LAST DAY OF FINALS — NOON
Applejack finished marking her test and, after handing it in to the teacher, grizzled old Mister D. Cranky, grabbed her Stetson hat off a hook on the wall and strolled toward the door, nearly colliding with a much taller boy with blue hair and bedecked in denim on the way out. As they crossed the threshold of the door, Applejack spoke to him.
“Dang, that test nearly kicked my be-hind,” she said. “How ‘bout you, Flash?”
Flash Sentry shrugged. “It’s just another test, AJ. You study enough on the front end, it makes the final easier. I try not to think about how much of my grade it’s actually worth. I’ve had enough stress in my life lately.”
“Tell me ‘bout it. Between workin’ the farm an’ my li’l sis turnin’ into a real teenager (we’ve all been there). Y’know, I think I’da flunked this durn thing if I hadn’t gotten Sunset’s notes,” Applejack said, her tone weary.
Flash stopped walking. Applejack failed to noticed and bumped into him. After the involuntary “Oof!” and apologies, he asked with some awe, “Sunset actually helped you study??”
“Well, not quite,” explained Applejack. “She was too busy with… sumthin’… to help one-on-one, so she wrote up some cheat sheet notes for Rarity to copy and give to the rest of us. That gal really knows how to make book learnin’ easier.”
“She should,” Flash said with a half-grin. “Sunset has a lot of experience tutoring. I’m kind of surprised she didn’t ask any you to pay her. I mean, that’s part of how she can afford that apartment.”
“Do you really believe I’d charge my friends? Come on. Even at my worst, I was never that much of a monster… hun,” snipped a voice to their right.
The two turned to find Sunset Shimmer leaning back against a locker, arms folded, wearing her light blue shirt, jeans, studded leather jacket, and heavy boots. While she tried to project an aura of confidence, the bags under her eyes, wrinkles around her mouth, and slight twitching gave her away.
“Sunset! Y’alright?” Applejack asked as Sunset rubbed her eyes.
Flash looked her over from head to toe. “You look like something the horse dragged in. Or accidentally trampled. Or purposely trampled,” he said.
“I appreciate your concern, truly I do,” Sunset retorted. “You’re looking extra on point today. Literally, with that hair. Perhaps I should start calling you ‘Captain Spikey’. Also, based on that barely concealed smugness, looks like you didn’t need my help for finals this year. I’m glad. It means you have the capacity to learn, which is…” she yawned, “more than I’d given you credit for.”
Applejack looked from one to the other. “Are y’all always like this?” she asked.
“Pretty much,” Sunset and Flash replied in unison then, looking at each other in mild surprise, both laughed.
“Seriously, though. What are you doing here?” Flash asked. “You don’t have finals like us lowly students. Uh, regular students.” His eyes quickly darted to Applejack.
“Nice save there, Captain Spikey,” Sunset deadpanned. “Anyway, two reasons. One, I owed the two hags a favour for getting Rarity out of trouble with Truant Officer Garrano. ‘Funding stabilization’. How could I have known both the junior and varsity soccer teams had such idiots on them? So many records and paperwork to falsify. I tell you, Rainbow Dash had better have learned something from those notes I had Rarity give her or I’m going to let her sink next time.”
“Cheatin’ the system?? Sunset, do you have any sense of morality?” asked Flash.
She held up her right index finger to Flash. It was trembling slightly. “If a law is unjust, then we have a duty to oppose it.”
“Sugarplum, it don’t sound like justice ain’t got nuthin’ to do with this,” Applejack said.
“Okay fine. You’re right. Let’s put it this way – I will do anything for my best friend. Within reason of course. If it means I have to spend the morning breaking a stupid regulation after a night of no sleep to keep her out of trouble, then I’ll do it.”
Flash gave a soft whistle of surprise and approval. “You never did anything like that for me.”
“You have the city’s entire police force at your beck and call if you want,” Sunset retorted.
“True,” admitted Flash with a shrug and guilty smile. “So, what’s the other reason you’re here?”
“I completed my project early this morning and sent it off. I realized sitting in my apartment staring at a blank page for hours waiting for a reply wouldn’t be the sanest thing to do even by my standards,” explained Sunset.
“Your standards for sanity are pathetic,” Flash said, his eyes doing a half-roll.
Applejack turned and glared at him, eyebrows raised.
Flash cocked his head at her, eyes wide not unlike an innocent puppy. “What?” he asked in the most innocuous tone possible, causing Sunset to softly giggle.
“He’s not wrong, AJ,” Sunset said. “Anyway, I had to get out for awhile. After doing my duty to the old bats in charge, I thought I’d check on Rarity, but I forgot her last final isn’t until the afternoon. I don’t want to bug her, so I was just killing time until lunch when you all came by. And, I’m sorry, hun, but… bantering with you is so satisfying. Makes me feel almost like myself again.”
“Glad I could be of help, I guess,” Flash said.
“I’ll never understand the dynamic y’all have,” said Applejack to the former couple.
Flash began to speak. “Well, when you’ve been through what we hav—”
“I hope you never do,” Sunset told her, interrupting Flash. “I knew nothing about interpersonal relationships, and I hurt a lot of people trying to fake it. Oh! If either of you see Rarity around, let her know it is finished. She’ll know what I mean. I think. Maybe. I might not have explained my work well. Regardless, she wanted me to let her know – very insistent, actually – and now that I have a best friend for the first time in my life, I really don’t want to screw it up.”
“I don’t think ya gotta worry none ‘bout that, Sugarplum,” Applejack assured her.
Flash nodded in agreement. “Right. It’s extremely unlikely she’ll snap and murder you in your sleep on your birthday.”
“Uh…” Sunset said, unsure of herself, “Flash, do you know something I don’t?”
“I know a lot of things you don’t, Sunset,” he said. “But I’m just joking about the Rarity murdering you thing.”
“It’s just… I had a dream with that plot, the night after the one about the spiders. Rarity told me she had a similar dream the other day. Poor girl nearly broke down in tears over it, she was so scared. Though holding her for a few minutes calmed her down. I hate seeing her cry.”
Flash put his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger together and smacked his forehead into them six times. Meanwhile, Sunset stared at him, confused.
“So,” Sunset said to Flash, “Are you doing anything during Summer Break besides ramming your forehead into your hand and, I assume, other solid objects?”
Flash opened one eye to look at her. “Yeah, I’ve signed up to be a counselor at the summer camp by the lake out northeast of the city. You’re not the only one who needs to get away from things sometimes. Either of you want to join me?”
“Don’t know if I can,” said Applejack bluntly. “Our farm mostly does apples, ‘course, but we grow other crops too, and summer’s corn an’ tomato season. We’ll see.”
Sunset shook her head. “I’ll pass, thanks. A fortnight or more in close proximity to you may be asking too much of me. Still, I hope you enjoy it. I also hope, for the sake of everyone else there, that no one else at the camp used to be a magical Unicorn.”
“I’m… pretty sure I don’t need to worry about that,” he said. “Besides, the head of the camp is a really cute redhead. After striking out three times in the past year, maybe the fourth time will be the charm?”
Sunset shook her head, chuckling, her waist-length red and yellow hair swaying with her. “Go get ‘em, lady-killer. Now I’m almost sorry I’m not going. Sounds like it’d be amusing. Oh well, I’ve got responsibilities here in town. Speaking of which…” Sunset pulled up the left sleeve of her jacket to reveal a watch, clearly an inexpensive model. “I’d better go back to the apartment. I wanted to get away, attempt normality, but no. Can’t leave my book too long. Gotta go.”
She turned around to leave the school, but then stopped and turned back.
“Seriously though, if you find her in time, tell Rarity I hope her last final goes well. Bye!”
And with that, Sunset rushed out of the front door of the school as if she was the opposite polarity to a nearby supermagnet. Once she was gone, Applejack turned to Flash, a look on her face serious yet perplexed.
“Rarity’s in love with Sunset, ain’t she?”
“Yep,” said Flash with a sigh.
“Sunset ain’t got a clue, does she?”
“Nope.”
A COUPLE WEEKS LATER…
The late-Spring sun had reached its highest point above the horizon at Canterville’s Riverside Park. All around the vast expanse of green space and plastic structures, children cavorted, joyful that school would be out of their minds for the next two and a half months, and the various summer camps were still some days away from starting up activities. Thus, all the better to enjoy the lack of structure with reckless abandon as their parents sat on benches keeping watch or gossiping to each other. Along the snaking concrete paths, a smattering of people jogged or biked to get in some exercise during their lunch hour before having to head back to their menial jobs in the nearby buildings downtown.
This idyllic scene found itself unwillingly shattered by the arrival of a tractor, belching black smoke out its top-mounted exhaust pipe as its engine rumbled loudly enough that several dozen birds left their trees out of sheer terror. Nearby people stared in bewilderment and some annoyance at the sudden intrusion of farm equipment into the unofficial lungs of the city without any warning. Those of means, particularly wealthy young mothers, turned up their noses at the sight.
Much to nearly everyone’s chagrin, the tractor slowed until it settled into a parking space – two, actually – between a pair of high-end silver sedans, one of which had a “Baby On Board” sign on its rear windshield. The tractor, for its part, sported a reflective orange triangle and a sticker that read “I Brake For Horses” and another reading “No Farms No Life”. Its driver, a young girl with tanned skin and a long blonde ponytail, sporting a green-&-white shirt and faded denim skirt, hopped out of the driver’s seat. Once on solid ground, she adjusted her brown Stetson hat and spat on the pavement.
“Durn bugs,” the girl said to no one in particular. She sighed and trudged to the nearest sidewalk into the park. Upon noticing a pair of mothers not even ten years her senior giving her disgusted looks, she snipped, “What’re y’all lookin’ at??”
The women turned back around to pretend to monitor their children. Meanwhile, the young girl scanned the park with her right hand held parallel to the ground above her eyes – a bit redundant considering her hat – until she eventually found what she had come for.
She plodded over to a nearby knoll with a single elm tree on it. Underneath, on a plush pastel quilt, lay another young girl of the same age. This girl wore a full-length full-sleeve periwinkle dress, purple boots, sunglasses, and a straw hat to cover up as much of her alabaster skin as possible – she had noticeable blobs of sunscreen on the parts of her that were exposed – plus, she had styled her waist-length purple hair into braided pigtails.
The reclining girl slowly turned her head to face the new arrival. “Good afternoon, Applejack,” she said with little affect.
“Rarity,” Applejack replied, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“Do you really need to put your hands on your hips like that? You’re not my mother, you know,” said Rarity as she raised herself to a sitting position.
Applejack lifted her hat slightly and glared. “Well, whaddaya think I’m s’posed ta think? Ya call me while I’m in the middle of workin’ and tell me ya need ta talk an’ say meet ya at the park ‘cauz it’s a good halfway point between your place an’ mine, which is true, but I get here an’ you’re just loungin’ under a tree?”
Rarity scratched her chin for a second. “Speaking of which, how did you get here? I don’t see your bicycle.”
“I drove.”
Rarity cocked her head in confusion. “I thought you told us you failed the written test… again.”
Applejack nodded. “I did. Ain’t gotta have a license to drive that though!”
She motioned over to her tractor several yards distant. Rarity stared at it, mouth agape for at least fifteen seconds during which her sunglasses slipped off her and fell softly onto the quilt. Then she buried her face in her palm and shook her head.
“I don’t even know why I’m surprised,” Rarity said. “This is you. This is who you are. This is what you do. I should learn to expect this by now. I should learn to expect a lot of things. Yet, nevertheless, I inevitably end up disappointed and/or at a loss for words.”
“Y’ain’t the only one,” replied Applejack, looking Rarity over from head to toe. “If I didn’t know better… with that hairstyle an’ your dress bein’ so loose, I’d swear you were Apple Bloom’s age but tall instead a’… eighteen? Seventeen? Sorry, my brain’s a bit fuzzy from work; can’t hardly remember my own self half the time. Luckily we got us a Pinkie Pie for that sorta stuff, right?”
Rarity nodded, giving a tired smile. “My birthday is in a few weeks. Rather close to Sunset’s, actually.”
“Hm,” Applejack replied with a quick nod. “Didn’t know she was also a summer gal. Guess it makes sense, though. She’s turnin’ eighteen too, right?”
Rarity lowered her head. “That, I don’t know. Maybe? Over the past several months I’ve been given such conflicting information and no one is willing to just up and tell me anything!” She pounded the quilt with her fist.
Brows furrowed and sporting a frown of concern, Applejack sat side-saddle on the grass across from Rarity. “That gal’s really got you goin’, don’t she?”
“I… think so?” said Rarity.
“Lemme rephrase that,” Applejack cleared her throat. “You’re head over heels for Sunset, ain’t ya.” She did not intone it as a question, but rather a statement of fact.
Rarity’s deep blue eyes widened. “How… could you know that?”
Applejack chuckled. “I may be dumb, but I ain’t stupid. You may…” she motioned to her waist around which she wore a fine leather belt fixed with a fancy brass buckle, “…be a generous gal by nature – still lovin’ this here Yule present, by the way – but you wouldn’t’ve done even half the stuff ya did for Sunset if you didn’t have a thing for her. Am I right?”
Rarity nodded, sadly.
“So what’s the problem? Surely yer family ain’t as set in their ways as mine. If I ever liked a girl, they’d throw me outta the house in a Knockturn minute if I didn’t pull more than my fair share on the farm. They might even then. Not that it matters; I don’t swing that way.”
“Your doppelgänger does,” Rarity interjected with a grin. “Sunset told me via Twilight.”
“What?! With who??”
Rarity nervously twiddled her fingers. “Um, with my other self, apparently.”
Applejack’s expression indicated she simultaneously wanted to laugh, scream, and vomit.
“That pony-me ain’t right,” she finally said before realizing the impact of her words a second later. “Sorry.”
Rarity shook her head. “Don’t be.” She tried to place her hand on Applejack’s shoulder but it wouldn’t reach, so she returned to laying on her back. “I agree with you, actually. I don’t understand it myself. I see some boys I find attractive plus… other thoughts, of course. But there’s just something about Sunset. I’ve never felt so strongly about anyone before. She’s— Hang on. You never answered my question! How could you know?”
“Rares, everyone knows,” said Applejack with a shrug. “Except Pinkie. We’ve kinda kep’ it from her. ‘Shy an’ I figured y’all’ll work it out on your own time, and our own Little Miss Party Gal would prob’ly screw it up without meanin’ to.”
“You’re certainly right about that,” Rarity said. “But there are… issues.”
“Well, what’re those?” asked Applejack in as delicate a manner as she could.
“First, there’s the fact that Sunset doesn’t seem to realize I exist.”
“Horse apples!” Applejack interjected. “She talks about you more’n anyone.”
Rarity held up her finger. “Yes, but she only sees me as her best friend. She doesn’t seem to realize I want more. The sexy photoshoot I did for her, which she said made me look beautiful, convinced her that I was chasing after some boy.”
“(sexy photoshoot?)” Applejack mumbled. “Uh, well, given your boy-chasin’ in the past, it ain’t no wonder she’d get the wrong idea, I guess.”
“Flash himself, who I believe is in a position to know, said I would have to hit my darling Sunset over the head seventeen times with a blunt object while screaming I love her to her face for her to understand,” Rarity explained.
Applejack blinked a few times. “She can’t seriously be that dense… can she? Anyway, what’s the second problem?”
“My parents despise her. For… socially destroying me our freshman year.”
“Sunset was a right snake in the grass,” Applejack said. “Breakin’ up proper friendships like that.”
“No,” Rarity replied. “Sunset decided I deserved special treatment. By convincing everyone to either taunt me or ignore me, she pushed me to the psychological precipice. I fell asleep crying every night for months. Sweetie nearly drove herself mad trying in vain to comfort me. My parents sent me to therapy. Useless. In the end, I had to put in a great deal of work to get to where I am today.”
“Yeah, I can see exactly why yer mom ‘n dad would hate her. Now, after gettin’ to know this gal who ruined your life, you wanna *ahem* ride ‘er like a bronco. Flash was right; you are messed up.” Applejack concluded, her voice a combination of awe and a little disappointment.
Rarity cocked her head in confusion. “Flash? Where and when did you see him?”
“We had Chemistry together. He told me some stuff after finals. Speakin’ a’ which, I’ma need to thank Sunset for those notes she gave us. They were a real big help. I stink at science, which is bad since ya gotta know about sciencey stuff to be a good farmer.”
“I see,” Rarity said as she adjusted her hat. “I’ll tell Sunset. She’ll be happy to hear I wasn’t the only one who benefited from her notes.”
“Okay, so we got through… Sunset’s a dunce when it comes to love and yer parents hate her for, let’s be honest, good reason,” Applejack ticked the points off on her fingers. “What else?”
“Well, like I said before, she hides a lot about her past. She has a fake ID that says she’s 25, almost 26. That can’t possibly be true, but something she said on our burrito date back some months ago suggested maybe it is. Plus there’s her exemption from school rules and something about quid pro quo? I feel like if I prod too much, it may destroy everything I’ve worked so hard for. Sunset may come to hate me, and I don’t think I could take that.”
“Sugarplum,” Applejack said as she sidled closer to Rarity, “I ain’t sure if it’s possible at this point for Sunset to hate anyone. Other than herself, that is.”
“Applejack, I need to tell you right now: Consider yourself lucky you didn’t see her when she was at her lowest. It took me over a week just to get her to leave her bed for anything other than using the toilet and getting food.”
Applejack raised her eyebrow. “Are you sure you love her? Or d’ya just like takin’ care of her? Y’know she’s her own gal an’ don’t need to be babied.”
Rarity shook her head. “It was difficult at first, but now we have fun when we’re together. We can talk about almost anything. Almost. I hope someday she’ll take me for a ride on her scooter. Yes, I stole it once to drive home, but I’ve never been a passenger; it’s quite likely a totally different feeling. Less existentially terrifying.”
“Well, maybe it’s like the first time Dad took me on the tractor,” said Applejack. “That feelin’ of bein’ way up in the air with no doors or nothin, the breeze an’ the bugs whippin’ ‘round ya. The freedom to look around in all directions as ya move. ‘Course a scooter’s quicker an’ closer to the ground, but bein’ a passenger is a lot different than bein’ a driver, I tell ya what.”
Rarity sighed wistfully. “I just imagine myself pressed up against Sunset’s back, holding her as she whips through the downtown streets on her moped, the warmth somehow still coming through her leather accoutrements.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Dang, you got it bad.”
“I know,” Rarity replied burying her face. “I’m pathetic.”
“No. You’re just scared. Scared of Sunset sayin’ she doesn’t like you back. Scared of what you might do if Sunset says she doesn’t like you back.”
“Of course I am,” admitted Rarity, trembling slightly at the thought.
Applejack nodded. “I really hate to put it this way, but you gotta buck up and just tell her how ya feel. If ya don’t, I’m worried yer gonna snap, and that won’t be good for either of y’all. Maybe… you should take Flash at his word ‘bout smackin’ ‘er upside the head seventeen times with somethin’. She’d definitely get the message then.”
“I guess… you have a point. I must quit, as you would put it, pussyfooting around,” Rarity declared.
Standing up to leave, Applejack smirked. “Wel’p. That’s a start, I guess. Good luck.”
“I’m going to need it,” said Rarity. “You’re right. This cannot continue as it is. Just like Sunset did with her own project, I need to take the initiative… and resolve this.”
Author's Note
Stay tuned...
