Chapter Two
Barrels of Apples

Applejack snuggled comfortably in her warm bed. The sunlight from the window poured into her room, giving it a beautiful glow that bounced off walls and objects in her room. Unfortunately, as the sun turned, it bounced off Applejack's mirror and straight into her eyes.

"What in tarnation..." Applejack mumbled, and used her hand to block the sunlight streaming into her face. It was rare the sun jumped to this position yet in this time of morning.

The problem was, it wasn't the time Applejack had previously thought. As she checked the old grandfather clock sitting in the corner of her room, realization began to creep in with its best friend - but definitely uninvited guest - panic.

"Ah'm late!" Applejack yelled and jumped out of bed, tying her hair in a quick braid, only to find she had been sleeping in the night before's clothes. No wonder she had overslept, she must have been exhausted from the previous day's chores. Still, that was no excuse to be late for her first day of school, and she needed to get ready faster than a five bit snake herder in an Appleloosa ranch house.

Running to her dresser, she quickly pulled off the ranch farmer's clothes and hastily pulled on her uniform, and then checked herself in the mirror. It looked fine to her, but Applejack knew she'd probably be sweating on the way to school, so she undid the buttons on her shirt and instead tied the ends together above her stomach. Afterwards, she bunched up her pant legs so that her leggings wouldn't stick to her calves. However, one of the pant legs refused to bunch, so Applejack gave in and just let it drop. She placed her favorite brown Stetson on her head and took another look in the mirror. There, perfect. Now she wouldn't be all hot and miserable in the black pickup truck that did nothing but attract heat.

Applejack flung her door open and sprinted into the kitchen, barely saying goodbye to Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, and Big Mac, who were sitting around the table eating breakfast. She was about to leave when Granny spoke up.

"Applejack, breakfast?" the older lady crowed. Applejack sighed, but picked up a bagel, ran out of the kitchen like her hair was on fire, and didn't stop until she reached the old truck.

* * *

Huffing, Applejack slammed the car door shut and ran inside the school building, dropping what was left of her bagel in a nearby trash receptacle. It was bad enough that she was late, but now she was probably going to have bad breath as well.

Staring down at a yellowed schedule, Applejack sighed, seeing that she was late for her very important "welcome to your new high school" meeting with the principal. Looking at the map of the school, helpfully placed on the next page, Applejack sighed again, louder, considering that the principal's office was all the way on the other side of the school. Why was her life so complicated?

Panting, Applejack finally reached the office, where a student assistant sat at a desk, filing her nails. Probably a sophomore. They were always doing dumb stuff like that.

"Can I, like, help you, or something?" the assistant said.

"Uh, yeah, um, Ah have an appointment," Applejack stuttered.

"Not now. Can't you see I'm, like, busy?" the girl huffed impatiently, finally looking up from her nails. Then it was her turn to stutter. "Uhh... Well, like... Hi, uh... You're that student Principal Igneous wanted to, like, see. Uhmm, go right in," the assistant said, almost dropping her nail file.

Applejack thanked the girl and opened the door to the office. It was a small room, or at least smaller than she thought it would be, made entirely of... rock. That was strange. She'd never seen a room made entirely out of rocks before, but each to his own way.

"Hello. Why does thou enter thy place?" a voice spoke. Turning her head, she saw it to be a man with yellowish skin, droopy eyes, and white sideburns. He looked old, so he was probably bald, considering the black hat he wore on his head.

"Ah, um, you wanted to see me before class?" Applejack stood in the doorway, unsure whether to run away or walk in.

"Ah, yes. Thou new student, please, sit," Principal Igneous gestured to the seat in front of him. It, too, was made of rocks.

"So, why havest thou cometh to Ponyville Crest High School?" the principal said regally.

"Ah moved here a few days back, sir, and mah Granny-" Applejack started.

"This is not of interest to me." Principal Igneous crossed the room, standing behind Applejack's rock chair. "Fill outeth thy form," he said, and shoved a piece of paper in Applejack's face. "You will deliver it to my assistant by thy end of thou's day, any questions?"

"Actually, Ah-"

"Good. Now then, thy musteth be on thou's way," the principal said, eyeing Applejack's shirt suspiciously, and shoved Applejack out of the room.

What a strange man, Applejack thought. But she sprinted down the hallway anyway, as the class bell started ringing, reminding Applejack of how late she was.

* * *

Applejack did not get to class before the bell stopped ringing, but afterwards, having walked into several wrong classrooms. She finally walked into what she found was her first period science class, after about a minute. Apparently, she'd forgotten her backpack, so Granny Smith had been kind enough to drop it off before school. Applejack blew out a note of relief. What a great grandmother.

"Uh, sorry Ah'm late, ya'll," Applejack said, looking at the teacher as she spoke.

The teacher wasn't having it. "That's alright, but please, seeing as this is your first day, try not to end up on a tardy streak," she said, looking at someone else in the class as she spoke.

Applejack turned to face the class. She felt her cheeks redden as she did, embarassed to see she was the only one that was late. She looked around the classroom at her new classmates, none of which stared back at her.

Except for one girl.

She had multi-colored hair up in a high ponytail, streaks of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple littering in stripes. Her eyes were magenta, probably contacts, and she wore a sport-enthused headband instead of the school bow (which Applejack didn't wear, either). She had on the school uniform, but wore a letterman's jacket around it, which you can only receive from being on a varsity team, making her an impressively athletic girl. Instead of flats, tennis shoes peeked out from under her desk, bright rainbow ones, and Applejack couldn't help but stare for a second.

When she finally got over the shock of the girl, Applejack shook her head and slid into her seat. What made her different than the rest of the girls here? There was just something about her that had Applejack's head spinning, but she decided that that wasn't important. She was going to make a good impression on everyone here, despite her impressions at her last school.

"Hiya, Ah'm Applejack," she whispered and stuck out her hand for the girl to shake, who didn't seem to be paying much attention to the teacher's lecture. Or Applejack's words, for that matter, because she only stared back at Applejack without lifting a finger. That was a little weird. Did she say something wrong? "What's yer name, then?" Applejack asked after a while.

The girl seemed to hesitate. "Uh... I'm Rainbow," she said. That was a typical name, hence the colored hair. But it seemed that Rainbow wasn't interested in a conversation, as she turned her nose into her science textbook. Applejack raised her eyebrows and tried again.

"Nice to meet ya!" Applejack smiled awkwardly. Rainbow didn't turn back to her, however. She only said, "Yeah, you too..." in reply.

Although, Rainbow's response might have been uttered a little too loudly, as the teacher turned around, raised an eyebrow at Rainbow, and filled out a piece of red parchment, standing over Rainbow's desk angrily. Applejack would have said something about it not being her who started the conversation, but Rainbow hadn't even looked up yet, and the last thing Applejack needed on her first day was a detention. So she sat back, feeling guilty about the whole thing, and dreading the next time she would see Rainbow.

* * *

Applejack stared into the depths of her empty locker, beside the book bag resting in it. Something wasn't right about that Rainbow girl, and she knew it. But it wasn't a good wrong or a bad wrong. It was just... strange.

Applejack turned around, huffing, only to find a smiling face with curled purple hair staring back at her.

"Rarity...?" Applejack's eyes widened in realization.

"Applejack!" Rarity grinned and hugged her old friend. Applejack hesitated, but halfheartedly patted her friend's back.

"Oh, it's so good to see you! But... what are you wearing?" Rarity scrunched up her nose as if there was a terrible smell emanating from her outfit.

"Well, the uniform, a'course," Applejack shrugged indifferently. Rarity started to mess with Applejack's skirt.

"Hey!" Applejack practically jumped into her locker. "What d'you think yer doin' down there?"

"Sorry, darling, but it's all bunched up! And you can't wear your shirt like that around school, it's prohibited, just like that ugly hat of yours," Rarity complained.

"Principal Igneous and mah science teacher didn't seem to mind," Applejack crossed her arms across her chest, ignoring Rarity's hat comment.

"Well, the principal is a little... off," Rarity replied. "And the science teacher is his wife, Mrs. Pie, so she's probably no different."

"Oh," Applejack said, and fixed her clothes. "Alright then."

"So, did you meet anyone you liked?" Rarity asked, batting her eyes and giggling.

"No Ah did not!" Applejack retorted.

"You're blushing! You definitely did!" Rarity started laughing.

"Ah'm not blushing neither!" Applejack stopped blushing.

"Rarity, who's this?" an annoyed-sounding voice said.

"Oh! Hey, Twilight! This is my old friend, Applejack. We went to kindergarten together, until I moved here," Rarity waved at the annoyed girl.

"Oh! Hi, Applejack," Twilight's face seemed to relax a bit, "You must be new here. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and... oh, well, I see you've already met my girlfriend, Rarity," Twilight beamed.

"Girlfriend?" Applejack's eyes grew wide.

"Oh goodness, dear, I did tell you, didn't I? I came out a few years back," Rarity said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Uh... no, ya didn't," Applejack twisted her braid around her fingers nervously.

"Oh, my bad! Sorry, darling," Rarity said nonchalantly. "Well, anyways, you're totally free to sit with us at lunch. Table 7, you know," Rarity smiled and ran off hand in hand with Twilight.

Applejack just stood there with a dazed look on her face. She knew about homosexuals, but her old kindergarten buddy being one? That seemed strange. She had nothing against gays, but Applejack had never expected something like this. Nor had she really thought about it. She kind of just assumed Rarity was more boy-crazy than anything. She had been in kindergarten.

Applejack clicked her locker shut, and tiredly groped down the hallway, dazed, confused, and ready to get the hell out of that school.

Author's Note

Hi all!

So I just wanted to say thanks for all your support in the last chapter! I couldn't believe how much attention it had been getting. This is my first fic, after all. But It was amazing how many likes and comments it got in just the first day it was published (as of when this chapter was published, twenty likes and fourteen comments - really good for my first fanfic)!

Also, fixed the whole uniform issue while making it out that the principal is insane #greatestficevarproskillzlol6666

That's a joke.

...she needed to get ready faster than a five bit snake herder in an Appleloosa ranch house.

That's a reference. Plus I'm terrible with countryisms.

You guys are great! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the previous one!

EDIT: Yes grammar police! I fixed it even before you could say anything! So ha!