RDnA...J?

by Aklinstar

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Rainbow Dash (EqG), Romance, Applejack (EqG), Equestria Girls, Sunset Shimmer
Length: 13830

Rainbow Dash gets a new game. Applejack wants to hang out. Messiness ensues.

Rainbow Dash got herself a new computer and a shiny new game to push its limits. Applejack wants to spend time with her but Rainbow Dash isn't exactly the best at picking up subtle hints. Applejack, still working out her feelings gets unsolicited help in an unconventional way.

Yeah... things were going to get messy.

An entry for the 2023 Spring Fling Contest

*Screencap taken from the official comic: Canterlot High: March Radness*

Published 2023-05-01 06:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-05-01 06:20:00 UTC

The One and Only Chapter

Tap click click tap.

Tap tap tap.

Taptaptaptap—

“Consarnit…”Applejack grumbled. She brought her controller up to her face and inspected all its sides, looking for something she was missing.

Maniacal laughter to her left interrupted her impromptu inspection and may have been the reason an ugly vein was starting to become prominent on her forehead. Well… that and her car being slammed into for the fifth time on the same lap causing her to swerve into another rail during a sharp turn.

“Guh—Rainbow Dash! Enough with the dirty playin’!” she seethed, her car moving forward and back as she tried to remember which button allowed her to go in reverse, which was easy enough to remember normally but she had a lot on her mind at that moment.

“Come on, AJ. It’s a racing game! The whole point is to go fast. Which I was able to do by using your car as a…”—she waved her controller in the air with one hand—“…Launch pad to keep my speed. No hard feelings, right?” she chortled as AJ shot her a glare.

“…Yeah, none at all…” Applejack grumbled as she got back on track. She tapped a few buttons absentmindedly as she continued to accelerate. One such button caused her a moment of disorientation as she suddenly had the view of her car’s rear for a split moment. She blinked before looking down at her controller wondering how she managed to do that. A few taps later and she figured it out.

She narrowed her eyes as she caught the sight of a cyan blur gaining on her. “…None at all…” she muttered with an inaudible dry chuckle.

She took note of the fact she was coming up to the same sharp turn as before and slowed down a tad, allowing her buddy to catch up. She panned the camera several times to check on her position as well as keeping the turn just up ahead in mind.

She glanced at her prismatic haired friend and noticed a smirk forming quickly. Not this time… she thought with a smirk of her own.

The turn was upon her, her friend now being barely visible to her left.

And…

Their cars were mostly neck-to-neck now.

Rainbow Dash made a sudden movement to her left before making another sharper turn to the right, hoping to catch her once more.

Now!

AJ put on the brakes at the last moment, her friend whizzing past her and… straight into the rail.

“Wha—hey!” cried a voice as Applejack bumped into her for good measure during her turn.

“Just tryin’ to keep mah speed, on the account of it bein’ a racin’ game an’ all,” Applejack shrugged nonchalantly, trying her absolute hardest not to grin ear-to-ear at her elation of being able to pull a fast one on the fastest member of her group of friends.

…And like most times they played together, that moment was short lived.

In big gold embroidered lettering, ‘1st place’ could be read on Rainbow Dash’s half of the screen.

“…Ah, nuts…” AJ sighed, having forgotten she’d only managed to make it to the second lap out of three. She grimaced at seeing the ‘8th place’ in the smallest text which was almost unreadable.

She glanced to her left to see her friend inching closer, her face with the biggest shit-eating grin. “Man, AJ, you suck at this game!” she chuckled as Applejack pushed her face away. “Don’t need to be a sore loser about it though. Not everyone can be as awesome as me, ya know?” she shrugged. “Best out of seven?” she asked quickly in complete seriousness, her attention glued to the screen, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

Applejack let out of a snort as she rolled her eyes, a small smile forming despite herself. “Nah. Ah think Ah’m gonna call it for tonight, RD. Startin’ to get late and we still have one more day of school to get through before spring break, ‘member?”

“But—but staying up late is the point of a sleepover! We haven’t even told scary stories or uh… Talked about the latest Daring Do book—Which you did read right?—We could totally do that!”

“Sugar, we can do that anytime. How about on a night we don’t have to worry about too many responsibilities the followin’ day?”

“Laaaaaaaame,” Rainbow Dash drawled, crossing her arms. Her half-lidded eyes fell on the blue object standing behind her friend before they widened. “Oh, I know!” she said as she jumped up and practically flew over her friend.

“Wha—” Applejack started, her head nearly coming off after that whiplash of sudden movement. “What in tarnation has gotten into…” her voice petered out when she turned around. “Ya gotta be kiddin’ me…” she glanced at her phone: ’12:43am’ and groaned as she slid her hand down her face.

“Dash, it’s past midnight and yer folks are likely fast asl—” a loud riff cut her off.

“What was that?” Dash asked, stopping and looking down at her horrified friend.

“Ah said, it’s—” Another one, followed by a prolonged shred, made her jump to her feet.

“Dash!” she called out to no avail, her friend continuing to strum the strings at blistering speeds.

Seeing that words were not getting to her as her friend had her eyes closed and tongue partially stuck out, she grabbed her by the wrist, causing the last few notes to sputter out; Dash’s eyes cracked open.

“Dash, enough! Ye're gonna wake-”

A loud series of bangs at the door followed by the jangling of the door knob caused her to blanch, her grip loosening enough for Dash to pry herself off.

The door whirled open. “Hey! Keep it down in here! People are trying to sleep, ya know!” the rainbow-haired dad yelled.

Applejack held out her hands and waved them, her face pale. “A-ah’m mighty sorry ‘bout the noise! Ah was tryin’ to get Dash to stop playin’ but—”

His mouth twitched.

Applejack continued to gesticulate as she tried to defuse the situation. “—she jus’ kept goin’ so Ah tried to take her guitar away from her and Ah—”

A loud resounding hearty laugh cut her off, her arms falling to her sides as she tried processing what was happening.

The man gripped his sides as he continued to laugh. Dash groaned as she shook her head. “Dad…”

“I-I’m sorry. It was just so perfect! Her reaction, everything!” he said between wheezes.

“Uh…” Applejack managed to get out, glancing at her friend in confusion, which caused Rainbow to snicker.

“Yeah, ya got her dad…” she admitted with a chuckle, rolling her eyes good-naturedly, grinning at her friend.

“...Ah don’t get it…” Applejack admitted, scratching her head, her friend giving her a good slap on the back.

His laughter finally winding down, he wiped a tear away and gave one last little coughing chuckle at seeing her face. “You wanna tell her or should I?” He said with a grin as he glanced at Dash, his hand resting on the top of the door frame.

RD shrugged. “Eh, you may as well, dad.”

“Tell me what?” Applejack asked, looking between the two.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you step outside the room and close the door for a sec?” Dash’s dad asked innocently.

Applejack’s brows furrowed. “Uh… sure?” she asked, unsure but started moving as she saw her friend waving her on.

She walked past them and stepped outside the threshold, giving them a look as she closed the door. Moments later a muffled, albeit distinguishable rift could be heard from inside the room. She understood.

Opening the door, the noise difference made her wince as she quickly brought up both her hands to cover her ears.

Rainbow’s dad made a cutting motion with his hand, Dash stopped immediately.

The door closed once more.

“Huh…” Applejack let out.

“Yep. Room has been noise-cancelfied,” Dash admitted, strumming a few strings

“Neat.”

“We did it last fall, right around the time Dash got her new guitar. Garage is where she played before but it’s not heated so we figured we’d upgrade her room a little bit…” He leaned in close to Applejack and whispered conspiratorially as Dash continued to play a few notes here and there. “...And she can get pretty carried away reading those Daring Do books of hers. Just last week I caught her standing on top of the wardrobe screaming while she was trying to keep some amulet from a character named, uh… Owiehotel-”

“Ahuizotl,” Rainbow Dash interjected absentmindedly, her strumming suddenly cutting short. She blinked before narrowing her eyes. “Hey! Are you telling her about-”

“Oh, uh look at the time!” he commented with a quick whistle as he looked down at his watch. “...Geez, actually look at the time… Gotta keep off those truffles so close to bedtime. Anyway, obligatory dad: ‘don’t stay up too late,’ ‘you got school tomorrow.’ Yada yada yada. Uhh yeah,” he said as he slipped out and hastily closed the door just in time for a pillow to whomp the door, right where his head had been.

They stood in silence for a moment and stared at one another; Applejack’s face being blank, Rainbow Dash’s being closer to annoyed if anything.

Applejack leaned back, letting her back slide down the wall and going into a bit of a slump. She chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Rainbow Dash asked, reaching out towards her bed.

“Nothin’ really,” she said between chuckles. She looked up to her friend with a tired grin and let her arms hang over her knees. “Just trying to imagine what yer dad said with ya-”

“Don’t,” Dash warned, as she locked and loaded her white cushion of death.

“-being up there,” Applejack thumbed up at the wardrobe to her left.

She took aim.

“Reminds me of how mah sis and Ah would re-enact our favorite stories Granny told when we were younger,” she said as she continued to ignore the looming threat, her stare moving from the wardrobe to her friend.

The pillow dropped. “Ugh, come on! How am I supposed to start a pillow fight when you go and be sentimental and junk on me…” she whined, before giving up and falling back first onto the bed starfish style. Her legs moving up and down in a lazy motion.

“Heh, sorry… Guess Ah’m just tired is all.” She rubbed her eyes. “Ah think it’s time to hit the hay, what do ya say?”

“Mmm, yeah I guess…” she replied with a mumble, barely containing in a yawn. She wiggled into the bed with a few grunts until her head reached the one pillow she had left. She sighed. “Uh, Applejack? You mind tossing me the other pillow?” she asked as she held out an arm.

Applejack wobbled as she pushed herself up, she bumbled forward a bit before reaching her destination. She gave it a good throw, aiming for the kill. Thah-wump.

“...Thanks,” came a muffled voice. Rainbow dash flipped the pillow to the other side of her head. Her eyes shifted to the left, causing them to strain as she took in the offending light coming from the stand. She reached out, straining her arm as she did so, her hand barely being out of range as all she managed to do was slap the offending object a couple times. She groaned, letting her arm go limp. “...And could ya turn off the TV while you're at it?” she whined as she spread out onto her back once more.

Applejack shook her head slowly. “Lazy, good fer nothin’...” she muttered under her breath with a slight smile. “Want me ta tuck ya in an’ read ya a bedtime story after I get ya a cup of warm milk too?” she joked as she pressed the power button on the remote.

“Mmm, Daring Do and the Forbidden City of Clouds… and make it chocolate please,” Dash asked, her words becoming considerably sluggish.

Applejack snorted. She walked over to her sleeping bag before stopping and turning back to her friend who had a peaceful expression on her face, which put a small smile on her face.

She rubbed the back of her head. “Say uh… Dash?”

“Mmm, huh?” the half-asleep girl grumbled out, not moving her head or opening her eyes.

“Ah…” she paused. She grabbed her arms before continuing, “Ah was wonderin’ if ya’d like ta help out on the farm durin’ the break? Like ol’ times? Ah still got Battleships fer when we finish up for the day,” she added, attempting to sweeten the deal. She bit her lip.

A pause.

Rainbow Dash scratched her chin before breaking the silence, “Uh… didn’t I tell you? Tirek Eternal is coming out tomorrow and I gotta test it out on my new rig I got last week. Gonna be able to max out the graphics and everything! Gore galore!” she whooped, her arms shooting up lazily before falling back to her sides.

Applejack’s body visibly slumped at that. “Oh… uh, alrighty then. Ah’m sure y’all will have a good time with that…” she sighed, rubbing the back of her head. She fell to her knees before working her way slowly into the sleeping bag and wrapping it around her shoulders.

“It’s going to be so awesome!” Dash sat up, a second wind kicking in. “Did you know that A.K. Yearling plays the Tirek series!? When I first found out I was like ‘Ohmygoshohmygosh-”

Applejack tuned her out, the ringing in her ears becoming prominent as she stared at the wall facing away from her friend. Her eyes half-lidded and downcast.

“...Yeah, awesome…” she muttered.

Click.

Pause.

Click, click.

The library was sparse that afternoon. Most students who needed to check out books before the break had already done so days prior and a majority didn’t need to since most teachers were gracious enough to not assign homework over the break.

Emphasis: most.

Applejack tapped the desk as she stared at the unfamiliar formulas in front of her, wishing they could just magically be transported into her head after being struck by a rainbow lazer. Which sounded absolutely ridiculous but given how she’d been sucked up by a magic mirror and phone, as well as had the strength of ten Bulk Biceps—Twilight measured—when ponying up, anything was possible at that point she reckoned.

She shook her head in an attempt to get back on track.

The assignment in question may or may not have been sparked after Cranky Doodle caught a group of students giggling amongst themselves in an empty classroom days prior as they watched a projection of him trying and failing to do the ‘nay-nay’ or whatever it was.

The project in question was a group one, which she could take or leave depending on how much was assigned and who she was assigned with. Now, normally grouping up with Dash wouldn’t have been a problem… had she not been in the forefront playing with the projector and guffawing the loudest.

Despite RD receiving detention for the rest of the week and following week when they returned, Applejack could swear their assignment had more problems on it than others.

Worst of all, Dash and her agreed to pull straws out of Trixie’s hat to see who got what. Dash got the presentation portion and she… got the fancy mathematics portion… which she was certain had more problems than a worm in an apple during apple cider season. Why did Ah even agree ta that in the first place…

Clunk.

She groaned, her head causing the document she’d been working on to output a bunch of random letters.

Tirek Eternal is coming out tomorrow.

Applejack lifted her head, furrowing her brows as the bags under her eyes didn’t weigh her down nearly as much as what her friend had brought up the night prior.

Her heart dropped. The night prior…

I gotta test it out on my new rig I got last week.

“Gah. Stupid, Dash… Gotta go off and buy fancy elec-a-ma-tronics to toy around with…” she mumbled bitterly as she opened a new tab and started typing away.

A half hour later and several open tabs, five-percent of which relating to her assignment, Applejack continued typing away.

She’d found herself so absorbed by her research that she failed to notice how long she’d been there, as well as her name being called twice.

She jumped back when she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder.

“Woah, settle down there, buckaroo,” Sunset chuckled, waving her hands. “We missed you during lunch. Pinkie even tried to call you like five times, give or take. Everything alright?” she asked, pulling up a seat and folding her arms over the top of it as she sat.

“Uh, yep everything is fine an’ such,” Applejack said, perhaps with a little too much conviction. She placed her head into a hand and gave her the grin equivalent of a creaky door slowly opening.

Her friend raised a brow at her, “Uh, huh…” Sunset let out, unconvinced; her eyes shifting to the screen as she leaned forward. “What are you working on anyway?”

Applejack panicked, turning back to the screen, almost forgetting what she’d been doing. “Nothin’! Nothin’ at all,” she insisted as she quickly opened her assignment back up and clicked around randomly on the page, a bead of sweat trickling down her chin. “Just, researchin’ an’ mathin’ an’ such. Yep,” she gulped, hoping her friend would go away.

A pause.

“Oh, okay. That makes perfect sense,” Sunset shrugged, getting up. “I’ll leave you to it then, keep up with the good ‘mathin’,” she mimicked, finger banging at her with a wink before placing the seat back and u-turning to walk away.

Applejack let out a breath, turning to see that Sunset was indeed no longer there before switching back to the internet.

Click.

Click click.

Scroll.

“You’re building a computer?” a voice inquired.

Applejack fell out of her seat. Her papers, backpack and its contents tumbling down with her. The keyboard dangled inches from her head.

She rubbed her rump and grimaced.

Sunset winced, offering her hand to Applejack and helping her back up.

Sunset reached down to grab the objects that had spilled out, placing them on the table while Applejack brought her backpack up to her knees.

Sunset gave her a sympathetic look, albeit a confused one. “You do know there’s nothing wrong with having a hobby, right?” she asked, glancing up to her unreadable friend. “Sure, I wouldn’t have taken you to be into that sort of stuff but there’s no shame in it. Not sure why you felt the need to hide that, let alone from a friend,” she commented, placing a ruler onto the table for Applejack to stow away.

“...Ah know that,” Applejack concurred as she placed the last object into her bag and zipped it up.

“Then why were you trying to hide it?” Sunset asked, her brows furrowing as she pulled up a seat again.

The blonde-haired girl sighed. “‘Cause it ain’t like that…” she admitted, crossing her arms as she looked back to the screen then back to her friend.

“What do you mean?” Sunset asked, becoming more befuddled by the moment.

“...Because Ah…” she started, before looking at her phone. “Oh shoot, would ya look at that? Ah’m missin’ out on second period lunch, well I reckon Ah should be-”

“Applejack,” Sunset stated firmly, grabbing onto her friend’s arm as she attempted to get up. “What is going on with you? This isn’t like you,” she said, giving her friend a worried expression as she just now noticed the bags under her eyes.

Applejack collapsed back into her seat, her energy expended. In part due to her tossing and turning all night and in part because she was a terrible liar. “Ye’re right, this ain’t like me. Not at all…” she breathed out.

Sunset pulled back and gave her friend some room.

“It’s jus’... Dash has gone on and got herself a fancy new rig and is plannin’ on playin’ some game or another durin’ the break,” she started out as she brought her stetson down onto her lap and fiddled with it. “Ah guess Ah jus’ wanted to… Ah don’t know… hang out with her?”

Sunset’s features softened. “Nothing wrong with that. I still don’t really get why you felt the need to be so secretive about it but… it doesn’t matter.” She leaned back and crossed a leg, lost in thought for a moment before chuckling. “Also that’s… a pretty expensive price tag just to ‘hang out,’ especially if the computer will remain as paperweight most of the time.”

The amber-haired girl rubbed her chin. “And given that you really haven’t shown much interest in this sort of thing before…” she paused. “Wait, do you even know anything about this game Rainbow Dash is getting?”

“Uh…” Applejack scratched her head. “It’s called… Tirek… somethin’ rather,” she sheepishly said with a half-grin.

Sunset facepalmed.

“So, you’re building a PC…” she waved her hand in a circular motion.

“Uh, huh…”

“...And are buying a game that you know literally nothing about—besides the first word,” she added with an eye roll as Applejack opened her mouth to object.

“...Right…”

“...Just to hang out?” Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow.

“...Yep, that ‘bout sums it up,” Applejack admitted with a slow nod.

Sunset sighed, “Do you know if this game is even multiplayer?”

When all she received was an owlish blink, Sunset got up, opened a new tab and typed: ‘New Tirek game PC’ into the search engine.

Click.

Scroll.

Pause.

“...It’s single player,” Sunset sighed. Her curiosity now getting the better of her as she snooped through her friend’s other tabs. Nothing caught her attention until she reached the tab that contained all the parts of the computer that was being built.

She blinked.

“...And I’m no expert in this sort of thing either but um… none of these parts are compatible.” Sunset motioned her friend over.

Applejack leaned over her shoulder. “How do ya figure?”

Sunset just held out a hand to the line at the bottom of the page that read: ‘0% compatibility.’

“...Oh…”

They both sat back down.

Sunset immediately broke the silence, “Why didn’t you just ask her if she wanted to… Oh, I see.” Sunset nodded to herself. “Hmm…”

Applejack shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

“...So…” Sunset folded her hands beneath her chin, moving her head slightly to match Applejack’s shifting eyes. “You started out by asking if she wanted to hang out. She said she was planning on playing this game over the break, dashing that prospect, or so you thought at the time. Now, in an attempt to still be able to hang out with her, you decided you’d try to join her by buying a bunch of stuff you otherwise wouldn’t use. Sound about right?”

…

“...Heh, ya well… when ya put it like that it sounds pretty stupid, don’t it…?” Applejack said with a mirthless chuckle. Her eyes glued to the floor in front of her.

Sunset reached out and grabbed her by the hands.

Applejack looked up to see her friend shaking her head at her.

“No, I don’t think that at all,” she said with a frown, her eyes fraught with concern as she really took in those bags under her eyes. “Applejack… how much sleep did you get last night?”

Applejack looked up to the ceiling and pursed her lips. “...Mmm, less than ideal, prolly. Don’t matter none though ‘cause Ah’ll hit the hay ‘round the time Ah normally do tonight and all will be well.” She pulled back when Sunset’s hand’s loosened and got up. She closed out of the browser, pulled out her thumb drive and slung her backpack around her shoulder. “Ah should really get a bite in ‘fore second period lunch is over. Ah really don’t wanna hear Granny complain how she didn’t see me today and double the rations at home tonight… Again.” She fiddled with the drive between her fingers before looking at Sunset.

“If ya see, RD would ya mind givin’ her this?” she asked before tossing the drive to her which Sunset fumbled with, her thoughts abruptly coming to an end. “Tell her Ah haven’t finished mah portion of the project yet but Ah managed to get some of it done. She should at least be able to get started on her part now,” she added before turning and shuffling off in a hurry.

Sunset shot up to her feet soon after, her delayed reaction in part due to being stunned, and also in part to her mind racing as she tried to figure out the core issue of what should otherwise be an easy friendship problem. She thought she had it down pat but it appeared she may have read the situation wrong somehow.

“Applejack, wait up!” Sunset called, holding a hand out as she raced after her friend.

Of course, right as passed the threshold, who should she meet but one of the few people who knew her schedule to a tee. The one who made it, then remade it… and remade it once more all in the same day…

“Sunset Shimmer, do you want to explain to me why you’re not in your advanced physics class right now?” Principal Celestia asked after a slight delay, crossing her arms and raising a brow.

Sunset nervously chuckled before responding. “Uh… Friendship problem?” she shrugged with a wavering grin.

Diiiiiiiiing.

Alright. one more class to go, Applejack thought as she wolfed down the last bite of her fries and wiped her hands clean. She didn’t realize how hungry she’d been. That’s the last time I’m playin’ frisbee with a piece of toast… she snorted, remembering the chaotic morning of stumbling into her boots while Rainbow Dash threw a burnt slice at her, causing her to clatter into the dining table in a vain attempt to snag it with her mouth. The only thing she caught was a mouthful of napkins as the toast promptly smacked her in the face.

She shook her head, a small grin forming.

She was relieved that the last day before break was a short one as she was starting to really feel the effects of the lack of sleep.

…Of course it would have been a relief if she didn’t have a mountain of chores and a project to work on when she got back.

She resisted the urge to sigh, feeling that she’d been doing enough moping around for the day.

That gave her pause for thought.

Moping? Was that what she’d been doing?

She thought back to her interaction with Sunset and how concerned she’d looked. She scrunched up her face, lost in her thoughts.

She was just concerned by her lack of sleep, that was all. Nothing else. Any friend would be worried about another losing valuable shut-eye, it’s just what friends did.

Of course, the only reason she hadn’t slept was because…

“Ugh, what is it with teachers and pop quizzes the day before break!? I mean, give me a break!” came a familiar voice down the hall.

Applejack’s breath hitched, her body suddenly becoming a magnet and pulling to the side of a locker.

What the hay has gotten into you, Applejack!? she scolded herself as she peered around and saw Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy heading her way.

It’s jus’ your friends, ya apple fritter. Just get there, give ‘em a wave and get to class. She took a deep breath and planted a foot out.

“I mean, history is cool and all, but how the heck am I supposed to know what Hoover…meiser did in his off time almost a century ago? I can barely remember what I did yesterday!” Rainbow Dash groaned.

Losing her nerve, Applejack stumbled into the nearby bathroom, banging into the side of the frame as she did so, making her wince.

What is goin’ on!? she seethed at herself, genuinely wondering if she was several screws loose that day.

She tumbled over to the nearest mirror, her eyes widening in shock when she saw that her face was drenched in sweat.

Was she sick? Should she go see the nurse?

She turned on the facet and splashed her face with cool water a few times. She accidentally inhaled some of it, causing her to let out a sputtering cough as she tried to catch her breath.

When her coughing fit died down, she clenched the sides of the sink, her grip tightening so hard she was sure she would crush its sides. She sighed in relief at remembering her geode wasn’t on, as she’d wisened up after learning her lesson of keeping it on during school hours after breaking a table or two.

Come on, Applejack… Ya ain’t thinkin’ straight. Ain’t no reason to be more startled than jackrabbit in an open prairie on a sunny day.

When her breathing normalized and her general shakiness slowed, she rubbed her temples as she tried to piece together any semblance of coherency.

She hadn’t had any issues up until today. So what changed?

She never hid from her friends in the past, or anybody for that matter.

She’d been fine up until that point. She didn’t hide from Sunset when she was promptly ambushed in the library.

She grabbed a few sheets of paper towel and wiped her face dry.

None of it made sense…

Not being able to get a wink of sleep.

Nearly skipping lunch to try and buy a fancy new gadget whilst trying to be secretive about it.

And now avoiding her friends while acting like a elementary school girl who just received a valentine’s card from her first cru—

Her eyes widened as a sudden, unprompted thought stitched itself into her psyche.

No… she thought. Can’t be…

She shook her head and gave a breathless chuckle as she found a line of thinking that would snuff that prospect in the bud.

Sure, she liked hanging out with Dash but she liked hanging out with all her friends. And sure, she liked working on projects with her too, it was just a coincidence that they got paired up together a lot…

…Though usually she was the first to jump up at the opportunity of asking her, even if it meant she’d be doing most of the work… which… Okay, that might have been a tad bit strange but still nothing to fret about really.

And who cares if she couldn’t hang out during the break? Dash was allowed to have hobbies, she had some too, nothing was wrong with that.

“She’d probably rush through the chores and speed off without givin’ much thought ‘bout just bein’ with me again anyway…” she muttered bitterly. She blinked in surprise at her own words that poured out involuntarily.

She took a deep breath and stepped away from the sink, holding her hands out in front of her as if she were attempting to stop a fight before it escalated too much.

It’s fine… I’m fine. Everythin’ is fine… she tried to convince herself but was quickly crumbling under her own internal pressure.

Rainbow Dash is my best friend, that’s all. Nothin’ more… she thought, dread filling her heart as that lie unraveled faster than she could keep up with trying to douse it.

She tightly gripped her arms until her knuckles turned white. The thumping of her heart nearly drowning out her thoughts that followed.

She wanted to be wrong, she wanted to believe that she was just too tired to think properly, to be able to function like a normal human-being. Sleep depravity can do weird things to the mind after all.

Heck, Twilight gave them a lecture about it after an all nighter at her place the following morning. Not that she remembered any of it but she was sure ‘spontaneously falling for a friend’ had to be on that list of things that could happen as a result, right?

It would go away, right?

Being in…

In…

She collapsed into the sink, her weight nearly knocking off one of the handles as she latched onto one instinctually. She moved her hands down to the side of the sink; her arms struggling to keep her up as her legs went limp.

“I…I think Ah… Ah’m in love with Rainbow…” she mouthed as she stared into her terrified reflection.

The faucet continued to pour as her thoughts began to spill over, their contents soaking up any remaining doubts that lingered.

When the door quietly latched shut, Sunset let out a breath.

It was funny how visiting Principal Celestia made her a lot more nervous those days than it did in the past, even when she didn’t necessarily do anything wrong.

Thankfully, Celestia was understanding once Sunset explained that the ‘friendship problem’ wasn’t just a lame excuse she’d just made up on the fly and that she was genuinely concerned for a friend of hers.

Still, detention for a day once she got back, followed by involuntary, voluntary work as a TA for the class that week as well kind of sucked but… could have been worse she supposed.

Now, had it been Princess Celestia instead… She was sure that once she brought up ‘friendship problem’ she would have been given praise for taking charge instead.

At least, that’s the idea she’d gotten of her after reading several testimonies from the other Twilight and after her brief encounter with her recently. She gave a cursory smile at the thought.

She looked down to her phone: ‘12:49PM’ it read. The class she should have been in was scheduled to finish up in one minute.

No point is showing up now, she thought. Knowing she could just catch up with Twilight later and get a lecture about missing class, followed up a lesson plan that was three times as long as the actual lecture that took place.

She let out a short laugh at the thought before coughing into her fist when she realized she wasn’t alone as Vice Principal Luna gave her a look and silently stepped into her office.

Sunset stepped out into the hallway right as the bell went off. Students poured out from classes from every direction. Some gave her a wave, some gave her questioning looks as they noticed where she came from, others chatted away to one another, oblivious to everyone else around them.

If class wasn’t an opinion…

Sunset stood in place, her eyes scanning the waves of students.

She turned her head to the right to look down the other hall, spotting prismatic hair, nearly being obscured by those around her. She may have even missed her had she not stopped to strike a pose or two, causing a disruption in the flow of the crowd.

Sunset rolled her eyes with a smile, before heading her direction.

Now because it was Friday, she’d normally would have headed straight to the gym for fencing but it was canceled due to a scheduling conflict with the basketball team going on tour during the break, the notice being given too late for an appropriate relocation to be given.

Which was perfect.

She weaved in and out of the flow of traffic, never losing her sights on the multicolored hair in the sea of mostly mono.

Seeing her head into the locker room, Sunset slowed to a stop.

Now, she was no expert in knowing the entirety of all her friends schedules but she could venture a guess as to where her friend was heading next.

Drumming the side of a nearby locker, a small smile formed as she knew at least something she was somewhat adept in…

Having a chat with a friend.

The soccer field was looking pretty sparse that day… not to say that it often looked packed—because it rarely was outside of games between Canterlot High and Crystal Prep—but today it was looking like all she’d accomplish was some warmups, a pass here and there and a boatload of goals, as usual of course.

She let go of her ankle before grabbing her right one and pulling it back.

But it didn’t really matter because when she got back home it was just her and a weeklong session of ripping and tearing until it was do—

“Hey, Rainbow. Got a minute?”

“Waa—” Rainbow called out in surprise, falling forward.

Sunset dashed forward and grabbed her by the hem of her shirt just in time, allowing Rainbow to catch herself by putting her leg she’d been stretching out forward. She hopped ahead a few steps before rotating around to face her.

“I… really gotta stop doing that,” Sunset sheepishly grinned, rubbing the back of her head.

Rainbow folded her hands behind her head as she crossed a leg in front of the other, acting nonchalant, totally ignoring the not-fact that she hadn’t just been startled by a ‘hello’ of all things. She blamed Fluttershy… but she didn’t need to because nothing of that nature actually occurred.

“Sup, Sunset,” Rainbow Dash cooly greeted immediately, her eyebrows jumping in surprise for a second before she settled with a smirk as she took in her friend’s attire. “It’s a bit late in the year to join the soccer team, don’t ya think? Not that I’m complaining!” she added before Sunset could get a word in. Rainbow Dash placed the digits of a hand on her own chest. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to join the team that has the most awesome player?” she boasted before starting a count of keep-ups as she knocked the nearby soccer ball up into the air.

“Actually…” Sunset started with a breathless chuckle. “I was kind of hoping if I could talk to you about something?”

“Shoot,” Rainbow Dash replied before knocking the soccer ball into the air and performing a bicycle kick, it landed squarely in the goal. The two on her team who didn’t miss it gave her a lazy thumbs up, which she returned with a quick two finger salute, a wink and her cheeky trademark grin before jumping back to her feet and motioning her friend to continue.

Sunset crossed her arms as she repressed the urge to giggle, her mouth wavering into a half-baked smile after a second before pressing on, “You and Applejack had a sleepover last night, right?”

“Heck yeah we did.” She buffed the knuckles of a hand on her chest before inspecting it in mock interest. “And I may or may not have totally and completely annihilated her butt at Prism Motorsport 2. Definite emphasis on the may,” she smirked as she lazily tousled her hair over her shoulder.

“Alright, alright,” Sunset said with a laugh. “Glad to hear you had fun,” she added, her brow slightly furrowing. “What else did you guys do?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged, juggling a new soccer ball around. “Eh, the usual stuff. Had pizza, watched scary movies, I shredded my guitar for a bit, that sort of thing,” she yawned before stopping the ball in its tracks and glancing at her friend. “Wanna practice passes?”

“Uh, yeah sure,” Sunset replied. “May as well. I’m dressed the part anyway,” she dryly remarked, holding the hems of her shirt.

Rainbow Dash replied with a pass of the ball before running in the opposite direction. Sunset slightly fumbled it with at first. She’d been well out of practice for a while now. She jogged forward, traveling with the ball a good distance before passing it, a very sloppy and off-trajectory one at that. She flushed a little in embarrassment.

Rainbow Dash didn’t comment, gesture or jab at her for her mistake. Instead she simply caught up with the ball and passed it back.

This went on a couple more passes, allowing Sunset ample time to figure out how to phrase her next question.

“So, any reason why you guys decided to have a sleepover the day before break?”

Kick.

“Eh, Applejack brought it up and I couldn’t think why not.”

Kick.

“Applejack did?” Sunset asked, not sure if to be surprised or not. Definitely was airing on confused though.

Think, Sunset, think… she chided herself, knowing there had to be a logical explanation for all of it.

Kick.

She ran through the series of events once more, starting from the top:

One: Applejack instigated the sleepover, which they had.

Two: Applejack wants to hangout more immediately but Rainbow Dash has a game she’s planning on playing over the break.

Three: Applejack tries to get herself an expensive paperweight (for her that is) the following day, during school hours, just to play with her friend, which is extreme and is something she’d never do without having a practical reason. Which, come to think of it, almost reminds her of the time Flash bought fencing equipment during Freshman year despite having no interest in the sport just so he could spend time with…

her…

Oh. Ohhh.

So, much for a simple friendship problem, she thought, completely oblivious to the fact that Rainbow Dash had passed her the ball back, the arch of her foot catching on top of it, causing her to fall forward.

Her breath hitched as she braced for impact, shutting her eyes closed.

But instead of the hard ground she felt a quick tug back causing the air she had remaining in her lungs to evacuate. She stumbled a bit backwards before bumping into something and stabilized.

She turned around to see her friend as she let go of her. “How did you do that?” she asked breathlessly.

“Uh, hellooooo? I’m awesome, remember?” her friend crowed, her fingers twiddling her geode necklace between her fingers.

Sunset blushed. “Oh, right…” she coughed, her mind mostly elsewhere.

Okay, it may have not been a simple problem, sure… but maybe a subtle hint to nudge her friend would help?

But she immediately crossed off that notion. Rainbow and subtle? Really brain? Sunset berated herself.

Blurting it out wouldn’t help things either, as things would likely get awkward really fast.

She sighed. No, Applejack is going to have to tell her.

“But seriously, you gotta watch—Oh hey, looks like the period is over,” Dash commented as she noticed the other members of her team packing up and heading back.

“Seems like it,” Sunset added absentmindedly, disappointed that she’d run out of time and that she came to a conclusion that made her feel powerless to help.

“Say uh, Sunset?”

Sunset snapped to. “Yeah?”

“Would you mind giving me a lift back to my place?” she asked, slightly embarrassed as she rubbed an arm.

Sunset raised a brow at her. “What happened to your bike?”

“Oh, uh. Yeah, it sort of… kind of… got rear ended and is in a repair shop?” she half-asked, half-admitted with a nervous grin.

“WHAT!?” Sunset blurted out, before immediately calming herself, coming to the rational conclusion that her friend wasn’t on the bike at the time… She let out a breath.

“Heh, yeah… Good news is the guy didn’t drive off and I’m covered,” she waved it off before adding, “So, is it cool if I tag along? Should be able to get my place in a jiffy.”

“Sure, yeah that’s fine but… I don’t have a second helmet with me…” she trailed off after her friend disappeared and reappeared in the span of a couple seconds.

“Got it,” Dash said with a grin, hugging her’s tight to her side.

Don’t question it, Sunset. Just roll with it…

“Why not just…?” Sunset motioned around her neck.

Or not…

Dash glanced down for a second before looking back up. “Well… I mean I could but…” she let out a frustrated sigh, kicking a tuft of grass. “I don’t know! I just… there’s something different about being on a bike, ya know? Like… When I pony-up or whatever, I’m fast right?” she rhetorically asked before continuing, “But… everything else around me is… slow,” she shrugged. “It was cool at first, seeing everything in slow-mo while speeding around at break-neck speeds but…” she glanced at the road before looking back to her friend. “It’s just different ya know?”

Sunset’s features softened, a smile working its way out. “I get it.”

Dash smiled back before glancing between her and the parking lot behind her. “Sooo?”

Sunset laughed. “I said yes, didn’t I?” she said, rubbing her arm after Dash gave it a solid punch.

“Awesome. See ya in the parking lot in a few?” Dash asked, starting to jog off. She flipped around and jogged backwards, keeping her gaze on Sunset all the while.

“Yep! Sounds good,” Sunset confirmed, laughing once more at her friend’s antics.

Dash’s smile grew. She gave her a one-motioned wave before turning back around and running the rest of the distance to the school.

Applejack breathed a sigh of relief as she collapsed into a chair, happy classes were over and done with for the time being.

The last period bell had gone and rang a few minutes ago but she wasn’t leaving just yet.

She needed some time to cool off and take her mind off things before she headed home. Chores were important an’ all but it would just be an uphill battle if she came back a complete wreck without having a chance to unwind.

She winded up an arm, stretching it out and letting it make a few satisfying pops before working on her neck next.

It’d been a while since she’d been in the band room; her friends always had some place new or another to play at. Heck last time she remembered being there was when Dash…

She sighed.

Dash…

Great, she’d gone and did the one thing she was supposed to not do when coming to unwind: think about the source of her frustration.

She really shouldn’t have been frustrated with her, it wasn’t her fault Applejack had gone and developed somethin’ for her.

She shook her head vigorously. She was determined to relax and that was final.

She reached down to the side and pulled up the elongated case onto her lap. She unlatched the drawbolts with a couple satisfying clicks and opened it.

A sad smile snuck up on her as she pulled the guitar out and slid the case back to the side of the chair.

Not her fault.

She shook her head once more, dispelling any unwanted thoughts that kept trying to vie for her attention

She strummed it a few times, making minor tuning adjustments as she did so.

She closed her eyes as she tried to slow her beating heart.

She started out with some gentle strumming, her fingers dancing over the frets, a soft melodic sound resonating in that empty room.

She took a deep breath, her strumming coming to a pause for a moment.

“♪Fall weathered friends, racin’ to the end

Leaves fall apart, but we’ll never bend

To the memories we’ve shared, in the fading light

We’ll hold on tight, with all our might

Fall weathered friends, we'll reach for the sky

With each passin’ day, we’ll never ask why

Through the highs and the lows, and the stormy weather

Our friendship endures, unbreakable, forever

Fall weathered friends, stubborn to the end

Through thick and thin, we’ll never pretend

Our bond is unbreakable, a bond so true

Fall weathered friends, jus’ me and you…♪”

Applejack gave a bittersweet smile, her eyes closed as she cradled the instrument in her lap. She let the last few notes leave a soft whisper in the air, her hand dancing across the strings one final time; their melody fading slowly as time seemed to crawl.

She let a breath in—

“Wow…”

Applejack nearly jumped out of her seat again, this time however; her chair was up against a wall, not leaving a lot of room to fall back, her head banging the wall instead. She grimaced and rubbed the affected area before placing the guitar off to the side.

Sunset cringed and shot her an apologetic smile. “Sorry…” she said softly, continuing to lean against the wall near the door.

“Nah, it’s all good. Ah shouldn’t be so jumpy anyway, ‘specially since Pinkie pulls the same stunt but louder and with more… confetti,” she reasoned with a silent chuckle. “Ah’m just a might tired, is all. Does weird things to the brain.” She brought the case back onto her lap and started packing away.

“So… How long ya’ll been standin’ there?” she asked after a minor pause, glancing at Sunset, biting her lip all the while.

Sunset pried herself off the wall and walked towards her. “Eh… the beginning of the first stanza, give or take,” she said sheepishly, pulling up a chair. She leaned forward, her head resting on her hands, her aqua eyes bore into the emerald ones across from her.

“You should tell her,” Sunset spoke plainly.

Applejack’s heart skipped a beat.

“Ah… tell who what?” she spoke, the pitch in her voice raising a pinch with the last word. She grabbed her pants tightly with one hand as she slowly put the case down to her side.

Sunset’s arms fell to her lap as she leaned back. “Applejack, I’m just going to say it outright because obviously you’re in denial and you need to hear someone else say it,” Sunset pushed adamantly.

Applejack’s eyes dilated as she shook her head faintly.

She took a deep breath.

“You’re in love with Rainbow Dash.”

…

Sunset watched as Applejack’s lips flapped, her seemingly mouthing something. Applejack’s blinking picked up the pace as she glanced between Sunset and everything and nothing in the room.

“No…” Applejack muttered quietly, almost imperceptible to the ear but Sunset hadn’t missed it.

Her heart dropped.

“Appleja-”

“NO!” Applejack screamed, jumping to her feet. She brought her hands up to her head, clenching them all the while. “Ain’t true… Ah’m… Ah’m just tired is all,” Applejack sputtered, her vision blurry as she fumbled as she reached to grab the guitar case.

Sunset got up quickly after her and placed a hand on her shoulder, startling Applejack as if she’d thought she still had the room to herself. “Applejack, listen to me! I know it’s a lot to take in right now, but being in denial over it isn’t going to help you!”

To Sunset’s shock, her hand was promptly slapped. Applejack pointed a finger at her. “Ah ain’t in denial,” she seethed for a moment, before her face grew cold, sorrow taking place. “Ah’m jus’...” she sighed bitterly. “Tired…”

“Applejack…” Sunset tried to console her friend, reaching out again but Applejack just dodged it and walked past her before pausing at the door.

“Ah gotta go… Got plenty o’ chores ta do…” Applejack mumbled, leaving the room in a hurry.

Sunset closed her eyes tightly, letting her hand drop to her side, her hand reaching into her pocket to grab her phone.

Sunset bit her lip as she wondered if dropping it would be the best course of action at that point. She’d already gotten two strikes, the third one was imminent if she tried, right?

She brought her phone to her face. Unlocking it, she tapped the media folder, bringing up videos.

She stared at the recording from seven minutes ago…

Only one way to find out…

“Man, your ride is sweet!” Rainbow Dash whooped as she slid off and put her helmet aside.

“You don’t need to tell me that,” Sunset chuckled, taking her helmet off and shaking her hair.

“Heh, yeah probably not,” Rainbow Dash grinned. She hopped up the pavement and made her her way towards the door. “Anyway, thanks for the ride. See ya after the break!” she waved.

“Wait!” Sunset blurted.

Rainbow Dash paused at the last step, key in hand. She turned back to her. “What’s up?”

“I… was just wondering if I could stay and visit for a bit?” She waved a hand around. “Heard you had a new game or something?” she added innocently.

Rainbow Dash’s grin widened. “Uh, yeah ya can!” she hollered with a cheer, turning the key and ushering her in.

Sunset gave her thanks as she stepped past the threshold. She tossed her motorcycle key into the key tray by the door and her helmet on the coat rack.

“Come on! Come on, slowpoke!” Dash called from the end of the hallway, waving her on, eager.

Sunset snorted. “Alright, alright!” she called back, taking her jacket off and also placing it on the rack. “Coming!”

Turning past the bend in the hallway, she heard some very distinct metal music coming from a room ahead. Sunset made her way up to the second door on the right and paused at the sight of Dash practically bouncing in her seat in excitement.

Noticing Sunset had finally made it, she turned the volume up, headbanging as she did so. The ‘Tired Eternal’ title flashed on the screen each time the electric guitar made a harsh shredding sound. A figure in the forefront standing defiantly against the onslaught of demons ready to rush him.

She snapped to when Rainbow Dash hollered and fist pumped. “Wanna give it a shot first?” she asked, waving to the keyboard next to her enticingly, her fingers dancing about.

Now or never, Shimmer.

“Nah, you can have first dibs. I need to use the bathroom really quick.” She patted her pockets and grabbed a small plastic object. “Oh yeah, before I forget Applejack wanted me to give you this,” she said as she tossed it to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow caught it and looked at the thumbdrive in confusion. “Uh, okay?”

“Yeah, apparently it has her part of the project in it or something,” Sunset shrugged, stepping back out into the hallway before adding, “She said some of it is really important and needs to be looked at asap, like as in, now.” Seeing her groan and about to complain about it she further added, “But she said that the important stuff should only take you a couple minutes to do at most. Anyway, be right back!” Sunset called, before disappearing.

Rainbow Dash looked down to the object in her hand, then back to the monitor. The deafening guitar solo almost snuffing out her reasoning.

She wanted to ignore it, really wanted to…

She sighed angrily, muttering a few expletives. “Two minutes. That’s all you get, Applesmack…” she grumbled not-so quietly as she tabbed out of the game.

She plugged it in, the drive pulled up immediately.

A single folder appeared, titled: ‘R’. She double-clicked it.

“Huh?” She scratched her head as yet another folder popped up, as well as an… image?

She silently wondered if it was some sort of elaborate prank before dispelling that notion instantaneously upon opening it. Her mouth wavered, uncontrollable laughter soon pouring out at the sight of Applejack holding a dirty fence in the frame, the mud dripping onto its unfortunate and very visibly confused fencing victims below her.

She wiped a tear, her fit of giggles coming to an end, her smile remaining.

In hindsight it was pretty ridiculous to make a competition out of seeing who could be in the most club photos for the yearbook but she was never one to back down from that sort of thing. The fact they’d even kept those pictures was hilarious.

Swiveling her chair around she peered into her mostly sparse bookshelf, Daring Do taking up a majority of course but there were a few outliers. She kicked forward a few times, her chair snagging on the carpet as she made her way over. She picked up the yellow and blue book with the Canterlot High symbol on it and flipped through it, chuckling as she quickly glanced over all the photos. The absurdity of it really started to settle in as she went through each one.

How’d she manage to burn a pie in the baking club in ten seconds flat, anyway?

The competition may have ended in a frustrating tie, irking her to no end… but she had to admit that it was pretty fun.

The rivalry, the adrenaline, wanting to prove who was the best.

It was… awesome.

Although… she found it pretty strange that Applejack would share that photo and say it was important project stuff she needed to check on…

Eh, maybe she’s just trying to butter me up so I start on the project sooner, she thought with a shrug.

She pushed back to her desk and glanced at the next folder labled: ‘D’.

She wasn’t sure what her friend was playing at but… she could humor her. If it was some form of prank, she’d get back at her soon.

Click click.

Another photo and another folder.

With an eye roll, she opened the next photo.

There was no one in the shot but she instantly recognized what it was: the glossy purple and orange geode inspired play set she’d made for Applejack when she busted her hand.

She remembered how riled up her friend was when she immediately started its construction, yelling at her to slow down, to look at the blueprints, to measure.

She should have known better when she enlisted her help. Rainbow Dash and slow? Really Applejack? she snorted.

…But her friend’s reaction was totally worth it in the end.

‘This doesn’t look like the blueprints… It’s even better,’ Applejack had softly beamed.

Her mouth curled into a small smile at the memory.

She’d rarely seen her friend that happy before… especially considering she had broken into her room to find her inspirational ‘green board’ in order to make it

…And especially after admitting she’d read her open diary while she was at it… Whoops, heh…

She rubbed her arm, a phantom pain cropping up of where she’d been hit after admitting that. Why did she admit that anyway? Her friend’s honesty must have been rubbing off on her. Although when she thought about it… Applejack was the only one she’d been willing to admit things like that to. Weird.

Still… That was a pretty awesome day with a pretty amazing friend.

She closed out of the photo and opened up the next folder named: ‘n’.

Surprise, surprise. Same stuff as before.

Double-click.

It was… her and Applejack clanging together a couple bottles of apple cider. It was taken during the second season she’d failed to acquire any of the Apple family’s nectar of the gods.

The season had ended in complete frustration as she found herself waiting in a long line to get some, for nothing. It ran out right as she was the next in line. She’d remembered blaming AJ for not being considerate enough to have some for her.

The second season, same thing… but…

After things got heated, she left the farm, completely peeved at being snubbed out of the apple-ty goodness yet again.

The next day, Applejack showed up to school, barely functional. She didn’t really notice it at the time, still being mad at her but that all changed when Applejack handed her a bottle, a tired smile on her face as her eyes lit up. She snatched the bottle without a second thought.

She was happy at the time, yeah. But… she didn’t really consider the amount of effort her friend must have gone through in order to get her some the next day.

She stayed up late, for her. The stubborn cowgirl who was adamant about going to bed early broke the mold, for her. Just to make her happy.

All she gave in return was a simple thanks…

She sighed, closed out of that one and hovered her cursor over the folder titled: ‘A’.

She rubbed her eye, the slight amount of sleep from last night finally starting to hit her.

Last night…

She smiled at the thought of her and Applejack just chilling, having pizza, laughing as they recalled funny memories, playing games… It of course, was awesome…

And somehow she’d managed to get AJ stay up past midnight on a school night, despite her nearly nodding off several times during their racing session.

Thinking back on it, it made her want to hang out again immediately.

Click click.

Two objects remained: one folder simply titled: ‘maths’ and… a video? It being titled: ‘J’.

She opened up the video.

It was… slightly shaky and from a good distance away. It was of Applejack as she was strumming away at the guitar.

Man, someone really sucks at recording video… she thought, shaking her head.

It started out with a few simple strums, nothing too crazy but then… It started.

“♪Fall weathered friends, racin’ to the end♪”

Her eyes widened as a memory shot itself into the forefront of her mind, what should have been foggy given her exhausted state, made crystal clear.

‘Ah was wonderin’…’

“♪Leaves fall apart, but we’ll never bend♪”

‘...If ya’d like ta help out on the farm durin’ the break?’

Her breath hitched and heart sank.

“♪Fall weathered friends, we'll keep reaching for the sky♪”

‘...Like ol’ times?’

No…

Another memory struck like lightning. This one, of her friend hugging her, or well… crushing her when she showed up to help on the farm. She was so happy…

“♪With each passin’ day, we’ll never ask why♪”

But she blew it... All her friend wanted to do was hang out and she went and blew it... She rushed through all the chores in the hopes she could meet her idol, A.K. Yearling; a stranger, over spending time with her best friend...

“♪Fall weathered friends, stubborn to the end♪”

‘The thing is… you did let me down…’ came the memory of AJ as they sat outside the bookstore.

No, no…

She… she… took me anyway. Even after I practically ignored her all day…

“♪Through thick and thin, we’ll never pretend♪”

Another memory of the same day, her own words…

‘I was so focused on getting down here to meet a complete stranger that I spent the day ignoring a true friend.’

It was happening again.

“♪Our bond is unbreakable, a bond so true♪”

“No… no… NO. NO!” she screamed, shooting up to her feet. She reached out and grabbed… nothing. “WHERE IS IT!?” she panicked as she patted her neck, her geode necklace, gone.

Her breathing became sporadic, her room quickly torn apart. In her blinded search, her eyes caught a glint of something outside…

She ran.

“♪Fall weathered friends, jus’ me and you…♪”

Sunset dried her hands on the towel, a nervous smile plastered on her face. She had no idea what to expect exactly but she couldn’t hole herself in the bathroom all day.

With a sigh and a nod to herself she made her way to the door. Her hand on the handle, she paused.

Who leaves their clothes lying on the bathroom floor? she asked herself, immediately retracting that thought as memories of her first apartment came to life. Yeah… she wasn’t one to judge. She snorted. As she twisted the handle, something sparkling caught her attention from the pile.

Reaching down, she grabbed the blue object and pulled it up, it completely taking her by surprise.

Apparently the same type of person who dumps a powerful artifact without a second thought… she shook her head, pocketing it and pulling open the door.

Her eyebrows raised as she stepped out, seeing the front door wide open.

Odd.

She cautiously walked up to it, that is until she heard an engine revving.

She sprinted.

Her eyes widened as she caught her friend flooring it out the drive on her bike.

“WH—DASH! WAIT!” she screamed, running towards her but it was too late. Her friend took off without so much as a glance in her direction.

Sunset sputtered, “Dash, you idiot!” She stomped, most of her anger being directed at herself. She wasn’t sure what to expect when she gave Dash that drive, but she certainly didn’t expect her friend to ride off alone on her bike… But this was Rainbow Dash, she sighed.

She hit her head with her palm a couple times before reaching into her pocket to grab her phone, pausing as she felt a string and hard circular object attached to it. She pulled out the geode and stared at it. In a slight moment of lunacy, she put it around her neck and grabbed it… Nothing happened, as to be expected.

So it’s cool that she can ride my bike but I can’t use her geode? she silently seethed at the cosmos for a moment before pocketing it away again with a sigh.

She grabbed her phone next, speed dialing the first name that came up.

Come on, come on. Pick up…

“You’ve reached Twilight Sparkle, if this is an…”

Sunset hung up in annoyance and tried the next number.

“Hiya, Sunset!” came the energetic and bubbly voice.

Sunset sighed in relief, “Hey, Pinkie list-”

“Sorry I missed your call!”

What…

“Anyway, I’d really, really love to help you out with hunting down Dashie but I got a super, duper big party planned! Tell Rainbow Dash and Applejack to head to my place tomorrow after sunset~” she giggle-snorted. “You and the other girls are invited too!”

Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose.

“See you so-”

Beep.

She growled in frustration. She swiped up on the screen, not noticing the gentle hum of an engine near her.

Her finger hovered over Fluttershy, ready to press it until she remembered she was out of town with the folks on vacation, then she—

Her head shot to her right, startled as she heard the sound of a window being rolled down.

The sleek, seemingly crystallized rosy car with azure accents purred.

Sunset did a double take as she recognized the driver.

“Is everything alright, Sunset?” came the concerned voice of the Crystal Prep Principal. Cadence’s usual cobalt v-shape vest already retired for the afternoon as she rocked a violet turtleneck instead.

Sunset pocketed her phone, biting her lip all the while. “Well… no,” she admitted, sounding more embarrassed than upset at that point.

“Is it serious? Can I help?” Cadence asked, her inflection raising a tad by the end, her brows furrowing as she slid some papers around on the passenger seat in search of something.

Sunset chuckled awkwardly as she rubbed the back of her head. “It’s not really serious, no… I wouldn’t want to be a burden,” she added as she grabbed her arms.

“You wouldn’t be a burden,” Cadence said seriously. “Even if it’s not serious, if I can be of help, I’ll help.”

Sunset opened her mouth to protest but was cut off.

“Don’t worry about me. Crystal Prep is out for spring break as of a couple days ago and I’m not really needed anywhere right at this moment,” she said as she found her phone and saw ‘20 missed calls’ before opening her dash and sliding it in slowly, giving Sunset her most convincing winning smile as she kept turning back to her.

Sunset sighed, giving in. “Could you drop me off at Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Say no more!” Principal Cadence beamed, hitting her chest a couple times in emphasis. “Hop in.”

Sunset gave her a smile before dashing to the passenger side. She opened the door and—papers flew past her, a mountain of boxes piled high in the seat and floor in front.

“Sorry about the mess… It’s uh… counseling stuff,” she said lamely as Sunset snatched the last stragglers of parchment that danced across the pavement. “You can move the stuff to the back if you want…”

“Nah, the backseat is fine,” Sunset shrugged, just thankful she had a ride at all that night.

She slid into the back, brushing the few pieces of parchment, CDs and articles of clothing to the side absentmindedly before putting on her seatbelt. She let out a breath as she leaned back, trying not to think of the twenty ways she was going to kill—

“Gum?” inquired Cadence, knocking her out of her thoughts immediately, the Principal already getting out a stick and twiddling it between her indexes.

“Sure,” Sunset accepted, unwrapping it and tossing the chewy purple plank in.

The ride went relatively quietly. Cadence at some point asked why she needed to Sweet Apple Acres, to which Sunset replied that she needed to get her bike back from a ‘love-crazed maniac’. It was a bad time for the principal to take a sip of coffee.

…She may or may not have omitted the details about how she may have been responsible for creating that monster.

Cadence gave a sputtering laugh at the thought as she wiped down the wheel with the single napkin she had.

The city came and went, trees becoming prominent in her view. She leaned into hand and counted the red maples they went past in boredom. Rolling her eyes as she thought of Twilight chiding her for getting them mixed up with, heaven’s forbid, another very similar type of maple tree.

She pulled out her phone and blinked at the one missed call: ‘Twilight’. She pursed her lips and debated if she should call her back.

“So… how’s Twilight doing?” Cadence asked, breaking the silence as she adjusted her rear-view mirror, the purple and orange dice bouncing haphazardly in the air before settling.

Sunset dropped her phone casually on her lap and stared up to the reflection of the Principal who kept switching her gaze between Sunset’s reflection and the road in front.

Sunset scratched her hand. “Uh, pretty good… She’s got some project she’s working on, keeping busy. That sort of thing,” she shrugged.

“Hopefully not the magic absorbing type of project,” Cadence said with mock-concern, eliciting a laugh from Sunset.

“Nah… Something about taking inorganic matter, converting it to its base molecules and having them be rearranged somewhere else,” she said with a wave of the hand.

Cadence blinked. “So… telepor-”

“Teleportation, yes,” Sunset laughed.

A slight bump in the road made her glance out the window, the pavement having switched to dirt. They were getting close.

“How about you?” the voice pulled her back to look up at the smile in the reflection, the bump having shifted the mirror a smudge.

“Me? Well…” she trailed off as she noticed the car was significantly slowing down. She looked at the window and didn’t see the farm on the horizon. “Uh, why are we slowing down?” she asked in confusion.

“We should give your friends a few minutes, matters of the heart are delicate and fickle after all,” she said with a sip, pulling off to the side completely and coming to a stop. “I’m assuming that this ‘love-crazed maniac’ is a friend of yours, is that correct?” she asked, readjusting the mirror.

“Yeah… she sure is…” she admitted begrudgingly, her hand bumping to CD. She glanced at it, its title: ‘Twilight Time,’ before glancing back into the mirror.

“I’m sure Rainbow Dash and Applejack would greatly appreciate it. You’re a good friend, after all,” Cadence said with a nonchalant shrug.

Sunset’s eyebrows shot up at that. “Wait… I never said their names, how did you…”

“Hmm? Oh! Well, I mean…” Cadence drummed the wheel for a second and gave a short laugh. “I know all your friends! They’re all on Snapgab—well except for Applejack of course—and well… I just have a penchant for this sort of thing,” she shrugged, taking another sip, her eyes half-lidded.

“I… but…” Sunset stammered, at a genuine loss, her hand digging into another album, this one titled: ‘Interstellar’, a sunset pictured on the cover.

“I’m sort of a specialty counselor in my off-time,” she added, like that made things clearer. “Stress ball?” Cadence asked, holding out a squishy, circular purple object for her.

Her mind trailed off as she accepted it.

Lots of purples and oranges… she noted, as she shifted her eyes to her left at the piles of CDs to her left. She took note of their titles and covers and blinked. Hard.

They were all related to either twilight or sunset.

Every.

Single.

One.

She got into a coughing fit, she covered her mouth, feeling a slimy bumpy object as she coughed it into her hand. She looked down and dropped the purple gum in shock, it landing on her pants. She fumbled with the wrapper to get it off.

She hastily glanced up to the mirror where purple and orange dice just sat, suspended and seemingly clinging to one another.

Cadence adjusted the mirror once more before clearing her throat. Staring at the road ahead.

…

“So…” Cadence drawled and fluttered her eyelashes. “When are you and Twilight going to start dating?~”

Click.

SLAM.

Cadence rolled the window down and yelled after her, “You can’t run away from your feelings, Sunset! It doesn’t work like that!”

But she was gone.

Sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep.

It was a little past 2:30 p.m. when Applejack returned to the farm. Granny and Big Mac had beaten her back, unsurprisingly. Granny greeted her by the door with a hug and her brother gave her a nod as he continued fixing the fencing around the pig pen.

Sweep, sweep.

She’d tried to get started on reorganizing the barn but was stopped before she could head in with a broom held out in front of her. Granny pointed behind her to the front porch before making her way inside the house.

Only time she’d be put on sweeping duty first was because Granny knew she didn’t get a lick of sleep the night prior.

So there she was, sweeping away, frustrated she wasn’t able to do something that required a little more brain power… something to keep her mind off things…

She sighed.

Sweep, sweep, sweep.

She paused when she picked up the low rumble of an engine in the distance. She leaned on her broom as she swept her eyes over the hill. She couldn’t spot anything, at least not at first.

It wasn't long before she could make out a single figure on a motorcycle flying over the hilltop, a dust trail lying in their wake as they flew off course, off the road in its entirety, landing to the side of an apple tree and continuing to keep their trajectory straight for the house.

“What in tarnation,” she cursed out loud, dropping the broom and jumped off the front porch in a mad dash.

She strutted towards them, hands held out in a wide arc. “Hey!” she screamed. “Use the road!” she pointed to the road, which was literally no more than a few yards from them. “We just planted seeds there, dagnabbit!” she stomped, flustered and frustrated as the figure continued to ignore her.

Her eyes widened as the figure drew close, about to make a collision with the fence. “Do you have a death wish!? SHUT OFF YER ENGINE!” She waved wildly but to no avail. She leapt to the side, out of the way as the figure ramped off some plywood that had been leaning up against it. They flew, their bike revving a few times before landing, the bike skidding to a halt as they made a half-circular streak in the road, a cloud of dust surrounding them. The engine shut off.

Applejack coughed, waving her hand in front of her face. She squinted as the figure threw off their helmet and…

“Applejack! Listen, I’m-”

“WHAT IN THE SAM HILL WERE YA THINKIN’, RAINBOW DASH!?” Applejack screamed, grabbing her friend by her shirt.

Rainbow Dash stared at her in stunned silence and attempted to speak again but was instantly cut off.

“That was completely stupid! Just plain dumb! What if that plank hadn’t held up!?” Applejack continued, shaking her before letting her go. She grabbed her own head and turned around.

“Uh-”

Applejack whipped back to her. “YA COULD HAVE DIED YA FEATHERBRAIN!” she half-bellowed, half-coughed, hot angry tears streaking down her face.

“Woah, Applejack I…” she trailed off, not sure what to say. What she’d rehearsed in her head on the way there was long gone as her friend stood across from her, in a state she really wasn’t expected to be greeted with when she got there.

Ya really did it now, ya idiot… Rainbow Dash thought as she rubbed her arm. “I’m… I’m sorry, Applejack…” She tried to console her friend by reaching out to her, but her hand was smacked away.

“Don’t you go apologizing like nothin’ just happened,” she said with an angry sniff, pointing at her. “What in tarnation was y’all in such a hurry fer that ya’d go an’ pull a stupid stunt like that?”

“Because… because… I needed to see you.”

Applejack scoffed and crossed her arms, but before she could get a word in, Rainbow continued.

“I… Listen… Ya, what I did was stupid, I’m not denying that. I wasn’t thinking… The only thing on my mind when I saw you as I flew over that hill, was you. The only thing on my mind for the entire ride here was you. I messed up, AJ… Big time… and I’m not just taking about…”—she waved to the plank behind her—”that… I’m talking about with you, Applejack…”

Applejack’s livid expression cooled, her arms fell to her sides.

“I… I… I’m sorry, Applejack! I messed up, again! Typical Rainbow Dash, always messing everything up! I… you just wanted to spend time with me and I just shrugged you off! And for what!? A stupid game!?” she screamed, her grip on her arms tightening.

“Rainbow…” Applejack softly spoke, her anger completely evaporated.

“Just like when I shrugged you off when you wanted to hang out—but I wanted to meet someone I’ve never met before!” She threw her arms out to the sides.

“...Some friend I am, huh? I didn’t learn anything! And I wouldn’t blame you if you believed I couldn’t learn, because you’d be right all along…” Her arms went limp. She no longer found the strength to look at her friend. “...I’ll never learn…”

Her breath hitched as she felt a pair of strong arms wrapping around her in a tight hug. “...Stop that…” Applejack mumbled into her shoulder. She pulled back, determined emerald eyes staring into those unsure magenta ones. “Ah’d never think that, Sugarcube.”

“But—”

Applejack stopped her by placing a finger on her lips.

“Ah mean it, Rainbow Dash… Ya may be denser than a boulder at times but that don’t mean ya don’t learn, ya idiot…” She shook her head before looking back up. “And listen… Ye’re allowed to have hobbies, ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. Ah worked myself up fer nothin’ and it ain’t ye’re fault. Ah ain’t upset at ya for wanting to do ye’re own thing, Dash… Ah’m upset with myself fer…” she trailed off, a slight blush forming on her cheeks. “...gettin’ worked up over nothin’,” she added again with a sigh, pulling her arm back and stepping away.

But before she could step far, she felt a hand pull her back. “It’s not nothing though, is it?” Rainbow Dash asked, a blush of her own forming as she stared off to the side.

Applejack’s heart skipped a beat.

“What… what do ya mean by—MMFPH” Applejack’s eyes shot wide open as she was hastily pulled in for a kiss. The synapses in her brain firing at full throttle and completely dispelling any lingering exhaustion she’d felt earlier. Applejack melted into the embrace, wrapping her arms around her neck and closing her eyes.

It was… messy…

It was… unexpected…

It was… perfect.

Applejack was the first to pull back, gasping for air as she took a few steps back away from Rainbow.

“Uh…” Applejack dumbly stated, giving a coughing laugh. “Wow…”

“Yeah…” Rainbow Dash shot back, in no better state herself.

…

“Ah, don’t believe it!” came a shriek from behind, startling them.

“Ah got a sister-in-law!” Apple Bloom cheered, jumping up and down. “Ah can’t wait to tell Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo that Ah got a sister-in-law! They won’t believe me when Ah tell ‘em who it is!” Apple Bloom excitedly giggling to herself as she ran off.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack blushed.

“Apple Bloom! That ain’t… Ah shucks…” she cursed as her sister ran into the farmhouse in a hurry.

Rainbow Dash laughing caught her attention, she sighed before chuckling along with her friend. The absurdity of it all finally settling in.

They laughed for a good bit before settling into silence again, Dash breaking it up soon after.

“So…uh… I heard ya have some chores ya need help with?” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“...Ah sure do but uh…” Applejack paused as she finally took in the motorcycle behind Dash. “Say, isn't that Sunset’s bike…?” Applejack asked in confusion.

“Uh…” Rainbow Dash rubbed her head sheepishly. “Yeah, so… I may or may not have borrowed it when I—” she paused, turning when she heard heavy breathing and loud footsteps behind her. Her mouth went agape. “Sunset? How… how did you—”

“No time! Here!” she slapped Rainbow’s geode into her hand. “We’ll talk later, gotta go!” she hastily spoke, practically throwing the helmet that was on the ground onto her head, revving the bike and speeding down the road in the opposite direction.

“...What the hay was that all about!?” Applejack scratched her head before they both turned again, hearing a car fast approaching.

Its driver slammed the brakes, the driver’s side window already down.

Their jaws dropped.

“Principal Cadence!?” they spoke in unison.

“Hello~ Just wanted to say: congrats you two! I’m so happy for you both,” she stated cheerily before reaching into her glove compartment and handing them both a card, it read: ‘Speciality Counseling’, with a number below that and a blue crystal heart imprinted in the top right corner. “If any issues arise, give me a call!” she said with a wink. “Anyway, gotta talk to Sunset! It’s important!” she added in a hurry, winding the window back up and speeding off.

…

They stared at the cards, then to each other, then to the car and distant motorcycle before turning back to one another again.

“So… about those chores…”

Applejack snorted, a big silly smile forming. “Ya, looks like Ah got one right here Ah gotta deal with…” she said as she bumped Rainbow’s shoulder with a fist.

Rainbow Dash laughed, “Yeah ya do…”

Author's Note

Okay, messy but I made it in time! If just barely! I'm sure there's plenty of grammatical issues. I finished the draft, read through once and did a quick scan once more. I'll fix those up at a later date after the contest has fully concluded. But for now... I'm exhausted. Hope you enjoyed!

Before you comment or ask... Yes, I know Tirek Eternal's RL equivalent has multiplayer, alright? I'll maybe change out the name at a later time.