Pushing the barn door open and sliding her empty wheelbarrow into the cool darkness ahead, AJ heard the giggle, but by then it was way too late. The afternoon sunlight had already spilled past her to splash all over Sunset and Braeburn wrapped around each other on the hay bales stacked against the far wall.
Not that the sight got so much as a sigh out of AJ anymore...
"Applejack!" Sunset leaped blushing to her feet, both hands brushing at her skirt and her usual apologies stammering out. "I didn't mean to— We weren't— It wasn't—"
"Nunna my business." AJ aimed an eyebrow at Braeburn. "Long as this feller's got his chores done, don't matter to me what else he gets up to." She couldn't help pointing that same eyebrow at Sunset. "Or who he gets up to, for that matter."
Sunset blushed even more, something AJ wouldn't've thought possible, her face near the same color now as the darker swirls of her hair.
Even Braeburn seemed a mite sheepish, another something AJ didn't reckon she'd ever seen before. "Don't fret, cuz." He stood, tucking in his shirt. "You know I ain't one to skip out on my responsibilities."
Him saying that, AJ decided, deserved another arched eyebrow.
"Hey, now!" Braeburn held up his hands. "The whole time since y'all been nice enough to let me move in here, I ain't once done anything to make you regret it, has I?"
As much as she wanted to argue the point, in all honesty, she couldn't. He'd been the perfect houseguest and farmhand all summer long, or really since last spring break when Aunt Gravenstein had called to apologize for the suddenness and to say that she'd just put Braeburn on the train so he could spend the week at the Acres. That was when him and Sunset had suddenly become a thing, but even now, five months later, AJ still hadn't a single clue how or why or what.
"Fine," she said, rolling the wheelbarrow over to the back corner and tapping the power of her geode to heft the thing one-handed up into its rack along the wall. "It ain't that I don't trust you, cuz." She turned and folded her arms. "It's just that I've seen you in action for nigh onto a decade at this point."
"I tell you true, AJ." He pressed his fingers to his chest. "I'm a changed man."
Sunset's face had faded back to her more regular custard yellow. "You better be, mister." With half-closed eyes and a little smile, she jabbed an elbow into his ribs. "Between the stories you've told me and the things I've heard, well, if you were still acting like that, you and I would've had a short, painful, one-sided conversation by now."
"Y'see?" Braeburn leaned over and touched a quick kiss to Sunset's cheek. "I just ain't had a firm-enough hand holding my reins before this."
"Reins?" Sunset's eyes closed a mite further, her smile getting a mite bigger. "Really?"
Braeburn's lips this time focused on the top of Sunset's ear, and from where AJ stood, he might've been giving her more a nibble than a kiss. "I understand you magical pony folks enjoy that sorta thing," he murmured.
Which was way more of that than AJ reckoned she needed to see or hear. "Supper's in an hour," she said, marching for the front of the barn as fast as her boots could carry her. "But everybody'll understand if, like usual, y'all're too busy to join us."
Another giggle jostled her ears. AJ stepped outside and pulled the doors closed behind her.
'Unnerving' was the best word she'd come up with for the whole situation. Ever since junior high, she'd always had to spend a couple weeks after one of Braeburn's visits cleaning up whatever romantical mess he'd left behind. The way he coasted through life, his easy smile and down-home manners as charming and comfortable as a field of clover on a summer evening, well, he'd never broken any of her friends' hearts. But he'd surely bruised a few of 'em: Rarity and Pinkie still got a little wistful 'round the edges any time he was in town, and Dash's laughter got a whole lot sharper and edgier.
Not that AJ would ever call Braeburn a cad or a polecat or anything like that. It was just that he knew how good-looking he was and hadn't shown one lick of interest in being anything deeper than that.
Till real recently, honesty again forced AJ to admit, starting across the yard toward the back of the house. Braeburn had stolled grinning off the train the Monday morning of spring break, a duffel bag slung across his shoulder and his hat pushed back over that mane of blonde hair—AJ heard later through the family grapevine that it was some situation with a girl that had led Aunt Gravenstein to trundle him out of Appleoosa for the week.
She hadn't known anything about that then, of course, and since her friends had already had their flings with him, she hadn't given it a second thought when Braeburn had wheedled his way into joining the seven of them that Wednesday for their planned trip to the crick in the back part of the orchard where it met the edge of the state park.
It wasn't till they'd reached the crick that AJ'd realized Sunset and Twi hadn't had the chance to pick up an immunity to him yet.
Twi at least had barely given him a nod before spending the day happily wading around the edges of the crick and gathering up little jars of moss. But sometime and somehow that afternoon among the shade of the apple trees and the gurgle of the brook, Braeburn and Sunset had clicked in a major way .
A sharp crack made AJ blink. She looked down and saw that she'd stomped her boot heel so hard into the bottom step leading up to the porch that she'd left a divot in the concrete.
She stopped, took a couple breaths, and added 'fix back stoop' to her mental list. As careful as she could, she took the other two steps and moved into the shade of the porch roof.
Romance wasn't a subject she ever much cared to think about—watching her friends and schoolmates moping about Braeburn over the years had shown her how much trouble the whole thing was. But in the weeks following last spring break, even she hadn't been able to miss Sunset's unfocused eyes and private little smiles. More than once, in fact, she'd heard Sunset chuckle or snort at some text she'd just gotten, and a glance over would show that big red apple Braeburn used as his avatar glowing on her phone.
It was about then, too, that Sunset had taken AJ aside after band practice and asked, "Would it be too weird for you if I maybe, oh, I don't know, started dating your cousin?"
"Weird?" AJ had blinked at her. "Sugar cube, that wouldn't be half the right word."
She'd seen Sunset was serious pretty quick, though, and then, well, all she'd been able to say was, "Go on ahead. But there's stories you'll wanna hear before you make any long-term plans."
AJ hadn't held back a single detail, and she'd taken Sunset to talk with Rarity and Pinkie and Dash and Tree Hugger and Strawberry Sunrise and Amethyst Star and the others Braeburn had carried on with since junior high. Well, the ones who were students at Canterlot High, at least...
Truth be told, AJ'd been hoping for some shouting or waterworks from one or two of Braeburn's former gal pals. But even Dash had seemed ready to cut him a break. "Yeah," she'd said, "he was a jerk." And the smile that'd curled her lips had made AJ's face heat up. "But a skillful jerk, if you know what I mean."
The stories had gotten Sunset looking mighty thoughtful, but about a month after spring break, Braeburn had called and asked if he could take the evening train in on Friday, stay the weekend at the Acres, then take the midnight train back to Appleoosa on Sunday. Granny'd said fine by her, and who'd showed up Friday night with her motorcycle all shiny and her leather jacket all carefully scuffed and her grin just about as toothy as Braeburn's?
Letting loose a sigh, AJ stopped again to wipe her boots on the mat before reaching for the back doorknob. Braeburn had made the same quick visit the last weekend of the next month, too, Sunset showing up and either loafing around the orchard with him or taking him off on her bike. And the month after that, Granny'd started talking about Braeburn's plan to stay the whole summer and help out 'round the orchard with maybe an eye toward transferring to Canterlot High for his senior year.
Not a single thing about any of it made a lick of sense to AJ. She'd even asked the two of 'em a week after Braeburn had settled into the spare bedroom, "Why're you taking up space here when Sunset's got her own place in town?"
Sunset's mouth had gone sideways, and she'd given Braeburn her regular elbow to his ribs. "Go on," she'd said. "Tell your cousin what you tell me whenever I ask that question."
Braeburn had put on a face as innocent as a country choirboy, something AJ knew he'd never been. "A young gentleman staying unescorted at a young lady's apartment?" He'd touched the fingers of one hand to his chest. "That'd hardly be proper."
AJ couldn't help gritting her teeth as she pulled open the back door and stepped into the kitchen. All Sunset had to do was poke him in the nose with that magical rock hanging 'round her neck, and she'd know every stupid thing he'd done with and to every female he'd met since he was knee-high to a grasshopper! So why was she still—?
"Applejack?" a voice said soft as a wren's hiccup, and AJ blinked to see Fluttershy standing in the doorway to the dining room, her hands clutched in front of her. "You're mumbling and frowning. Is everything all right? Did I come on the wrong day? Should I go home?" Her head drooped, her hair falling around her face like a curtain. "I should go home, shouldn't I? I'm sorry. I—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" AJ dug out her best grin and put it on. "Yeah, I'm grousing some, sugar cube, but not at you." She stepped to the sink, grabbed a glass, stuck it under the tap, and ran herself a nice cool drink of water. "Reckon I just forgot it was Thursday again already."
Draining the glass, AJ watched the worry drain from Fluttershy's face. "Oh, good," Fluttershy said with a sigh, then her eyes went wide again. "Not good that you forgot! I mean, good that I didn't forget! Not that I think I'm better at remembering than you are! I just—!"
By this time, AJ had grabbed another glass, filled it, taken Fluttershy gently by the elbow, and guided her through the doorway to one of the tall oak chairs around the dining room table. "You just set on down and wet your whistle, all right?"
The blush shining from Fluttershy rivaled Sunset's from earlier, but she was smiling when she took the glass and sipped it. "Thank you," she more whispered than said. "I...I don't want to be a bother..."
AJ nearly laughed out loud at the thought, but with Fluttershy always more skittish than a bucket of squirrels, she decided to settle herself kitty-corner at the table and do some smiling of her own instead. "You? A bother? Now that's just plain impossible, 'specially with everything you do 'round here on Thursdays."
Fluttershy's blush was fading, but she still had that glow about her AJ'd never seen on anyone else. "I'm just glad I can help." Fluttershy put her glass down gently onto the tabletop and straightened with a giggle. "It's so much fun to do, too!"
"Can't argue with that." AJ nodded to the backpack she now saw on the floor beside Fluttershy. "If'n you're ready, let's get to it."
"Well, now!" a way-too-familiar male voice said behind her. "Sounds like you two got plans!"
The color whisked from Fluttershy's face, and she cringed back in her chair. With an effort, AJ kept from scowling till she'd cranked her head around, but Sunset was already jabbing Braeburn in the ribs and growling, "Brae, be nice..."
"Sorry, Fluttershy." Braeburn's volume dropped a couple notches, and he moved to take a seat across the table from her. "I'm just always happy to see you here. Pretty much makes AJ's week, you coming out for these Thursday sessions."
"Really?" Fluttershy and Sunset asked at the exact same time.
Sunset then slid into the chair beside a considerably perked-up Fluttershy and went on. "What do you guys get up to, anyway?"
"Or who d'you get up to?" Braeburn muttered, his grin just about a quarter step away from being something AJ might feel obliged to leap over and bust her fist across.
Fortunately, Fluttershy hadn't heard their previous conversation, and AJ was pretty sure she wouldn't've known a double entendre if it came up and introduced itself to her. "Oh, it's fascinating!" Fluttershy touched the geode on her necklace. "Applejack and I spend an hour or so going through a different part of the orchard each week, and I use my magic to check in with the animals and make sure everything's all right with them!"
"Yep." AJ reached past Sunset to pat Fluttershy's arm. "We ain't had mice in the barn once all year 'cause she asks 'em so nicely not to move in." She sat back and narrowed her eyes first at Sunset, then at Braeburn. "Of course, if'n you two was ever here of a Thursday evening, you'd know all about it since I always insist Fluttershy stay for supper after helping out." She gave Fluttershy a wink. "Reckon Granny's cherry pie's the real reason she keeps coming 'round."
Fluttershy burst out blushing again, but Braeburn was shaking his head, puffing a breath and saying, "Smear my ears with honey and tie me to an anthill." His eyes practically shone. "Knowing magic's real, and knowing it keeps conjuring up peculiar people, critters, and things for y'all to deal with?" He shivered with a smile. "Just plain gets me goose-pimply."
Sunset leaned over the table and poked his hand. "So you're saying you only love me for my magic powers."
"Setty?" He turned his hand over and wiggled his fingers against her palm. "Even if you weren't a real true unicorn with a glowing geode at your beck and call, you'd still have more magic in one curl of your smile than any other gal I've ever so much as glanced at."
Another little giggle tickled out of Sunset, and AJ couldn't keep her mouth from going sideways. "Reckon you must see that geode glowing a lot," she said, "the way Sunset's likely checking up on you whenever you been apart for more'n a couple hours."
"Applejack!" Sunset's head snapped over, her wrinkled brow looking more hurt than upset. "I wouldn't invade Brae's privacy like that! I'd never need to, and it'd be totally unethical anyway!"
Braeburn gave a quiet laugh. "Besides, AJ, you made sure Setty'd heard all the worst stories about me before we even had our first date. But it's like I said." His grin was maybe the second smuggest AJ'd ever seen. "The magic she uses to keep me in line's got nothing to do with geodes."
Fluttershy gave a whispery sigh. "It's been so wonderful watching you two getting to know each other since last spring." Her gaze brushed against AJ's, then dropped to the table. "I only hope someday I can find someone who'll understand me half as well..."
The glare AJ'd been about to unleash on Braeburn dissolved into a stare. Was...was Fluttershy talking about getting herself a beau?
Sunset clapped her hands. "Fluttershy! That's so great! Have you got your eye on anyone?"
Fluttershy stayed focused on the table.
On AJ's right, though, Braeburn sprang out of his chair like he'd discovered he was sitting on a bee. "Well, now! Setty, how 'bout we get outta the way and let these folks get on with their work?"
"Huh?" Sunset wore an expression as blank as the one AJ reckoned she had on.
"It's just—" Braeburn gestured back and forth rapidly between Fluttershy and AJ. "These two got stuff to do. Together. Alone. Out in the orchard." He rolled his eyes so quick, AJ thought they might just pop right out of his head. "Y'know?"
AJ started to ask why the hay he was making it sound like her and Fluttershy were involved in some top-secret project or other, but Sunset's gasp stopped her. And when Sunset started looking back and forth between AJ and Fluttershy, too, AJ found the fine hairs along the back of her neck getting prickly. Why were they acting so jumpy? Was it—
A chill iced down AJ's spine. Was it that Fluttershy had feelings for Braeburn?
"Please." Fluttershy had finally looked up, her voice a mite wavery all of a sudden. "Won't you both stay? It's always so lovely out in the orchard, and if you came along, it would give us a chance to talk about...things." Her gaze flickered over to meet AJ's again, and while her smile had its usual glow, AJ could almost smell a dusty sort of sadness there, too. "You wouldn't mind, would you, Applejack? If Sunset and Braeburn came with us?"
"Uhhh..." The idea of Fluttershy being sweet on Braeburn was just so nutty, AJ couldn't quite get her brain to turn over—like she was cranking the engine of the old truck on a winter morning. All the gals Braeburn had gone out with over the years, Fluttershy hadn't ever been one of 'em, and she'd never showed any sign she was interested in him, either.
No. AJ just couldn't cotton to it. It had to be something else. But—
But what if it was some awful love triangle forming up right here at the dining room table, Sunset and Fluttershy both fancying Braeburn?
Her stomach tightening, she almost opened her mouth to say that she did mind if Braeburn and Sunset came with them. But then they'd ask why not and that'd force her to explain what she was thinking and they'd either tell her she was crazy or they'd start shouting at each other.
Consarn romance!
She shook it all away, forced a wave of cheerfulness to parade across her face, and said, "Yeah! Sure! Great! The more, the merrier!"
"Okay!" Sunset leaped to her feet, her grin shading over into something manic. "Braeburn, you and Applejack go on ahead a little and, uhh, scout out the situation, and I'll come along after with Fluttershy so we'll be ready if you need us!"
Which was how AJ found herself trooping out onto the back porch with Braeburn while Sunset helped Fluttershy gather up the pack of goodies she always brought in case any of the critters needed some bribing. Whispers tugged her ears from behind her, but Braeburn drowned 'em out, clapping his hands and bouncing down the steps into the grass. "Well, now! Sure is handy, them there magic rocks y'all picked up helping out with more'n just fighting weird monsters, ain't it?"
"Reckon." The whole situation—and the way she was talking with him when she'd usually be talking to Fluttershy—made a sour taste trickle across her tongue, but AJ swallowed it. "They're tools same as any others." She started toward the first row of trees in the orchard. "It's up to us to use 'em right."
"Huh." He fell in beside her. "You don't think of Fluttershy like a tool that way, do you?"
Unable to believe her ears, she rounded on him. "You looking for me to pop you in the mouth? That what you're looking for?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" They'd reached the tree canopy by then, the leaf shadows dancing over his surprised face and raised hands. "I'm just wondering how you feel 'bout Fluttershy! That's all!"
"And why's that?" AJ put her hands on her hips to keep 'em from bunching into fists, but she couldn't keep her worst fears from spilling out. "You tired of Sunset? Ready to move on to the only wunna my friends you ain't tried running your grubby hands all over?"
"What?" Braeburn gaped at her like a trout pulled from a stream, but something tightened across his face, something that AJ couldn't recall ever seeing there before: anger.
His eyes pulled closed, then, and he took a couple breaths. "Look, AJ, I reckon if anyone's got a right to be suspicious 'bout me, it's you, the way I used to crash on in here, romance up your friends, then skedaddle back to Appleoosa." His eyes came open, and something else AJ usually didn't see from him shone out there: a rock-solid seriousness. "I was a cad and a polecat and any other word you wanna call me, and I've been going 'round with Sunset these past couple months making my apologies to every gal I ever tarried with."
AJ found she was doing some gaping of her own; it took a little effort to pull her chin back up. "I...I didn't— I hadn't heard anything about—"
"Yeah, well..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I asked 'em to keep it private 'cause I...I've been working up to my biggest apology." His swallow rattled down his throat so loud, AJ fancied she could hear it. "The one I owe you."
"Me?" And like had been happening more and more lately, part of AJ wanted to come over all soft and squishy, thinking that the magic of romance had reformed her ne'er-do-well cousin like something in a storybook. But part of her, well, despite every dang thing she'd seen and heard and done the past year or two, part of her just plain didn't believe in magic. "Don't you go changing the subject, Braeburn! We was talking about you and Fluttershy!"
A touch of that anger reddened his face again. "Fluttershy ain't interested in me! She ain't interested in anything like me! I seen that first time we met!"
"But—" For a bushel of seconds, AJ tried to breathe away that slippery-mud-under-the-boots feeling of not being quite sure what was going on, then she finally said, "Maybe you oughtta tell me what this is all about."
He glanced back at the house, still visible through the trees. "Let's keep moving, huh? What parta the orchard're we heading for, anyway?"
"'Round by the crick." AJ gave the house a look, too, and started away from it since she sure didn't want Fluttershy overhearing whatever Braeburn might say. "But I still wanna know what you—"
"I'm telling you!" He lowered his voice, the only other sounds around them the chirping of a bird or two and the afternoon breeze in the apple trees. "I know you ain't stupid, cuz, but...d'you know what a lesbian is?"
"Course I do!" The tickle of sweat on the back of her neck, AJ was pretty sure, didn't have a single thing to do with the air temperature. "You're saying—? But Fluttershy wouldn't've told you that! Heck, she wouldn't've told anybody that!"
Braeburn's gaze stayed focused firmly on the path ahead. "Any time I talk to a gal, I can figure pretty quick whether there's a chance there for me." He snapped his head over, panic widening his eyes. "I mean, I used to do that! No more, though! It's me and Sunset from now till they plant me under sod, or she comes to her senses and decides she's done with me, y'know?"
The shiver in his voice at the end pricked AJ's ears, and she reached out to poke him in the shoulder. "Well, that second one ain't gonna happen, not judging from the way I keep stumbling over you two squished together 'round this place."
That got a smile from him. "But my point is: a quiet slice of gorgeous like Fluttershy, well, I went all out to catch her eye the summer after seventh grade when the family and me came to visit. And what I got wasn't just a 'no, thanks' for me, but a 'no, thanks' for my whole gender. Getting to know her while I was dating all your other friends over the years—" He raised a finger and turned an open mouth toward her.
She cut him off. "Which ain't nowhere near what you're about no more: yeah, I got it."
He blinked. "Nice triple negative."
AJ touched the brim of her hat. "But you were saying?"
"I was saying there ain't a scrap of doubt in my mind at this point. When Fluttershy goes looking for romance, it's gonna be another gal she's after." His gaze sharpened. "That don't bother you, does it, cuz?"
"Me?" AJ's throat tightened; she had to give a little cough before she could keep going. "What's romance got to do with me? Unless—" She almost imagined she could hear the clattering roar of the old truck engine firing up as the scattered bits and pieces that'd been drifting 'round her all afternoon finally fell into place. "You can't mean she's interested in—?"
Something rumbled like thunder ahead, and the ground shook underneath her. AJ lashed out a hand, grabbed the nearest tree trunk to keep from falling, but Braeburn wasn't so lucky, his arms wheeling as he pitched over backwards with a shout. Purple light of a sort AJ'd seen way too many times lately glittered through the leaves, and without another thought, she sprinted forward. "Get Fluttershy and Sunset!" she yelled back at Braeburn. "Tell 'em we got Equestrian magic on the loose up here!"
Darting through the trees, she told herself she was ready for anything. But when she came out from the last patch of trees before the crick, she skidded to a halt at the edge of a big muddy pit that hadn't ever been there before and had to stare at the thing flailing around on the bottom.
A mole, it looked like, though big as a mid-sized sedan and wearing a great big pair of goggles. Sizzling bolts of Equestrian magic sliced the air around the giant mole, jagged holes zipping open and closed to show scenes of rolling hills or pools of water or cities where the buildings sat round and squat like pumpkins. Rocks and leaves and tree branches and flower petals swirled in and out of the ragged portals, gusty breezes hot and cold pushing and pulling AJ's hair every whichaway, and the whole place smelled sharp and crisp like Granny's old oscillating fan whenever it burned out.
All that in an instant, then the sound of voices calling her name just under the whoosh and rush of the growing windstorm snapped her away from staring. She spun to warn the others about the pit, but the ground rumbled again at just that moment. The three, coming out between the trees, slipped in the quaking mud, Sunset going down with Fluttershy sprawling on top of her. But Braeburn tripped over 'em both, hit the ground sideways, and tumbled past AJ right over the lip into the hole.
"Braeburn!" AJ shouted, but he was falling, the magic cracking a gash in the air below him. A fist-sized chunk of blue rock popped up through the rip to hit Braeburn square in the chest; AJ heard him gasp, then him and the rock were falling again, another gash tearing open to swallow him up before it snapped shut, the purple light sputtering out like a dud firecracker and vanishing completely.
AJ wanted to shout Braeburn's name again, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. Deal with the craziest thing first, she reckoned, then she could work her way along from there. So— "Fluttershy!" she shouted instead. "We got a giant mole flopping around down there! Can you talk to it, get it settled all calm and friendly?"
Fluttershy stood, her eyes wide and mud coating what AJ suddenly realized had been a real pretty white and yellow skirt and top. "It...it's just grunting and howling! I'm not hearing anything I can understand!"
"Braeburn!" Sunset had leaped up by then and was glancing around frantically. "Where's Braeburn?"
Not knowing how else to put it, AJ just told her. "The magic's tearing the air open down there like during the Friendship Games! Braeburn went over the edge and into one of the rips!"
"Braeburn!" Sunset rushed the couple steps to the edge of the pit, and AJ followed with Fluttershy right behind, the surging wind filled with the guttural cries of the mole and the frenzied splashing of its big-clawed paws.
"I—" Fluttershy came up beside AJ, her voice barely reaching AJ's ears "I...I can't make out what it's saying!" Her eyes wide on the mole, one hand clutched her geode. "Why can't I—?"
"Those goggles!" Sunset yelled. "It must be intelligent instead of an animal, so you can't talk to it!" She shook mud from her hands. "I need to touch it, see if I can get any impressions from its mind of where it came from and what's going on!"
The mole's stubby ears perked, and it swung its big twitching snout toward them, its front teeth, AJ suddenly realized, each maybe the size of her head. Then its mouth opened, it roared, and it was leaping up the side of the pit straight at them. AJ barely had time to grab Fluttershy and jump sideways before the mole was slamming fast as a speeding pickup right through the spot where they'd just been standing.
Twisting in midair, AJ hit the mud and skidded with Fluttershy squealing on top of her. "Sunset!" AJ shouted, but the crash of the mole barreling into the nearest trees drowned her out. When she sat up, though, Fluttershy still clenched to her, she saw Sunset struggling to her feet on the other side of the big gouge the mole's passage had left in the pit's rim. "Stay there!" she yelled, and using the power of her geode to heft Fluttershy like a rag doll, AJ half ran, half slid across to where Sunset was rubbing her shoulder.
The smash and clatter from the trees suddenly stopped, and AJ looked over to see the mole pulling itself out from under a pile of shattered trunks and branches. "Hey!" she shouted, but every other thought in her head vanished when the mole sat back on its haunches, straightened to its full height, brought its front paws together, and began spinning silver lightning between its claws.
AJ couldn't keep her jaw from dropping. "It's got magic, too?"
"We need Rarity and her shields!" Sunset panted. "Or Twi with her telekinesis to smack it with a log! Or Dash to run around it till it gets dizzy! Or—"
Something sizzled overhead, a gash opening in the summer sky, and Braeburn dropped out like a sack of potatoes. He grunted when he splooshed into the mud and groaned when he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, but AJ was just happy to hear him making any sounds at all.
Sunset jumped forward to grab him, AJ jumped forward to grab her with the arm not holding Fluttershy, the mole shrieked something that sounded like shifting gears without using the clutch, and the silver lightning shot from the tips of its claws. AJ just had time to wonder if those dancing, crackling bolts might be the last thing she ever saw before Braeburn's head was coming up, something clenched in his fist flashing with blue fire, and—
And everything just plain stopped: the wind, the water cascading into the mud pit, the sizzling noises, the silver lightning, the mole, everything wrapped in a peculiar blue-gray fog.
Well, not everything. Braeburn down on all fours and Sunset with her elbow crooked 'round his waist, they were their regular colors and were both panting like they'd just run from here to school and back. The mud coating the back of Sunset's jacket felt cold and wet under AJ's hand, Fluttershy still quivering and squeaking against AJ's chest, and AJ's words came out clear and ringing as a bell when she asked nobody in particular, "What the hay?"
"AJ!" Braeburn snapped his head around, his whole face lighting up at Sunset smiling there beside him. "Sunset!" He threw his arms around her, and she did the same to him. "I don't know what happened or where I was or what all the lights were or anything about anything 'cept I had to make it all stop and get myself back to you!" Blinking, he pulled away from her and stared at his glowing fist. "But why—?" He opened his hand, and a chunk of rock sat flickering blue in his palm.
AJ knew her mouth was hanging open, but since everybody else's was, too, she didn't mind so much. Sunset recovered first: she smiled, touched a quick kiss to Braeburn's lips, and said, "Hold that thought." She leaned back a mite, and her gaze came up to meet AJ's. "You two aren't touching him right now, but you're still able to move?"
Nodding, AJ looked at Fluttershy and realized she was still holding her light as thistledown in the crook of her left arm, Fluttershy's arms around AJ's neck and her expression a whole lot happier than AJ could recall from any of the previous times they'd tussled with something magical. "You okay, sugar cube?" AJ asked.
"Very, very okay, thank you," Fluttershy murmured, her eyes half-closed.
Swallowing against the sudden dryness in her throat, AJ forced herself to stay focused on what was maybe the most pressing of the various situations going on here. "So, what're you thinking, Sunset? Braeburn fell into that portal and got himself a geode that puts the brakes on the whole world?"
"What?" Braeburn squinted up at AJ, then his eyes went wide and his neck craned side to side like he was noticing all the frozen blueness around them for the first time. "I did this? And...is that a giant mole wearing glasses?"
"Okay." Sunset stood. "We can't be sure that what Brae's got is a geode like ours, but it looks like whatever it is lets him pop himself and everybody touching him out of the flow of time or something. So let's head over to the mole, and—" She cocked her head. "Applejack, you feel like doing some wrestling?"
AJ took a breath. "Reckon I'd better set you on down, Fluttershy."
"Oh. Umm, yes, I...I suppose..."
Putting Fluttershy's shoes gently into the mud, AJ refused to let herself notice the way Fluttershy's hands seemed to linger, running cool and soft down her shoulders and over her biceps. Braeburn was rising slowly to his feet, too, his stares still going in every direction, but a clearing of throat drew AJ's attention across the torn-up landscape. "Stand by," Sunset said, and she reached up to touch the side of the mole's unmoving face.
A second or two of the utter and unnatural silence, then Sunset shook her head. "I was afraid of that. I'm not getting anything, and it doesn't feel the way it usually does, either." She blew out a breath. "I think we'll need to unfreeze everything before my power'll work."
"But—" Fluttershy clasped her hands in front of her. "My power didn't work on it! What if yours doesn't, either?"
Sunset's jaw tightened. "Then we freeze time again, head into town in your car, Fluttershy, and round up the others. We'll have to unfreeze time to explain everything to them, though, and that'll give Moley here more chances to tear up Applejack's orchard. So that's one bad thing right there."
Braeburn snorted something that might've been a laugh. "And you reckon I can just flick this on and off like a lamp?"
"Yep." AJ put a hand on his shoulder. "Magic's a piece of cake, cuz. Nothing to it at all."
"Uh-huh." He didn't look away from Sunset, and his hand holding the stone, AJ couldn't help noticing, was trembling more than a little.
"So, Plan A," Sunset was saying. "Brae, you, me, and Fluttershy'll be back here behind the mole, all three of us touching each other and me touching it. AJ, you get a good strong grip around the thing, then when Braeburn starts the world up, you hold it in place while I try to get any information I can about what it is and what it's doing here. If I can't get anything, then it's Plan B: I let go of the mole, Braeburn stops time again, and we head into town for the others."
"But Applejack!" Fluttershy glanced back and forth between AJ and Sunset, her eyes seeming wider every time they came around so AJ could see them. "She'll be touching the monster instead of us! That means that if Braeburn freezes everything, she'll get frozen, too, won't she?"
"Yep," AJ said again, straightening her hat. Using the power of her geode to firm up her knees, she started toward Sunset and the mole. "Once y'all start turning time on and off to gather up the girls, I'll need to be here to keep this varmint from getting too rambunctious." She ducked under the frozen tangle of silver lightning the mole had just launched from its paws, reached up, and grabbed its forearms. "So let's do this, huh? I'd say time's a-wasting, but, well..."
That got more of a regular laugh from Braeburn. "Just think, cuz. After this, I'll never be late again. But right now, Fluttershy, I reckon you and me need to head on over to Sunset."
AJ had her gaze focused on the mole's frozen grimace and was sorting through various moves she could use to keep something twice as tall and three times as wide as her from getting loose when a touch soft as a butterfly brushed her shoulder. Swallowing, she looked over, saw Fluttershy looking back, heard her barely whisper, "Please be careful, Applejack. I...I...I—"
"It'll be okay, sugar cube." AJ swallowed. "We'll get this here monster thing straightened out, then have us a good, long talk, all right?"
Fluttershy's face stayed just as troubled, but she nodded and disappeared around the furry bulk of the mole's right side.
"All right," AJ heard Sunset say. "Brae, try putting the stone in your pocket, then picture a big switch in your head and flick it off. That might be enough to—"
And everything sprang to life, roaring and muscle and hair and a stink like seventeen or eighteen wet dogs all slapping AJ in the face. Gritting her teeth, she anchored herself, wrenched the mole's paws down, and heard Sunset shouting, "It's working! I can see that he's a scholar and a wizard and— Fluttershy! Talk to him! Quick!"
"Please, sir!" Fluttershy's voice rose above the ruckus. "We just want to help you if you'll let us!"
The giant mole froze so suddenly, AJ almost thought Braeburn must've pulled another whammy. But the chest just inches from her eyes was heaving with the critter's damp, earthy breath, and when it turned its head to the right, it made some noises that were more squeaky than growly.
"Why, yes!" Fluttershy sounded so happy, AJ let a fair amount of herself relax. "I guess I do speak ancient moleish!" AJ let the mole go, took a step back, and watched with a grin as Fluttershy waved to the blinking monster. "Hello!"
Turned out the big mole—Fluttershy said his name was Claws That Burn as Brightly as the Sun—spoke seventeen different languages. Flailing around in the mud pit, he'd been shouting in what he called Star Talk, apparently too fancy for Fluttershy's animal magic to understand. But as soon as Fluttershy'd started talking loud enough for him to hear, her words had reached him in another language he knew, one the mole folk had used thousands of centuries ago when they'd hardly gotten started being more than animals on his planet.
Or something like that. "Mr. Burn Brightly says he's sorry," Fluttershy translated when they'd all moved over to sit on some of the torn-up trees. "Ancient moleish doesn't really have the words he needs to explain things."
The story as Fluttershy told it had him tunneling through space on his way to a meeting with some other star wizards—whatever that meant—when his magic hit a chunk of something he'd never felt before. The thing exploded, blasted him out into this big muddy pit, and when some odd critters showed up and started screeching at him, he just assumed he'd been waylaid by alien demons again.
"Oh, no," Fluttershy told him, patting one of his claws, about as big as her forearm. "We're just regular wizards like you."
He nodded, gestured to the baseball-sized glowing purple rock floating beside him in the sparkle of his silver magic, and gave some squeaks. "He apologizes again," Fluttershy said. "He's got the rogue magic contained for now, and he's offering to take it and dispose of it if we want him to."
Sunset tapped her chin. "I'm guessing it's something that got buried out here after it fell through one of the fissures Twi opened during the Friendship Games. I'll let Princess Twilight know about it and send it through the portal, so tell him...tell him it's left over from a magical accident we had here a while ago. Thank him, tell him we can dispose of it ourselves, and say we're very sorry we didn't find it and deal with it before it caused all this trouble."
Fluttershy repeated Sunset's words more or less, and when Sunset held open Fluttershy's backpack full of animal snacks, Mr. Burn Brightly waggled a claw, dropped the rock inside, and the squeaking noises he made then got Fluttershy giggling. "He says it stinks like horse manure, so he was hoping we'd say he didn't have to take it." The mole gave a big toothy grin.
AJ couldn't help grinning back, but with all the action finished, she was finding it hard to keep her thoughts from turning to subjects she wasn't sure she wanted to think about: Braeburn for one, and Fluttershy for another. So when Mr. Burn Brightly said good-bye, ripped the empty air open with silver-flashing claws, and vanished to get back on the way to wherever he was going, AJ found she was a mite sorry to see him go.
The others sat equally quiet for a stretch of seconds, the breeze rustling the trees and crick water trickling into the mud hole. Then Braeburn spoke up. "Nothing to this magic stuff, you said, AJ?"
His thin lips and the steel in his voice stopped AJ from answering.
But hooking her arm around his, Sunset giggled. "I think some experiments might be in order."
"No, thank you." He reached into his pocket, looked at the stone, shivered, and held it out to Sunset.
"Brae?" Sunset looked back and forth between his eyes and his hand.
"I can't keep this, Setty." His hand started shaking. "I mean, can you imagine if'n I'd had this before I met you? Any gal I saw, I'd just freeze ev'rything up, head on over to her, and have all the time in the world to—" The quiver in his hand turned into another shiver, and he dropped the stone into Sunset's lap.
Sunset's expression hardened. "So you're saying you've been lying to me all these months. You haven't really changed. You're still the same person you used to be."
"No! I'm diff'rent! I am! But the temptation in this thing, you—!" He smacked the tree trunk they were sitting on. "You don't know what it's like!"
"I don't know?" Sunset leaped up to stand in front of him, the fury in her face the sort AJ hadn't seen there since the bad old days. "Maybe you remember me telling you about who I used to be, Braeburn? About the things I used to do?" She wrenched her necklace off and pointed the geode at him. "I read people's minds with this, and every time—every time!—I hear a little whisper asking, 'How can I hurt them with this information? How can I take advantage of it to put them down and me up?'"
AJ stared, and she heard Fluttershy gasp beside her.
"Every time," Sunset repeated more quietly. "But you know what else happens every time? I tell myself, 'That's not me anymore. That's not what I do now.' And I use whatever I've learned to help them, all right? 'Cause that's what I do now."
She squatted, took the blue stone from where it had fallen into the mud, and stood with it between her thumb and forefinger. "AJ would rather be in charge and take care of everything herself, and now she's got the magical strength to do just that. Fluttershy would rather withdraw from the roar of human society, and now she's got the magical ability to live comfortably without ever talking to another person for as long as she lives."
Fluttershy's hand was clutching AJ's arm, but AJ couldn't look away from Sunset going on: "Rarity could wrap herself in a perfect, impenetrable crystal facade. Dash could leap into an unending rush of sensation and never have to look back. Pinkie could become a whirlwind of excitement blasting through any and all resistance. And Twi could sink into her own mind and cut herself off from the sticky messes of the physical world. We could all use these powers of ours to cater to our worst impulses. But we don't."
Slowly reaching out, Sunset offered the stone to Braeburn. "You have changed, Brae. I know it because I've watched it happen. And maybe, I don't know, maybe hanging out with us, you caught the attention of the same part of the universe or whatever that gave us our geodes." Her eyes wavered. "Now, I can take this and give it to Princess Twilight when I give her that." She gestured to Fluttershy's pack. "But I trust you and I love you and I, well, you might say this is something I feel a little strongly about."
Half a heartbeat, then Braeburn surged to his feet, wrapped one hand around Sunset's holding the stone and slid the other hand around to the back of her head. "I won't let'cha down, Setty," he murmured, then he pulled her into a kiss that made AJ's cheeks heat up. She looked away...and found herself staring right at Fluttershy staring back, still sitting beside her on the toppled tree with a hand still holding AJ's arm.
AJ opened her mouth even though she didn't have one single idea what she could maybe say—
But Fluttershy was already dropping her gaze. "It's all right, Applejack," she murmured. "I...I talked with Sunset before everything with Mr. Burn Brightly happened, and I know you...you probably don't feel the same way about me as I feel about you." Her eyes came up again, peering out from behind her bangs. "Being friends with you is more important than anything else, so please don't let me mess that up."
"I'm the mess." AJ could barely get the words out. "Not you. I mean, I don't...don't have any idea how I feel about you or about, well, about anything romantical! It's like Sunset was just saying. I wanna be in charge, but I got no idea at all how to deal with...with..." Her guts twisted like she'd eaten something she shouldn't've, but—
But the more she looked at Fluttershy, the more she wanted to go on looking at her. "Thing is, though, you're smart and gentle and a wonderful friend, so maybe—" She swallowed. "Could you take things real, real slow with me? Would...would that be okay?"
Fluttershy's eyes had gone wide, the fingertips of the hand not resting on AJ's arm pressed tight to her lips like she wanted to keep something inside. She dragged 'em down to her chin, though, and squeaked, "You mean it?"
"I think so." AJ winced, pretty sure from TV and movies and books and the like that she was supposed to be scooping Fluttershy into her arms and kissing her. But even if they hadn't both been covered in mud and the whole place hadn't stunk like a giant, sweaty mole had just skated on through, she still didn't think she would've been doing anything like that. "I mean, I like you, Fluttershy, and maybe it could be more'n that, but I don't— I haven't— There isn't—" Words finally deserted her completely, and she stopped even trying.
"It's all right," Fluttershy said again. "We'll take things a half step at a time if we have to." She turned an absolutely radiant smile to where Sunset and Braeburn were watching, arms around each other's waists. "This has been such a wonderful day!"
"Y'know?" Braeburn smiled down at Sunset, tossed the stone up into the air, and caught it with a steady hand. "It kinda has."
Sunset's mouth went sideways. "Maybe one giant lost mole too many..."
AJ couldn't stop a laugh at that. "So!" she said with a clap of her hands. "Same time next Thursday, ev'ryone?"
