The weather was fine. I mean, it was a cloudy overcast day with a slight drizzle and mud all over the ground, but in the grand scheme of things, compared to what the weather could be, it was fine. At least it wasn’t raining, right?

Rainbow Dash flipped back her hair as she stepped out of her car. She swung her backpack over her shoulder and began to walk towards the entrance of Canterlot High, taking a sip of whatever smoothie she had made for herself in her rush out the door. She patted the statue on her way past it, and began her typical daily route to her locker. On her way, she clocked two of her friends, Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer, making conversation a row a lockers away from where she was. She gave them a pair of finger guns as greeting, only to have them met with an over-exaggerated ‘come here’ motion in typical Pinkie Pie fashion. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and shut her locker. With the touch of her geode, she appeared next to the other two girls in a blink. The cocky smile on her face was hindered upon seeing the wide-eyed looks on Sunset and Pinkie’s faces. She tried to play it cool, “Hey guys, what’s up?”

Pinkie spoke in a low hash whisper, perhaps a volume or two louder than she may have thought she was whispering, “have you seen them yet?”

Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow, “Uhh, seen what yet?”

Sunset and Pinkie exchanged looks. Pinkie had begun to hand Rainbow Dash her phone, but she was promptly stopped by Sunset. “Hold on,” she said, looking just under Pinkie’s eyes. “Let’s warn her a little more than that.”

Impatience and curiosity clawed at Dash’s mind. “Seen what? Warn me about what?” her eyes darted between the two.

“Ok, have you seen Applejack today at all?” Pinkie Pie asked, standing on her tippie-toes and peering down the now filling hallway.

“No, school hasn’t even started yet,” Dash said. “I think I saw her truck in the parking lot though. Why? What’s wrong?”

Sunset stepped closer and sighed. “A lot, actually.” She looked around, and waited for three underclassmen to pass before speaking again. “Did you have any idea that Rarity and Applejack were a thing?”

Rainbow dash instinctively laughed. “ Heh, I mean come on Sunset, you really got me there,” she stared into the serious open eyes of her friend. “Wait, are they?”

Sunset nodded, then leaned back against a locker. “Yeah,”

Rainbow let out a dark chuckle. “Well that’s… I guess that’s something,” there was a pause as she processed the information. “Hey, wait. I don’t understand why they didn’t tell us, it’s not like we would have made a big deal about it or anything!” her voice raised, but another look from Sunset stowed her aggression.

Pinkie Pie popped out from behind Dash, “I’d keep that to yourself for now there Dashie, we got bigger problems here,” and with a zip, Pinkie was back next to Sunset, typing furiously on her phone.

“So what gives then?” Rainbow’s head spun. “What more could there be?”

Sunset and Pinkie looked at eachother. “Well,” Sunset began, “Apparently someone has it out for them, because last night, pretty much half the school got these on SnapGap.

Pinkie pulled Dash closer to to her side, and shielded her phone with her offhand, protecting its screen from any outside viewer. There were four pictures. Each one progressively worse than the rest, each one digging a deeper and pit into Rainbow’s stomach. She cussed and covered her mouth. “How many people saw these again?”

Pinkie Pie shrugged. “We dunno, from what we can tell through it started with the Juniors, then it got bigger and bigger like a balloon until ‘pop’, pretty much has everyone has seen it. Especially because School’s in session now. Rainbow Dash rubbed her eyes and slumped against the lockers. “Well, on the bright side,” Pinkie remarked, “at least whoever sent them put the SnapGap stickers all over it we we don’t see the—”

“Pinkie! You’re not helping!” Sunset interjected. She sighed, “Anyway, that’s the situation. No one has gotten word to AJ or Rarity yet. Rarity hasn’t been online since yesterday and AJ, you know, doesn’t really check her phone anyway.” Sunset counted on her fingers, “Me, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all got the original SnapGap, and we already filled Twilight in.” She gave a sorrowful smirk, “I dunno what else to do about it. Principal Celestia has gotta already be on top of it, right? I mean, the whole school knows.”

Pinkie put her phone away, “I just hope AJ and Rare are okay,” she said. “I can’t even imagine how it must be for them.”

Rainbow Dash stood up. “Yeah, It must be… terrible.” She exhaled a heavy breath. “Well, if any of you hear word from either of them or any update on this, this mess… lemme know, alright?”

Sunset and Pinkie nodded just as the first period bell rang throughout the school.

Rainbow Dash spent the rest of the day going through the motions, unable to shake the terrible situation her friends were in, and even more so the actual pictures themselves. It was surreal. Like a dumb joke that Pinkie took too far, or a stupid anti-social media story that some old person made about someone else just to make a point. At the end of the day, she decided it was best to go burn some steam and clear her head. Thus, she headed towards the girls’ locker room.

The gentle sprinkling sound of a poorly maintained high school shower raining sheets of water upon a tiled floor reverberated through the empty locker room. A sound that, in all her time as both a student and an athlete, she had never heard. No one ever used the school showers, ever. She shook it off, and began walking towards her gym locker, slightly more cautious than usual, when a vacant pile of clothes caught her eye. The shower wasn’t just left on by some kid fooling around, someone was using it. Whatever, she thought to herself as she began to spin the dial of her locker. Maybe it's just a freshman who doesn't know what they're doing or a—

Her own thoughts were cut off by a sob. A pitiful, helpless sob. One that wasn't a cry of a breakup, or a bad grade, or a dead pet, or any other sob one would normally hear at school. True pain shot through the air, quickly dying as soon as it was born. It didn't take long for Rainbow to put two-and-two together. She hesitated for a brief moment, sighed in defeat by her morality, then dropped her stuff by her locker as she began creeping closer to the occupied shower, all while whomever was in it continued to occasionally let out a feeble whimper.

As she walked closer to the pile of clothes, a particularly uncommon piece of clothing caught her eye.

In the pile of clothes was a stetson.

Right.

She ducked her head down slightly, aiming to look under the thin crack where the curtain didn’t quite meet the floor. Applejack’s arms were wrapped around her legs, her usual ponytail was let down, shielding her lower back from the raining water. Her bottom sat on top of a towel pooling with water as the floor began to pool with waiter due to the covered drain. Her toes were curled tight as her hands grasped at her shins. In that little sliver of space between where the curtain didn't quite meet the the floor, was a vista into a broken girl.

Rainbow Dash slumped down against the cement pillar between the shower Applejack was in and a vacant one adjacent to it, facing away from the curtain. She sat there listening to her cry for a second, or ten, or maybe a couple minutes, staring blankly at the unused showers on the other side of the room. It was surreal enough to hear a friend cry, but it was even weirder to hear someone like Applejack cry. Surrounded by anguish, Rainbow Dash finally managed to accumulate the courage to mumble Applejack’s name.

The second the silence was broken, the crying stopped. Like it had never happened in the first place. For a moment, the only sound was the water smacking against skin and porcelain, washing away Applejack’s tears. “Didn't think you'd be in school today,” Rainbow Dash said after a harrowing pause. There was a beat, and then Dash spoke again, “Is this where you’ve been all day? Just in the school showers crying?” Silence. “You know,” she said, “I'm not leaving till you talk, right?”

Finally, Applejack spoke. “No.” It was her alright, but a broken husk of herself. Like someone chiseled away at her flesh, took out her soul, then brandished and tortured it until one tiny shard was all that remained, and it for sure as Hell didn't plan on talking. “Ah came here the last period before lunch.” Silence. “That's when Ah found out—” her voice broke at the confession’s end, but a weep did not escape her.

“And you’re in the school’s disgusting showers, why?” Rainbow Dash asked.

After yet another beat, “Ah dunno Ah— Ah didn't wanna go home and… Ah guess Ah needed to find a place Ah could just—” she sniffed, and for a moment it almost seemed like she was about to start crying again, but once more she pulled through “—be alone.”

Rainbow fiddled with the plastic bits on the ends of her shoelaces, unsure what to do or say next. Half of her told her that the smartest thing to do was to let the poor girl be, but the loyal side denied her from doing so. “Ya’ know, sitting naked on the floor isn't going to change anything,” she said. “What's out there is still out there. Everyone who saw it still saw it, and—”

“—did you see it?” Again, with that broken voice, it tortured Dash.

“Well, I, um… yeah, I guess I did.”

“You guess?”

“No, no. I did. Someone sent it to me and I, looked before I knew what it was.”

Applejack swore. Rainbow Dash swallowed.

“Look, AJ, how about you finish up, put your clothes back on, and I'll go take you out for some ice-cream or something. Clear your head, think about something else, talk about it, I dunno.”

She thought about it. “No, no. Ah… Ah don't wanna run into anybody or anythin’, and Ah ain't really in shape to be good company right now.”

“Well, then I guess I'll just have to wait until you are.” There was hesitation, a long one at that, yet just as Rainbow Dash began to lose hope, the shower’s downpour died to a trickle, then it stopped completely. Rainbow handed Applejack her clothes and waited for her to get changed.

After a reasonable amount of time, Applejack slowly emerged from behind the curtain and wrapped her arms around Rainbow. “Ah don't understand,” she sobbed. “Ah don't, Ah don't….”

•~•

They sat in Rainbow Dash’s car and made cheap small talk, after a fair amount of awkward silence. Anything other than the photos, but on the back of their minds, the elephant in the room still persisted. They both knew that it eventually had to come up. Dash knew it'd be the only way Applejack could get past them, and Applejack knew that Dash knew that.

It eventually was brought up when they were driving. Rainbow Dash had put them en route for some “feel-better” ice cream when she looked over to see Applejack shaking her head and looking out the window. “This entire day feels like a nightmare,” she whispered in a voice so low, it seemed like she was talking to herself. “Ah just wanna wake up. It doesn't seem possible. It just doesn't…. It ain't fair, and it ain't right.” Rainbow said nothing. What could she say? “What…” Applejack hesitated, not sure if she wanted the answer to what she was about to ask. “What did you think when… when you saw ‘em.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Oh jeez, I dunno,” she said. “I was shocked, I guess. I think that's kinda what everyone was thinking, It threw us all off.” She tapped her thumbs on the steering wheel, choosing her next words carefully. “It was just weird, man. Weird to see, I mean.” Silence. “You guys aren’t into PDA at all, even if it’s just, like, the seven of us.”

There was more silence. “Dash, can Ah ask ya’ somethin'?”

“Of course.”

“Promise you’ll answer honestly?”

“You got it.”

Applejack sighed. “What were they? What were the pictures?”

Rainbow Dash swallowed as the car rolled to a slow stop at a red light. “Wait, you didn't see them?” Applejack shook her head. “Jeez. Um, well, there was one where, uh—”

“Just… say it. Say it right-up. Like rippin’ off a band-aid.” Applejack turned her head and looked Rainbow Dash right in the eyes. The light turned green, as they drove a few more feet to the store. “Go on,” Applejack whimpered. “Say it.”

Rainbow took a deep breath, then exhaled. She bought herself some time as she got out of the car to buy herself ice-cream. Applejack didn’t want any.

Applejack asked again. “It was just you guys making out pretty hardcore, that's all. I didn’t want to look anymore. It wasn’t right,” as she spoke, the memories of the photos burned in her head, something she was unable to unsee.

“The truth, Dash.” Applejack stared mercilessly into her soul. “Be honest. Please.”

“Okay, okay, okay.” Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “There were four that I saw, honest. I don’t know if there were any more,” she paused, trying to catch a reaction from Applejack, but got nothing. “The first one was just what I told you, it was you two kissing…. The second one was,” the lump in her throat stopped her from speaking, but she pushed the words out. “Um, like, making out but kinda like, undressing a bit,” she said, but spoke as though she was asking a question. “The rest were… well, you know. The really messed up stuff. It was all censored out, but… yeah. I dunno about how whoever got it got it, but I can tell you that from what I can tell—”

Applejack slammed her fist into the car’s glove box. It cracked. “AH DON’T UNDERSTAND!” She screamed. She tried to yell again, but all that came out was a wail as she crumbled down. It was uncanny to see anyone, especially Applejack in such a sad low. She was screaming as she cried, all her inner torment burning her heart in a cauldron of anger and pain. It was about two minutes before Applejack finally calmed down. “Sorry, Ah’m sorry,” she said. “Ah shouldn’t have left, Ah need to go,” she started to leave, just as Rainbow Dash locked the door.

“No way, José,” Rainbow shook her head. “Look at yourself AJ, you’re a mess. Applejack looked up, eyes bloodshot, hair even more unkempt than usual, lip trembling. Not Applejack. “You know, I just came up with a great idea,” she started the car and pulled out. “We’re going on a little trip.”

“Where?” Applejack demanded.

Rainbow Dash didn’t answer.

They drove for a while in silence, the radio ever so quietly playing whatever rock station Rainbow Dash had listened to last. Applejack kept whispering to herself, sending chills up Rainbow’s spine. She shook her head slowly as she softly tapped the steering wheel, with a little more rhythm than before. This will either work, she thought to herself, or fail miserably and ruin everything way more than it already has been.

It took Applejack very little time to figure out where they were. Immediately, panic arouse within her. “Rainbow this ain't a good idea, turn around now, this ain't gonna do us any good,” she put her hands on the roof and walls, as if she were trapped in a shrinking box. “No way in heck Rarity wants to see me right now.” Her voice lowered. “And ‘specially not like this,” she gestured at the whole of her.

“Yeah, well, I'm not sure either but—” Rainbow paused briefly as she took a sharp turn right, pulled into Rarity’s driveway, and once more parked the car “—That’s what we are doing right now.” A quick glance at Applejack was all she needed to tell that deep down, this is what AJ wanted to do, but lacked the mental strength or vigor to do it. “If you want I can go knock at the door…” Applejack nodded rapidly. “Okay,” Rainbow sighed as she exited the vehicle, nevers beginning to kick in as she realized there was a big chance Rarity’s parents were home, and an even bigger chance that they knew about what was going on. She looked back at Applejack, worryingly biting her lips in the car staring back at her. AJ’s grandma works for the school, and not to mention Apple Bloom, who is a student as well, one who is much more invested in social media than her or Applejack are. She gulped. They both probably know already. She shook the terrible thought out of her head and knocked on the door. “What she needs right now is—” the door swung open. Rarity’s dad stood at the doorway, a stone-cold gaze looked down upon Dash, asphyxiating any plan or thought he had as she helplessly stood on the welcome mat. After a bit too long, she finally spoke up. “Um, is, uh, Rarity home?” she said, flashing an awkward grin. She tried her best not to look back at her car.

“She is,” Rarity’s dad said, squinting his eyes. He was frowning.

“Great! Could I maybe go and speak with her?” she took a step forward, but Rarity’s dad stepped in her path, effectively blocking her.

Rainbow Dash submitted and retreated to the welcome mat. “I’ll go get her,” he said as he closed the door. Well this is great.

She allowed herself to look back to the car. Applejack gave a face that asked: Well? How is it going?. Rainbow Dash promptly responded with a meek thumbs-up. Soon after, the door opened. Rarity was standing in the doorway now, wearing a plain white dress and a scarf. Her eyes had bags under them and she stood with her legs together and her arms crossed. Rarity’s dad’s eyes met with Rainbow Dash’s from the kitchen in the brief time in between when Rarity walked outside and when Rarity closed the door behind her. It unnerved her. “Well,” Rarity spoke up. “My life is over now.”

“Yeah, good to see ya too, Rares.”

“My mom is currently at the police station, so that’s great,” she looked down at her feet. “My phone is with her for evidence or something. Honestly I don’t really care at this point, social media is the last thing I want to have my attention turned to right now,” she looked up. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you girls.”

“Nah, no it’s fine, it’s fine,” Dash said. “You’re holding up much better than AJ is, I’ll say that.”

Rarity let out a painful sigh, “heavens, did she end up going to school today?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash responded. “She didn’t know.”

Rarity looked up to the skies, withholding her tears. “My entire social and family life is ruined forever, and this is going to be attached to our names permanently. Oh heavens, you don’t think this will affect college, do you?”

No I'm sure it won't….” Rainbow Dash made a quick glance through the front window. “Um, I brought Applejack with me by the way.”

Rarity's face lit up for a second, then faded back to one of discontent, as she sighed and started walking over to Dash’s car. “Wait here for just a moment, darling,” she said. With that, Rainbow Dash watched as her friend approached the car, and entered the driver's seat. She played through iterations of different conversations in her head, the good possibilities… the bad alternatives…. She didn't want them to break-up, that was for sure. The awkwardness in her friend group was already reaching its full capacity, and any more cataclysm would inevitably bring irreversible damage. She swallowed. Man, if she ever caught sight of whatever pervert did this, they’d be gone. To humiliate her friends like this? To spy on their personal lives, to take advantage of them, to ruin their lives? Sure, someone could have just stumbled upon them. ‘The deed’ was done in Rarity's car in presumably a parking lot after all, but even if someone accidentally came upon the scene, spreading it around the school was no accident, and was an unforgivable crime. Literally. For a second, an innate sense of justice crashed upon her, but it quickly drifted away as she recalled what Rarity said about her mom getting involved with the police. Well, if I can't help lock up whoever did this, she looked at the car. Through the front windows, she could barely make out Rarity and Applejack hugging. Then I guess I can start by helping my friends get better. At that moment, Rainbow Dash was struck with an idea. She whipped out her cellphone and quickly opened up the group chat the seven of them were in. They need this. We all do.

It wasn't long after that, when the seven of them congregated at the Canterlot Mall’s food court, as per usual, each party arriving with an aura of wary caution surrounding them. However, with the seven friends finally being reunited after a drastically overwhelming day, the inevitable jokes and laughter began to surface, and a sense of normality overtook the original sentiment, so much so it became almost forgotten entirely… almost. After a while, Applejack even managed to get up the courage to crack a joke at her own expense in relation to the scandal. At first, it brought with it awkward chuckles in fear of not knowing whether or not it was ‘okay to laugh’ at the ‘incident’, but as the afternoon began to shift into the night, the laughter and all around silliness leaked into the controversial topic, and girls began to openly talk and joke around about it. Like normal. Of course, there were a few times where things got ‘serious’. To be fair, Rarity and Applejack did have some explaining to do; however, they easily recognized and admitted to this fact, and as the mood of the evening lightened, so did their grips on their secret.

At the end of the night, Applejack lied in her bed, a conglomeration of both conjoined and mixed feelings boiled in the pit of her stomach as she stared at the full moon in the night sky. On the one hand, she was still having a bad time coming to terms about what had come out to light that definitely belonged between her and her partner. Those pictures were out now forever and everyone could see them. Forever. She swallowed. At least her granny, her brother, and her sister hadn't seemed to notice… yet. Oh who was she kidding? Of course they all know. Well, at least from what she can tell, they are sparing her from the theatrical awkwardness that conversation would entice. She rolled over in bed to face her nightstand. On the other hand, her friendship wasn't utterly ruined like she had worried it’d be. She smiled to herself. Yeah, like that would ever happen. A beat went by as the whirlpool of events and ideas swam in a disharmonious array around her brain. The thoughts corroded at her psyche, as more and more she began to juggle between how she was handling the situation. Maybe it's best to just sleep on it. She shut her eyes for a minute or two, then opened them in defeat. She sighed. Her eyes zipped around the room, looking for anything to ease her burning conscience, and finally settled on her phone. She lifted it up off her nightstand, slowly revealing the screen from where it had been, face down charging on her desk, to see one text notification from Rarity. Her heart skipped a beat as she rushed to enter her passcode. Quickly, she tapped on the message app and then Rarity’s name right after. Three words lit up brightly on her screen. Three words which at that very moment in time, both Rarity and Applejack were watching at once, the same three words reflected upon their faces from their phones on two far apart places in the city. Applejack responded without hesitation.

I love you too, she wrote.

At the end of the day, everything was fine. I mean, what happened happened and it was terrible and it sucked, but in the grand scheme of things, compared to what the situation could be, it was fine. Applejack made one last look at her phone, and at this three heartwarming words, then turned off her phone and began drifting away to sleep. Now, she just had to take it one day at a time.

Author's Note

I AM ALIVE

I know it has been (holy crap) almost TWO YEARS since I've posted anything, but I have not left the fandom (far from it actually) nor have I stopped posting fan-content (did delete my DeviantArt tho, but unrelated) ANYWAY this one has been in the works since January 8th, 2018. That doesn't mean it's any good btw, it still sucks, but ya know, what can ya do?

Either way, I still wrote fanfics in 2018, such as a good portion of this one, but I never got around to finishing any. Worry not, however, because my goal for the rest of 2019 is to upload 3 finished fics, and write an original new one over the summer. So let's mark this one down, and get going.

It's Rarijack hours