There were many things in life Twilight just couldn’t argue with. The theory of evolution. The Pythagorean theorem. Her ten year old brother, Spike. But if there was one thing she could, if there was one instance where she would want her case to be heard, it was this one. It all started the day after school let out for the summer. Twilight had graduated from high school, and was making plans to start taking summer classes so that she’d be super prepared when she entered college in the fall. Her parents exchanged worried looks when she told them this.
“Don’t you think it’d be better if you got some, you know, non academic experience?” her mother asked her, patting her hand lovingly as they were sitting at the dinner table that night.
“Like a job?” Twilight asked, tilting her head, confused. What exactly would she need a job for? She was meticulous about saving almost every dollar she got whether it be birthdays, Christmas, or Easter; so she rarely had a need to ask her parents for money.
“Yes, a job. That sounds like a good idea,” her father agreed. “That’d be an excellent way for you to work on your people skills.” He bit into his steak and looked over to his wife for help.
“People skills?” Twilight repeated. “I don’t need to work on my people skills. I can talk to anyone articulately, thank you very much,” she mumbled, drinking out of her glass. She knew her parents were just looking out for her, because that’s what parents do, but she could handle herself. She wasn’t a social recluse.
“You sure about that?” Spike piped up, snorting. “The last time we were at the supermarket and Mom wanted you to ask the lady where the pasta was, you freaked out because you thought she was going to yell at you.” He started laughing.
Twilight’s eyebrows dipped down. “Okay....” she admitted. “So maybe I do have a bit of social anxiety. But that’s normal for my age. Teenagers are the most judged and criticized group of human beings on the earth.”
“Twilight, do you have any friends? Any at all?” her mother asked with a tight lipped smile.
“Well there’s uh,” she started, her eyebrows furrowing. She frowned. “There’s...ah...um...do teachers count?” she asked, blushing a bit. Okay so maybe she didn’t have any friends. But that didn’t mean she needed to make any as of this moment. If they really were important, she would have had them by now. Friends to her were a distraction. A hinderance that interferes with her academic goals.
But then again… it would be nice to have someone to talk to about things she liked instead of just geeking out all by herself. It did get pretty lonely in her room too. She also thought about what it would be like to have friends. Would they go places with her? Would they go up to her room with her and talk about boys like normal teenage girls? The idea of friends interested her, but her studies came first.
Seeing the unsure look on his daughter’s face, her father said, “Your mother and I discussed it, and we decided that you’re going to live with your aunts for the summer so that you can work in their cafe and get out of the house for once.”
“What?!” Twilight barked loudly. She slammed her hands down on the dining room table, making the dishes clatter. “That’s preposterous! I have summer classes that I signed up for! I can’t waste time in New York! You knew I was looking forward to that!”
“Honey, you can take summer classes at NYU,” her mother reasoned. “I’ll call up Celestia and Luna and we’ll arrange a schedule or something. We’ve already made the decision, Twilight. You’re going.”
“You can’t do this to me!” Twilight shrieked hysterically. “I have been nothing but the perfect daughter! I haven’t gotten in trouble once!”
“That’s not the point, sweetie,” her father told her softly, getting up to hug her and to calm her down. “We’re not doing this because we think you’re a bad child. We’re doing this because we love you and we care about you.”
“Which is why Spike will be accompanying you,” her mother said, taking a sip of her wine. “We wouldn’t want you to think you’re being singled out.”
“Wait, what?! Why am I being dragged into this?!” Spike groaned, pointing to himself desperately. “I have great people skills!”
“Because I got a call from your teacher today saying that you pulled a prank the last day of school that required a mandatory evacuation,” their mother responded, folding her hands and looking him in the eye. “So you can either go with Twilight and keep your privileges, or stay here and be grounded for the entire summer.”
Spike laughed nervously. “So uh, when do I start packing?”
The car ride to New York was one Twilight wished she hadn’t had to endure. It was only a four hour trip, but since it was the summer, and everyone was going somewhere, it took them twice as long to get there.
“Can we fly next time?” Spike groaned as they turned into a rest stop, about a mile from the city.
“Sure, if you have flying money.” their father responded, looking at him through the rear view mirror. “Besides this is a great family road trip.”
Twilight snorted. “Yeah, for you guys.”
“You developed the snarky rebellious teenager attitude a bit too late there, dear.” Her mother chuckled, putting on her sunglasses.
“Yeah,” Spike agreed, stretching. “You needed to get a head start like I did for it to really work out for you.”
“And look where it’s gotten you, Mr. Arsonist,” Twilight snipped, rolling her eyes.
“Hey, I didn’t know the rubber chickens were going to catch on fire!” Spike shouted back defensively. “I didn’t know that the cafeteria stove was on!”
“Take it from me,” their dad addressed. “You keep your pranks away from the kitchen. Girl’s locker room next time, son.”
His wife smacked his shoulder. He cleared his throat. “I mean, no more pranks son.”
“Wow, Dad, way to really lay it on him,” Twilight said, snorting. She folded her arms as they got out the car.
“I know my boy. He’ll do it even if I say not to. At least this way I’ll have a laugh about it in the principal's office.” Their dad shrugged.
“I’m so glad I’m the perfect one,” Twilight said in response, entering the store. Her stomach rumbled, and she briefly thought about grabbing a honey bun or something to fill her up for the disaster she was going to go through for another couple hours.
“I would argue with you on this, but I have to piss really bad!” Spike shouted, darting in past her. He nearly knocked over an old woman on his way to the bathroom.
Twilight walked down the isles of junk food, looking for something to supplement her hunger. She rifled through a stack of chips, some cookies and even a few bars of chocolate. She couldn’t really seem to find something she wanted, or at least looked healthy. Sighing, she went to go stand next to her mother who was looking through the refrigerator for a cold soda.
“You and Dad just had to pick a rest stop that has nothing but artery clogging crap, huh?” she huffed, leaning against the cool glass. Goosebumps started to rise on her skin.
“Well, it was either this or that old gas station up the road,” her mother responded, closing the fridge door. “You know, the one with the bulldog.” She handed Twilight a bottle of Dr. Pepper. “Just think of it this way: In a few hours, you’ll be on the upper east side in a beautiful air conditioned Manhattan apartment,” she said, patting her daughter on the back. She headed towards the cash register.
Sighing, Twilight followed behind her. She felt something whoosh past her and looked up to see it was Spike, who was tugging at their mother’s arm.
“I would explain, but we have to go, like uh, now!” he said urgently.
“What?” their mother responded, putting the change she got back from the cashier in her purse. “What are you talking about?” she asked, turning to him.
“I kinda clogged the toilet, and it’s really overflowing.”
Twilight smacked her forehead. Yep, this was going to be a long car ride.
When they finally arrived at Celestia and Luna’s apartment, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Any more rest stops and fighting she would have walked the rest of the way herself.
While her father got the bags out the trunk Twilight busied herself with trying to come up with a rational upside to all of this. She couldn’t. As much as she wanted to she just couldn’t convince herself to calm down. She was freaking out. The most social interaction she got outside of school was talking to her pet hamster.
But this? This was a completely different ballpark. In a completely different city. She didn’t know the girls she was going to be spending all summer with. She had never really been to New York City either. She had only come a couple of times to visit her aunts. Her cousin Cadence was away at college so she couldn’t at least be able to be comfortable with her. It seemed like everything was setting itself up to make this possibly the worst summer ever.
“Still upset I see.”
Twilight looked up to see her aunt Celestia standing in front of her with her arms crossed, and a warm smile on her lips.
“Hi, Auntie.” Twilight greeted, giving her a tight lipped smile.
“I’m going to take that as a yes.” Celestia chuckled. She lead Twilight up the stairs and into the apartment. They both sat down on the couch and an awkward moment pursued. “I haven’t seen you since you were a little girl. And now you’re going off to college. How does it feel?”
Twilight sighed. “Fine, I guess,” she mumbled in response.
Celestia patted Twilight’s hand. “I know you don’t want to be here, Twilight. But sometimes we have to do things that we don’t really want to do. You’ll love it here, I promise. We have museums, and then there’s the public library which is one of the largest archives of history in the world-”
“Library?!” Twilight gasped. She didn’t know that there was a library! Maybe she would start to like this place after all. “Largest archive of history? Really?” She asked in awe.
“Atta girl.” Celestia praised, pinching her cheeks playfully. “I knew once I mentioned some nerdy stuff you’d come around.” She teased, patting Twilight’s shoulder as she heard everyone else come inside.
“Hey! I am not a nerd!” Twilight protested.
“Sister? Are they here?” Luna asked as she came down the stairs and into the living room. She looked like she had just woken up. She blinked when she saw Twilight. “Oh, hello Twilight. I remember you being much smaller.”
“So I’ve heard,” Twilight replied with a laugh.
Celestia stretched. “Hey, Twilight, why don’t you go down to the joint and go meet the girls? I’m sure they’d loved to meet you. I told them you were coming and everything.”
Twilight’s eye twitched. “Uh, what about my bags and stuff? I can’t just let you guys take them upstairs for me,” she responded nervously.
“Nonsense,” Luna dismissed. “You’ve just had an eight hour car ride. I’m sure you’re a little pooped. By the time you get back, dinner will be ready and we can eat.”
Twilight couldn’t argue with that. “Well...alright. I guess I’ll be back then.” She shrugged on her hoodie and headed out the door. Following her aunt’s directions, she arrived at the cafe no less than ten minutes later.
As she entered, the bell above the door rang and someone behind the counter looked up. Twilight timidly approached the older girl leaning over the counter. She was tall, and built like she had been doing vigorous work all her life. She had long, golden blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, with freckles attractively dotting her face. Her intense green eyes stared up boredly at her as she shook ashes from her cigarette. "Yea? Whatcha want?" Her thick southern accent drawled.
Twilight was taken aback by how deep her voice was. "M-My aunts sent me down here to meet everyone. They're the ones who own the cafe. I'm going to be working with you guys all summer." The dark haired girl bit her lip, awaiting the other woman's answer.
The blonde waitress gave her a once over, then retreated into the employee break room. Twilight released a breath she didn't know she was holding.
A minute later she returned, but with a few other girls behind her. One was tall, but not as tall as the blonde. She had dark jet black hair and the figure of a supermodel with her perfectly arched eyebrows and her well endowed chest. The red lipstick she wore made Twilight feel very self conscious.
The one beside her was not as nearly as tall. Her hair was black except for the tips of her hair that were dyed an assortment of colors. She was tan and toned, with a nose ring and an eyebrow piercing. Twilight made a mental note to avoid her as much as possible.
The last two clocked in at around 5'6 from what Twilight could guess. One was a little pudgy with long curly bleach blonde hair. The ends were dyed a vibrant pink that screamed 'free spirit'.
The other had dark brunette hair that covered most of her face. She had a meek appearance, and appeared to be shrinking into herself as if the very thought of someone looking at her terrified her.
"This is everyone excludin' the cooks. Ah'm Applejack. This here's Pinkie. That's Shy, Rarity, an' Rainbow Dash." Applejack said, pointing to everyone.
Twilight nodded. "My name’s Twilight. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you guys?"
Applejack pointed to herself. "I’m twenty-one, Rare’s nineteen, Pinkie is seventeen, Dash and Shy are eighteen. We've all been workin' here a long while together. 'Course, me an Rares are the vets."
"It's nice to meet you all." Twilight responded, smiling.
“Sheesh,” the multihued haired girl commented. “So cut and dry. You don’t have to be so formal, man.” She leaned forward, grinning. “Where you from?”
“M-Me?” Twilight stuttered, pointing to herself. “I’m from Washington D.C.”
“Ah.” Rainbow said, sounding impressed. “You’re a D.C. chick. You know, they have a lot of hookers workin’ the corners in that place. You ever see one?”
Twilight wasn’t really sure how to answer that.
“You hear she’s from D.C. and you think hookers?” Rarity asked, aghast. “Perhaps her father is a congressman, or, or, a diplomat. Why, I can almost imagine the exotic locales and charming parties he must attend, being a man of the upper crust.” Rarity brought a hand to Twilight’s. “You must tell me all about it when you have the time.”
“Actually,” Twilight corrected her patting her hand, “My dad’s an accountant. His job isn’t really that special.” She admitted, twirling a strand of hair.
“Your old man sounds boring.” Rainbow Dash huffed, folding her arms. “He could at least work for the CIA or something.” She blew a few hairs out of her face. “How old are you?”
“S-Seventeen.” She mumbled shyly. “I just graduated.”
“Oh! Oh! Me too! Dashie, Shy and I just graduated too!” Pinkie piped. “We’re planning to go to NYU in the fall! Where do you want to go?”
“Probably Harvard or Yale.” Twilight answered with a finger to her chin. She hadn’t really made a decision yet. She made sure to submit all her applications on time, but deciding on one Ivy League school was hard. After all, they all had exceptional education programs.
“We have an egghead on our hands.” Rainbow snickered rubbing her hands together mischievously.
“Well shoot,” AJ replied with a grin. “I’m startin’ ta feel my age, hearin’ y’all talkin’ ‘bout collage.”
“You’re only a year in, darling. They aren’t that far behind you.” Rarity reassured her, putting an arm on her shoulder. “If there’s anyone here who should feel old, it’s me. I’ve been at FIT for almost two years now.”
“You’re a fashion student?” Twilight asked her, amazed. She thought that the older woman was a model or an up and coming actress of some sort. But never a fashion student. Though she should have, because the outfit she was wearing was spectacular.
“Yes, it’s always been my dream to open up my own boutique.” Rarity sighed, getting a starry look in her eyes. “It helps when your family is as rich as mine, but I wanted to do this on my own.”
Twilight’s eyebrows shot up then down. She knew there was something grandiose about her. (Besides her attitude.) But then she felt like kicking herself, remembering where she was. She was on the upper east side of Manhattan, a place where it wasn’t uncommon for rich people to live. She should have known that at least one of her co-workers would come from some type of money.
“I wanna join the military.” Rainbow Dash said, cracking her knuckles. “But my folks say I should at least do two years of college. So I’m gonna run track at NYU full scholarship till I decide to enlist.” She smiled cockly.
“Ya willin’ ta get yer locks chopped off an’ ya willin’ ta close that mouth of yers long enough ta serve?” AJ asked, raising a brow. “Wouldn’t that be somethin’.” She tugged at Rainbow’s hair playfully.
“Ow! Ow! Lay off, will ya? Only the guys chop their hair off. I just gotta put mines in a bun. And who says I was gonna be on the front lines? I’m going for Air Force.” Dash put a hand on her hip. “You could at least have some confidence in me.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be a good pilot. I remember that lil’ incident with my crop duster.” AJ crossed her arms and stared at her.
“You can’t just leave something on with me around! I get curious!” Rainbow shouted defensively, waving her arms. “Besides, you’re the one who bet I couldn’t do it!”
“Just because someone bets you can’t do something, darling, doesn’t mean you should do it.” Rarity responded, folding her arms and giving Rainbow a very reprimanding look. “You should know better by now.”
“She can’t help it!” Pinkie said. “You just get a feeling that you gotta go and you go!” She gave a wide cheek-to-cheek grin and clapped her hands. “Daring is caring! So…” She gave a point to Dash. “Dashie, I dare you to drink the tabasco sauce in the fridge!”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Dash said with a roll of her eyes. “I’d rather jump off a cliff than listen to anything Pinkie has to say.”
“Ya listen to me.” Applejack told her with a smug grin.
“Shut up, country girl.” Dash mumbled back
Twilight couldn’t believe how close these girls were. They had only met her a few minutes ago and they were already acting like she was just another friend. She barely knew anything about them and she already felt like they were her friends.
AJ turned back to the girl. “Now, I hate ta get back ta business, but ya got an’ idea on what sorta hours ya want? Ya ever have a job before?” She glanced over to Dash and Pinkie. “Even if ya hadn’t, yer still gonna one-up those two.”
Twilight blushed. “I-I’ve actually never had a job. Well, I mean, I used to help out at homeless shelters and stuff back home, but other than that, not really since I was never really paid in anything but community service hours.”
“This ain’t no homeless shelter, sug. This is a whole different rodeo.” AJ told her sympathetically. “I’ll have Dash an’ Pinkie work with you and show you the ropes tomorrow, but after that, you’re on your own. Think you can keep up?” Applejack asked with a challenging grin.
“Sure!” Twilight answered, smiling confidently.
“Good. An’ if ya do end up with a question or two, give me or Rare a yell. Fluttershy can do in a pinch too.” She looked over at the woman, who had seemed to all but vanish into the background. “Ain’t that right, sug?”
“O-Oh yes,” The meek girl stuttered. “Ask me anything you like. I’ll be able to help you with anything you need.” She answered softly, giving Twilight a kind smile.
Twilight smiled back at her. “Thank you. I’m sure I’ll be able to get along with all of you girls.” She added, looking at all of them.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “There she goes again, being all formal and shit.”
A bell rung somewhere in the back, most likely the kitchen rang. Applejack heaved a sigh. “Welp, Ah guess our break’s over, gals. Time to get back to work. Lookin’ forward to be workin’ with ya, Twi.” She gave the younger girl a two finger salute and sauntered into the back with her try on her hip.
Dash grinned once she saw the older girls retreating back disappear behind the swinging door. She clapped a hand on Twilight’s shoulder, which made the other girl jump. “Heh. I’m not as nice as Applejack. I’m gonna work you to the bone tomorrow. Make sure you’re here nine am sharp or I’m putting you on dish duty.” She stuck her tongue out and followed behind Applejack into the kitchen.
Pinkie giggled. “No one likes being put on dish duty.” She bubbled, skipping past Twilight to go take some orders.
Rarity gave Twilight a warm smile. “Don’t worry darling, I won’t let them touch a hair on your body.” She gave Twilight’s hand a squeeze before going to seat a couple that had just walked in.
Fluttershy gave her a sheepish grin. “Rainbow’s just messing with you. She tried that on me on my first day and it didn’t work. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” The brunette girl encouraged, before running to catch up with Rainbow.
Suddenly feeling lonely, Twilight blinked, realizing that all the girls had left. “I guess I have a job now.” She mumbled to herself, turning on her heel to walk out the door. The bell jingled as the door slammed behind her, and she mentally prepared herself for the next day. She knew that she had her work cut out for her, but what could possible be too hard for an honor student like her?
