Bros With Benefits

...

It was about 9:30 in the morning when Rarity approached Sunset Shimmer as she was finishing up fixing all the tiny holes in the wall left by Pinkie Pie's hurricane of darts. Pinkie Pie was still out fast asleep in her sleeping bag.

They had already discussed both you and Racket a couple of other times, and were doing so one last time before Rarity was to go home to "properly take care of herself" regarding a shower and skin care she can't simply spend a long time doing in someone else's bathroom with others waiting to get in.

"You're right. You and I probably shouldn't talk to him before Rainbow does. They do seem to be acquainted quite well." Rarity kept checking the hallways mirror for bags under her eyes.

"I missed Rainbow probably an hour or two after she left to go on her run." Admitted Sunset. "Applejack was already up but she wouldn't exactly help."

"Ugh, she just had to get up that early!" Groaned Rarity. "I take it you'll text her later, then?"

"Yeah, I'll do it." Sunset pressed another fingertip of spackle up against the tiny hole left by one of the darts. "Later this afternoon. I have a right mind to give my two cents to Applejack first for how she handled the whole thing." Sunset grunted in annoyance. "I think she went way too far. There was no reason for her to get as hostile as she did."

"She didn't say anything about it yet herself?" Asked Rarity.

"Not that I heard. But if she already realizes she went too far, that's a step in the right direction. I'd rather that be established first before texting Rainbow. In case Applejack comes up in conversation, which she probably will."

"Applejack might be more likely to listen to me if I say it." Rarity suggested. "She knows when I'm being serious, and she's had all night to calm down and think about it a little."

Deep inside, Rarity thought about how she herself might have come off as rude towards you. Aware that just because Applejack's behavior was worse, doesn't mean she herself didn't do anything wrong at all.

She thought about how that poor shy boy did the best thing he possibly could have done by removing himself from the situation, and how Applejack went out of her way to follow him out there and berate him as though he had done something actually severe like slipping something in someone's drink or something.

Rarity found herself embarrassed of Applejack by association. This wouldn't be the first time she felt this way; it's a little hard keeping things cool and not rocking the boat so much with friends like these. Those who on occasion act out without thinking first.

"As long as that's squared away before I text Rainbow." Sunset finally responded after taking a moment to think about it.

The two of them continued to quietly talk for a little bit before the other girls slowly began to wake up.

...

"C'mon, bro. Get up." RD's voice brings your impromptu slumber to a conclusion. "It's no fun playing against the in-game characters without it being another person. It's too easy."

The plush surface of the passenger seat is briefly part of you until you come to your senses and weakly lift your head up.

You check yourself for drool, then check to see if you're still buckled in.

"At least we're probably gonna be up all night now. Or at least you will, since I got up early and stayed awake all day." She continues.

"Is that right?" You blink and squint. "Guh... what time is it?"

"Like three or something, I dunno. C'mon, get out here already! I didn't drive you all the way back here just for you to sleep in my car, dude."

"Alright! Alright, already!"

Soreness manifests its presence all over your body as your tennis shoes hit the concrete of RD's driveway. That morning run is going to haunt you all the way past tomorrow morning.

You barely notice a quiet chuckling coming from RD as she watches you hobble almost drunkenly towards her front door. You shake your head as if the fatigue is just caught in your hair or something. RD's chuckling turns to impatient griping coming from right behind you as ascending the stairs to the second back to her room feels like climbing a colossal mountain.

"Hurry up! Feels like I'm stuck behind and old driver." She complains all the way to her bedroom door.

You're hesitant to rest on the foot of RD's bed, expecting her to give some kind of flak about that as well, but end up doing so anyway and only get the sound of her closing her door in response.

"I forgot, did you pack anything to stay overnight with?" Asks RD.

You shrug, still hung up on the memory of what you saw on RD's phone now creeping back into your mind. "I don't remember either. Don't think I did."

"Eh, doesn't matter. You're wearing my clothes anyway."

As she leaps over her dirty laundry to her gaming console, RD opts to just swap one of her outfits you're wearing for another one from her closet if things come to that.

"Still sore, bro?" She heard you groan while looking at the way you're hunched over.

"That sure was a hell of a run, yeah."

"First time was torture, right?" RD asks.

"Yeah, why the hell couldn't we stop before the park?" You start to complain. "You know I'm not as in shape as you are."

"Dude, come on! You being less in shape was the whole point of that! How am I gonna prepare you for the suffering that'll get you into shape if I keep going easy on you?"

"You could have at least gone easy on me the first time."

"The whole point is that you leave your comfort zone!" Asserts RD. "That's how working out and exercising works. You can't improve until you go past your limit, that's the whole reason why we even did that. You were supposed to be out of breath and ready to collapse."

"Well fine, we did it the hard way last time. Can we do it a slightly less hard way next time?"

"But that's going backwards!" RD says to you with a friendly laugh. "If you wanna chisel yourself into being like a Corvette like me, you gotta go forward! Going backwards is literally the opposite of improvement."

"So, what, am I supposed to almost die of heat stroke next time?" You half joke.

"Oh please, don't give me that crap. You're supposed to do the same thing as last time. Over and over again until it gets easier."

"But... that fucking blows."

RD shrugs. "You're never gonna get fit as me if you don't do that. There's no way around it, bro. Not when it's about making your body strong, fast and agile like mine."

Something about the way she said that makes you glance up at the posters of cars and rock bands on RD's bedroom walls. Hearing her say what she just said sort of uncovered more of the vibe she's going for when she decorates her room like this. The heavy energetic post-grunge sound coupled with the careful and skillful engineering of muscle cars designed to make them accelerate in a short time frame... it all feels more genuine on her part now that she gave you a little hint of her philosophy.

It's like you now know she's genuinely into this stuff instead of just puts these posters up on her walls to appear cool or different than other girls. She already knows she's different from other girls, and she's just decorating her room this way to express that already existent difference that would be there whether she flaunts it or not.

There's also good reason to believe that RD sees herself as already cooler than other girls whether she shows it or not as well, but that one might be more tied to her ego than the other side of this.

Either way, it's not like you weren't aware of all this beforehand. What RD is saying more or less simply further solidified it beyond reasonable doubt now, even though you weren't really questioning it to begin with. You simply know now just how genuine RD is about her interests.

Still, the way she's going about it is pretty annoying and arrogant. Definitely braggadocios when she's talking about her own body and just assume you're going to have the same level of motivation as hers. But maybe you could use how much this annoys you to start pushing yourself... which would be easier said than done.

"You go on the internet a lot, right?" Asks RD.

"A... fair amount I guess."

"You ever see that random motivational pic meme with the horse guy and the monkey talking to him? I forgot the name of the show, Spitfire and I just send it to new recruits in the soccer team group chat sometimes." Recalls RD. "It's basically exactly that thing. Except for real."

You stare at her.

"The monkey guy basically says 'the hard part is doing it every day, but it does get easier', something like that."

Oh yeah... that image.

"Yeah, I know which one you mean."

"Yeah, just think of that picture. Like, next time when you start getting tired, just think of that. I think it'll help."

You converse with RD some more, sitting on the edge of her bed with her clothes on your body, which puts a few imaginary scenarios though your brain that couldn't help but introduce themselves.

The idea of you wearing RD's clothes would imply a lot to those without the context... and even more so if RD was wearing your clothes.

Back into the gutter again your mind slips, and thoughts about RD's tight petite body taunt you. Her wearing your clothes would imply that she wasn't wearing any of hers... while in your direct presence. And then not only didn't put them back on, but did something so intimate with you that she put your clothes onto her fit body.

As you're watching her step around her room looking for something, you imagine what she looks like without any of those clothes on. Without that clingy T-shirt that reveals the indentation of her bra undernea-

"You can think about me too if you want." RD plops herself next to you on the springy edge of her bed, the reverberation making the two of you bob up and down for a half second. "I'd say you won't get to lookin' like this in no time, but it'd probably take at least a couple of months. At very least."

She moves her arms forward so it's in front of you and flexes her bicep, forming and actually impressive firm muscle that puts what you could do to shame. She wouldn't even need to arm wrestle you for you to have found out that she'd defeat you.

"Check out these guns, bro." RD says to you. "C'mon, feel my arm. I wanna make you know what hard work can do."

You ride the tidal wave of her bragging that has just come spilling back into her room and clamp your fingers around RD's bicep, surveying the solid stiffness of it that subtly intimidates you. It's not often you've seen a girl make a muscle like this, having been conditioned over time not to really expect it.

This makes the brief encounter between your hand and RD's firm bicep feel remarkably exciting to you, and your hand's grappling unintentionally turns a little sensual. But luckily not enough for RD to register it that way when you're touching her muscle.

It just further awakens the part of you that longs to feel RD's strong fit body tightly hold onto you, and you're feeling so torqued for her just as rapidly as the Corvette she figuratively sees herself as.

You'd feel worse about letting all these naughty thoughts into your head off of just RD's presence alone, but the fact that she secretly filmed her friend undressing without her knowledge neutralizes most of the guilt. The guilt that's trying to form and tell you no, lightly batting at your hormone-teeming brain with a rolled up newspaper and spraying it with tap water mist.

She has her perverted moments too.

And honestly, this wouldn't be the first time she's done something that her own friends probably wouldn't approve of. You would know. But this feels so... on a different level... that it's no wonder that she'd want to keep it a secret. Yet still felt compelled to do it for some reason.

How the hell are you not going to bring it back up out of curiosity at some point? So long as the two of you are in private.

"Hey uh, RD?" You humbly begin. "I just can't help but ask... why do you have that video on your phone?"

RD kind of automatically understands which video you mean and gently sucks her lips in for a second. She then lets out a sigh and clamps her hands together. "I knew I'd have to explain sooner or later."

"I just want to know why you did it." You clarify. "Was it really to just like, get back at her or something?"

"You mean for the party?"

"Yeah."

"I guess that was pretty much it." RD responds. "I probably wouldn't have done it if she didn't act so shitty at you."

There's something about that answer that raises more questions. What does RD mean by "probably"? What did she mean by "I guess"? Why would something like that be in question to begin with? It either was because of that or it wasn't.

And you can tell that this is going through RD's head as well, as she widens her eyes in realization of how her answer sounded only after it's too late and she already said it.

"Wh... what do you mean by 'probably'?" You ask, now falling victim to your own curiosity.

By her own mistake, RD just put herself in a position where she isn't out of the woods with explaining yet. In fact, she may have just put herself deeper into the woods.

This is only confirmed more when you just barely hear a faint "fuuuck" escape RD's lips under her breath.

"Is that... the real reason?" You start to feel playful on the inside about this. "You can tell me if it isn't. I won't say shit, I promise."

RD gives you a look that tries to look prying, but that mask slips a little to reveal the pleading guilt underneath in her eyes.

"I promise. I won't. You made me promise before but I'm promising again. I just wanna know, that's all. I'm too curious." You let yourself chuckle, having been ready to force it if that became necessary. "Y-you don't have to say it if you don't wanna. I won't try to make you."

She's hesitating a lot, clearly not having initially planned to tell you anything further about this. She was probably hoping you'd inadvertently fed her an excuse before having to answer, but then accidentally gave away the fact that there's probably more to this than you expected.

You watch RD's slightly perky chest rise and fall in that clingy top, accompanied by a reluctant sigh that dreads giving you the full truth about the voyeur video of Applejack on that phone.

"You won't tell anyone?" RD repositions herself to sit more comfortably.

"I won't. Don't even want to, or have a reason to. She'd probably find a way to blame me if she found out." You list your reasons with as much confidence as you can sound off in your tone. "And I know you probably already knew this, but the other guys at school never really did anything for me anyway. They don't even feel like real friends anymore. You're more of a friend to me than they'll ever have been."

RD's expression softens as she hears you express how much you value her once more, this time in different words. "You've been a lot cooler than a couple of my friends too, dude." She warmly smiles with a quiet crack in her voice. "Especially Applejack recently. She'd totally blame you if she found out too. I agree."

"So is the party at least part of the reason?"

She hesitates. "Yeah."

"Well what's the rest of it? You two have beef or something?"

"It's uh... nothing like that." RD responds. "I mean, yeah. We do have beef. She likes being a smartass and thinks she's taking me down a peg or putting me in my place or something like that. I think that's fucking annoying. I hate people like that. The self-appointed ego-checkers. The whole darts thing had to do with her being like that a lot more recently."

"I can see that." You play along.

"I guess you can say our beef itself was part of it."

"Alright. But what's the rest of the reason? Fap material or something?" You joke, making sure this is clear by adding another quiet chuckle to it.

The sudden rush of guilt that turns RD's face as red as a hot stove top catches you by surprise. "W-well... I mean... f-for you, that is..."

"...What?"

You freeze and stare at her as she anxiously glares at her own bedroom floor, staring down the messy clutter almost completely hiding the carpet from view.

"That was... I-I was joking!" You start feeling like you said too much from the way RD's breathing has quickened. "It was a joke! I didn't meant that!"

"It's okay, it's okay." RD's voice has become noticeably flustered. "I know, it's just... I've just been deciding if I was gonna do that."

She's choosing her words carefully.

"Wait wait wait, you mean you secretly filmed Applejack undressing to not only show me but... like, give to me as fap material?" You blink in disbelief.

"Not give to you, dumbass! Gosh, no..." RD rolls her eyes up and away from the deep blush on her face.

"Well... that doesn't really make sense, then."

She stares forward as though she's been caught in another lie.

"I was thinking about asking you if you wanted to borrow my phone sometime and... kinda... have fun with that video. But secretly!"

"You mean like, take your phone into your bathroom or wherever and jerk off to the video you showed me?"

"Yes!"

You ripple your forehead a little bit as silence fills the room.

"That's exactly it! I wanted to make it a little, you know, a little consolation gift. As... fap material." Her voice grows nervously quiet but more sincere at the end of that.

RD's face glows bright red.

"L-look. No one wants to keep this a secret more than I do." RD continues. "Because I know what you're thinking. These are my friends. And it's honestly kinda fucked up that I'd do this. It's not like I don't feel guilty about it..."

"Well uh, you didn't have to do this." You reply. "And yeah, you're right. It is kinda fucked up, and I kinda feel bad for seeing it. But fucking hell, am I grateful that you did. Because..."

You huff, starting to blush yourself as well.

"Goddamn that was fucking hot." You confess, as though she wouldn't be aware you'd obviously feel this way about that. "Thank you so much, RD. This is really fuckin' awesome of you to do that. But uh... also kinda fucked up too. I honestly don't even know what the right thing to say here is."

"I can't really think of anything either." RD says after what was definitely a sigh of relief.

The silence reasserts itself into the room, as you and RD really don't know how to properly address this without it feeling either immoral or incomplete. The obvious solution would be to just agree to delete that video of RD's friend being filmed undressing without her knowledge. But there's parts of both you and RD that aren't about to do that, as messed up as this alternative course of action both of you know is.

Maybe it's because you figure that once the video is gone, it's gone forever even if you change your mind. That may or may not be a major factor in your (and RD's) unwise decision to agree not to delete the video.

Here's what happened: RD secretly took that creepshot video of AJ because she supposedly wanted to show you and ask you if you wanted to jerk yourself to it later on, on account of making up for how AJ acted at the party. And now you're both stuck with the existence of this video and this justification for it that honestly might not be all the way true despite what RD told you.

You've been reading her reactions, and it isn't hard at all for your gutter-diving brain to conclude that RD herself uses it as fap material... or at least fantasize about that whether it's the truth or not. Which makes this even hotter as far as you're concerned.

It's a good sign that RD at least doesn't want anyone knowing about it but you, which shows she at least respects her friend enough to not spread this kind of indecency of her to the eyes of anyone else. That's gotta count for something, right?

This is definitely the reason why RD 20 minutes later firmly stands her ground on saying "no fucking way" to sending it to your number through text. You don't blame her nor do you bother asking again. But she does agree to show it to you again later tonight once you're ready to... enjoy it.

But as for now, the late afternoon or early evening is young, and you and RD want to have fun at the beginning of your sleepover together meant to make up for you not being able to stay at the other sleepover.

It didn't take long for RD to shift back to focusing on video games. She rummaged through a couple of her dresser drawers to fish out a video game controller.

You had already looked over at her console to find there already was a controller attached, which has black electrical tape wrapped onto it in multiple spots, especially the handles where you're supposed to hold it.

"I uh, I can take your older controller if you want." You offer. "I don't mind."

"Trust me, bro. You don't wanna work with that thing. It's not even older, it's just broken. But I make it work still." RD tells you.

"How'd it break?"

"I uh... I think you might have a good guess at how it broke." RD almost starts to blush.

With your earlier memories of playing video games with RD resurfacing in your mind, you put two and two together pretty quickly. "Oh."

"Heh, yeah. I do it to my own stuff too, dude. You can have the one that's still good, don't worry about the aftermath of my bullshit, alright?"

"I see." You envision how much her newer strength after growing older was a contributing factor in her gaming rage bearing down upon her console controller.

"The high score was worth it, though." Adds RD. "It was... an experience."

"I bet." You agree. "I kinda know the feeling too."

RD proceeds to tell you the gripping tale of the exact moment she shattered her controller apart while playing one of her Need For Speed games. How she kept getting so close to beating the previous high score but continued to get tripped up on one part at the very end that forced her to start all the way over from 45 minutes before.

You can hear the rage still lingering within the tone of her voice as she recalls how she felt on that fateful day, sacrificing hour after hour after hour of her time to put her name next to that #1 on the screen. The plastic of that poor controller could only take so much of RD's powerful vice grip... could only take so much of her violent ministrations upon the joysticks and buttons... could only take so much of her slamming it against the arm of her desk chair every time she had to start over all because of something she swore was a small but massively inconvenient bug in the game that shouldn't even be there in the first place.

You can hear the raw passion in RD's voice as she tells you this tale as the "start" option currently on the screen must have flashed over a hundred times by now, waiting for you two to begin the game.

"I mean, the fucking concrete divider had an invisible polygon or whatever sticking out of it that kept COMPLETELY crashing me in my tracks and fucking the whole thing up! I had to figure out how to turn enough to not even TOUCH the side of the off ramp after escaping down the long highway part, there was go other way." RD starts to huff a little bit. "It's like, what the FUCK, bro? Why the fuck didn't they do anything about this shit when they finished the game?!"

"I hate when that happens so much." You respond.

"Here, dude. Lemme show you the exact part where this bullshit happened."

RD starts the game and immediately rushes over to the part of the "escape the cops" race she just spent a long time describing in vivid detail like she was telling a war story. She gets to the segment of the challenge race that tripped her up a gazillion times, and you can see the vengeful fire in her eyes.

"It happens every time." She gripes, probably less enthusiastically than before she had defeated this challenge.

She wasn't lying.

Every time her extra-vibrant car coated in rainbows finishes it run down a long straight stretch of highway, she has to quickly turn at just the right time and in just the right way after slowing down at just the right amount... all so her vehicle stays perfectly aligned with the curve of the offramp without even doing so much as touching the concrete barriers.

And either side of the ramp has a small bug in the game that stops the muscle car dead in its tracks with its tail lights pointing up at the sky because of the impact. A gap between the in-game objects causes the vehicle to collide with an immovable object the game thinks is supposed to be there.

"I mean LOOK at this shit!" RD jabs her open hand at the screen with her palm facing the ceiling.

"Damn, that really is some bullshit." You agree. "How'd you get past this?"

"Well I didn't do it without smashing this controller first." RD tells you after pausing the game. "This happened so many times that I slammed it right against the edge of my dresser right there." She points at the top of her furniture nearby, then looks back at her bandaged-up console game controller. "I love this damn thing, though."

"That'd pretty much do it, yeah."

"Pieces went flying everywhere, bro! You should've seen it! I had to actually clean my room to find them all." Complains RD. "It's so freaky seeing all the little parts from inside the controller and what they look like. I didn't know what went to what at first."

"You looked at manuals online or something, right?"

"There were eventually a few do-it-yourself forums I found where they laid out how everything was supposed to go back together. I had to use both glue and tape. Those little green chips or board or whatever they're called are a nightmare to get just right."

"Did everything still work the same after, or...?"

"Oh it still works fine, I just can't use the button I need for the nitrous all the time anymore. It fades in and out."

"That probably has to do with the part of the green chips you mentioned."

"Definitely." RD holds up the controller while the game stays on pause. "The part of the button that activates it can't do anything if it slips out of place even a little. And the little bit of plastic that holds it in place had to be glued back on, and it's not holding it the same anymore."

Console controllers are more complex than you would have expected until you actually have to put one back together yourself. Curse this combination of road rage and gaming rage.

"It's a shame I can't use my favorite ride during this level." RD continues to complain. "My Corvette. Her name's Supercell, she's a real beaut. Wanna see her?"

You nod, and then listen to RD describe the careful process of having to DIY-repair her own console controller, and she talks about it like it helped her get into the mindset of maybe becoming a mechanic one day. Which of course reminds you of the posters she has up there on her bedroom walls. But your attention is then diverted back to the screen where RD has her favorite in-game sports car on display to show off to you.

The deep blue-gray Corvette has a really nice looking set of aerodynamics-oriented slots and crevices in the hood and front bumper area. Really adds a nice aesthetic to it as well, especially with that cool matte paint color it boasts to clearly imitate the look of a giant storm cloud. The previous muscle car in RD's inventory you already forgot the brand of was gaudy and had no clear direction with its design.

But this digital Corvette? RD really put passion and thought into it, resulting in her hitting a home run with the aesthetics.

RD's phone suddenly vibrates.

The moment is interrupted as RD checks to see who just texted her, and she squints a little while reading the message. You don't ask her who it was or what it says, more interested in watching RD play her Need For Speed video game with her prized thunderstorm-design Corvette named Supercell. Damn, that is actually really freaking cool.

"Hey uh, you probably aren't gonna believe this." RD ominously says with her eyes on her phone as though she's in a corny movie.

"What is it?"

"Sunset texted me. And she's asking if I'm hanging out with you right now. Says she and the other girls want to talk with us."

You'd be lying if you told yourself you aren't surprised at all, but you'd also be lying if you told yourself you weren't expecting this at all. Most of your surprise has to do with how soon this happened.

"Like... they wanna talk to me too?"

"Yeah, bro. Sounds like they wanna apologize."

"Whoa." You scoot over to look at the longer message on RD's phone.

One sentence stands out to you: [Also Rarity talked to Applejack and they both think they went too far, and they want to come over as soon as possible. Is he with you right now?]

You promptly let RD text Sunset back letting her know that you are indeed at her house playing video games with her right now.

Things quickly get to the point where you're planning to meet up at a neutral location in public where you, RD, AJ, Rarity, and Sunset can sit down and talk things out. You look back up at the screen where RD's favorite in-game vehicle is still on display, now expecting to have to watch it in action a little bit later as this new situation abruptly came up and interrupted the vibe.

If only Sunset texted RD about an hour earlier while she was actually talking about something related to this.

"You sure they can't just apologize through text then have me accept it through text too?" You ask.

"They're all saying it's better if we meet in person real quick and get it out of the way." RD reads over the text messages coming in. "I mean, I'm gonna see them in person eventually anyway. Sunset says AJ said she feels really horrible about the way she acted and wants to apologize to you face-to-face. Directly. And she has a lot she wants to say, apparently."

"Ah... damn."

"Look here. Sunset said that you and AJ might never see eachother again after this year is over, and she'd feel terrible if that party was the last in-person impression she left on you." RD holds up the phone with the text message on screen, reading it basically word-for-word.

You sigh and lean against the wall. "Alright you have a point, so does she. And even if I do see her at school again, it'd be less awkward if we already hashed it out in person."

"Awesome, dude. So you wanna meet at the mall, then?" RD asks before texting Sunset back. "There's still daylight outside, we can go and get this over with now if you want."

"Probably better I do this now than let the anticipation hang over my head the rest of tonight." You admit.

"Yeah that's probably better. She just said they only wanted to apologize in person real quick anyway."

"Alright then, so uh..."

"Let's go, then?"

"Yeah."

And with that, the bandaged up game controller is tossed onto the bed with a soft muffled plop before RD's bedroom door soon opens then closes.

~

"Alright, so listen, dude. Not a word about the video. Got it?" RD tells you, continuing the conversation from before as you wait in the parked car together.

"Not a word." You comply. "I don't want them finding out any more than you do."

"Good. I know how close you and I are but like... they're my friends too, bro. And it's already kinda fucked up that I did what I did. Even if I deleted the video, I still did what I did. I'd still feel bad anyway."

"At least you care enough to feel bad." You say. "If that helps."

RD cups her hands over her face and leans back in the driver's seat. "Ugh, I know, bro." She groans with genuine remorse dripping off of her voice. "What the hell am I gonna do with myself? I can't keep treating my friends like this."

"Well why do you?"

"It was in the heat of the moment. That's the best way I can say it." RD tries to explain. "And AJ always gets on my fuckin' nerves about all kinds of stuff. So when she snapped at you at the party, I just... I dunno, bro."

"I mean, the video's hot as hell but like, that still was a bit of an overreaction, right?"

"And overreaction to her overreaction, maybe." RD answers. "But I know that doesn't justify shit. At least not anymore. She and I kept arguing after you left, about the darts and stuff and, I dunno."

"Yeah, this is a pretty awkward position we're in right now, huh?"

"Yeah. You can say it's my fault too. Cuz it is."

"Well sure but... just because it's your fault doesn't mean I'm mad at you."

"You mean that?" RD's eyes light up a bit.

"I don't know where I was going with that, but it's probably a good idea to delete the video after I'm, you know, done with it."

"Yeah." RD rubs her arm with a quiet chuckle. "You're probably right."

"I'm gonna honest, it's gonna be really hard to talk to Applejack after seeing... that."

A look of what almost appears to be slight jealousy appears on RD's face.

"Fuck, dude. I wish I knew she was gonna apologize. I wouldn't have shown the video to you until at least after she did if I knew." RD turns her head and stares out the window.

"Well, we're kind of stuck with this now I guess." You shrug.

"There's a lot of different ways we could have done this, dude. Don't worry."

"Are you sure we chose the right one?" You ask.

RD takes a worryingly long time to answer that.

"I really don't think either of us have good track records of thinking things out. Especially me for even showing you that video today." She finally says with a self-depreciating laugh. "But I sure hope this was the right move."

"Well they texted you, so we at least know they really do want to clear the air about this. Let's just keep it cool and let them do most of the talking."

By that, you really mostly mean 'let's try to not look guilty as much as we can as I eventually go back to your house and beat off to the video of AJ in secret after staring at her right in the face and accepting an apology from her'. And damn does that feel a little more than mildly wrong.

"I'm so sorry I put us in this situation." RD apologizes with the most solemn-ness in her voice yet. "I swear AJ almost never apologizes for anything, bro. I didn't expect this to happen like this. If I knew she was sorry, I'd have kept the video to myself."

"To yourself?"

"...And deleted it." RD quickly adds.

Just at this moment, a car pulls in to a nearby parking space.

"That's her, bro." RD quickly unbuckles herself and unlocks the car doors. "C'mon, we'll make this quick."

Several seconds later, you and RD let the car doors gently slam behind yourselves and you step out beneath the vibrantly color-shifting sky as the sun sluggishly sinks past the horizon.

Your weight pushing down upon the asphalt of the parking lot almost feels like it's pushing back up at you with how sore your legs are from the earlier morning run.

It feels like the apologetic look on Applejack's face she wears as she approaches you is looking in the wrong direction, as more of the guilt is on your shoulders due to you knowing something she doesn't.

It's hard to lock eyes with her, and just as hard to look down at her body after that video.

All you know for sure is that she, Rarity and Sunset are all wearing very concealing outfits this time along with their remorseful expressions.

Every party involved here is guilty about something.

"Hey..." Sunset waves to you before glancing in Applejack's direction. "You want to start, Applejack?"

"Ah guess that's the best way." Applejack lifts her stetson hat off of her head and holds it to her chest to accentuate her sincerity. "The way ah reacted was awful. Ah should say that 'fore anything else."

"I'm not really mad about it anymore." You go right to trying to soften the blow for her, knowing something she doesn't. "I was just... a little shocked, is all. For the moment, that is. You were probably right to be a little mad, though."

"Well... ah was wrong to get that mad." Applejack continues. "Was up almost all night thinkin' about it. Barely slept a wink."

Rarity watches her, and then turns to you, watching you stare at the ground in your own apprehension.

"Look, ah really am sorry about that. That was way too far. Ah should have acknowledged it was something you couldn't really control. Ya did the right thing by opting to leave... shouldn't have gone out of mah way to give ya static when you already understood the situation."

"Well I should apologize for what happened on my end too." You give a pebble on the asphalt a gentle kick to the other side of the cracking white paint. "To all of you. I know it was something I can't control, but only at a certain point."

Feels so awkward talking about an involuntary erection you had to a bunch of girls you just met. It's probably just as awkward for them too.

"I could have left earlier before it became noticeable, or sat down or something, or a number of things I could have thought of that would keep the moment from getting awkward. There's blame on my end of this too. I hope you can forgive me for that mistake."

You sigh once and watch the increasingly colorful clouds drift by.

"So uh... I'm sorry too."

"I'm sorry as well." Rarity steps forward with Sunset closely behind. "The way we went behind your back and jumped to conclusions wasn't fair. We should have let you diffuse the situation as you were already trying to. But thank you for your side of this, it's best if we all just keep things genuine and clear. There really is no easy way to talk about something like this."

"Yep, there really isn't." Sunset laughs a little to lighten the mood. "Pretty difficult topic to have between guys and girls, so I should probably just keep this straightforward on my part too." She clamps her hands together and faces you. "I'm so sorry I started the motion to kick you out of the party. That wasn't right. I was so worried that there'd be more drama at my party that I ended up inadvertently creating more. It was a stupid move."

"Ah don't think it's fair to say that, Sunset." Applejack says. "Really feel like I have an obligation to say more. It was still mostly my fault for overreacting the way ah did. Whether you told me or not, it's not like ah couldn't have just stuck to my own business instead of follow you out as you were tryin' to leave and make a scene out of everything." Her sorrowful eyes stare down at the same pavement yours are as she speaks to you. "Ah was the one who created more drama for the party in the end. So I should apologize to you again too, Sunset."

The amount of sincerity Applejack is showing only makes you feel worse, and you can hear the genuineness in the tone of her voice as she continues her monologue more and more.

"Ah know ya weren't invited to the party, and Racket's bullshit made a couple of us paranoid that somethin' else would boil over, but that don't change the fact ah made a mountain out of a molehill." Applejack now looks directly at you, prompting you to look her right in the eyes. "Ah didn't really mean the things ah said, not like that. In truth, I was just assuming too much of you. Ah swear I didn't really mean to attack you like that, and that shouldn't've happened. That was wrong of me. You sure yer alright?"

"She um... had a little bit to drink before the moment happened." Adds Rarity as RD nervously stares at all three of them and back at you as if she knows even more than you do.

"That ain't no excuse." Applejack says to both you and her, waving her hand in dismissal of the excuse. "Cider 'r not, mah behavior was NOT okay. Period. I am deeply sorry for my awful behavior, and ah mean that with every last bit of mah well being."

"It's okay, Applejack. I'm alright, and I forgive you." You respond. "Thank you for setting things straight. I forgive all of you. I'm still sorry too though."

Applejack reaches out and shakes your right hand. "Ah forgive ya too. I'm more guilty than you in this anyway, but whaddaya say we start things over right this time?" Her grip is strong, about as strong as RD's grip.

"I'd like that."

"We really got off on the wrong foot, didn't we?" Says Rarity. "Would it be okay with you if we all did something together?"

"Another time could work." You answer. "Right now, RD and I were about to get back to hanging out at her place." The part of you that wants to get back to RD gushing over her custom-designed thunderstorm themed Corvette and retroactively seething over that part of a game level she broke her controller over one time.

"Yeah. We were." Confirms RD. "Still probably good that we were able to meet up real quick."

You'd say. The vibe for tonight is now completely restored now that this weight is off of your shoulders, aside something part of you is fixing to ask RD about.

"Ah have to get back home too." Says Applejack. "Granny Smith don't want me out this late unless it's for somethin' important."

"But another time could work, right?" Asks Sunset. "It's the least we can do to make it up to you. If you want, I'll invite you if there's another party soon." She suggests.

"Yeah, that could work."

You've taken note of how quiet RD's been overall throughout this whole exchange. She's not looking anyone else in the eyes either. As in, she's not looking any of her friends in the eye. This coupled with the wishy-washy-ness of her answers before leads you to believe that she still hasn't told you the whole story. And whatever else she knows, it's making her even more anxious than you are. It's not like RD to suddenly not be talkative... something's up.

All of this makes you even more unwilling to even think about the forbidden video that is not allowed to be identified even in your thoughts right now.

You look over at RD and she's sweating bullets. Darting her eyes back and forth.

Regardless, the lot of you agree to exchange phone numbers so you all can text one another so communication is made easier. It's really hard to imagine that you just scored a bunch of new friends, but at least something came from this.

Before you know it, the quick apology encounter comes to a close as the sky starts to get darker, and you return to your cars.

"Well this weekend's been great." You say. "I met up with your newer friends and you met up with a couple of our old ones."

"True that, bro." RD's back to talking more like her usual self, showing that she's back in her comfort zone.

You notice this and begin wondering things to yourself. Wondering why her story about the reason for the video doesn't feel like it makes a lot of sense, wondering why she suddenly became less talkative with her own friends, even more so than you were, wondering why she even showed you the video this morning in the first place and in such a nonchalant way... as if it wasn't the first time she took a video like that.

She only got quiet after someone she knew knows about the video started talking to the girl the video is of. Except she got uncharacteristically quiet and nervous around all of her friends as well and not just Applejack.

But maybe you're overthinking it.

All you know is that after the way Applejack sincerely looked you in the eye and apologized to you the way she did, and shook your right hand, you'd feel bad beating it to that video of her at this point. It just wouldn't feel right to do that.

"Hey, wanna get a bite to eat before we head back?" Suggests RD.

"Might as well" You contemplate the questions that have only risen after previous answers were given.