No Two Flakes

By Mist

Chapter III

Rarity kept stepping backward, with a few more steps; she felt something rattle behind her. Turning quickly, she realized there was a chain link fence there preventing her from putting any more distance between herself and her assailant. The only option she had left was negotiation. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself in hopes that her efforts would garner some kind of success.

“Look, I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt me…” She requested in her most serious voice she could muster.

He laughed and continued his advance. “You aren’t about to get away that easily…”

With her efforts thwarted, Rarity began to shrink down and huddle in the back corner, trying to press her body together in hopes it would protect her better. For the first time in ages, she actually didn’t care about the fact she was sitting on the dirty ground staining her dress. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she trembled. “Please…” She begged.

Rarity closed her eyes tight hoping it’d all be over when she opened them; however she heard a surprising sound, a crack. Opening her eyes, she saw her attacker’s head sling in the opposite direction and standing next to him with a fist extruded was a vicious Rainbow Dash taking a swing at him. The man regained his composure quickly and took a swing with his knife, which Rainbow dodged, taking another jab at his stomach. A direct hit made him kneel in agony, but didn’t bring him down.

He brought himself up again and put himself behind Rainbow and slashed at her, making light contact with his blade. Rainbow backed up next to Rarity and touched the new hole in her shirt feeling the light trace of blood from the scratch. She looked down to Rarity and smiled. “You alright?”

Rarity just nodded her eyes wide open with amazement.

“Alright, that little stunt is going to cost you…” He growled as he brushed the blood from his lip that came from her punch.

Rainbow shrugged and reached in her pocket and tossed her wallet to him. “Take it; I only got $14 anyways. You wanna kill me over $14 and a bloody lip? Fine, but leave the lady out of it.”

“Oh your friend is going to pay for what you just did…” He grinned and looked over to the trembling Rarity. “I mean she is a very pretty little thing isn’t she…?”

Rainbow grew a scowl. “You lay one hand on her; I promise you’ll regret it.”

He took a step closer. “What are you gonna do little girl?”

That was the last straw for Rainbow. She wasn’t about to allow this to go any further even if it meant escalating it to a level she didn’t want to do in front of Rarity. She had no choice if she wanted to keep Rarity (and herself) safe. Reaching behind herself, Rainbow lifted the back of her shirt slightly and pulled an object she had been keeping tucked into the waist of her jeans out and brought it forward. The man flinched at the sight of the freshly brandished handgun Rainbow brought out.

“Whoa, shit…” He held his hands up slightly and took a step back.

“I warned you. Now back the fuck up!” Rainbow growled.

He obeyed and started moving backwards while Rainbow moved forward pinning him to the alleyway wall. He dropped his knife and kept his hands up. “Look, I’m sorry. Here, your friend can have her phone back.” He reached for his pocket slowly so not to agitate Rainbow and pulled out the phone.

Rainbow snatched the phone quickly and tucked it into her pocket, figuring she’ll give it back to Rarity in a few minutes. She wasn’t satisfied yet though. Jabbing the gun a bit closer to him, she looked him right in the eyes. “On your knees.” She commanded.

“What?” He raised a brow.

She jabbed him again with the gun. “I said on your fucking knees.”

Not arguing any further, he did as he was told and knelt down before getting onto his knees, looking up at Rainbow.

Rainbow lowered her left hand holding the gun to point it directly at his skull. “Open your mouth.” She demanded.

“Look, this is fucking crazy-“ He tried to protest.

“I SAID OPEN YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!”

He did so, and Rainbow placed the end of the gun into the opened orifice. She pushed it forward a bit causing him to gag, tears running down his face in fear. Rarity turned away in horror, not wanting to see what the result would be. She couldn’t bear the thought of having to witness Rainbow murder this man even after all he had done. She couldn’t, no she wouldn’t think of her friend like that.

The man grumbled incoherently with the gun in his mouth and fighting tears. Rainbow’s face remained stern. “It’s your lucky day. My friend’s dress looks pretty expensive and I’m sure cleaning your brains out of it isn’t on her to-do list today. So you get to live, but make no mistake… If you ever harass my friend again…” Rainbow knelt down to meet him at eye level, her eyes filled with fire. “I’ll blow your fucking head off next time.”

He whimpered.

“Do you understand?” She asked.

He nodded.

“I CAN’T FUCKING HEAR YOU!? DO YOU UNDERSTAND!? IF I CATCH YOU FUCKING WITH MY FRIEND AGAIN I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU, DO YOU GET THAT!?” She shouted.

He nodded more viciously and whimpered some more.

Finally content with his answer, Rainbow pulled the gun out of his mouth and gestured for him to leave. “Now get the fuck out of her before I change my mind.”

Pulling himself to a stand as quickly as he could he nodded and bolted out of the alley at full speed. Rainbow made sure to watch him go before lowering her weapon and putting it back where it was prior to this encounter. Moving towards her friend, she offered a hand to her.

Rarity took the small muscular girl’s hand graciously and pulled herself up, brushing off her dress. Rainbow gave the phone back to her, which she took and nodded before placing it back in her purse.

“Sorry you had to see all of that… I didn’t want it to go there, but I’ve dealt with his kind before, if you don’t show them your threats aren’t empty they will just come back later… I’m sorry if I scared you…” Rainbow apologized.

Rarity was nearly breathless. “Y-you… You got hurt…”

Rainbow shrugged. “I’ve had worse back home. This is the norm for me.”

The elegant purple haired maiden couldn’t think of a word to say as the two exited the alleyway. Rainbow broke the silence with a smile, “At least that prick will think twice before trying something like that again.”

“You saved my life, Rainbow…” Rarity finally spoke what was on her mind.

Rainbow shrugged a second time. “Nah, you’d have done the same for me. Besides that pussy didn’t have what it took to kill anyone. I’d say you were in more danger of getting dirt all over your dress than that douche hurting you.” Rainbow attempted to make light of the situation in hopes that it would calm Rarity down.

“Thank you, Rainbow. I’m ever so grateful…” Rarity took her savior’s hand and bowed slightly in gratitude.

“I like chocolates and cash.” Rainbow joked, a bit uncomfortable with this level of gratitude.

“Would you mind walking me home?” Rarity requested.

Accepting right away, Rainbow nodded and started walking along side the taller woman. She could tell Rarity was quite shaken up by the whole ordeal.

“Ah jus’ don’t know what to do, Twilight…” Applejack spoke as she popped open a bottle of soda that the soon-to-be doctor had given her from her fridge.

Twilight shrugged as she popped the top off of a bottle of her own with a bottle opener that AJ had given her for Christmas two years ago. Taking a sip, Twilight adjusted her skirt before taking a seat across from AJ on the couch. She set her drink gently down on the table and corrected her glasses before speaking. “Maybe you really do need to take a page out of Rainbow Dash’s book?”

AJ rolled her eyes. “Okay, Ah’ get it… I put myself in this situation, but that don’t mean I want to be in it…”

“Well, why not just tell Cloudchaser you’re not interested then?” Twilight proposed.

With a sigh, AJ shook her head. “Ah’ have; Cloudchaser just laughs it off and doesn’t take it seriously. Y’all haven’t met her, but she’s not exactly a girl who gives up just because ya’ tell her to. She tried to continue on the archery team almost four months after she went blind...”

Applejack found herself standing and pacing now from the nervousness of the conversation. She knew that Cloudchaser wasn’t just going to give up, and if she kicked up a fuss, it would only draw more attention to the two of them, which was an even worse scenario that she hoped to avoid.

“Applejack, you’re pacing. Calm down.” Twilight smiled to her friend in the hope that it would relieve some of the stress.

“How can Ah’? Cloudchaser is smart, Twilight. She’s in my head.” Applejack responded as she tapped her temple to signal what she meant with a visual, though it was doubtful that Twilight didn’t get the picture already without the cue.

“You make it sound like she’s some kind of mind terrorist or something…” Twilight chuckled at the thought.

“She is though! Cloudchaser knows exactly how t’get me going without even tryin’ that hard…” AJ drooped a bit as she admitted her lack of ability to resist the girl. “With that mischievous personality of hers… And something about how she uses her hands that just…” She blushed at the thought and shook her head trying to get the idea out of her mind. “Stupid sexy Cloudchaser…” She mumbled.

Twilight was trying to withhold full blown laughter at AJ’s predicament. “Look, why not just ignore her? I mean she can’t possibly keep this up forever. Eventually she’ll get the message that you’re not interested and move on.”

Applejack opened her mouth to speak, but jumped a bit at the sound of a doorbell ringing. It startled her so much she completely forgot what she was going to say. Twilight stood up and approached the door along with an apology. “Sorry, I had a study date scheduled with Rainbow. Duty calls.” She winked as she opened the door.

Behind the door, Rainbow stood in her usual attire of a black hoodie with some kind of band or rap artist name scribbled all over it, her hands tucked deep into its pockets and an expression of relaxedness. Her hand left her left pocket as she brushed a lock or two of her multi-colored hair to the right side, away from the side cut portion of her head. On the left side she had her hair trimmed down to boy hair length in the front.

Following Rainbow though was a woman much taller than her. She had on a white dress that probably cost as much as some of the furniture in Twilight’s apartment, along with some expensive earrings that more than likely were gifts from her wealthy parents. Twilight recalled that Rarity’s family were business people who owned a company back in her home country worth millions. They had discussed it once during a tea time that Rarity insisted upon. There was no doubt in Twilight’s mind that Rarity probably had access to her father’s credit cards whenever she pleased and could buy anything she wanted at any given time.

Today though, she noticed Rarity was a little fidgety, which was unusual for the usually very collected lady she was. Almost as if she was nervous about something.

“Ah, Rarity. I wasn’t expecting your company too. I can get some tea brewing if you like?” Twilight asked with a friendly smile.

Rarity shook her head a bit furiously. “Oh no no, darling. I was just accompanying Rainbow on my way home. I must be heading home though.” She gestured away to imply she was going to leave post-haste.

“Oh, alright then.” Twilight shrugged.

Applejack approached the group and stepped outside the door after Rainbow entered. Applejack stood next to Rarity and smiled. “Ah’ better get goin’ too. Y’all have a nice study time.” She spoke before taking her leave.

Twilight wanted to tell her to stay, but she knew that AJ wasn’t about to discuss her problem any further with company there. It took months for her to even open up to Twilight about it.

Rarity turned to Rainbow and took her hand in her own. She bowed a bit to reach Rainbow’s height. “Thank you again, Rainbow.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and took her hand back giving a gesture that suggested she wanted her to drop the subject. “Go on now. No more thanks are necessary. Just get on home; I got a lot of studying to catch up on.”

The elegant lady stood upright with her pristine posture and nodded. “Be seeing you, Twilight.” She bowed her head a bit before taking off, shutting the door behind her.

Twilight simply fixed her glasses again that were riding down her nose and gave an awkward expression, completely confused by the situation. “What was that all about?” She asked.

Rainbow plopped herself down on the loveseat and put her feet up on the coffee table. “Nothin’. I just agreed to do some fashion modeling for Rarity, that’s all.” She lied.

Catching wind of the unusually uncharacteristic behavior, Twilight cocked a brow. “I didn’t know you were into fashion.”

She shrugged. “I’m not. I was just doing a favor for her.”

“That’s awfully kind of you.”

Rainbow grinned. “What can I say? I got a soft spot for cute girls like her.”

Twilight merely rolled her eyes and grabbed some text books from the shelf and set them down, opening one to a page she had place a sticky note in to mark their previous progress. The subject was math, one that Rainbow seemed particularly incapable at. Flipping to the page that she left off on, Twilight brushed her hair behind her neck and focused on the task at hand.

“Alright, so if four minus X plus 17 is equal to forty-two, then what is X?” Twilight quizzed, hoping that Rainbow retained some knowledge from their last session.

“Man, why do all of these problems have freakin’ letters? I thought math was numbers? Even in high school they started doing this X shit. Can’t we go back to the good old days when math was just numbers?” Rainbow groaned.

“Math has almost never been exclusively numbers, Rainbow. Logic and problem solving are at the core of mathematics.” Twilight explained.

“Logically speaking then, when am I ever going to need to know this? I’m studying criminal justice, what is the purpose of this?” Rainbow protested as she lay back on the love seat and looked up to the ceiling.

The tutor sighed. “You need to focus, Rainbow and take this seriously; the test is in a few weeks, and if you don’t pass you’re going to get kicked off the team.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine. Let’s find this math problem’s X. Even though I’m sure he should probably just accept that it’s over.” She joked.

Another lazy day at school was passing for Spike. Class was the usual snore and in the back he was practicing his best sleeping while sitting up stance that he possibly could. Positioning himself perfectly behind another student, he had studied the teacher’s movement patterns to know around where he could lean his head upon his hand propped up by his elbow and his eyes would be blocked by the student in front of him so that the teacher would never notice he was sleeping. He had almost mastered the fine art of sleeping in class.

He had probably gotten a good ten minutes of rest in during his final class of the day before the bell rang and broke his slumber. He cursed under his breath, and rubbed his eyes before quickly throwing all of his things into his bag. On his last class, he always brought his bag with him so he could save himself a trip to his locker. When that bell rang, he wanted to be out and on his way to work as fast as possible. While he wasn’t thrilled about working there, he knew that Twilight pulled a favor to get him that job, and he wasn’t about to disappoint her.

He was stopped by the teacher on his way out the classroom door, who placed his arm in the doorway right as Spike was about to make his exit. He gestured for the green spiky haired teen to step aside and have a talk with him. With a sigh and a curse under his breath, he did as instructed.

“Mr. Sparkle, I’m a bit concerned about your lack of participation in this class.” He began. “Gee, thanks. I appreciate your concern, glad we could have this talk, I’m cheering for you too, buddy.” Spike faked a smile and patted his teacher on the shoulder disingenuously before attempting to make another leave for the door only to be stopped again.

“You seem distracted, Spike. What’s been bothering you? You know you can talk to me if you need anything. I’m here to not only help you learn, but help you when you need someone to talk to.” His teacher spoke with legitimate concern.

“Thanks, Mr. Stick, but I think I can handle myself. I got plenty of people looking out for me.” He reassured the instructor.

Mr. Stick only sighed and nodded before gesturing for Spike to run along. “Alright, but I’m always here…”

“Duly noted.” Spike replied before bolting out of the room at full speed to make up for lost time.

Seeing him running, his faithful companion, Applebloom caught up with him and kept her pace steady to stay by his side. “So, what’s the hurry?” She asked.

“I just don’t want to be late.” He huffed as he was trying to keep going at full speed.

The two made it out the front door of the building before a group of three older males blocked their path. Spike recognized them, the tallest (and probably most dimwitted) was Snails, and next to him was the leader of their little group, Snips. Snips was short and stocky, but despite that everyone seemed to follow his orders. The kid was already growing a mustache at his age and didn’t exactly have a lot more brains to him than his henchmen. The third was their newcomer to the group, sporting a ridiculously out of style jacket, and probably the most offensive haircut known to man was a recruit they just called “Beater”. The kid probably failed his junior year at least 4 times to be as big as he was and still in high school. The kid’s arms were probably as big as Spike’s head.

“Well, how are you and your girlfriend?” Snips teased.

Spike laughed and looked over to Applebloom. “Look at that, Applebloom, the road’s blocked by a couple of morons.”

“Laugh it up, dumbass.” Snips growled.

“Great retort, your mom teach you that one? Nah couldn’t have been… She’s already drank herself stupid at this point in the day.” Spike replied.

Snips definitely showed a physical twitch at that comment, but kept his cool and held back his two henchmen.

“Look unless you’ve come to have an ugly contest which I’m sure you’ll no doubt take home the victory for that, I got somewhere that I have to be.” Spike said.

“Where? At that stupid bakery downtown?” Snails actually spoke up this time.

Spike blinked and grew a nasty scowl. “How did you know about that?”

“My mom went and got a cake from them last week.” Snails answered with a very “matter-of-a-fact” tone that only seemed to annoy Spike more.

“Stay behind me, Applebloom. I’m going to resolve this the easy way…” Spike said quietly to his friend.

Applebloom only expressed protest to his proposed plan. “Spike, they’re not worth it…”

Spike however didn’t listen; he homed in and took a quick swing right at Snips’ face, connecting with his jaw. With a cracking noise coming from the bully he had taken off guard, he used the momentum to take another jab at his stomach, causing him to kneel in agony. He had to keep it moving if he wanted to stand a chance against the three of them, so during the confusion of those first few seconds, he took a swing at Snails for a direct hit in the eye socket. That would be the end of his lucky shots though, as Snips regained enough composure to hit Spike back in his shoulder blade.

The punch stung, but it wasn’t a very effective place to do damage to Spike and he turned around quickly to take another crack at Snips’ head. When he felt contact, he took a swing with his other hand to hit him again. A small trail of blood followed Snips’ skull that flung back from the punch.

Unfortunately though, Snails was able to take advantage of the situation and punch Spike in the back of the head while he was dealing with Snips. It staggered him, but he quickly turned around and kicked Snails right in the gut.

All of this however left Spike forgetting about Beater who had remained on the sidelines. Finally getting involved, the brute pushed through Snips and Snails and jabbed Spike right in the face. Blown back from the impact, Spike had no time to react as the behemoth picked him right off the ground and tossed him causing him to land on a nearby car. Once the car’s alarm went off, Snips, and Snails pulled themselves off the ground. “Shit, that’s Principle Cranky’s car. Let’s bail!”

With those words, the trio of bullies took off. Applebloom rushed to Spike’s aid and pulled him off of the smashed windshield. “Are you alright?”

He nodded as he rubbed his head. “I think so…”

At that exact moment though when he looked back to the school entrance, there was the tall and angry Principle Cranky in his usual business attire. His dark face crinkled to probably the most annoyed expression that Spike knew. Reaching in his pocket he retrieved a key to his vehicle and silenced the alarm. Spike and Applebloom looked him in the eyes.

“Oh shit…” Spike sighed.

“So why don’t you just tell him how you feel, Fluttershy?” Rainbow spoke as she rudely was attempting to clip her toenails in front of her friend. Fluttershy was more or less used to her disgusting nature at this point. Rainbow seldom seemed to care if people thought less of her for her behavior. Commonly Fluttershy got to hear the crude expression “fuck ‘em” leave Rainbow’s lips. Fluttershy seldom cursed herself, and before Rainbow she would adamantly try and censor people around her, but after years with the potty mouth that Rainbow possessed, it was clear that she was not going to change any time soon. At this point, Fluttershy just accepted it.

Fluttershy tugged at some of her long hair nervously as she spoke. “Oh please, he’s on the soccer team. He wouldn’t be interested in a nobody like me. He’s a sports star…”

Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. I mean I would imagine that Soarin has pussy on speed dial…” Fluttershy cringed a bit at that description, which was probably unnecessary on Rainbow’s part.

“But it doesn’t hurt to try, right? Who knows maybe you’ll catch him during a dry spell.” Rainbow added.

The tomboyish girl winced a bit as she clipped too close to the toe with the next clip attempt. She took a breath and carried on, trying to ignore the agony.

“I don’t know if I could handle that…” Fluttershy admitted, hiding her face behind her hair a bit.

“What’s there to handle? You tell him you like him, make the offer and just hop on the old pogo stick and do the nasty thing.” Rainbow didn’t even look at Fluttershy as she uttered out such an obscene suggestion.

Fluttershy’s whole face turned a shade of crimson just at the mention of such an idea. “I-I… Err… What?”

Rainbow stopped what she was doing and looked over at her friend with a serious look this time. “Or whatever it is that you straight people call it. I don’t know, I haven’t ever had an interest in cock; so excuse me if I’m not up to date on the terminology.”

“No it’s not that… It’s…” Fluttershy felt her face burning up. “I could never…”

Rainbow blinked. “Oh yeah, still got the V-card… Right…” She looked up in thought before returning her gaze to her friend. “Well, you’ll have to change that if you want a chance with him. Soarin probably takes down 4 a month.”

“I… I couldn’t ever…”

Rainbow shrugged before pulling her socks back on and setting her nail clippers aside. “Well it’s up to you after all. I mean it’s not really that big a deal, but I get it if you’re scared.” Rainbow smiled before tapping her friend’s shoulder with her fist.

“Give it time, warm up to the idea.” She added.

Fluttershy nodded and bit the sleeve of her sweater. “Yeah… I’ll think about it… Can I… Come to you if I need help?”

Rainbow nodded. “I mean I can’t really tell you much about the part with him being a guy and all, but I can definitely mentally prepare you.”

“Thanks, Rainbow… You’re a good friend.”

“And yet you’re all over Soarin and not me.” She grinned.

Fluttershy rolled her eyes and shoved Rainbow a bit playfully. “I’d have to share you with half the town you whore.” Fluttershy giggled, not usually using words like “whore” but Rainbow certainly brought out the crudeness in her.

“Hey, I resent that. Whores get paid, I just will fuck anyone who is hot.” Rainbow chuckled.

“Is that what was going on with Rarity? I heard you were with her the other day?” Fluttershy teased.

Rainbow laughed jovially. “Don’t think I didn’t think about it… Those curves, that butt…” She made a moan of delight out loud. “But nah; I was just helping her out with something and she was following me home because of it. Rarity is too much woman for me to handle, if I’m a cheap whore, then she’s a high class escort.” Fluttershy actually understood that analogy from being around her for so long.

“So how’d your study session with Twilight go?” Fluttershy said, changing the subject.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “The usual, I was told I need to focus more and I’ll never pass the exams if I don’t shape up, blah blah blah.”

“You weren’t even paying attention were you?” Fluttershy teased as she grabbed a drink from the coffee table and took a sip. The two had been stationed in Rainbow’s apartment and while the place was a bit messy, Rainbow always seemed to keep the living room clean (or relatively clean if you had seen the rest of her apartment) due to that being the area they frequented.

“It’s so hard to listen and to keep listening when I’m undressing her with my mind.” Rainbow winked.

“You’re a pig.” Fluttershy laughed.

“Oink oink, mother fucker.” Rainbow joked.

“Oh come on, you can’t tell me that you actually like him. I know you, AJ, I know what makes you… Tick…” Cloudchaser’s voice exited through Applejack’s phone which she held awkwardly. Being a country girl, she was used to not getting cell phone reception where she used to live, so when she picked up her first smartphone it was a completely new world to her.

Applejack sighed, rolled her eyes and propped her feet covered by her cowboy boots onto her coffee table. She popped open a soda and gave it a big gulp before responding. “Cloudchaser, Ah’ told ya’ before. It’s over. I’m with him now, and that’s how it’s gonna stay.”

“Oh please, I bet he doesn’t even do that thing with his to-“ AJ cut her off.

“Will ya’ shut it ‘bout that!?” Applejack’s face burned up at just the mention of such a thing.

“See, the fact that you still get embarrassed shows I’m right. We all know where your destiny lays, AJ. You just need to finally be ready to accept it.” Cloudchaser teased. She got really serious for a moment though and started talking again. “Come on, AJ. Why not just make the next step? What do we have to lose? Why are you so afraid of what your family might think? Just because they’re old fashioned doesn’t mean they would disown you or something. I mean your brother and sister both adore you. I can’t see them just giving up on you.”

Applejack bit her lip awkwardly. “It’s more complicated than that…”

“It’s only as complicated as you make it, AJ.”

“Well, right now it’s super complicated.” Applejack retorted.

Cloudchaser sighed. “Why you’re so afraid to be happy, I’ll never know. I swear there are children who are easier to please than you. I don’t even get why I keep bothering with a girl who doesn’t know what she wants.”

“Why do you then?” AJ asked with a serious tone.

“Because I love you, AJ. You know that.” Cloudchaser said it so plain, so simple, like it was just a universal fact that both of them should have known without question. Then again, maybe AJ should have actually already known that.

“Ah’ know you do…” AJ replied.

“And I keep waiting for you to say it back.” Cloudchaser hinted.

“Ah’ gotta go…” Applejack said. She hung up before giving the girl a chance to speak again, knowing it would only make the conversation more awkward and difficult to deal with than it already was.

Cloudchaser and her may have been a perfect match, but AJ would keep pushing her away again and again. Part of AJ wondered if they would be locked into this dance of push and pull for the rest of time. Another part of her just figured if the two were meant to be together so badly, that maybe she should just embrace it and let it happen. It would save her a lot of trouble in the long run.

Still, how she felt about Cloudchaser wasn’t even the issue. She knew that despite what she may say, do or even try to think, that the feelings between the two were mutual. She knew her new relationship was just a façade she was trying to convince herself was real. An attempt at smiling long enough until the smile became genuine. Her true feelings would probably always rest with Cloudchaser, but she’d go on trying to deny that and push her away; all for the idea that she believed this was the only way for the two of them to be truly happy.

“Damn it…” AJ thought out loud as she sipped another bit of soda.

Author's Note

Cloudchaser quickly became a very fun character to write for. She underwent some of the heaviest revisions of any character though. Her original concept was actually much more timid and shy. The idea of making her blind didn't come until almost the point of writing the chapter. Originally created to suite her more timid nature, the blind concept was kept even after her revision. I wanted her to stand out a bit more next to Applejack who had a more nervous demeanor. Ultimately Cloudchaser became an obnoxious girl who had a perverted sense of humor. It became extremely humorous to write dialogue for her, and her behavior has great comedic pay offs. The choice to keep her blind I feared originally would devalue her character, but it actually ended up playing well with her final personality.

Physical appearance wise she went through the most drastic appearance change as well. She originally was going to be more conservative, but when her arm sleeve tattoo was added numerous changes to her appearance came in to make her more punk rocker. The partially dreaded hair was a choice by Anni when doing the concept art stating she felt it was not only more fun for Cloudchaser's personality, but a hair style that would be lower maintenance for a blind girl. I didn't get on board until I saw the drawing, then I knew it had to stay in the final story.