words seemed to hit her harder than perhaps any of them anticipated. Slowly, Applejack raised her head to look at Rainbow, her eyes narrow and tears streaming from the corners. She gritted her teeth as she began breathing a little heavier than before, almost as if she were hyperventilating.

“‘Proud’?” she asked as she took a few steps closer to Rainbow Dash in a defensive manner, placing her Stetson back on her head. “‘Proud’? Ya think ah’m ‘proud’ of this?”

She saw her advancing on her, but Rainbow Dash stood her ground, ready to take on Applejack. Immediately, Sunset Shimmer and Rarity stood in between the two of them, both of them with worried expressions.

“Both of you need to calm down,” Sunset said.

“She’s right,” Rarity agreed. “Rainbow Dash, you need to tone it down a notch or two. And Applejack...”

She let out a sigh as she tried to finish her sentence. Fortunately, Sunset Shimmer was able to. “What’s going on, Applejack?” she asked.

Still breathing heavily, she turned her back on the three of them, her hands balling into fists. She kept trying to hold herself together, but with every passing second, it felt harder to do so.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she said softly as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Of course we would,” said Sunset Shimmer. She walked in front of her and placed her hands on her shoulders and gave her a reassuring look. “You can tell us.”

She looked into Sunset’s eyes for a second before closing them and turning her head away from them. Applejack wanted to tell them, wanted them to understand why she was doing this, but a small tinge of skepticism washed over her, making her hesitate for a few more seconds.

After several tense moments, Applejack lowered her head and let out a small sigh as she said, “It started a while back in late-October...”

“Our family sells produce at the local supermarket. That’s where most of our money comes from. However, every year, there comes a time when fresh fruit and such don’t sell as well, so money becomes an issue. This year, though, it was really bad.”

Applejack and Big Macintosh were in their living room, both of them sitting with worried looks on their faces. It was the middle of the night and the two of them had gone through a mess of bills that were strewn about on the table in the center of the room.

“What’re we gonna do, Big Mac?” Applejack asked as she rested her head in her hands. “We aren’t makin’ enough money to pay half these bills, not with the salary Granny makes and the drop in sales at the store.”

“Eeyup,” said Big Macintosh softly, followed by a sigh.

“Looks like we have one option, and that’s to find more work elsewhere, at least until sales go up again.”

Big Mac responded with a nod, a stern look on his face.

“So, the two of us set out to try and find whatever work we could get. Big Mac was able to find a part-time job, but it still wasn’t enough to help us. Me, on the other hand, couldn’t find anythin’ that ah was qualified for, nothin’ that could get a lot money right away. That is, until...that day...”

Applejack was walking down the street, her hands in her pockets and her head hanging low. She walked up to the newsstand and picked up the paper to look in the classified ads to see if there was any work she could do.

She read through each individual ad she could find with an optimistic look on her face. The longer she skimmed through the paper, the more the look of hope began to fade away. Letting out a sigh, she closed it up and placed it down on the counter. However, a small ad on the back caught her eye.

The ad only consisted of two words, Models Wanted, and a phone number to call. Desperation kicking in, Applejack memorized the number before walking away from the stand. When she got home, she made sure that no one was around. Then, she called the number to see if she could get the job.

“After ah called ‘em, they told me to meet ‘em at the photo studio on the other side of town. With nothin’ ta lose, ah went there and tried my hand at modelin’.”

“That’s good,” said the photographer. “Now show me what else ya got, sweetheart!”

Her cheeks red, Applejack tried her best to show the male photographer her best poses, smiling as perfectly as she could muster and praying to herself that the sweat that was forming wouldn’t show up in the pictures.

After what felt like an eternity, the shoot was finished and the photographer and his clientele were reviewing the pictures of her and the other models that they had shot that day. As the models all stood next to each other, looks of anticipation on their faces, Applejack couldn’t help but feel completely out of place, mostly because it was pretty obvious she was the youngest one there.

Soon, they went to the models and selected the ones that they really wanted the most; along with a few others, Applejack wasn’t one of them. A defeated look on her face, she placed her hat back on her head and began walking out of the building. One of the clients watched her leave in this manner and began to think, scratching his chin as he looked her up and down.

“Ah didn’t think anythin’ would come out of that, especially since ah didn’t make the cut, until ah had left the studio...”

Outside the studio, Applejack walked up to her truck and let out a sigh as she began thinking of where else she could look for work. She was about to open the door when she heard someone calling for her attention.

“Excuse me, miss,” the voice said, causing Applejack to look up in curiosity. She saw that a middle-aged man with a beard and a white suit on was running up to her. “Mind if I have a word with you?”

“Sure, ah guess,” she said.

The two of them walked back into the studio together. Fixing his tie, the man said, “I couldn’t help but notice that you were pretty let down about not being chosen for the job, uh, Applejack, was it?”

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s no big deal, really. Ah’ll just find something else, is all.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” he said. “Why is a young girl like you looking into modeling in the first place?”

Applejack gave him a suspicious look. “That’s none of yer business.”

“Ah, I see,” he said with a smile. “Personal matters. I understand completely.”

“Why do ya wanna know, anyway?” she asked as she crossed her arms. “What exactly did ya want from me?”

Letting out a sigh, he said, “No need to be so defensive, miss. I’m only trying to help.”

“How’s that?”

“First of all, how old are you?”

She told him her age.

“Excellent. You see, I’m actually looking for a few...how can we say...dancers for a club I own and, seeing that you’re young and trying to earn money to make a living, no doubt, I think you could benefit from this.”

Applejack blinked in surprise. “How did you-”

“Because of your answer,” he interrupted. “Most young models who try out often tell me that they’re only doing it to earn extra money. To go on the defensive like that tells me that you’re trying to earn money for someone or something other than yourself, like a family or trying to survive in these tough times.”

She fell silent.

“Like I was saying, someone with your physique and financial troubles might benefit from this, if you’re interested.” He pulled out a small business card and handed it to her.

“‘The Dark Side’,” she read. “What is that, a night club?”

“Not exactly,” he said with a laugh. “You don’t really need dancers for a night club, now do you?”

Mentally, she put two-and-two together. “Have ya spit yer bit or somethin’!? I can’t do somethin’ like that! No way, no how.”

“I can understand how you must feel. I just figured, since the club is out of town and that you can go by a stage name and everything, you wouldn’t have to worry about anyone here recognizing you. Not to mention, you get paid in cash upfront every night you ‘perform’, shall we say?”

Applejack turned her gaze to the ground as the thoughts ran through her mind.

Seeing this, he continued. “Perhaps it would be better if it wasn’t a permanent arrangement. Maybe you can come work for me for a little while, just to help get your feet off the ground. You can even tell me when you want to stop and I’ll let you go, no questions asked.”

Applejack looked up to him with a raised eyebrow. “Why are ya pressurin’ me like that?”

He put his hands up in surrender, the smile he wore slowly disappearing. “I’m sorry, miss. I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. You see, it’s been a while since we had any new dancers. When we have a couple of new faces showing up every now and then, it brings in new ‘customers’ and makes the ‘regulars’ stay and spend more. This way, everybody wins: not only do we, the owners, make more, but we have more to give to our dancers.”

She looked down at the card in her hands and read it to herself one more time. Her eyes shifted back and forth as she tried to comprehend the weight of the situation. As desperate as she was to make money, would she be willing to stoop to an all time low like that? How would she tell her family or her friends?

“Tell you what,” he said, seeing Applejack struggling to give him an answer. “You can think about it if you need to, however long it takes. We’re always looking for new dancers, so the job is always there if you need it. Just give me whenever you’re ready.”

He turned to the door, but before he left, he placed a hand on her arm and said, “I hope you understand that I am only giving you this offer to help, nothing more.”

With that, he walked away and exited the building, leaving her alone for a moment. After a while, she put the card in her pocket, left the studio, and began her drive back home.

“Every fiber of my bein’ kept sayin’ to say ‘no’ to the offer, to throw away that stupid card and never think about it again. But, the longer ah thought ‘bout it, the more ah began to realize...”

It was the middle of the night and Applejack sat in her room, looking at the card she was given. She ran a finger over the phone number as the thoughts of dancing – no, stripping – began to turn her stomach something fierce; she just couldn’t picture herself doing such a thing. Sure, she was desperate for money, but there was a line in the sand and she refused to cross it.

Her eyebrows began to furrow as she got read to tear the card in half. However, the thoughts of everything happening to her and her family began rushing through her mind. The bills not getting paid, not being able to afford the things they need, like food or clothing, everything crossed her thoughts, stopping her from getting rid of the card.

Then, she began to recollect what the man had said about the anonymity of it all, the upfront pay, how she would be able to stop when she wanted to, how no one in town would ever find out.

Tears began to well up in her eyes as all of her thoughts mixed together to form her answer, an answer that she already began to regret.

“...Ah didn’t have much of a choice. So, ah did what ah had ta do, not for me, but for mah family.”

If anyone was awake and standing outside of her door, the only thing they would hear after a moment of silence was the sound of a phone being dialed. Then, they would hear her say in the softest voice she could muster, “Hi...it’s me, Applejack...ah’ll...ah’ll do it...”

Sunset Shimmer stood and watched as Applejack covered her eyes with her hands, the tears she tried so hard to fight back streaming down her face. She and Rarity had a look of sadness on their faces as they watched their friend softly sobbing in front of them; even Rainbow Dash’s aggressive demeanor had disintegrated at this point.

“Ya hafta believe me when ah say that ah never wanted this ta happen,” she said through tears. “Ah never wanted ya’ll ta know that ah would go so low ta make money.”

“But, Applejack,” said Rarity, “If you were having troubles, why...?”

Thinking she knew what she was going to say, Applejack interrupted. “Ah know it didn’t seem like ah had troubles, but that was ‘cause, with all the weekends ah was away, ah managed ta make more than enough to pay our bills.”

She wiped her eyes with her hand, which did little because she was still crying. “Ah planned ta stop in the middle of next month, when sales at the store would be in full swing again. It was never meant ta be permanent, honest!”

“Yeah, but, all those times...” Rainbow said.

“Ah know,” AJ interrupted again. “Ah wanted to try and forget about this for a while, so ah began comin’ here for the whole weekend to make a little more money for me. But, no matter how hard ah tried, ah just couldn’t spend it all on mah-self, so ah’d spend it on all of us. That’s how ah was able to afford goin’ to different places every now and again. Ah hoped that it would help me feel better about doin’ this, but no matter how hard ah tried, it wouldn’t work.”

Then, Sunset Shimmer held Applejack in an embrace, allowing her to rest her head on her shoulder. Tears continued to stream from her eyes as she stroked her back, trying her best to comfort her.

“Ah’m so sorry,” she said softly. “Ah know that...none of ya’ll would...ever wanna be friends with...a girl like me...”

“That’s not true, Applejack,” said Sunset.

“She’s right, darling,” Rarity chimed in. “You know, what I was going to say earlier was, if you were having troubles, why didn’t you just tell us so we could help you.”

“Ah wanted to,” said Applejack. “But ah didn’t want to be a burden. Besides, ah don’t know how you can help me now.”

Rarity let out a small giggle. “Actually, I know exactly how to help you.”

Applejack lifted her head from Sunset Shimmer’s shoulder and turned to look at her with a questioning gaze.

“I was trying to get Sunset Shimmer here to start working at the Boutique for the past few days,” she explained. “You don’t need any experience on fashion to apply and the pay is very good. I think you need the job now a lot more than Sunset Shimmer...no offense, darling.”

“None taken,” said Sunset Shimmer with a smile. “I agree with you anyway. I wasn’t sure if I should work there, but now, I think you should take the job, Applejack.”

Applejack looked at them with a confused look. “That’s mighty kind of ya, but aren’t ya’ll mad at me for all of this.”

“Of course not, dear,” said Rarity as she brought her in for a hug. “We’re your friends, and that’s what friends do for each other.”

“Thank you,” she said to her as she released her embrace. Then, she focused her attention to Rainbow Dash, who had been quiet this whole time. She walked up to her and said, “Ah’m sorry about all of this, Rainbow, for makin’ you mad and gettin’ in yer face earlier. Can you ever forgive me?”

She let out a small sigh from her nostrils and smiled. “Of course I can. Just promise us that you won’t do this again.”

AJ smiled. “Ah promise.”

Then, the two of them shared in an embrace, both of them with smiles on their faces. Before they could release, they were taken by surprise by Pinkie Pie throwing her arms around the two of them.

“And I forgive you, too, Applejack,” she said.

“Pinkie?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Did you hear all of that from the car?”

“Well, duh!” she said as she pulled out a party hat from behind her. Then, she put the thin end of the hat up to her ear and said, “I used this to hear from all the way over there. It has really good reception when you think about it!”

“How’s Fluttershy doin’?” asked Applejack.

“She’s fine for now. She cried herself to sleep in the back of the car, though.”

AJ sighed. “Looks like ah’ll hafta tell her all this tomorrow.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“Come on, let’s get out of this dreadful place and go home,” said Rarity.

“You girls go on ahead,” said Applejack. “Ah need to tell the club that ah’m quittin’ for good.”

“Great idea,” said Sunset Shimmer as she patted her on the shoulder. Then, she handed her the motel key. “You might want to give this back, too.”

She nodded in agreement as she began to walk away. However, Rainbow Dash stopped her in mid-step.

“Hey, Applejack, can I ask a serious question?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

Putting her hands on her hips, Rainbow raised an eyebrow and asked, “‘Candy Apples’? Seriously, was that the best stage name you could come up with?”

Silence fell upon them for several moments as Rainbow tried to maintain a serious face. Then, she found herself trying to hold back her laughter, Applejack slowly following suit. Then, all five of them found themselves breaking out into laughter, making Applejack feel better than she had in a long time.

Author's Note

BTW, I know I am not the best at writing "flashbacks", especially since this is my first time doing one.
What can I say? At least I tried.
I'll admit that there's a LOT of factual errors in this fic. A follow-up blog post will be made when the story is finished to explain most of them.

The Aftermath

It was 12:43 when Applejack pulled into the driveway of her house. After turning the ignition off, she sat in the seat for a moment as she tried to get her thoughts together. She let out a sigh as she opened the door and got out, the cool night air sending a sweet scent in her nostrils. However, her heart jumped when she saw that light in the living room had turned on.

No doubt that’s Big Mac, she thought to herself. There goes waitin’ ‘til mornin’ ta tell him.

Reluctantly, she made her way into the house with an unsure look on her face. Upon entering, she wasn’t surprised to see Big Macintosh standing in the doorway of the living room with an athletic undershirt on and blue jeans, which he put on before he left his bedroom. The way that he stood there, his arms crossed and a stern look on his face, caused an uncomfortable chill to run down Applejack’s spine, making her shiver ever so slightly.

“Yer back early,” he said softly. “Ya usually come home Sunday night, and much later.”

“Yeah...,” said Applejack as she took off her overcoat and held it in her arms. Guilt-ridden, she couldn’t bring herself to look into his eyes, so she focused her gaze to the ground, her eyes shifting back and forth.

His gaze slowly shifted into a look of worry as he saw the look on his sister’s face. “Is everythin’ alright?”

She opened her mouth to immediately say “yes”, but instead she let out a sigh and hung her head. “Actually, there’s somethin’ we need ta talk ‘bout.”

Slowly, she led him into the living room where the two of them sat next to each other on the couch. Applejack kept her gaze at the floor, her eyes continuing to shift back and forth as she searched her mind for the right words to say.

“Big Mac,” she said softly. “There’s somethin’ ah...ah need to tell ya about...well...about me.”

Instantly, Big Macintosh’s eyes went wide as his heart began pounding in his chest, his thoughts jumping to worst case scenario. “Yer not pregnant, are ya?”

“WHAT? NO!” she shouted, looking up to him with an expression that was a mix of shock and anger. Quickly, she cupped her hands over her mouth as she realized that she had just shouted, forgetting that it was the middle of the night. Convinced that neither Apple Bloom or Granny Smith was awakened from her outburst, she cleared her throat to regain her composure and said in a softer tone, “No, ah’m not.”

He let out a sigh of relief and said, “Oh...sorry ‘bout that, sis. This felt like that kinda setup. What were ya gonna say, then?”

Slowly, she lowered her gaze to the ground again as she let out another sigh. Then, she asked him, “Do ya remember how ah said that...ah was always goin’ outta town ta see some friends?”

“Eeyup,” he said, crossing his arms again.

“Do ya remember how ah said ah was gettin’ money?”

Big Mac nodded. “Ya said that these friends of yers were nice enough to let ya borrow it from time ta time.”

“Well, that’s just it. Ya see...well...” she said as she took off her hat and placed it on her lap. “Ah haven’t been honest with ya and...ah feel that ya need to know the truth.”

Quickly, she took his hand in hers and said, “Before ah tell ya, there’s somethin’ ya hafta promise me.”

Raising an eyebrow, Big Mac asked, “What?”

Her breathing becoming shallow, she said, “Ya hafta promise me that you’ll hear me out first before ya say anything.”

“Alright,” he said. “Ah promise.”

Then, Applejack let out one last sigh before she explained the whole situation to her brother. She told him about the photo shoot, the offer the suited man had made her, and how she had spent the past several months performing at a gentleman’s club outside of town. Applejack also explained why she was doing it in the first place, how she never wanted it to be permanent and that her friends had found out her secret on this very same night. While she spoke, tears began to stream out of the corners of her eyes, which came off as a surprise to her; she didn’t think there were any tears left from her crying before. Apparently, she was wrong.

As she told her story to him, Big Macintosh had a blank look on his face. Despite this, his mind was racing with different kinds of thoughts, ranging from disappointed, enraged, guilty, shocked, and upset. When she finished telling him everything, all he could do was let out a small sigh as he stood to his feet, rubbing the back of his head with both his hands.

Slowly, he began pacing the floor as he tried to comprehend all that he was told. All the while, Applejack looked at the ground with a look of remorse on her face, tears still streaming out of her eyes. Occasionally, she would look up to him, only to see that his back was turned to her.

Several long moments went by before Big Macintosh calmly asked, “So, all this time, you were lyin’ to us...lyin’ to me?”

Closing her eyes and hanging her head, Applejack said softly, “Yes.”

Letting out a sigh, he crossed his arms and said, “AJ, ah honestly don’t know what ta say ta ya.”

“Ah know what ah did was wrong,” she said. “Ah’m so sorry that ah didn’t tell you.”

He lowered his head, shaking it back and forth. After a few more moments, he turned to her, walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. Although there were several feelings and thoughts running through his head, there was a blank expression on his face, making it impossible to read what his predominant thought was. Upon seeing this, Applejack lowered her head as fresh tears streamed down her cheeks.

Looking her in the eyes, he said, “One thing’s fer sure, ah am very, very disappointed in you. Not only did ya lie ta me ‘bout this, but you were doin’ somethin’ that ah would never imagine you doin’! If Granny or Apple Bloom knew ‘bout this...”

Her face lit up like a light bulb. “Ya can’t tell either of ‘em ‘bout this, Mac! Granny’d have a heart attack if she found out and Apple Bloom’s too young ta understand! Please, promise me ya won’t...”

She was interrupted by Big Mac putting his index finger over her lips. “Ah never said ah was gonna tell ‘em. But that doesn’t excuse that fact that were humiliatin’ yerself by doin’ such a thing.”

He lowered his hand before continuing. “Honestly, ah always knew you were up ta somethin’, but ah would never have guessed it’d be somethin’ like this. Ah know we’re goin’ through some tough times, but...” He let out a sigh. “Ya should’ve just come ta me in the first place. Ya know ah would have helped ya in any way ah could.”

Applejack lowered her head again. “Ah know ah should’ve. Ah was just too ashamed to tell ya ‘bout this. Ah’m really, really sorry, Big Mac. Not only did ah lie ta you and the family, but ah also lied to mah friends as well.”

Tears slowly streamed down her cheeks as she said in a hushed tone, “Ah understand completely if ya never forgive me fer this. Ah don’t know if ah could ever forgive me fer this.”

With nothing left to say, Applejack got up and began walking away. However, she was taken aback when she felt Big Mac’s hand clutch her own, stopping her in her tracks.

“Applejack,” he said, offering a small smile. “Ah may be disappointed, but that doesn’t mean that ah don’t forgive ya.”

“R-Really?” she asked, a small smile forming.

“O’course ah do,” he said. Then, he got up and threw his arms around her, bringing her into an embrace. “Yer mah sister and we stick by each other, no matter what. Ah’m just glad you were honest enough ta tell me the truth.”

She returned the embrace and said in a shaky tone, “Thank you, Big Mac.”

After they released each other, Big Mac said, “Ah promise not ta tell Granny or Apple Bloom ‘bout this under one condition.”

Applejack felt her heart beginning to speed up.

“Ya hafta promise me that you’ll never do this again.”

Smiling, she said, “Ah promise.”

Big Mac let out a sigh. “Well, since ya quit this job, looks like yer gonna hafta find new work.”

“Ah already have. Rarity said there was a job offerin’ at ‘The Boutique’ that singin’ mah song. Not only is it better pay, but it’s...less humiliatin’.”

A moment of silence followed after that, the two of them smiling at one another. Then, Big Mac asked, “How did yer friends take ta this?”

“Almost all of ‘em understood what was goin’ on.”

“Whaddaya mean, ‘almost all of ‘em’?”

“Fluttershy was too upset for me to explain what happened. She cried herself ta sleep in Rarity’s car before ah could tell her.”

Big Mac sighed as he shook his head. “Ya better tell her soon, AJ. If ya don’t, ya know ah will.”

Applejack couldn’t help but smile at this, knowing the current situation between them. “Ah know ya will. Don’t worry, ah’m gonna talk ta her ‘bout this tomorrow.”

Another moment of silence followed.

“Well, we best be gettin’ ta bed,” said Big Mac. “It’s awfully late and ah have work in the mornin’.”

“Okay,” Applejack said softly. Then, she leaned in and planted a small kiss on his cheek and said, “Thank you.”

Patting his hand on her shoulder, he said, “Eeyup.”

With that, the two of them went off to their separate bedrooms to get some well deserved rest. As they made their way up the stairs, only one thought came across Applejack’s mind, causing her to sigh as she entered her bedroom.

One down, one ta go.

The next morning, Applejack and Sunset Shimmer walked down the road towards the most popular hangout spot for the students of Canterlot High. Its real name was, “Cake’s Café”, which was owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. Cake. However, because the establishment was located on the corner of “Sugar Lane” and “Cube Street”, most of the regular customers liked to call the place “Sugar Cube Corner”.

“Thanks fer comin’ with me, sugar cube,” she said. “Ah really appreciate it. Are ya sure she’s gonna be here?”

“No problem at all,” Sunset said with a smile. “And, yes, she’ll be here. I called her this morning to make sure.”

When the two of them reached Sugar Cube Corner, they looked through the windows to see that Fluttershy was already there, her back facing them. The second she saw her, Applejack’s heart began to race as anxiety began taking over, making her breathing become labored.

“M-Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” said Applejack. “Maybe we should wait until another time.”

“Don’t be a coward,” said Sunset Shimmer as she opened the door. As she did, she had to take a step back to allow a young man who was wearing a black mask on his face exit the building, a stack of cakes in his hands. “Besides, you need to explain all of this to her or she’ll never be able to look at you the same way again.”

Letting out a sigh, Applejack nodded before entering the café. Fortunately, the place wasn’t too crowded, just in case they made a scene, but that didn’t ease Applejack’s anxiety as they approached Fluttershy. Sunset Shimmer walked in front of her and approached Fluttershy, who was sipping on an iced beverage of some kind.

“Hey, Fluttershy,” said Sunset as she sat down across from her. “Thanks for coming.”

“Hi,” said Fluttershy with a smile. However, the moment she saw Applejack sit down next to her, she quickly looked the other way, a few strands of her hair getting in her face.

Offering a light smile, Applejack said softly, “Hi, Fluttershy.”

Her head still turned away from her, she replied with a soft, “Hi.”

They all sat in silence for a few moments, neither of them knowing what to say or who should start talking first. After a few moments, Sunset Shimmer tapped Applejack’s leg under the table with her own to nab her attention. Then, she gestured with her eyes towards Fluttershy, indicating that she needed to speak to her first.

After letting out a small breath, Applejack said, “Fluttershy...ah...ah wanted ta talk ta ya ‘bout last night.”

She didn’t say anything in response. All she did was turn her head ever so slightly, her eyes barely visible through the strands of hair; it was almost like she was trying to hide behind them.

She could feel the guilt beginning to surge throughout her body just by the look in her eyes; the memories of her running out of the club flashing in her mind again. A part of her wanted to walk away and never bring it up again, but Sunset Shimmer was right: she needed to talk to Fluttershy about this, even if that meant risking their friendship forever.

“Fluttershy,” she said again, removing her hat and placing it on the table. “Ah know that sayin’ ‘ah’m sorry’ isn’t gonna take back what ya saw last night, but ya have ta believe me when ah say that ah’m truly and deeply sorry.”

“Why?” asked Fluttershy, her voice barely above a whisper. “Why would you do such a thing?”

It was then that Applejack let out a deep sigh and began telling Fluttershy the whole story, the same story she had explained to everyone. From the financial issues to the offer made by the club owner, Applejack told her everything, even how she never wanted it to be permanent and that she felt terrible about the whole thing. Towards the end of her story, tears began streaming down her cheek once again. Just how much tears were her ducts able to produce before they would run out?

“If ah could take it all back, ah would. If ah can make what you’ve seen be unseen, ah would. Ah never wanted all this ta happen and...and...”

Before she knew it, she cupped her head in her hands as the tears continued to flow. Sniffling, she managed to say, “Ah completely understand if ya never wanna be mah friend anymore after this. Ah just wanted ya to know just how sorry ah am that ya had ta see me like that.”

At this point, Fluttershy had moved her hair out of her eyes, her eyes glossing from her own tears that were beginning to form. Throughout all of this, Sunset Shimmer sat in silence, shifting her eyes from one to the other.

“Ah hope that you’ll forgive me fer this someday, Fluttershy,” Applejack said as she began to get up to leave. Just as she took her hat in her hands, she felt Fluttershy’s hand rest on top of it. She looked over to see that she was looking at her eye-to-eye, tears streaming from her own eyes.

Then, Fluttershy got up and wrapped her arms around Applejack, bringing her into an embrace while resting her head on her shoulder.

“Ah’m sorry, Fluttershy,” said Applejack in a hushed tone. “Ah’m so, so sorry.”

“Oh, Applejack,” said Fluttershy through tears. “I didn’t know you were going through such hard times. You should have told us so we could have helped you.”

“Ah know. Ah didn’t want ta burden any of ya with mah troubles, so ah acted before thinkin’. Ah understand if ya don’t wanna be friends anymore, but can ya ever forgive me for this, Fluttershy?”

“Of course I can forgive you and I do want to stay friends,” she said through tears. “Just...just promise me that...”

“Ah know,” Applejack smiled. “Ah promise that ah’ll never do this again.”

Fluttershy tightened her embrace and said, “You don’t have to worry about burdening us with your troubles, Applejack. We’re your friends and we’ll always be there to help you, no matter how big or how small your troubles are.”

“Ah know and ah realize now that ya’ll coulda helped me all along if ah had just come ta ya in the very beginnin’.”

“What do you mean?”

Applejack told her about the job offering that Rarity told her about, leading to her quit working at the night club anymore. Seeing a small smile come across Fluttershy’s face, Sunset Shimmer couldn’t help but smile as she crossed her arms.

“So, Fluttershy,” said Applejack. “Ah was gonna go to ‘The Boutique’ ta see if ah can get the job. Wanna come along?”

She simply nodded in response.

“Ya wanna come too, Sunset Shimmer?”

“No, that’s okay,” she said with a smile. “I have something to do today anyway. You two go ahead.”

Sunset Shimmer waved the two of them goodbye as they left together, both of them with a smile on their faces. As the two of them left, she couldn’t help but smile and let out a sigh, lightly closing her eyes as she began to think. She began to recollect what Twilight Sparkle had told her: that she would learn more about the magic of friendship through the friends she left her with. After what she experienced over the past few days, and from what Fluttershy had said, Sunset Shimmer felt that she may have learned something about friendship that she never knew before.

No matter what your troubles are, no matter how big or how small, you can always count on a good friend to help, she thought to herself. They’ll always be there to for you, whether it’s by helping you out or simply offering support.

Opening her eyes, she got up, went over to the main counter and ordered herself a beverage to go. When she was outside, she took a sip as a strange idea came across her mind.

This is so strange, she thought as she took another swig of her drink. Why do I feel the need to write this down, like in a diary or something?

She lowered the drink from her mouth as she let the thought dwell in her mind for a few moments. Then, she let out a laugh as she continued walking down the road.

Yeah, right! What am I, a little girl or something? Give me a break!

The End

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed this story! A follow-up will be made to explain more about this story soon.
Until then, thanks for reading!

Outro (Author's Notes)

Hello, everyone. If you are reading this, then you have read [and hopefully enjoyed] this story. However, I decided to make this little outro for all of you just to give you a little clarity on this story; you see, there are many factual errors throughout this story and felt it was necessary to address them for all of you, as well as give you some fun facts. So, let's not waste any time and get right into it, shall we?

How did this story start?
Well, the idea for this came to me one night while I was working [around 12:30 in the morning]. A certain song started playing on my ipod that really caught my attention. It was "Theme of Rocky Ridge" from the Sonic Free Riders soundtrack [Guaranteed you'll never be able to look at this song the same way again!]

Listening to this song for a while, I began to imagine some kind of dance for it. However, listening to it a little more, my twisted mind began to envision a stripper dancing to the music. After listening to it a few times, and hearing the overall country-esque feel of the song itself, my mind began to imagine Applejack from Equestria Girls dancing to the song...as a stripper. Thus, the ideas of making Applejack a stripper was born!

Problems
One of the biggest problems I faced with this story was the story itself. You see, I had never written Mature stories like these before, so this was something new to me. Although I have read a few M-rated stories in the past, I never saw myself sitting down and writing one.

Another problem I faced with the story was its plot. From the get-go, I wanted to make the main climax of the story the striptease, but I didn't want it to be a generic smut-plot. I wanted it to feel like the audience was reading a child-friendly story before being hit in the face with the strip scene. Furthermore, the goal was to make the story feel like it could be a possible episode from an Equestria Girls series [e.g. learning a friendship lesson] without it being an episode.

The last major problem was the stripping scene. I'll admit that I had a real out-of-body experience with coming up with Applejack's dance, mostly because it's very hard to take a dance you see someone doing on a stage and turning it into words. My mind was able to envision the dance [what really helped was that most of the dance was choreographed to the song mentioned above], but it was really hard to get the moves down on paper.

Factual Errors
As mentioned before, there are a LOT of factual errors with this story, many of which have a good reason...maybe...I'll let you decide...

01) Strip Clubs often tell you it's a strip club!
Yes, I know that strip clubs let people know that it's a strip club, either by neon signs that say "XXX" or "Live Nude Girls" and other such things. The only reason why this club didn't was mostly for suspense purposes [which, I'll admit, didn't really work because the plot of this story was highly predictable!]

02) Strippers don't hit on girls!
In the club, a stripper is seen hitting on Sunset Shimmer. The only reason this was done was for humor purposes. Any stripper knows that hitting on another female isn't very profitable [unless, of course, they really wanted it...I suppose. I don't really know how that works, but I'll stop now before I offend someone.]

03) Consensual Age?
This was one of the most troubling parts about this story. Since consensual age varies depending on regions and whatnot, Applejack's age was purposely left out. I know most regions have the age at 18, but there are some places in the world where the age is younger. Just to play it safe, I made certain to leave her age out.

04) Unrealistic Events
There are a few things that did seem a little unrealistic throughout the story. Applejack being able to lie to her family for so long and Fluttershy puking at the sight of nudity is pretty unrealistic and I apologize for that, but in the end, this is a story based off a movie about multi-colored people.

Other Fun Facts
Here are some other little tidbits of trivia from the story!

-I really wanted to make this story a Teen story, but my descriptors made it a Mature story.

-Many of you who read this story on this site might have noticed a heavy abundance of the dreaded LUS [Lavender Unicorn Syndrome]. I apologize for that; it was mostly because I've never written an EqG story before. DeviantArt's version of the story doesn't have the LUS because I went through the story and edited it before uploading. I plan to edit this version of the story very soon!

-In the story, it's stated that some of the girls are able to drive vehicles, namely Sunset Shimmer, Rarity, and Applejack. Their modes of transportation were based off of this comic!.
Granted, it's not the type of truck I imagined Applejack driving, but it still helped inspire the idea.

-Rainbow Dash's middle name, "Jennifer" was based off the youtube video, "Rainbow Gets Her License". I don't know about you, but that name seems to fit her really well!

-The name of the strip club is "The Dark Side"...'nuff said!

-A lot of research went into the strip club, from how the inside of the building looks to how the dancers are paid. Furthermore, I did a little research on strippers themselves, just to get an inside look on what goes through their minds that makes them do this sort of work, as well as how they get into the industry in the beginning.

-In the strip club, it was originally Pinkie Pie who was going to be hit on a stripper, except it was off-screen. It was changed to Sunset Shimmer because of humor.

-For reasons I don't really know, the song that helped inspire the flashback scene in Chapter 4 was, "Look to Your Orb for the Warning" by Monster Magnet. The song has little to nothing to do with the story, but it helped plan out the flashback from how it was written to what exactly happened.

-In the last chapter, Sunset Shimmer is holding the door open as a "young man with a black mask on" exits the café. This is a reference to my pony OC, Diamond Arrow, who is known to wear a black mask on his face [despite the fact that he hasn't hit the paper yet]. What can I say? I like cake!

-Yes, the ending was a jab at the show, Friendship is Magic. Admit it, you can totally see Sunset Shimmer saying such a thing about writing in a diary to record what she learns!

Sequel?
With the success of this story came the demand for another. In all honesty, I did plan to make another story from the beginning. Believe it or not, this story made a small foreshadow to it, but the idea that I originally planned was scrapped. However, I still am making another story. As far as continuity, I'm not sure if it'll take place before or after this one. It'll take place in the same universe as this, but won't really mention the events that happen here.

From the start, I wanted the next story to star Fluttershy, but the original setup was to make it a generic high school love story. Feeling that that was too generic and boring, I decided to make another story, this time, involving Fluttershy as she faces the most common [and most dangerous] problem that our modern-age faces!

Be on the lookout for the next [absurd] tale from Canterlot High: Equestria Girls: Fluttershy's Strange Addiction

Outro
Thank you everyone who read this story! I hope this answers some of the questions you've had about this story and gives you more insight on what you have read. Thank you for all your support with this small project; I didn't think it would turn out as well as it did, but you have proven me wrong on so many accounts.

Thank you again for reading! You all rock!
~darkshadow051

Bonus: Exclusive Side-Story!

Hello, fellow readers of this story!
Hopefully, you have read and/or enjoyed this story a while back. Well, you'll be pleased to know that the talented writer, "MythrilMoth", has created an exclusive side-story, based on this fic, as part of his "Equestria Girls Gone Wild!" series.

So, did you like this story?

Want to see more of stripper Applejack in all her glory?

Then, read the exclusive side-story, The Dark Side of Candy Apples by MythrilMoth!

Feel free to consider it "canon" to this universe if you want.

Enjoy, you perverts! :raritywink:

P.S: The sequel to this story is coming soon. I promise!