The great joy was like a shot in the arm for the group, finally, after shooting texts apologizing, begging and groveling for a chance to make up for what they had done, Sunset Shimmer had unblocked her phone and made contact.
It wasn't surprising that out of all of them, she had contacted Fluttershy. The timid girl had almost lost hope until that old, familiar number came up. The animal caregiver was excited but extremely cautious, not wanting to upset the red head and cause her to put the wall back up. Thankfully the five minute phone call went smoothly, ending with Sunset simply saying that she would call again later.
Every call was exciting news that Fluttershy shared with her friends, a light finally seen at the end of the tunnel that grew to it's brightest when, after three weeks, Sunset finished her latest phone call with Fluttershy saying that she wanted to meet the group.
Naturally there were conditions. No hyper Pinkie Pie, Dash and Applejack had to keep themselves in check, and no speaking up when she would say her peace.
Fluttershy called back ten minutes later saying everyone was in agreement of the rules before agreeing to meet at the mall in the afternoon.
The group was tense as they sat at a table in the food court, barely touching their soft pretzels and other snacks as they waited. Rarity kept fiddling with her hair, Pinkie was gripping the edges of her seat to keep still and Applejack was sitting tensely with her arms crossed.
She knew out of all of them, she and Dash had the beSt track record for contracting foot in mouth syndrome. Applejack hoped she'd gotten better, she wasn't perfect,but she wanted to show Sunset she was better.
When Pinkie Pie sat straight up like a merkat, everyone knew she'd spotted Sunset. A strange tension washed through the group, a mix of excitement and nervousness.
They were... Nervouscited, if Pinkie had to put a word to it.
Sunset hadn't seems to change a lot since a year ago, leather jacket, new clothes, the horrible scar on her cheek that made more than one of them wince.
As she took her seat, she studied each of them, beautiful turquoise eyes as she studied them, testing them, seeing if they would keep to the rules. Her gaze ever remained neutral as the group kept quiet and still.
A long time passed in the tense silence, the noise of thr mall fading away as the first move slowly made it's entrance.
"It's been awhile." Sunset said simply.
"Quite awhile." agreed Rarity, ever the social one and able to take the lead. "You look good, darling."
"I'm sure the scar accents my features nicely." Sunset said cooly as Rarity'a charming smile became strained.
"Yes, well..." she began, a small stall as she cleared her throat and recovered. "I'm sorry. That it happened to you."
The only response was a small hum, from Sunset's throat, almost a mystery to it's meaning as Sunset kept a figurative distance as ahem looked first to Dash and then to Applejack.
Knowing she was testing again, like a top dog circling a leaser dog, Applejack kept her mouth shut and returned the neutral look with one of her own. This distrust and prodding was deserved, ahem knew it, and if it meant proving things could be okay and patched up, she could take anything Sunset threw at her.
The tension lessened by some as the awkward small talk continued, everyone in the group muted and trying to stay as far away from the line as possible.
Finally, Fluttershy summoned her nerve to speak at the next opportunity "So... We were planning to go to the movies next weekend. And I was thinking, if you wanted... You could join us?" she asked, averting her gaze from Sunset's as she fiddled with her fingers.
Staring for a moment, Sunset replied "No, thank you Fluttershy."
Looking like her stomach had dropped, Fluttershy quickly stitched a smile back on as she attempted to salvage the fumble "O-oh! Right, it would be too soon, I'm sorry, m-maybe in a month or so."
Frowning, she waited for Fluttershy to finish before speaking "This is where I'm going to say my peace. And I do not want to be interrupted until I finish." When they all nodded, she took a breath and let it out slowly "I won't be hanging out with any of you again after today."
"What!?" said Dash, standing up and looking ready to continue until,the hard look front Sunset cowed her. As she sat down, that look turned to the rest, both Rarity and Fluttershy look upset, Pinkie was about ready to burst and Applejack had sat up straight, arms uncrossed.
"Look... after Anon-A-Miss, I just can't feel comfortable around you guys."
"But we just did the one bad thing! Not the really bad thing!" said Pinkie Pie, taking her turn for an outburst.
"One more and I leave right now." said Sunset, giving Pinkie Pie a glare that made her wilt in her seat before turning it on the others. Once she was sure things were in order, she continued "I know what you guys did and didn't do, but all of you abandoned me when I needed you most. And after that I can't trust you guys."
"But we can! If you just give us a chance-!" began Fluttershy.
"No." said Sunset, her words like a slap to to Fluttershy's face "After everything, you guys don't deserve it." she said as she stood "I want all of you to stopsending me emails and texts. Goodbye."
In the moment Sunset turned her back on them, Applejack looked between her friends. Fluttershy was near tears and Rarity was trying to console her. Pinkie Pie was totally deflated and Dash was holding her head in her hands, biting her lip hard to keep quiet.
It made Applejack's blood boil and she uttered something that Sunset caught, stopping her in her tracks "What?" she asked, turning her ear I. Applejack's general direction.
"Ah said..." began Applejack, her voice much louder and drawing the group's attention to her. "Ah guess that'd make us damn foolish givin' ya' another chance after the Fall Formal, wouldn't it?" she repeated, green eyes locking with blue as a storm began to brew.
"Yes, and it was so noble of you to do that favor for the princess." sneered Sunset, ready to walk again.
"Ya' know damn well we didn't have to." said Applejack, standing up and crossing her arms. Her power stance not nearly as intimidating as Sunset's but she was doing a decent job. "Princess Twilight weren't there ta' twist our arms it bein'yer friend!"
"No but some friends throwing my mistake in my face. But no offense right?" said Sunset, turning to face Applejack and one up her on pose-Fu as she crosses her arms.
"And we were sorry fer bein' jackasses! We cut that out after!" Applejack countered.
"And sorry doesn't cut it after you all stabbed me in the back during Anon-A-Miss!" said Sunset, temper flaring as she slammed her hand onto the table, making the other four jump."Maybe if you had been real friends, I wouldn't of almost died!"
"AND WE'RE SORRY!" shouted Applejack, voice warbling slightly as her throat tightened some. "We made a horrible mistake, we wanna make up fer it n' be friends again!"
"Well I'm not interested in tolerating any of you any more just so you lot can feel less guilty!" Sunset hissed out.
"Cause ya' can't give us the same courtesy we gave y'all after the Fall Formal? To give us a chance ta' make up fer our wrongs?" asked Applejack, voice cool and sounding sad as she asked "Did y'all even care 'bout our friendship?"
"Did you during Anon-A-Miss?" Sunset deflected cruelly?
"Well?" pressed Applejack, waiting for an answer.
Staring for a moment or two, Sunset seemed to come to a decision as fire turned to ice "I thought I did. But not anymore."
The blonde felt her heart tighten, like a horse hitched up way too tight. But then her temper boiled over "Then go ahead and run, ya' coward. It's what year good at!" she snapped.
Sunset's eyes narrowed dangerously, boring into Applejack's before she turned and left, quickly disappearing into the mall crowd.
"Applejack... What the hell?" asked Dash, slumped in her chair, her and the others staring at the cowgirl.
"... Ah'm goin' home." said Applejack, quickly turning before anyone could say anything else, wiping her eyes on her sleeve as she too disappeared in the crowd.
Author's Note
I have no WiFi, on my,phone when I did this.
Author's Note
I have to say, I'm pleased with the dialogues this has created and even a couple of you have managed to get the idea I was going for (mind readingly-ish so).
And thus while I've been busy moving, I've had three more chapters percolating in my brain, first going in one direction and then another.
So I hope the end result of this thinking will be a satisfactory continuation (but probably not XD).
LET'S KEEP THIS TRAIN ROLLING!!!
Still Not *extra*
One week had passed since the mall, there had been no sign of Sunset Shimmer, the five had taken to their own business with chatter kept to a minimum.
However, the blonde cowgirl of the group had been completely off the radar. Text messages unanswered, phone calls going to voice mail, calling the home itself had been fruitless as both Granny Smith and Big Mac had said she'd been holed up in the old barn.
Applejack could often disappear for one reason or another, but the apple harvest had passed and the chores weren't as numerous this time of year. It was worrying enough that at the end of the week, a car pulled up and a certain rainbow haired young woman stepped out. Rainbow Dash ran a hand through her hair as she skipped the homestead and headed for the barn, as nice as Granny Smith could be, that was a time sink she didn't want to get caught in right now when she had a friend to check up on.
It seemed that food and drink wasn't a problem if the recently cleared glass and plate outside the door was anything to go by. Geez, had she been sleeping out there too?
Slowly opening the door a smidge, Dash peeked inside and saw Applejack working at a table near the back. A glance over to the truck that transported their crop showed the hood was open and parts here and there. Obviously Applejack was fiddling with it again, Dash always figured they put in way more time and money into fixing it up than just buying a new engine, but that was a thought for another day.
Opening the door more, the natural light and squeak of the hinges gave her away but Applejack didn't turn to look "Big Mac? Granny?" she called, waiting for an answer before speaking up again "If'n that's you Applebloom, jes' set the plate down n' Ah'll get to it."
"Nah. Just me AJ." Rainbow finally responded, closing the door behind her as the blonde looked up from her work. "You've been in here a week and we haven't heard from you. Guess you've been keeping busy?"
"Guess so..." said Applejack, reaching for a rag on the bench to clean off her hands.
"So I get that you sleep out here, but don't tell me you've been sleeping out here too." teased Rainbow Dash, the mirth falling some when it wasn't denied. "Really?"
"Yeah. So?"
"Geez. You really feel bad about shooting your mouth off at Sunset, huh?"
"Kinda... jes' had a lot to think 'bout."
"Must be heavy if you've been cooped up in here a week." said Dash, having crossed the way to stand next to the country girl. "Anything you wanna talk about?"
"Ah dunno." said Applejack, giving a sullen shrug as she looked over the car pieces before her.
"Come on. Even after a week you have to have some thought." joked Dash, earning an un-amused look from Applejack before the cowgirl sighed and seemed to collect herself.
"Ah'm a might sorry for some of the things Ah said. But not all of it. Still ticks me off when Ah think to what Sunset said." mumbled Applejack.
"Are you serious?" said Dash, looking shocked and then angry herself "We were already screwed after Sunset said her peace, but you didn't have to burn the damn bridge down!"
"Well s'cuse me if seein' y'all devastated like that ticked me off!" Applejack retorted, picking up a piece of engine truck and looking it over. "We've all been beatin' ourselves up this last year. She didn't have ta' come 'round n' rub salt in the wound like that."
"Yeah well... that thing was for her, wasn't it?" Rainbow Dash put up in reply "Closure right?" she added, rubbing the back of her head.
"Ah'm sure it was..." Applejack said softly before looking up to Dash "Way Ah sees it... ain't nothin' been right. We couldn't be what the princess wanted us to be... now Sunset's in a way." Then with a soft scowl, she moved on to another engine piece "But Ah'm sick of it beatin' on me. If this is it. It's it."
What followed was a long, heavy sort of silence. Applejack quietly working, Rainbow Dash trying to think of a good response.
Nothing really came to mind.
"... Ah'm gonna be gone fer a bit in the near future." said Applejack, drawing Dash's attention to her "There's this place further south, Cherry Hill Ranch. They're offerin' work, n' Ah think Ah need some space."
"... whatever." said Dash, giving a light shrug as she headed for the door "Just call more, alright?"
"Mm-hm." AJ said absentmindedly, the door closing and leaving her to her work.