"What are we doing?" Rarity buckled her seatbelt and AJ furrowed his eyebrows as Rainbow Blitz shut his door.

"What're you doin'?"

"What do you mean? I'm putting on my seatbelt!"

"You don't wear seatbelts when you're goin' muddin'!"

"What's 'mudding'? It sounds terrible!" Butterscotch made himself comfortable in Blitz's lap while Rarity and Pinkie Pie got to sit in the middle seat of the rutty old truck. Blitz wrapped his arms around the skinny boy and AJ rolled down the windows, smiling at the huge piece of land that was covered in muddy puddles.

"Y'all hold on," he warned as he stepped on the gas and sped through the mud. Rarity shrieked as the force of the truck jolted them all back and Butterscotch eyed the speedometer carefully. It was able to quickly surpass the 120 mark and tears welled in his eyes.

"I thought pickups could only go sixty-five miles per hour," he asked in a scared squeak and AJ shook his head.

"Not when you fix 'em up good!" He leaned his arm out of the window and drove through the mud with one hand while the truck busied itself in getting dirty. Rarity screamed loudly and squeezed her eyes shut, hugging onto AJ’s muscular left leg.

"If we die, just know that you've all been great friends!"

"We ain't gonna die!" Rarity cried as the mud covered truck drove up a ramp and soared through the air. When AJ laid down on his truck's horn, it honked out the first twelve notes to "Dixieland" and Butterscotch hugged Blitz tightly.

"Lighten up," Blitz laughed as the truck landed hard in the mud, knocking Rarity’s head into AJ's lap and Pinkie to the floorboards.

AJ drifted the truck into the grass and finally the vehicle rocked back and forth before it settled to a stop. The farmer boy let out a "yee-haw" and hopped out of the truck to sink his cowboy boots into the thick mud. Blitz jumped out as well and stood the rigid, nervous Butterscotch up on his quivering legs.

"Dude, that was awesome," he shouted as Pinkie crawled out of the truck and stumbled dizzily.

"Yeah," she agreed breathlessly, leaning against the bed of the truck, “I haven’t seen this many colors in years, ever since that one time when I hit my head, and...” Rarity held her arms out and AJ lifted her up onto his back for a ride until they reached the clean grass.

"AJ, that was very, very reckless of you," Rarity fussed, but AJ and Blitz just gave each other a high-five. The kids quieted at the sound of a cowbell loudly being rung and they looked to the little country house.

"It's time for dinner, y'all come on, it's about time for y'all to be at the party," AJ's grandmother shouted through the farm and AJ got back into the truck with the others, all except for Rarity.

"Come on," Blitz persuaded, but the girl stared at the mud.

"Uh, no." AJ cranked up the truck and Blitz opened the door, but Rarity didn't budge.

"I swear," AJ sighed and took off his wife beater, throwing it to Blitz. With this, the rainbow-haired boy threw it across the ground to make a bridge for the prim and proper girl to walk across so that she could get into the truck.

"Are we still going to that baby shower at Sugar Cube Corner," Butterscotch asked and Pinkie rolled her eyes with a groan.

"I forgot about that," she whined, "I was supposed to decorate and it's almost time for them to get home!"

"Don't worry," AJ explained with a smile and he sped off through the mud and up the long, winding road of Sweet Apple Acres.

"Spike, triple check the list to make sure that I put everything in its place!"

"Dusk, stop worrying! It's all here! Wait - oh no!"

"What?" Dusk Shine wheeled around to face the short, green haired girl who looked worriedly at the list. "What is it? What!"

"We forgot the kitchen sink! What a tragedy!"

"I hate you, Barb," he roared as the girl laughed at him.

"Hey, I told you to never call me that again!"

"You two don't fight, now," Twilight Velvet sighed, rubbing her face gently. She finally gave the two a smile and wiped her bangs out of her face. "What if we go to that little restaurant down the street to have dinner? It seems like a lovely place."

"Yeah," Spike shouted giddily, but Dusk rolled his eyes.

"I wanted to stay home and finish my book on quantum physics!"

"Come on, Dusk, you can always read later," his father Night Light chuckled, ruffling up his bowl cut. Dusk quickly calmed it down and made sure that the thick, dark purple locks were all in their right places. "Let's rock and roll, kids!" The man twirled his keys around his finger and while Spike ran through the front door, Dusk Shine trudged along. As their car drove down the road to the restaurant, Dusk stared out the window to see the bakery across the road.

He smiled to himself when he saw five kids dancing to music so loud that even he could hear it, but they decorated at the same time. Every time that he had to decorate, it was miserable. They looked like they were having so much fun... "Sweet Apple Acres," Twilight Velvet hummed, breaking Dusk's train of thought, "quality apples and livestock. Hey Dusk, don't you use apples for your science projects?"

"Sometimes, yeah."

"Well you should buy stock in that company," Night Light joked, climbing out of the car. Dusk looked in the window once more to the kids that were so happy while twirling around and laughing together, all having the best of times.

"Maybe you should make some friends, sweetie," Twilight Velvet whispered when she noticed that Dusk was staring through the window. She pet his hair and hugged him from behind, placing her head on his shoulder.

"I can't, Mom."

"Why can't you? They look like nice kids."

"Because I'm not good at making friends."

"You've never tried, sweetheart." She kissed his cheek and smiled, patting his shoulder before grabbing his hand and leading him into the restaurant.

Author's Note

I go mudding all the time with my friends...too safe?

I listened to this song while writing the part about Twilight looking in the window at the others. (RIP Melodic Pony)